Characters in Night of the Living Dead

Night of the Living Dead is considered a horror movie because the plot focuses on cannibalistic zombies; however, the movie is not scary except for at brief moments. The plot tries to be more in depth with character development, which is refreshing for a horror film. It does not focus on special effects or gore to portray the zombie horror, which is atypical of more modern horror films. The movie does develop a plot, but the actors specifically do not portray the characters well. This makes the movie seem less scary and outright fake. The emotions of the characters in a horror film are of utmost importance because they allow the audience to either be scared with the characters or, on the contrary, to think the movie is funny. I think the characters in Night of the Living Dead do not show the immediate fear of the zombies, which disconnects the audience from the plot. If the characters showed genuine fear, then the audience would be more inclined to be fearful as well. The main male character is the only role that emphasizes the correct emotions at the right times, which creates a more realistic horror feeling. The female protagonist is the epitome of the stereotypical damsel in distress who cannot take care of herself in any moment. She frustrates me because she is to an absolute extreme. She started off running for her life, but now she seems as if she has mental difficulties due to the zombie attack. It is one thing to have an emotional response, especially in moments of fear, but the movie portrays women as weak individuals, instead of defying the stereotype. The secondary female characters do seem slightly stronger, yet they still follow the lead of men. Since this movie was produced in 1998, I would have liked to see a stronger female role.