How did you feel when Ben died in Notld?

[MoonSylver]

See, that's odd, Night is the one that stuck with me, probably because of its shocking, visceral impact. But Dawn & Day I can't remember...probably other than "ooooh cool...."

[Andy]

Adding a little humor here ('cause c'mon, this is a depressing thread!)... I've said in another thread and I'll say it again, nothing would be more situationally funny than hearing the guy who shot him yell: "Hey, that's the guy who stole my truck!" before firing. Of course, being 1968 he probably wouldn't have said "guy". j.p. Brilliant.. absolutly brilliant Do us all a favour though, dont suggest that to russo, he may actually do it!

[JDFP]

Brilliant.. absolutly brilliant Do us all a favour though, dont suggest that to russo, he may actually do it! Andy, if he had it would have been the highlight of his, ahem, "homage". j.p.

[Danny]

i believe my exact vernacular outburst was something along the lines of "WHAT IN THE FUCK?!" it was genius, superb. I had no goddamn idea it was coming which made it so much more powerful a climax for all the utterly fruitless and.or futile events that preceded it.

[Philly_SWAT]

I was definately surprised the first time I saw it as a kid...mainly shocked because the "hero" ended up getting killed in the end, and not even in a heroic act, just a senseless accident. I have seen it so many times, it is hard to remember thoughts from the first viewing or from subsequent viewings, but I remember thinking in an early viewing that perhaps Ben was trying to commit "suicide by posse". Maybe it was a weird bit of editing, but it seems to me that they were close enough to the house for Ben to hear them, so he would have known they were getting ready to shoot him. They even say that they hear something moving around in there...Ben seemed awfully quiet to me, so if they heard him, SURELY he would have heard them. He may have been a little insane, or just so distraught at the events of the previous night that he welcomed the sweet embrace of true death, and knowing he wouldnt be walking around "like that". He may have felt guilty because at that moment he realized that Cooper was in fact correct all along, the cellar WAS the safest place.

[Publius]

Sometimes there are no winners, sometimes the worst case scenario does take place. I think the ending was harder to take because it wasn't exactly the worst case scenario. If Ben had been eaten by zombies and the undead ruled the Earth, I would have thought "well, I guess there was no way out, everyone was just doomed." But Ben died when things were getting better, he should have made it. Worse yet, he was killed not by the threat he had battling all through the movie but by what should have been his means of rescue. That was the suckerpunch.

[JDFP]

I think the ending was harder to take because it wasn't exactly the worst case scenario. If Ben had been eaten by zombies and the undead ruled the Earth, I would have thought "well, I guess there was no way out, everyone was just doomed." But Ben died when things were getting better, he should have made it. Worse yet, he was killed not by the threat he had battling all through the movie but by what should have been his means of rescue. That was the suckerpunch. Yeah, but you have to also consider all those rednecks were probably all dead and zombies within a year or less as well. Things were temporarily improving, but when you factor what was happening in the rest of the country it was not a true representation of the dire nature of events (I think the opening of "Dawn" presented the true magnitude of it very well). Perhaps if the rest of the country had been as organized at the beginning as they were at the end of NOTLD there could have been a chance that "Day" wouldn't have come, unfortunately there was piss poor management all around. Things fall apart, the center doesn't hold. j.p.

[AcesandEights]

Yeah, but you have to also consider all those rednecks were probably all dead and zombies within a year or less as well. Things were temporarily improving, but when you factor what was happening in the rest of the country it was not a true representation of the dire nature of events (I think the opening of "Dawn" presented the true magnitude of it very well). That's not necessarily the way someone seeing the film for the first time would have felt, though. You're attaching a knowledge and familiarity you have with the completed(?) body of work. To see the next day that things were relatively under control--whether for the interim or not; whether in only that locale or not--was jarring, and then to have the protagonist die senselessly was a brilliant kick in the balls. I think the ending was harder to take because it wasn't exactly the worst case scenario. If Ben had been eaten by zombies and the undead ruled the Earth, I would have thought "well, I guess there was no way out, everyone was just doomed." But Ben died when things were getting better, he should have made it. Worse yet, he was killed not by the threat he had battling all through the movie but by what should have been his means of rescue. That was the suckerpunch. Agree completely!

[bassman]

I've always wondered if Romero intended for the situation to be over by the end of Night or if only that select group had their area under control. If you count out the things shown in the following films, Night has always felt like a resolved situation to me.

[ProfessorChaos]

@ bassman: i kind of look at it as if the posse in night is a branch of the clean-up crew seen on the ground during the dawn gang's helicopter ride. things are for the most part under control in smaller rural areas, but all hell's broken loose in the cities and on a downhill slide.

[Frankenstein]

The first time I saw NOTLD I was very surprised by the ending. To end on such a down note was a bold move for Romero, but it definitely works. What bad luck for Ben though; Survive the onslaught of the dead the whole night, only to be killed by the living the next morning. What a bummer!