One Night Of The Living Dead Scene Summoned A Crowd Of Curious Spectators
George Romero's 1968 film "Night of the Living Dead" has become a cornerstone of horror movie history, but once upon a time it was just a little independent movie from a relatively untested director. While later Romero movies would have been able to draw crowds of fans clamoring to get a peek at the director or some of the stars he worked with, things were a little different when filming "Night of the Living Dead." The movie was shot in rural Pennsylvania, which meant there weren't many opportunities for crowds, but one sequence drew the locals out to take a peek. While filming a sequence in Evans City, Pennsylvania, which involved some of the film's undead "ghouls," local residents turned up in droves to catch a glimpse of one particular ghoul, and it had nothing to do with wanting to see the special effects makeup making her look undead.
In the book "Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever" by Joe Kane, actor Judith Ridley, who played Judy, recalls one late-night shoot that drew crowds and made her laugh.
Trying to catch a peek of a nude ghoul
Romero tried to take a realistic approach to making his movie, calling his creatures "ghouls," never zombies, and coming up with details that would apply if the dead actually rose and started walking. One such detail was the idea of corpses arising in morgues and walking out naked, which meant there should be at least one nude ghoul. Local artist's model Carol Wayne was hired for the job, and she had the unenviable task of walking down the street at night naked. Ridley recalls:
"The night they filmed the nude ghoul, all of Evans City found out about it. They had their lawn chairs set up around the edges of the property. It was funny to see the rest of the zombies trying to keep their eyes elsewhere instead of looking down at the obvious places on the nude one."
Wayne gave her ghoulish performance while the other extras tried not to make boobs of themselves, and in the end the scene turned out to be a chilling one that would help usher in the whole zombie movie subgenre. She also played a second ghoul, this time clothed and wearing a blond wig, likely because the budget was so low that many cast and crew members pulled some kind of double duty. Marilyn Eastman, who played Helen, pulled triple duty, as she not only played Helen and helped finance the film, but she also played a bug-eating ghoul as well. Now that's dedication!