“Behind Locked Doors”: Gothic Conventions and the Domestic Space in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead

Abstract

This paper argues that George A. Romero’s film Night of the Living Dead (1968) subverts traditional ideas of the gothic house by relocating it from the decrepit castle in a foreign land to an isolated farmhouse in Pennsylvania. The house itself is introduced as an ominous location, isolated from the rest of society and, as a result, viewers are presented with a Gothic structure that calls to mind the previous iterations of the genre. In doing so, the film immediately creates a level of uncertainty, that forces the viewer to reassess their understanding of the safety and security that a home would traditionally provide the occupant. As the film progresses, the house becomes a microcosm for the events that are happening within it. Just as the characters begin to turn on each other and their humanity begins to degrade, so too does the structure itself. By making these connections between human psychological and structural degradation, the film presents a location that mirrors the loss of humanity and rationality that the characters experience and further emphasises the shift to barbarism that occurs both inside and outside the building. The paper demonstrates how the traditionally threatening gothic castle has been replaced by the seemingly inconspicuous setting of the American household as a place of terror and uncertainty in a manner that domesticates the horror and brings the otherness of the gothic back home.