John Carpenter's original score for his Halloween movie was the first piece of movie music that captured my ears and its haunting sad sounds soon sent me down the deep dark rabbit hole of movie score admiration. It was the first CD I ever purchased for my music collection.
So seeing him live was an incredible thrill that I did not want to pass up.I spent the entire day excited like a kid on the night before christmas. From the 3 hour long drive to the even longer wait to the show, I was energized like a Muppet let loose on stage.
To pass the time I did what any self respecting Horror movie fan would do....I visited the Evans City cemetery as seen in the opening of George A Romero's classic black and while movie :
Night of the Living Dead
Released on October 1st in 1968, this move began a whole new genre of films and television series that continues grow even today.
And this cemetery was home to Ghoul Ground Zero.
Where the first Living Dead person came for Barbara and after out pounding hearts.
Just days before my visit I purchased my first ever "smart" phone.My old phone was on it's last leg and I thought it best before taking a long road trip alone to a strange city that I might want a reliable mode of communication less anything go wrong.
While visiting the cemetery , I felt the urge to record my first ever drive up the long road to the isolated graveyard. Knowing that I would try to at least visit the famous plot of land, I had brought along with me the version of the original movies music tracks.
So with the press of play on the cars stereo , I crept up slowly on the most famous cemetery on film.
And here is the resulting video :
The day I visited was a glorious sunny afternoon. The cemetery was remote,isolated,empty and peacefully quiet. No sounds of life intruded.
I explored the iconic headstones seen in the movie. Most of them can be seen at the end of the video.And are remarkably close to each other.
The stone that should belong to Johnny and Barbara's dearly departed father is actually quite close to the front entrance to the cemetery and next to the road that passes in front. It actually rests just across the road entrance from the chapel that we see the two park their car in front of in the movie.
In the movie they are shown driving towards the chapel to park ,which is in fact away from the marker and towards the actual entrance/exit to the entire cemetery.
When we see the two approach their fathers grave next to the larger "Blair" headstone they actually are in reality walking in the direction of the chapel and their previously parked car. By the movies implication the have walked some distance away from both.
The headstone that Barbara hides behind in fear as Johnny struggles with Ghoul Number One is just a few steps to the left of her Fathers grave marker. And directly across from the headstone that Johnny has his head bashed against as a result of the struggle.
Just to the left of Barbara's crouching in fear marker ,one can see the pathway that Ghoul Number One can first be seen approaching along in the background while she and her brother argue
It was a amazing bit of film education to me as to how they made just a small space useful to their economic advantage. Resulting in the sensation to the viewer that the cemetery itself is much larger. Honestly, I was expecting the ground to be as such.
My visit was a beautiful day. The sky was considerably clear and bright blue.The temperature was perfect for relaxing .So much so that I pulled out my portable DVD player and sat down on the grass to watch the actual Night of the Living Dead movie in the actual cemetery it was filmed in so many years ago.
If time had allowed , I would have also visited the Monroeville Mall that served as the main location for George Romero's sequel ,Dawn of the Dead. But the concert called and I didn't want to risk missing a note. The mall is not too far way from the cemetery.Though over the years it has been remodeled and reconstructed so as to lose a lot of the recognizable and distinguishing features from the film.
Afterwards, I took a drive around the cemetery and admired the many different and old style headstones. Some interesting names befell people of the pass. Several stones carried the name of :"Rape" ,surprisingly.
