Night of the Living Dead
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Movie Reviews of Night of the Living Dead
Movie Review: even if you already own it, get this edition!
Summary: 5 Stars
Like its zombies, Night of the Living Dead just seems to keep coming back from the grave. The latest DVD release of the classic is a 40th anniversary edition that comes with an outstanding set of extras. There's no doubt that Night of the Living Dead is one of the most influential horror films of all time. George Romero and John Russo didn't invent zombies on film, but their prototype of the shambling, flesh-eating, shoot-the-head to kill them, has become the zombie of choice in popular culture. Without Night of the Living Dead we probably wouldn't have Max Brooks' World War Z or other popular zombie fiction novels; we probably wouldn't have video games and film series like Resident Evil. When you consider the film was made on a budget of around $100,000, produced and acted by essentially amateurs, it makes its status all the more incredible. The film was a community effort. The actors served as producers, directors, and make-up artists. Everyone did multiple duties. If the film did have a bigger budget it likely would not have the same impact. Can you imagine it being in color rather than its stark black & white?
The lack of funds forced the crew to be creative. Chocolate syrup stood in for blood, mortician's makeup was used to fashion the zombies, and a fireworks expert created the gunshot effects. The eerie soundtrack was stock music taken from a variety of sources. If some of it sounds like it came from a campy 1950's Sci-Fi film you'd be right on the money as some of it did come from the 1959 film Teenagers from Outer Space. Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman who played Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, also provided the sound effects and Eastman did the makeup. Modern critics have lauded the film for its subversive qualities and Vietnam-era take on American Society. But when you hear the actors talk about the film you don't get the idea that they were trying to send any messages to viewers. They were just trying to make a scary horror film. Night of the Living Dead is an instance where the planets aligned just right and in a remarkable confluence of events and efforts, a near perfect horror film was created. The amateur actors work because they are real people and not professionals.
This 40th anniversary edition features a fully restored and re-mastered cut of the film with features overseen by George Romero himself. First, there are two audio commentaries: One featuring Romero, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, and John Russo. The second features Producer/Actor Russ Streiner (Johnny), Judith O' Dea (Barbra), Kyra Schon (Karen Cooper), and Karl Hinzman (cemetery zombie).
The main attraction of the 40th Anniversary Edition is the brand new, 83-minute documentary that covers the film from beginning to end. The documentary opens in black & white as an SUV drives through a cemetery. The film switches to color as Streiner and O'Dea visit the same grave where they placed a wreath forty years earlier. The documentary features comments from almost all the surviving cast members including Eastman, Hardman (who just passed away recently), Schon, Hinzman, George Kosana (Sheriff McClelland) Bill Cardille (reporter who played himself), and Ella Mae Smith who played a zombie, along with Romero, Russo, and others in the crew.
It's fascinating to hear their stories and memories about making the movie. Russo and Streiner returned to the infamous basement where little Karen killed and ate her mother. The basement was actually in an office building in Pittsburgh and looks much the same today. Streiner laments about a flood, which destroyed a number of the film's assets including prints and press kits. Hinzman (who looks actually younger now than he did as the Cemetery Zombie) talks about the problems he had breaking the window of Barbra's car with a rock. They also discuss the mistake made in not copyrighting the film, which fell into public domain a few years after the release where it remains today. The documentary alone makes this edition a must have.
"Speak of the Dead" is a 15 minute Q & A with George Romero that took place at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto in August of 2007. Romero discusses many of the film's influences including the EC Comics from his youth.
"Ben Speaks" is an audio only interview with Duane Jones. The last interview the reclusive actor and professor gave in December 1987. He would pass away the following Summer.
There's also a still gallery and a copy of the script in .PDF format.
Because of its public domain status there are a lot of versions of the DVD available but this is the only one you MUST own!
Movie Review: New 40th anniversary edition of the best movie ever made in Pittsburgh
Summary: 5 Stars
There have been numerous versions of this film circulating on DVD for years from cheap public domain copies on the 50 Movie Pack collections to more deluxe releases. Now here comes another version with - count them - two audio commentary tracks.
Along with "Carnival of Souls", this movie stands out as one of the definitive black-and-white horror movies of a bygone drive-in movie era. This movie scared me horribly when I first saw it back in the sixth grade. I had seen other scary movies before, but I think what makes this film so frightening is that there is a somewhat scientific explanation involved and that the horror is occurring to average people. The terror is not due to some supernatural occurrence that we know to be fantasy such as a vampire or some other relic from a 30's or 40's Universal horror film. Also, the drama is playing out in and around a farm house in rural Ohio, not some mythical haunted mansion. This puts you into the dilemma with the players. The fact that such bad acting is in play here just adds to the realism rather than making the film campy.
This movie showed something that could have only occurred pre-Watergate. At one point, the people trapped in the farmhouse discover a television and turn it on in search of news of what is going on. Something almost as remarkable to today's audiences as the dead rising from their graves is seen to occur. In Washington, reporters confront a government official about the situation, the government official tells the reporters the truth, and everyone believes what the government has told them. All of this would be truly remarkable in today's environment of mutual mistrust between citizens, government, and the media. Also, although we don't have actual vampires as the villain here, we have a similar dilemma. As the radiation causes the dead to become animated and seek to eat the flesh of the living, each time a victim is bitten, that victim eventually dies only to rise minutes later seeking the flesh of the living themselves, producing a problem that grows geometrically, just as vampires do.
Finally, this film has something important to say about race. Ben (Duane Jones), an African-American man, is the sole survivor of the group. Unique to 60's films, the group in the farmhouse accepts Ben as a leader since he is smart and a quick thinker. This portrayal of an African American as protagonist and problem solver is also unique to films of forty years ago. However, in the end, as morning arrives, Ben is sitting near a window of the farmhouse as the posse that is hunting down, shooting, and burning the zombies finally arrives. Happy to see his rescuers, Ben makes a movement, hoping the posse will see him. Unfortunately they do, and they shoot him dead. The film ends with Ben's body being carried from the house and being put in a pile about to be burned. He survived the whole ordeal for nothing. This begs the question, would the posse have shot first and asked questions later had they seen a white person waving from the window? Did they automatically assume - perhaps subconsciously - that there was no good reason for a black man to be in mainly white rural Ohio and therefore just assume he was a zombie? I don't know if this question was hung out there intentionally by the film's creators for the audience to ponder, but it is a point that is almost impossible to ignor. The extra features include:
Audio Commentary by George A. Romero, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman and John A. Russo
Audio Commentary by Russell W. Streiner, Vince Surinski, Judith O'Dea, Bill Hinzman, Kyra Schon and Keith Wayne
One For The Fire: The Legacy of Night of the Living Dead
Speak of the Dead: A Conversation with George A. Romero
Ben Speaks: The Last Interview with Duane Jones
Original Theatrical Trailer
Still Gallery
Original Screenplay DVD-Rom
Movie Review: Night of the living collectors: The nightmare never ends!
Summary: 5 Stars
After doing a very detailed research of this product online in many different serious and complete product pages, i sincerely didn't find anything new about the picture or sound quality, or any improvements on the film itself whatsoever , something that can make this DVD edition worth to buy again! I think we all got the edition of our preference of this classic milestone, epic landmark, outstanding masterpiece that changed, using the director's passion, ingenuity, and imagination more than an actual production budget, the fate of the horror genre forever. I'm really holding myself to keep writing about this incredible masterful work , this accidental , disturbing, visceral, gruesome, menacing and creepy portrayal of paranoia and claustrophobic madness, a film that ended the concept of valiant heroes, happy endings and supernatural-related sources of evil and terror in the horror film genre of the late 60's. A rule shatterer for its time that excluded the emotional buffering proper of the audiences's standards, in this movie the good guys can't possibly win but only try to remain calm and sane, monsters become more powerful because of the endless unstoppable source of contagion that nobody can escape, authorities are dangerous and inept, friends and families turn against each other, prolonging their agonies in angst, fear and despair.... Add to this madness the macabre concept of the flesh eating zombies, re-animated corpses of our own people, blinded-by-hunger mindless ghouls made of human rotten shells. No wonder this independent low-budget movie shaked the foundations of american cinema, and haunted the collective fears of viewers with sheer realism.
Oops! Sorry for loosing my track. Going back to this edition, and only for the photos and comments of this product that i collected in every corner of the web, i'm pretty sure more than one fan will be absolutely thrilled about this 40 year anniversary DVD edition. All i can say so far, is that the best most acclaimed previous edition was re-released in this new great format with this spectacular cover signed by George A. Romero. I 'm almost positive that this extra material is new, but only based on mere trust, after all Romero loves to talk about his productions, detailing every possible aspect of production, details already published in thousands of interviews before, but for collectors it's always a pleasure. Fans who apreciate mr. Romero's interviews and comments must be excited about the promised new material, check the rest of the cast and crew audio comments. If they don't know about the shooting of the film, who does? Check the extras list to find out yourselves:
-Original screenplay DVD room only.
-Still gallery
-Original theatrical trailer (for this edition)
-Speak of the dead: interview with George A. Romero
-Last interview with Dwane Jones: Ben speaks.
-Documentary: One for the fire.
-Audio commentary: All new- George Romero, Karl Hartman, Marilyn Eastman, John Russo.
-Audio commentary: All new- Judith O'Dea, Russell Streiner, Vince Zurinsky, Bill Hinzman, Kyra Schon, Keith Wayne.
-English 2.0 mono original soundtrack (not confirmed)
-English 5.1 remastered dolby soundtrack
-English and spanish subtitles.
In my humble opinion, this extras are spectacular for any collector and a must see for fans. Too bad, yet another version of my favorite vintage horror movie of all times, it will be my third and i can't care less about money right now. Struggle with your thoughts and logic for a while, then order the movie. It's not that hard, it worked for me!
Five stars for the new 40 year collector's edition, you know this classic....
Movie Review: Yum yum yum...Mmmmmmm...that flesh tastes pretty good!
Summary: 5 Stars
WARNING: Some spoilers ahead
George Romero, you're brilliant. Your influential zombie movie came out in 1968 and it still holds up today. Dozens of walking zombies terrorizing some people trapped in a farmhouse makes for a fun and frightening movie. This review is of the 40th Anniversary original black-and-white movie DVD, not the one that has both the black-and-white and colorized versions on the same disc. And not the pitiful 30th Anniversary edition.
This 1968 cult classic stars Judith O'Dea, Duane Jones, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley and Keith Wayne. Basically the plot is this: Zombies have risen from their graves to feed on living humans. They are chasing (actually slowly stumbling around) people all over about 1/3 of the country. One of these people being chased is Barbra (Judith O'Dea), who had been with her brother Johnny (Russell Streiner) at a cemetery visiting their father's grave. Her brother comes into contact with a wandering zombie and dies. Barbra escapes and comes across a farmhouse where the residents are not there. She hides inside. She is shaken and in shock and comes across as being quiet and helpless for most of the movie. Soon after, Ben (Duane Jones) arrives at the farmhouse in a pickup truck for shelter and a safe haven as well. In all, seven people (five of which were in the cellar before Barbra and Ben even arrived) are seeking refuge in this farmhouse to try to get away from the swarm of zombies outside. Ben had arrived at the farmhouse in a pickup truck, but the truck's gas gauge is on empty. The people inside the farmhouse board up the place and look for an escape route when the opportunity presents itself. There is a lot of infighting between the people inside the farmhouse. It gets violent at times. Some of the people who came in contact with the zombies become zombies themselves. That's the story in a nutshell. I don't want to give away too much.
The acting in this movie isn't worthy of an Academy Award for anybody, but it's at least adequate or pretty good and the important thing to realize is that this is an independent film with unknown actors. Barbra is helpless and quiet while Ben is a "take charge" kind of guy. I find this movie very entertaining and frightening. It's also very gorey. Shockingly gorey. The movie's atmosphere and music are good. This was truly a groundbreaking movie that paved the way for other zombie films in the decades to come.
This 40th Anniversary DVD comes with very good special features, including audio commentary by members of the cast and crew, a feature-length documentary, a Question and Answer session with George Romero, an interview with Duane Jones, the theatrical trailer, a still gallery, and the original script.
If you like and appreciate independent horror movies that are low budget but "do the job" and don't have Hollywood's influence, then this movie falls into that category and you should enjoy it. Very highly recommended.
Movie Review: They're coming to get you
Summary: 5 Stars
As with any other horror genre, the groundbreaking zombie movie is the best. "Night of the Living Dead" is a cult gem that has inspired every zombie movie after it, with its low-budget look and cast of excellent, unknown actors. And, of course, the flesh-eating undead who are rising to kill the living.
A crashed satellite starts emitting radiation, which somehow causes the dead to rise out of their graves to devour the living. Don't ask how, because it doesn't matter. Barbara (Judith O'Dea) is visiting a grave with her brother -- when suddenly a shambling, dead-faced man murders him, and chases her down the road to a farmhouse, where she manages to hide.
But she's not alone -- a kindly man named Ben (Duane Jones), a young couple, and a family are also hiding there. And without weapons or protection, they have very little chance of survival. The refugees barricade themselves for protection -- but now there are hundreds of zombies closing in. They must fight with fire and their wits... but it may not be enough to save them all.
"Night of the Living Dead" is one of those horror movies that chills viewers right down to the marrow. Romero creates a nightmarish, claustrophobic atmosphere in his movie, where no matter where you go, you're trapped -- and the humans might kill you if the zombies don't. The finale is a tragic, but very realistic twist.
Originally filmed in murky black-and-white, Romero manages to make this film feel creepy even when the zombies aren't there. And while they're hiding in the farmhoruse, he takes the time to make it realistic -- the refugees grate on each other in a believable way ("I ought to drag you out there and FEED you to those things!").
But then things get creepy, gross AND action-packed, when they slip out to fight the zombies. Romero switches the tone from eerie to downright terrifying -- the characters just reek of desperation -- and builds it up to a slam-bang finale. And along the way, we get terrified people fending zombies off with torches -- what could be better?
Duane Jones is the standout performance here: he's strong, kindly, take-charge and resourceful, but he also knows how to kick undead butt. By the finale, his character is the one that is remembered, especially given the haunting, shocking last scene, with an all-too-realistic racial undertone. But he was backed by excellent actors in Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, and dozens of zombie extras. Those people were amazing!
Stripped-down and stark, "Night of the Living Dead" is the sort of movie that should never be watched at night, and might make you look twice before going outside. Creepy, innovative and bizarre.