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Also Known As: Night of Anubis ; Night of the Flesh Eaters
In 1968, some punk-ass would-be Hollywood big shot named George Romero decided he and his buddy John Russo should do the state of Pennsylvania a favor and make a no-budget horror movie about flesh eating ghouls called Night of the Living Dead. Lacking money, the boys ignored the need for big time movie items like action sequences, explicit special FX gore and that fancy “color” crap and made a black & white amateur flick about a small group of people sitting around an old farmhouse, yelling at each other and practicing do-it-yourself home carpentry for 90+ minutes… and it was genius.
Okay, so what some may deem as genius may be seen by others as boring or badly done, but I think that Night of the Living Dead turned out just fine. If you’ve been a regular reader of these complaints since I started doing this 7 years ago (damn I’m old…), you’ll know my usual bias against black & white flicks. When I started really getting into horror movies (say around the time I was 14 or 15), I couldn’t stay awake through an hour and a half of monochromatic, audibly scratchy, under impressive dribble to save my mother’s life… a terrible experience that will haunt me for the rest of my lives. All of that changed though, after I watched NotLD (pronounced “knot-ull-d”) and realized what could be done with a lack of color and budget if you had the brains, talent and passion to do that shit up right. If you’ve never seen the movie, not only should be ashamed of yourself, but here’s a quick rundown for you:
The world’s going to shit as some unexplained phenomenon brings back the recently deceased and turns them into shuffling, flesh eating ghouls with only the basest of instincts to drive them (i.e. food = good, fire = bad) and quickly increasing numbers to back them up against their still living counterparts. One such group of try-to-lives wind up in an old farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania where they try to fend off the living dead and their grumbly tummies until they can either figure out a way to escape or until they can hold out long enough for help to arrive, whichever comes first. As the night progresses and the living dead continue to gather outside this particular house (probably because it’s within shuffling distance of the nearest cemetery), the occupants begin to lose their collective cools and things start to degenerate into a primal fear and desperation for survival. It all leads up to one of the most depressing final scenes you’ll ever find in an movie, let along a zombie flick, but the ride toward that end is very profound and introspective and all those other buzz words they teach you in film critic school. Seriously though, I dig the movie and I think that it’s one of those flicks that will always stand the test of time. Even if you're not a fan of the movie itself, you've gotta give Romero credit for giving birth to what constitutes the zombie genre, as NotLD became the living dead flick that wrote the rules 90% of horror directors abide by for their undead creations! Defeat by severe head trauma? Check. Slow, shuffling ghouls? Check. The drive to feast on human flesh? Check. A band of very different people coming together in a time of crisis to struggle for their survival, some if not most of which won't live to see the credits role? Check, check and double check. You've gotta give credit where credit is due.
Night of the Living Dead should be in every self-respecting horror fan’s collection and deserves a spot in any horror lover’s Top Ten… even though I think some of Romero’s work following this was more crap than prime rib and John Russo, well, didn’t contribute much of anything after this… and what he did contribute were usually labeled as “lame”, “needless” and “sacrilege” by NotLD fans everywhere. Oh well, we’re not all perfect, right?
Moral of the Story: "If you have a gun, shoot 'em in the head. That's a sure way to kill 'em. If you don't, get yourself a club or a torch. Beat 'em or burn 'em. They go up pretty easy".
DVD Xtras: Because the movie was never copyrighted, one of the best horror movies ever is also one of the most widely and cheaply reproduced as well. This particular DVD is one of the latest versions, in which everyone’s favorite Joe Shmoe Mike “ MST3K” Nelson provides running commentary throughout the feature. Though I’ll be a “Mike is funnier than Joel” type of guy until the day my “ MST3K” bootlegs are pried from my cold dead talons, you definitely notice the lack of support commentary for the old bean. If Bill Corbett and/or Kevin Murphy had been on board, this commentary might’ve been a laugh-a-minute like the good ol’ days. Instead, it’s funny for the most part but definitely lacking that extra push of rib cracking hilarity. Also, though the idea of colorization on a movie is far more nauseating for me than my previously stated minor dislike of black & white film, I have to give credit to the guys at Off Color Films credit for doing an almost believable Crayola job on the movie. With the exception of a few colors looking way too pastel to believe, all in all it wasn’t a bad job. As for extras, we get an amusing “Separated at Death” sequence that does side-by-side comparisons with celebrities and the ghoulish look-a-likes that pop up throughout the movie and trailers for NotLD and other classic public domain owned horror flicks. Not bad for $5, but if you’re not a fan of Mike Nelson or your feet are firmly Krazy Glued into the “colorization is the tool of the DEVIL!” corner (though the colorization is optional), save yourself a Lincoln and just pick up one of the ultra-generic bootleg versions at your local Thrift-N-Save.
Sequels: Dawn of the Dead , Day of the Dead , Land of the Dead
Unofficial Sequels: Return of the Living Dead , Children of the Living Dead
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All materials found within this review are the intellectual properties and opinions of the original writer. The Tomb of Anubis claims no responsibility for the views expressed in this review, but we do lay a copyright claim on it beeyotch, so don't steal from this shit or we'll have to go all Farmer Vincent on your silly asses. © March 5th 2006 and beyond, not to be reproduced in any way without the express written consent of the reviewer and the Tomb of Anubis or pain of a physical and legal nature will follow. Touch not lest ye be touched.
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