| "…with a taste for human flesh THEY WON'T STAY DEAD!” |
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Night of the Living Dead
DVD/APPROX. 96 MINS/1968/USA M
DVD/APPROX. 96 MINS/1968/USA M
9
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As Barbara (Judith O'Dea) and Harry (Karl Hardman) pay their respects at their mother's grave, Harry tries to scare Barbara while reminiscing about
a childhood memory, just as an old man (S. William Hinzman) who is staggering off in the distance turns and begins walking directly over to the
couple. Barbara who is clearly embarrassed from her childish brother’s sense-of-humour, is about to apologise to the old man when he is near by.
Thats until the man lashes out and tries to grab Barbara, Harry quickly runs over’s to fight him, but is thrown against a tombstone and smashes his
head. Barbara runs to the car to escape the madman, realises that Harry had the keys, she puts the car in neutral and rolls down the steep hill
soon crashes into a tree, she quickly gets out of the car and begins running through the woods. When wandering through the woods she finds an
old farmhouse in a field where she can hideout, soon she notices a small cluster of the walking-dead coming her way. Not long after more people
find themselves hiding out at the isolated farmhouse, huddled around a radio listening to the emergency broadcast of this unbelievably bizarre
pandemic which is supposedly caused from a fallen radioactive satellite, which resurrected the living dead. As the sun begins to fall, the night
makes it hard for the frantic survivors to see how many zombies are around the farm. They begin boarding up the windows and doorways, arming
themselves with whatever they can find to try and survive the dead from the night.
FACT:
George Romero was accused of being "Satanically-inspired" by Christian fundamentalist groups for portrayal of the undead feeding on flesh and of the
young child (Kyra Schon) attacking her mother (Marilyn Eastman).
George A Romero’s Night of the Living Dead was the independent film that not only changed the way of filmmaking, it also inspired filmmakers all
over the globe whom ended up paying homage/ripped off to Romero’s ‘zombie apocalypse’ sub-genre. As in 1968, Night of the Living Dead fell
into the public domain all because the Walter Reade Organization, simply forgot to place a copyright indication on the theatrical prints. This not only
left Romero out of pocket, it also opened the door for many filmmakers such as Bob Clark’s Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972) and
Lucio Fulci's Zombie (1979) ..etc to jump on the bandwagon and begin cashing in on Romero’s success. With only a budget of $114,000US Night
of the Living Dead has managed to gross 30 million worldwide and 12 million in the US alone. For a film that was all shot on a 35mm camera in
black & white (due to budget restraints) over a 5 month period from June to December 1967 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and grossed into the
millions not only stunned filmmakers but has probably been one of the most bootlegged films in history, only to become cherished by generation
after generation in every country.
FACT:
Marilyn Eastman who plays the role of character Helen Cooper also had played the role of the zombie who is shot eating a bug.
Later on in 1986, Night of the Living Dead finally got a make over as the film was colorized by home video distributor Hal Roach Studios, where
the ghouls ended up having pale shade of green for a skin-tone.
Then comes along Anchor Bay Entertainment (US) who did the same thing but this time turning the flesh-hungry ghouls skin-colour into more of a
flesh-tone, where Legend Films in 2004 introduced a impressive but dull version as it was released in 2D and a 3D version that happened to get a
full theatrical release in Europe.
In 1999, co-writer John Russo released a modernized modified version of Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition, where new footage
was filmed and then cleverly edited into the original version while a revised soundtrack composed by Scott Vladimir Licina was also record and
added.
But once again this film came back with a punch as ‘Godfather of SPX’ Tom Savini who had previously worked with Romero on the sequels Dawn of
the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1980) jumped into the directors chair in 1990 to relaunch Night of the Living Dead by adding more
blood, guts and gore and a revised plot making Barbara the heroine.
And finally last we have director Jeff Broadstreet with his Night of the Living Dead in a 2D and 3D (which includes 4 pairs of Red/Blue 3D glasses)
in 2006 which went directly to DVD. Broadstreet wanted to take it to the next level by remaking Legend Films 3D version over but also following
suite to Savini, adding another whole new twist and plot to the storyline. Fans were excited to hear about this actually happening, but once critics
viewed the film, swarms of negative reviews came flooding in complaining that the 3D effects were dodgy looking.
FACT:
The dead corpse upstairs in the house was made by director George A. Romero, who used ping-pong balls for the eyes.
Lead role of Ben was played by black man named Duane Jones who got the position as he gave the best audition, Jones’ character was intended
to be a crude truck driver, but instead Romero re-wrote the script fitting it to the performance he gave in his audition. After appearing in Night of
the Living Dead, Jones went on to co-starred in Ganja and Hess (1973), Losing Ground (1982), Vampires (1986), Fright House (1988) and
Bram Stoker's: To Die For (1988) before passing away from cardiac arrest on the 22nd of July, 1988. Actress Judith O'Dea who played the role of
Barbara, was supposed to be the only survivor in Night of the Living Dead, instead her character was pulled into the zombie crowd and eaten
alive. O'Dea hasn’t had much of a acting career after Night of the Living Dead, until 2003 where then she began appearing in independent films
such as Claustrophobia (2003), October Moon (2005), November Son (2008) and Timo Rose's Beast (2009) mostly playing the role of
someone’s mother. The rest of the cast have really not appeared in any other films after Night of the Living Dead, apart from actor S. William
Hinzman who played the zombie in the graveyard at the beginning of the film, has appeared in The Crazies (1973), FleshEater (1988) and
Shadow: Dead Riot (2006) just to name a few.
FACT:
The word ‘zombie’ was never used at all throughout this film, the zombies were always referred to as Living Dead or by Cooper as “those things”.
Special effects artists Tony Pantanella, and Regis Survinski, came up with the idea of using household ingredients like Bosco chocolate syrup to
give the zombie munching scenes the effect that it was blood. And for the scene where the zombies were eating the bodies in the burnt-out truck
the 'corpses' were made up of roast ham covered in chocolate sauce. Tom Savini was actually offered the job to be the special effects artist for
Night of the Living Dead as his portfolio was very impressive. But sadly Savini was called to duty by the US Army to serve as a combat
photographer in Vietnam.
FACT:
Though noted in Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero has never actually said what actually caused the dead to rise and begin attacking the living.
Fans have there fingers crossed that Romero’s The Crazies (1973) is what set the whole zombie pandemic to resurrect, as the storyline would explain a
lot.
On the DVD extras you have a 80 minute exclusive documentary which was directed/edited by J.R Bookwalter called Reflections on the Living
Dead of the making of ‘Night of the Living Dead’ along with rare interviews with well known directors such as Sam Ramini, Wes Craven and Tobe
Hooper who found great inspiration in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. You also have a few TV Spots and a Theatrical Trailer added
into the extras.
FACT:
The filming of the cemetery sequence had to be shot over two days, as a unexpected accident to Russell Streiner mothers car that was driven by Barbara
and Johnny into the cemetery was dented. So Romero had to quickly re-write the script scene so the car would come to a stop by crashing into a tree as
the dent would of been easily visible on camera.
There is no doubt you already own one of a the dozen releases of Night of the Living Dead. Umbrella Entertainment have released a good quality
film here, but I can’t honestly say that this is the superior release ever to come out on DVD. It does offer a awesome extra which I never had seen
before until now, which is why I am going to bin my bare-bones release and go with this one instead.
a childhood memory, just as an old man (S. William Hinzman) who is staggering off in the distance turns and begins walking directly over to the
couple. Barbara who is clearly embarrassed from her childish brother’s sense-of-humour, is about to apologise to the old man when he is near by.
Thats until the man lashes out and tries to grab Barbara, Harry quickly runs over’s to fight him, but is thrown against a tombstone and smashes his
head. Barbara runs to the car to escape the madman, realises that Harry had the keys, she puts the car in neutral and rolls down the steep hill
soon crashes into a tree, she quickly gets out of the car and begins running through the woods. When wandering through the woods she finds an
old farmhouse in a field where she can hideout, soon she notices a small cluster of the walking-dead coming her way. Not long after more people
find themselves hiding out at the isolated farmhouse, huddled around a radio listening to the emergency broadcast of this unbelievably bizarre
pandemic which is supposedly caused from a fallen radioactive satellite, which resurrected the living dead. As the sun begins to fall, the night
makes it hard for the frantic survivors to see how many zombies are around the farm. They begin boarding up the windows and doorways, arming
themselves with whatever they can find to try and survive the dead from the night.
FACT:
George Romero was accused of being "Satanically-inspired" by Christian fundamentalist groups for portrayal of the undead feeding on flesh and of the
young child (Kyra Schon) attacking her mother (Marilyn Eastman).
George A Romero’s Night of the Living Dead was the independent film that not only changed the way of filmmaking, it also inspired filmmakers all
over the globe whom ended up paying homage/ripped off to Romero’s ‘zombie apocalypse’ sub-genre. As in 1968, Night of the Living Dead fell
into the public domain all because the Walter Reade Organization, simply forgot to place a copyright indication on the theatrical prints. This not only
left Romero out of pocket, it also opened the door for many filmmakers such as Bob Clark’s Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972) and
Lucio Fulci's Zombie (1979) ..etc to jump on the bandwagon and begin cashing in on Romero’s success. With only a budget of $114,000US Night
of the Living Dead has managed to gross 30 million worldwide and 12 million in the US alone. For a film that was all shot on a 35mm camera in
black & white (due to budget restraints) over a 5 month period from June to December 1967 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA and grossed into the
millions not only stunned filmmakers but has probably been one of the most bootlegged films in history, only to become cherished by generation
after generation in every country.
FACT:
Marilyn Eastman who plays the role of character Helen Cooper also had played the role of the zombie who is shot eating a bug.
Later on in 1986, Night of the Living Dead finally got a make over as the film was colorized by home video distributor Hal Roach Studios, where
the ghouls ended up having pale shade of green for a skin-tone.
Then comes along Anchor Bay Entertainment (US) who did the same thing but this time turning the flesh-hungry ghouls skin-colour into more of a
flesh-tone, where Legend Films in 2004 introduced a impressive but dull version as it was released in 2D and a 3D version that happened to get a
full theatrical release in Europe.
In 1999, co-writer John Russo released a modernized modified version of Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition, where new footage
was filmed and then cleverly edited into the original version while a revised soundtrack composed by Scott Vladimir Licina was also record and
added.
But once again this film came back with a punch as ‘Godfather of SPX’ Tom Savini who had previously worked with Romero on the sequels Dawn of
the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1980) jumped into the directors chair in 1990 to relaunch Night of the Living Dead by adding more
blood, guts and gore and a revised plot making Barbara the heroine.
And finally last we have director Jeff Broadstreet with his Night of the Living Dead in a 2D and 3D (which includes 4 pairs of Red/Blue 3D glasses)
in 2006 which went directly to DVD. Broadstreet wanted to take it to the next level by remaking Legend Films 3D version over but also following
suite to Savini, adding another whole new twist and plot to the storyline. Fans were excited to hear about this actually happening, but once critics
viewed the film, swarms of negative reviews came flooding in complaining that the 3D effects were dodgy looking.
FACT:
The dead corpse upstairs in the house was made by director George A. Romero, who used ping-pong balls for the eyes.
Lead role of Ben was played by black man named Duane Jones who got the position as he gave the best audition, Jones’ character was intended
to be a crude truck driver, but instead Romero re-wrote the script fitting it to the performance he gave in his audition. After appearing in Night of
the Living Dead, Jones went on to co-starred in Ganja and Hess (1973), Losing Ground (1982), Vampires (1986), Fright House (1988) and
Bram Stoker's: To Die For (1988) before passing away from cardiac arrest on the 22nd of July, 1988. Actress Judith O'Dea who played the role of
Barbara, was supposed to be the only survivor in Night of the Living Dead, instead her character was pulled into the zombie crowd and eaten
alive. O'Dea hasn’t had much of a acting career after Night of the Living Dead, until 2003 where then she began appearing in independent films
such as Claustrophobia (2003), October Moon (2005), November Son (2008) and Timo Rose's Beast (2009) mostly playing the role of
someone’s mother. The rest of the cast have really not appeared in any other films after Night of the Living Dead, apart from actor S. William
Hinzman who played the zombie in the graveyard at the beginning of the film, has appeared in The Crazies (1973), FleshEater (1988) and
Shadow: Dead Riot (2006) just to name a few.
FACT:
The word ‘zombie’ was never used at all throughout this film, the zombies were always referred to as Living Dead or by Cooper as “those things”.
Special effects artists Tony Pantanella, and Regis Survinski, came up with the idea of using household ingredients like Bosco chocolate syrup to
give the zombie munching scenes the effect that it was blood. And for the scene where the zombies were eating the bodies in the burnt-out truck
the 'corpses' were made up of roast ham covered in chocolate sauce. Tom Savini was actually offered the job to be the special effects artist for
Night of the Living Dead as his portfolio was very impressive. But sadly Savini was called to duty by the US Army to serve as a combat
photographer in Vietnam.
FACT:
Though noted in Night of the Living Dead, George A. Romero has never actually said what actually caused the dead to rise and begin attacking the living.
Fans have there fingers crossed that Romero’s The Crazies (1973) is what set the whole zombie pandemic to resurrect, as the storyline would explain a
lot.
On the DVD extras you have a 80 minute exclusive documentary which was directed/edited by J.R Bookwalter called Reflections on the Living
Dead of the making of ‘Night of the Living Dead’ along with rare interviews with well known directors such as Sam Ramini, Wes Craven and Tobe
Hooper who found great inspiration in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. You also have a few TV Spots and a Theatrical Trailer added
into the extras.
FACT:
The filming of the cemetery sequence had to be shot over two days, as a unexpected accident to Russell Streiner mothers car that was driven by Barbara
and Johnny into the cemetery was dented. So Romero had to quickly re-write the script scene so the car would come to a stop by crashing into a tree as
the dent would of been easily visible on camera.
There is no doubt you already own one of a the dozen releases of Night of the Living Dead. Umbrella Entertainment have released a good quality
film here, but I can’t honestly say that this is the superior release ever to come out on DVD. It does offer a awesome extra which I never had seen
before until now, which is why I am going to bin my bare-bones release and go with this one instead.
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