Night Of The Living Dead DVD Retrospective

[JohnIan101]

PART I: THE 1968 CLASSIC - G P2

Lets cover some of the extras in better detail.

Someone once told me - art is dead. But if that's the case, what does that make artists? Zombies?

- De Vol



The intro by Count Gore De Vol. It start in color that slowly desaturate until it's black and white. That was a nice touch.

Who?

The Count was or rather is a horror movie host, much like Elvira: Mistress Of The Dark. Anyhow, the Count had a show on WDCA in Washington, DC ("Creature Features") that ran for over a decade from 1973 to 1987. Then returned in 1998 as a internet program, streaming movies and shorts. By the way, that's a print of comic book character Vampirella (created by Forrest J Ackerman and comic artist Trina Robbins) on the inside of his coffin.

Anyhow, let's just say the Count was East Coast as Elvira was West Coast. Yeah, I never heard of him until this release.

But there's more; Dick Dyszel who played the Count was also the guy behind the make-up on the kid's show, "Bozo The Clown" - well one of they guys who played the clown. I saw reruns when I was real little in the 70s. He was also "Captain 20", another kids program, never saw this.

There is a trailer on the disc for a documentary, "Every Other Day Is Halloween" on Dyszel's colorful life. Man, that looks quite fascinating. I need to pick that up.



From left to right; Maberry, Paffenroth, Kirtley (moderator), Adams, Hauschild and Gutierrez.

The "Zombie Encounter" panel was cool and would've been way better if it weren't for the piss poor audio and amateur camera work. The guests were handed a microphone, but whoever was working the sound board was not doing their job. The audio hadn't changed (much). You could hear them before the mic was used. I don't understand. And you have to crank up the sound to hear them.

As for the camera, it's on a tripod, I'll give them that. But it's not filmed centered, but rather far on the side (there are zooms as needed). This could've been, way better. On top of that, the audio is somewhat muted.

Putting those woes aside, the discussion was fascinating. Intelligent Zed talk with published authors on the legacy and continued contribution of the Romero classic. Z Fanboys like myself crave stuff like this. Here's something also interesting; the location. It was held at Lutheran Church Of The Redeemer (8PM that October with the event starting at six in the evening) on 55 Wyckoff Avenue in Ramsey, NJ. It began with a screening of NOTLD: R, then the discussion. That's a progressive church.

I liked Peter Gutierrez comment about how the Zed problem could've been manageable - just have Ben (Duane Jones) go out every half hour and wack a few zombies to death; he's good at that. It wouldn't have gotten so out of hand. Also have Tom (Keith Wayne) go out too, wack-a-zed.



The action figure ad is for Mego-like toys of Cemetery Ghoul and Ben. If you're into collecting toys or were old enough to be a kid in the 1970s then you know all about Mego. If not... they made large action figures (roughly eight inches tall), not just pure plastic - they came with cloth clothes. I would love to own those Emce figures, they cool damn sway. They come in Mego-like retro packaging. The single series also includes Barbara and undead Karen.

"Night Of The Living Box Art" is all about Rob Hauschild's hobby; collection VHS cover art from various home video releases of NOTLD. Man, that is quite the nitché and fascinating. Some of the covers shown were impressive, others were just an embarrassment. *shakes head* Some of the video descriptions were so off - like the distributor didn't know what they were selling. Others had the finale image right on the cover.

"Night Of The Gaming Dead" is just lame as hell. It imagines the movie if it were turned into a 1980s video game, "Pac-Man". This was made by Voodoo Velvet, just avoid it. The same with the two shorts, both are bad filler - no ALL THREE are bad fillers.

The "Artist Call-In Commentary" is exactly as you guessed, the DVD producers called the artists to give their thoughts on their contributions. You get to chose from twenty-eight artists. The full run time is 29:04 minutes, but you can't view them all together just as single entries.

I could not access any of the DVD-ROM features. As in...

Can't find them on the disc.

This came in a white DVD case. The disc art shows multiple side profiles of a zombie, skull exposed around the hub. Turn the disc and see the skull open up and his brain popping out to be consumed by the mouth and shoot out of his head, a forever loop.

The menus are in anamorphic widescreen, if your curious. And the function highlighter is a red hammer and a red trowel, cute.

- - -

This is one of those odd bits. I don't really care for this interpretation, BUT I do love some of the extras on DVD. It's is very apparent that a lot of affection and appreciation was put into the production. I give no ill towards that - overall, it's an impressive labor of love. And the commentaries were fascinating too (too bad the audio was poor). This release turned out far better than it should.

This is not part of my library. It goes in a special spot for DVDs that I won't discard for unique reasons. That is, they have an element or moments that rise it above crap. Not good enough to be part of my official collection, but not poor enough to be sold off.

If you're curious, the reason it's longer than the regular film is because of the protracted animator credits.

And there's a stinger at the end, a skinless Furby saying "Need food; me hiding, need food". Then laughs and gives a kiss.

- - -

Looking about online, I find stuff.

George A. Romero was interviewed by Nelson Wyatt which appeared in The Gazette, a Canadian newspaper (on September 11th, 2014. The interview happened on October 21st, 2011 in Mexico City. This and that. But something was dropped that I didn't know.

You might recall in the entry for "Birth Of The Living Dead" part 1 (May 19th, 2016); I wrote about Romero's "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" connection. What I didn't know was how much influence it had on him.



The director wanted Betty Aberlin in his horror flick. Aberlin played Lady Aberlin on the kid's show. One of the human characters in Neighborhood Of Make-Believe. This did not sit well with the gentle, sweater wearing TV personality...

He wouldn't allow that. I originally wanted to use her in the role of Barbra and Fred put his foot down and said no.

Romero continues...

He loved the film. He came and loved it. He was always a huge supporter over the years.

That's kinda charming, would Aberlin have played her different? Could this Barbara be more normal and less catatonic? We'll never know.

Here's a good quote from that panel. The question was whether the zombie genre has topped off; become over-saturated...

For the most part zombies don't have personalities in the story - they simply represents that threat. And it allows the characters then to be in a story where there is a constant threat; constant stress and pressure which warps normal behavior. And it's the warped normal behavior that forms the basis of most story telling. We don't tell stories about people living ordinary lives and doing ordinary things with nothing happening because that would be boring. We write stories in almost any genre about some crisis, some event that comes along that forces the characters out of normal being. And that is true with "The Wizard Of Oz" [1939] as it is with "Night Of The Living Dead" [1968]. Characters taken out of normal behavior by a crisis - well the zombies allow for that without intruding into the story because we don't have to give them, pages so to speak. We don't have to define their characters, tell their histories. We don't even necessarily need to tell how they became zombies, you know? Romero didn't waste a whole lot of time on it. They're there! And then we see how that warps the characters, warps their interactions - and we get to tell endlessly creative stories about people in pressure, people under stress. It's not going to get old.

- Jonathan Maberry



There you go folks. The cinema infection can not be halted, Ben would attest to that and hillbilly grievance. See you back here on October 20th, 2016 for a vintage documentary.

[JohnIan101]

PART I: THE 1968 CLASSIC - H P2

The next issue I have is with the music which was crap on a cracker; poor, poor synth score by Matthew Jason Walsh. Folks who moan about the music by Scott Vladimir Licina for "Night Of The Living Dead: 30th Anniversary" (1999) should know that score is so superior to Walsh's balderdash. It's embarrassing.

On the topic of the 1990 remake...

The remake suprised me. Barbra ends up with an uzi and fatigues, mowing 'em all down. In a way, I'm sorry, that they did that. To me it wasn't a remake, then. Even though it was in the 1990s; yes women were gonna control the world or they kick started their Harleys and roared down the freeway. But I was sorry to see that we changed it it that much.

- Judith O'Dea

The O'Dea interview wasn't filmed for this documentary. It was footage from "Something To Scream About" (2004). A doc covering nine actresses (scream queens) who have made a name for themselves in horror; Ariauna Albright, Brandi Burkett, Debra DeLiso, Denice Duff, Judith O'Dea, Debbie Rochon, Felissa Rose, Lilith Stabs, Brinke Stevens and Julie Strain. The sixty five minute program is hosted by Brinke Stevens. This is also from Tempe Entertainment for $14.99, a real DVD though.

"Reflections" by the way is dedicated to the memory of Duane Jones.

- - -



A couple weeks ago the first trailer for "Night of the Living Dead: Genesis" (2016) hit the webs. [long pause] It looks terrible. Bad acting and it appears to have been shot on video as if it was a student film.

I had hope for this, honestly did.

The concept was good; a remake of "Night" done as flashbacks with O'Dea reprising her role of Barbra in a rest home, talking about her undead experience. That sounds awesome, but the end result isn't.

Addy Miller plays the younger Barbra and she looks poorly cast.

The release date is in flux. I'll keep you posted. Now I'm somewhat curious - in a train wreck kinda of way.

- - -

Something that I ran into recently.

Music from the TV show, "The Rebel", the 1959 black and white ABC western series.

The episode "Land" (aired February 21st, 1960) has library music which was used in NOTLD '68. Music when Barbra fled from the cemetary ghoul on foot - finding the farm house.



On the Varése Sarabande 1982 vinyl soundtrack, it is track two: "At The Gravesite/Flight/Refuge".

The basic plot of "Land" is a famer gives up his land next to a stream (prime real estate) for a chance at bigger propery. All he has to do is walk the distance he wants of this land on a hot summer day, pinning stakes.

The elderly man dies from exposure and exhaustion, but not before completing his goal, much to the chagrin of the non-water land owner.

He fully expected the man to die before reaching the finish; after all, the fellow had a heart problem.



The music plays as a single man (the farmer) rising up a hill top, staggering like a zombie towards the finish.

Let me take a step back.

"The Rebel" was a two season show that had seventy-six half hour episodes. It told the story a post Civil War veteran, Johnny Yuma (Nick Adams). Once conflicts ended he was lost and disenfranchised. Yuma decided to find himself by roaming the united country. Never ashamed, he was a Confederate soldier. He kept a journal of his adventures. His main gun is a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun.

While being only half an hour it was densly written with good characters and stories which were not the norm. You see, this was about moral ambiguity - shades of grey. Quite a few episodes did not have a clear White Hat; even when you won, you still lost. Which may have lead to its cancelation.

Bought season one a few months ago.

I'm enjoying it, but wish the episodes were remastered. Some are no better than YouTube videos. And this is an official series release from Timeless Media Group.

The episodes of The Rebel included in this set were mastered directly from 16mm prints. Due to the age and condition of the prints, some image and audio artifacts are present.

That's kinda an understatement.

- - -



Here's a behind-the-scenes pix - who's that fellow in the doorway?

It's sound engineer, Gary Streiner watching the blaze.

Want another? Here's one from Eastman's scrapbook.



One of the make-up jobs for a ghoul extra, Ella Mae Smith.

Do I have buyer's remorse? Nope. The roundtable interview makes it worth the dollar with added bonus - Hardman and Eastman and O'Dea.

It's not fantastic. Nope. Parts of this production felt so amateurish. But the good spots outshine the bad. So I'm glad I picked this up. Though I am upset this is not a real DVD. The back of my mind is how long will this last before it fades? The price was a bit much for fifteen dollars. I would be more comfortable at ten.

Something I've taken notice. Many low rated TV shows are coming out as MODs. But they're still asking for full price - as if it is a pressed release, which it isn't. I don't like this trend.

Hope you have a grand and entertaining Halloween. Come back here on November 17th, 2016 for another entry on the 1968 motion picture.

- - -

Update...

Something I discovered an hour ago after posting...

Ogre (Robin Ogden) and Dallas Campbell have digitally released an alternate synthwave soundtrack the 1968 movie with cover art by John Bergin - "Night Of The Living Dead: Original Motion Picture Rescore".



As it stands, it is exclusively available from Bandcamp, released on October 14th, 2016 and sells for $10.00 (downloadable MP3s). I've been sampling the tracks. It's a decent re-imagining. If you're into synthwave, you'll probably like it. I'm a fan.

If not, you won't enjoy the synth score.

What's surprising is where it's from - Lakeshore Records; "The Official Bandcamp of Lakeshore Records, the independent music division". They release movie soundtracks and others on CD. Lakeshore Entertainment has made "Underworld" (2003; and all the sequels), "The Cave" (2005), "Crank" (2006 and its sequel) and "Million Dollar Baby" (2004) among others.

Rescore is a thirty-one track soundtrack; featuring alternate cues.

The collaborative effort was done across the planet; Ogden lives in United Kingdom and Campbell is in West Virginia. In fact both artists have never meet in person, all done online.

On other thing - On October 28th, 2016 on their Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/LakeshoreRecords), they will be streaming the movie with the new soundtrack attached.

[JohnIan101]

PART I: THE 1968 CLASSIC - I P2

Tangent.

Since this entry is kinda short, I want to cover another mostly digital only movie, the sequel, "Dawn Of The Dead" (1978).

This past Halloween I rewatched the movie with new eyes. Indeed.



Posted on YouTube is a recut titled, "Extended Mall Hours" (in HD if you want).

It is a fan edit, produced by a fellow named OfficiallyUnofficial. Carved from the 139 minute version which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1978; often called "Cannes Cut" and mistakenly labeled, 'Director's Cut'.

This version was released as a special edition laser disc box set (3 LDs), "Widescreen Director's Cut Special CAV Collector's Edition" from Elite Entertainment, Inc. in 1996. Which features among other extras; a commentary by Romero, his wife (assistant director) Christine, special effects make-up artist Tom Savini and Buster their dog. And is exclusive to the dead format. *sad panda face*

Anyhow, I suppose you could call the Cannes Cut more akin to a work print as it was rushed together for the festival.

Extended Mall Hours was also sourced from the 117 minute Dario Argento version. Why not include the 127 minute theatrical cut?

The Cannes Cut is the proto-version. That edition was cut down to create the theatrical release. So I guess in a roundabout way, all three editions were used. *shrugs*

Some back story.

After the success of "Night", a worldwide phenomena. He was approached by Italian filmmaker Dario Argento to make a sequel; because he heard a rumor that Romeo was toying with an idea for a new installment. Argento offered to co-produce the movie and paid for him and his wife to fly to Rome and stay at his home to write the script. There was a string, not a big one.

Argento wanted the foreign market rights and could recut the movie to his liking. Romero had the North American rights. The deal was shook and the rest is history. Argento took out lot of the dialog scenes and replaced it with more gore and action. His cut was re-named "Zombi". He also added new music, composed by Goblin (Romero used mostly existing library music to save money).



So in 2008 OfficiallyUnofficial released his mashup onto the webs, a fan cut that incorporated these editions as one - with more characterization and gore; a run time of nearly 155 minutes.

The question comes up often enough; 'which version should I watch?" The three were released in an awarding winning DVD box set, "George A. Romero's Dawn Of The Dead: Ultimate Edition" from Anchor Bay Entertainment in 2004.

My vote was theatrical for years. Argento had taken out too much for the sake of more blood.



I no longer feel that way - it is Extended Mall Hours. It's so much richer, quite somber at times and you get to know these people better.

This is an idea I’ve had for a fan edit for years. I first heard about the Argento cut having exclusive footage around 1999. It wasn’t until 2004 with the release of Anchor Bay's "Ultimate Edition" that I finally saw Argento’s version. I finally started working on this in fall of 2007 on a whim. Principal editing began around September/October, and was put on hiatus. Production resumed around December 2007 through January 2008. Like I’ve also said, while Romero's 126 minute cut is my preferred version, I still wanted to create this cut to piece together somewhat of a "glorified workprint".

Countless extra snippets throughout the Argento cut were added to the 139 minutes Cannes cut. These include a few extra head shots in the mall sequences, as well as various dialogue extensions, such as the bikers in the finale planning their "attack strategy" ("One by one, they’re gonna knock you off your little bikes").

One full scene which was previously cut and added back in is a bit of dialogue between Peter and Stephen after they return from "shopping" the first time. Stephen acts cocky while Peter wants him to realize just how lucky they were. This scene contains the line "Let's say the lady gets killed... you’d be able to chop off her head?" which was used in the English language Italian trailer.

- OfficiallyUnofficial



Should be noted this fan edit is on bootleg home video, a DVD-R; anamorphic widescreen, presented in 2.0 stereo with the fan edit teaser trailer. It comes with a printed wraparound, created by OfficiallyUnofficial. I want it! It's now on my radar, I hope to find it. There are three alternate wraparounds. I like the one on the far left, white text, above.

Now this should be addressed, the aspect ratio changes with the cuts, it's small and not a nuisance.

As for color, there is some minor hue changes as it switches, minor stuff, nothing so bad it takes you out of the movie.



A good example is color change with the TV. This scene in particular, the scientist on screen. On the close-ups of the television; you can see some differences as it changes from cut to cut - which by the was seamless. No jumps in the cuts. The color issue is minor.

The added visuals work great but this throws up numerous audio issues. This is mainly because of integrating the new shots with the existing score, so every so often a bar of music repeats. As a result the soundtrack has become slightly awkward with repeated musical bars, poor syncopation and at times odd audio jumps. Editing this audio must have been a major nightmare, considering the source material but at times

- Mollo

It's not a perfect cut; parts of it is a bit jumpy and as quoted above, there is some minor audio issues. But overall it's the better edition.

Some of the words in the dialog is stretched to make it fit the cut. Take the word "canopy" as an example. In the recut it would be like 'ca-ca-canopy'. It happens just a few times. But I'm okay with it.

The final product is good. You get lots of character moments and dread, plus more scenes of gore. The best of both worlds. Damn sway if you ask me.



I'm glad I watched this and think I'm gonna make this a new Halloween tradition. Just so you know, I didn't do any image work on those pixs.

- - -

A question asked in a different message board; 'why did Roger get all looney?'

Roger was a soft touch (as evinced by his attempt to stop the resident of the housing project from going out where he'd be shot). As the situation deteriorated, he just couldn't cope with what was becoming, in a wider sense, a no-win situation. No matter what they did or how many they killed, the dead were taking over the world, and Roger couldn't handle a reality where he couldn't win. As he died of his infection, he kept asking Peter, "we whipped them, didn't we?" Holing up in the mall wasn't a win, it was simply a break from the inevitable losing fight. Roger's mind snapped after his near-death fight with the blond chick zombie and he retreated into a fantasy where he was invulnerable and in control, and it proved to be fatal.

- OsborneDFormed

That's the best answer I've read.

- - -



Behind the scenes on the death blow at the cemetery; Bill Hinzman over Russell Streiner. Like he ate a browie before he died.

Okay, that's it. Come back here on December 22nd, 2016 for yet another look at the 1968 classic. Let me make it clear - it isn't. *wink* See you then.

One more bit...

Something I just noticed; on the film's Wikipedia page ('68), it says that siblings last name is "Blair". This is new news to me.