Night Of The Living Dead DVD Retrospective

[JohnIan101]

PART I: THE 1968 CLASSIC - E P1

The bottle is nearly gone, few random drops of generic whiskey remain. Not much of anything than a reminder of what once was - phantom scent. But the glass container has weight, enough to chuck onto a nearby wall for a distraction.

There are two of them; slow moving, decayed and alone. Might be a great day for you.

They linger about in front of a former convenience store. One is slender, the other is portly and shorter of the two; both are dressed in torn, long bloodied black outfits with ratty baseball caps. The tall one gnaws at the air, making light moans, the other is silent. You think for a moment - about your own body odor, but you know it's not you. The breeze is blowing your whiff away from them.

The store appears to be intact; no broken glass or scattered merchandise on the asphalt. The same for the adjacent video store. You've been scooping this place for the past two days; minus those nerderwells, seems secure. And potentially still stocked - the hope.

In position to throw the whiskey. You pull out your wooden bat, heart racing - the bottle flies to the back of the video shop.

The dead hear the shattered noise and wonder onto its general direction. The store's front is available, you already have your latex gloves on. One of the smart decisions you've made since the calamity; you've seen first hand what happens when touching something potentially smeared with infected blood. A simple thing as grabbing bags of disposable gloves from a dollar store; save yourself a bullet to the brain.

Dash begins.



You do your best to remain as quiet as possible without much huffing. The spot is reached and quick examine of the glass door - since your stakeout, you have not seen or heard any movement inside. You pull, but nothing happens. You pull once more - the door is locked and is making noises as you rattle in frustration.

There is a moan; the thin one has come around the corner; there is more shuffling heard, the large one is trailing. The bat is in your hand, two quick moves and be done with them. Just then - a partially eaten face slams against the door from within, knocking a box of beef jerky from the nearby counter. He's missing half his mustache and part of a goatee. You can see his throat has been torn open, no moans from him, just the sounds of teeth grinding against the glass. The dead duo is moving closer.

A lost cause.

There is a deep sigh as you flee. You stop for a moment to see if you're being followed, nothing. Confused you slowly walk back the store. The duo is back in the front, doing... nothing. The thin is is gnawing at the air once more, the portly fellow besides. They've lost interest in you, once you were out of sight. A fragment of memory linking them to this place? Oh well. At least you're safe. You pull out your county map and see what is best described as a dirt mall on the other side of town.

You might have better luck there.



This time we have a documentary. Now some may ask 'why another?' A valid question. But before we get into that, lets address the stats for "Birth Of The Living Dead".

This chronicle had a very limited theatrical run in Los Angeles, CA (October 18th, 2013) and New York, NY (November 6th, 2013). It grossed close to 5 thousand during its screenings. You can pretty much say this was a direct to video release. Sorry, do not know much much it cost to produce.

This was originally titled "Year Of The Living Dead".



Released on January 7th, 2014 from First Run Features (UPC# 7 20229 91580 9) for $24.95.

The DVD streeted against "The Following: The Complete First Season", "Archer: The Complete Fourth Season" and "Thanks For Sharing".

The release came with no slipcover nor any kind of insert(s). It has ten chapters.

The motion picture is seventy-six minutes long.

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Extras:

* Extended interview with George A. Romero (December 2006, anamorphic, 32:44 minutes)
* Romero At New York's Museum Of Modern Art June 16th, 1970 (audio only from the after screening with Gary Pullin art from the doc, 9:39 minutes)
* Bill Hinzman and the world-breaking "Monroeville Zombie Walk"; October 28th, 2007 Pittsburgh, PA (1,124 participants, anamorphic, 7:08 minutes)
* Additional Trailers: "The Pleasure Of Being Out Of Step" (anamorphic, 2013), "Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story" (anamorphic, 2012), "In Search Of Blind Joe Death: The Saga Of John Fahey" (anamorphic, 2013) and "Happy House" (anamorphic, 2013)
* First Run Features bio with web link

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Audio:

* Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
* Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

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NOTES/REVIEW

There are no subtitles, though the back indicates there should be.

The DVD is not dubbed in any language(s).

It is presented in anamorphic widescreen.

The documentary isn't shy; it uses graphic stills along with footage of violence and death from the Vietnam war as well as the race conflicts at home to illustrate the era. Which I suppose was off putting for some. Man, this is quite polarizing.

I loved it by the way.



The documentary on 40th Anniversary release; "One For The Fire: The Legacy Of 'Night Of The Living Dead'" is ALL about the filming and its copy right history. That info got expanded on the doc, "Chronicles Of The Living Dead" included in the Nerd Block exclusive DVD for Night Of The Living Dead 1968 (a previous retrospective entry).

"Birth Of The Living Dead" isn't so much about the making as the environment which brought about the horror classic. America as it was in 1967, when filming began - the headline making events.

The subject wasn't made clear enough on the wraparound, some felt cheated.

By the way, scenes from the movie is from the remastered edition, though it begins with footage from a scratchy print trailer.

Something I didn't know - the "Mr. Roger" connection. Romero did a couple of shorts for the long running PBS series (1968 - 2001), "Things That Feel Soft" and "Mr. Roger's Gets A Tonsillectomy". Wow.

Oh god, 'Won't you be MY neighbor?... Why there's a knock at the door. Lets go see who it is. Why it's Mr. McFeely. Are you all right? Is that blood on your chin? *lunges forward* *screams* Trolley help!!! Get me my sniper rife!'

Lady Elaine locks up the castle and goes into the fetal position. The Purple Panda People is seen by everyone now and are getting gutted by the zombified Prince Tuesday and Betty. King Friday starts killing random staff, believing everyone is infected - including Henrietta. 'Meow-Meow MEOW!'

I'm not right in the head.

*smile*

I became aware of this documentary in October of 2013 from Ain't It Cool News, they showed the trailer. I was quite curious, then silence. Then in December, reading in a home video trade publication, learned of its release.

Bought this on February 28th, 2014. It arrived on March 7th from a seller on Amazon; paid fourteen bucks plus shipping.

Back on subject...

Before "Night Of The Living Dead" there were movies like "I Walked With A Zombie" [1943], they were sort of the tribal characters, very different. Now arguably the 'zombie' is as important as the werewolf, but right below the vampire. Is probably the most important horror monster in the history of scary movies. All of these zombies, all go back to Romero. There is no movie director that's responsible for the vampire. There is no movie director that's responsible for Frankenstein. There is no movie director that's responsible for the werewolf. There's people who have made key movies, but those are much older characters which have this kind of literary pedigree. And while there have been undead and zombies, et cetera - what we know of as a zombie; the kind of 'it's alive' moment of it was 1968, George Romero in "Night Of The Living Dead" in Pittsburgh.

- Jason Zinoman (The New York Times critic)

This fact is missing on so many viewers, especially the younger ones.

The concept; the undead feasting on the living, cannibalizing - is something that only came into being in '68. There was no prescient in books or film before that. Romero created something so horrific; an original, not voodoo based. Your foe is your mom, it's your sibling, your spouse, your lover (I've said that before). To quote the tag line from another zombie movie, "Resident Evil" (2002) - "Nobody is immune".

This film and the structure, the morality - who lives and who dies? It's not based on whither you're a good person, whither you work hard or fight hard.

- Larry Fessender (filmmaker)



Rich, poor, old or young; the zombie apocalypse was the global equalizer. None of that stuff mattered, just your wits and cooperation. That's it. How will you behave? Be like the Coopers - bicker till it kills you?