Night Of The Living Dead DVD Retrospective

[JohnIan101]

PART IV: BOOKS - A5 P1

No story since I'm covering a bunch of shorts.



This month on the 8th, I finished reading the book which arrived mid, last month. Read off and on, had other things to do. This anthology is a mixed bag which I will cover.

The book was first talked about in the entry for "Night Of The Living Dead" novel (non-canon adaptation) by Christopher Andrews on April 26th, 2017. Some stats before we continue.

Released on July 11th, 2017 from St. Martin's Press (ISBN# 978-1250112248) for $17.99.

The softback is three-hundred seventy pages long. The dimensions are 5.3 x 8.3 inches.

I'm looking at this and has to happen this way. Too much to write about so I'm going to do this bi-weekly the various shorts until finished.

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NOTES/REVIEW

This has Romero's final published work; streeted five days after he passed from lung cancer. I was hoping it was gonna be good - it was lackluster. But later an epiphany hits me. I'll cover that in detail much later, there's a reason why his included sucks.

Let me take a step back. Repeating what was included in the April 26th post...

In 1968 the world experienced a brand new kind of terror with the debut of George A. Romero’s landmark movie Night Of The Living Dead. The newly dead rose to attack the living. Not as vampires or werewolves. This was something new... and terrifying. Since then, zombies have invaded every aspect of popular culture.

But it all started on that dreadful night in a remote farmhouse...

"Nights Of The Living Dead" returns to that night, to the outbreak, to where it all began. New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry teams with the godfather of the living dead himself, George A. Romero to present a collection of all new tales set during the 48 hours of that legendary outbreak.

"Nights Of The Living Dead" includes stories by some of today’s most important writers: Brian Keene, Carrie Ryan, Chuck Wendig, Craig Engler, David J. Schow, David Wellington, Issac Marion, Jay Bonansinga, Joe R. Lansdale, John Russo, John Skipp, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Max Brallier, Mike Carey, Mira Grant, Neal Shusterman & Brandon Shusterman, and Ryan Brown. Plus original stories by Romero and Maberry!

- back cover

This has nineteen shorts; anthology was edited by author Jonathan Maberry and Romero - with introductions from both men. Tales - their length varies, some are four and half pages and others are twenty-three. I'm gonna do a small synopsis on each. There will be spoilers, but basic stuff. I'm not gonna ruin the whole book for you.

You may want to check it out.

Okay, not all of these stories have an ending, quite a few end with a cliffhanger with no resolution. And not finished by another writer later in here. They just end.

The front cover reads: "All-new, original stories based on Night Of The Living Dead." And the back cover (above), "collection of all new tales set during the 48 hours of that legendary outbreak".

Not true. Some are set in 1968 and some are set in the present - in reboot form; back to Day One, now in 2017.

There is an error in Maberry's introduction.

Dates, for example, are sketchy. Night was released in 1968, but George's movie Diary Of The Dead, released in 2007, technically takes place at the same time.

I see this in various YouTubers who make "Night" videos. No. It is NOT the same day. "Diary" is a reboot, starting from day one in the current period. The same way the remake was set at the start, now rebooted to 1990. Why is this concept so damn hard to accept?

It's a reboot.

Anyhow, I did not have an issue with stories not adhering to 1968. The problem(s) were with crappy stories. One of which in particular, just pissed me off. It's Millennial horror. [shakes head] I'll cover it in detail when we hit it.

Lets do this in the order as they appear in the book....

1) "Dead Man's Curve" by Joe R. Lansdale. This is by far my favorite, I wanted more, but it ends on a cliffhanger. It appears to be set in '68 and told in first person. The story centers on siblings, brother and sister. They race cars for profit. Tommy builds and fixes cars. She drives them fast, real fast. Looking at the pages, she isn't given a name. Our leads drive a red, Dodge Charger vs. Matt and Duane in their Pontiac GTO. The plan is the race down "Dead Man's Curve", finish line is the parking lot of the hospital. Beyond that is the city's morgue - winner get $200.

This is a stretch of road neither sibling had driven down, it's curvy and at one side is an old quarry, now filled with water, a man-made lake. There is some small talk about what had happened earlier that day.

"Some kind of convention, they all got sick at the hotel. Bet twenty of them died. Hospital has a bunch of sick ones packed in, some in bad shape, probably buying a ticket for the morgue right now".

"Some kind of mold in the ventilation system, I think".

They race, but the dead has other plans as they walk from the woods onto the road. The GTO crashes into a person, Duane gets out and is promptly eaten. Matt races away hitting more people. Our leads take off and are nearly overtaken. Down the road before the hospital they find a farmhouse and see the GTO smashed into a tree. They drive in to investigate and see a women calling them into the large barn. New plan.

Things go bad as they see Matt beating on the woman and trying to lock them out of the barn. The girl uses a tire iron to hit inbetween the cracks of the wood, nearly breaking Matt's arm. Tommy opens the door and she drives in.

The place belongs to an older woman in her sixties, she's taking care of her four grandchildren when the event happened. The house was getting over run, the front door was open at the time. She took her wards to the next safest place. Turns out Matt was trying to beat the woman; toss the kids and lady outside to be eaten - distractions from him; remain quiet until they lost interest and leave. Matt knows from what he's seen, the dead have risen.

Soon this place will be surrounded. Our girl comes up with a plan to get their attention while the woman and kids make an escape in a tractor with trailer. It's comes from no where and make sense. A bloody choice. The plan works and the dead follow the Charger. The family is on it's way to town, maybe the local police has a safe zone. The siblings try to make it out in their car, but it's now starting to run out of fuel.

She spent a lot of it revving up the motor and going in circle - a pied piper of zombies. The road is getting thick with them. They will not get to the summit to flee. She opts an alternate exit. Full speed on Dead Man's Curve on the bend - over the edge into the lake. Hope to reach as close as they can to the other side. Foot on the floor, some of the dead were on top of the car and are thrown off as it goes over the edge; some land in the water.

They get close enough and swim in turns to reach the edge, but the quarry walls are smooth, no way to grip or get out.

Right before a cloud had covered the moon, she saw what looked like a trail nearby. They swim to it with hopes. The end. This is played, smart. Lots of good decisions and sibling fun, teasing each other. Matt makes a great foil, he's a bastard.

2) "A Dead Girl Named Sue" by Craig E. Engler. Story follows Sheriff, Evan Foster and his now captured suspect, Cliven Ridgeway. The crisis is known in this small town which also appear to be a period tale. Cliven is the back of the cruiser being taken to the police station.

We find out later the Sheriff had made an effort for justice, since the world is coming apart. No more courts. Cold justice for the rape and murder of a thirteen year old girl, Sue Donovan. Cliven is locked in his cell with the girl in a slightly open body bag tossed in. You can pretty much guess the rest. End with Foster planning the next swift justice - Cliven's father, Abel. Who helped with the murder.

"The sheriff figured they'd have enough time to get Abel before dawn."

A meat and potatoes story, knew where they were going when it spent so much time with Cliven in his cell, telling us how small it is and covering how much of a jerk the man is.

Entry three is another favorite of mine; psychic vs. the undead, next entry.



How's that for a taste? Come back here on the November 29th, 2018 for more of this long book review, I'll give a two part entry next. *wink*

And this post should've been made on the 15th. *shakes head* My fault.