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Night Of The Living Dead:
30th Anniversery Limited Edition
review by Anthony D.
Running Time: 111/96 Minutes
Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Russell Streiner,
Karl Hardman, Keith Wayne, Marilyn Eastman.
Written by John A. Russo
Directed by George A. Romero
Retail Price: 34.98
Studio: Anchor Bay
Features: Commentary by John A. Russo, S. William
Hinzman, Russell Steiner and Bob Michelucci., Anniversary
edition with new scenes and new score, Behind the scenes
featurette, still gallery, scene from S. William Hinzman
film "Flesheater" (1994), Music video "Dance of the Dead,"
30th Anniversary Theatrical Trailer.
Disc Specs: Full Screen, Black and White, Dolby
Digital 5.1 English
No longer opening in a stark cemetery setting, this 30th
Anniversary Edition now takes its sweet old time to get us
up to the now classic, "They're coming to get you, Barbara."
uttered jokingly and setting the tone for George A. Romero's
shockingly original, independently made classic, macabre
tale of zombies on a rampage. What follows instead is an
intense hour and a half of bloated added footage as the
living seek refuge from the living dead in an abandoned farm
house - - strangers trapped together by fate must bond
together to survive the onslaught of rising corpses set on
eating the flesh of the living.
Barbara (Judith O'Dea) and her brother Johnny are
visiting the graves of their relatives one Autumn day, when
a man approaches them with a disjointed gait. Johnny
jokingly declares that the man is coming to get Barbara, but
instead finds himself being attacked and killed by this
stranger. Barely escaping the same fate, Barbara hurriedly
drives away from the cemetery, and finds herself at a
desolate, seemingly abandoned farmhouse. The house holds
surprises of its own for our terror-possessed heroine: a
black man with a take-charge attitude, a decaying corpse in
the upstairs hallway as well as five other people hiding out
in the basement. As darkness falls, hordes of flesh-eating
zombies attack the farmhouse - -including the now
living-dead Johnny! Thus the stage is set for one of the
most horrifying films of any age. George A. Romero's "Night
of the Living Dead," although shot on a shoestring budget,
still manages to pack quite a wallop after thirty years and
countless imitations. Filmed in the remotest rural areas
surrounding the city of Pittsburgh, and using local unknown
talents, Romero's black and white film has the look and feel
of a documentary while retaining its chilling aspects.
Taking his cues from the master of suspense, Alfred
Hitchcock and his film of "The Birds," Romero successfully
creates a world of shockingly random violence and offers no
explanation for the events surrounding the rise of the dead,
but rather dwells on the effect upon these seven stranded
strangers. At times, Romero dramatically "borrows" from "The
Birds" with shots of zombies attacking the secluded house
much as the birds attacked the seaside house in Hitchcock's
1963 genre masterpiece.
But wait! Now there's more...why there's more, I have yet
to discern, but there is more newly shot footage, including
a useless new opening and closing segment and a horrendous
new musical score. So this is a 30th Anniversary Edition -
-hmm, it reminds of a man who on his wedding anniversary
would give his wife an unneeded facelift courtesy of Doctor
Frankenstein! She is beautiful as she is, why tamper with
her graceful beauty by subjecting her to the "genius" of
this particular doctor...
Fuggedabbuddit!! That the newly films scenes look
pristine, while the old footage looks darker and more
sinister only makes me hate the 30th Anniversary Edition
even more. That the entire picture doesn't live up to the
clarity of the newly shot - -completely useless - - scenes
distracts from whatever pleasure one might have gleaned from
this revamp.
Well, alright we have a new musical score presented in
Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound that makes use of all the
speakers; unfortunately the score bites the big one. Scott
Vladimir Licina has written a Phillip Glass knock-off that
even Glass would have disowned. While mastering the score,
though, the engineers also decided to boost, if not
re-record all of the sound effects allowing the hammering of
nails to dwell in a phantom zone instead of being aurally
faithful to the camera positioning. A total screw-up, in
other words.
For the viewer who has stuck with this disc this long,
there is a plethora of Features to be explored: Commentary
by John A. Russo, S. William Hinzman, Russell Steiner and
Bob Michelucci. A behind the scenes featurette, a still
gallery, a short scene from S. William Hinzman film
"Flesheater" (1994), yes, and a Music video "Dance of the
Dead." A 30th Anniversary Theatrical Trailer rounds out the
package. Of special interest, though is the option of
watching the original film, BUT with the newly composed
dissonance labeled a "score." Disgusted, I gave up...
Whatever tempted John A. Russo to tamper with Romero's
original thriller is beyond contempt!! Whatever possesses
Anchor Bay to pawn this off on unsuspecting buyer is also
beyond contempt! The less said about this release, the
better. Buyer beware, this is an unadulterated attempt to
glut the market with a product that should have remained a
stupid idea, and to borrow from Shakespeare, Anchor Bay's
presentation of "Night of the Living Dead" is "A tale of
sound of fury, told by an idiot, signifying nothing."
 (1/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (2/5)
 (3/5)
(2/5)
(1/5,
NOT an average)
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