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Night Of The Living Dead:
Special Edition (Elite)
review by Anthony D.
Running Time: 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: 29.98
Studio: Elite Entertainment
Features: Commentaries by George Romero, John Russo,
Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Judith O'Dea, S. William
Hinzman, Keith Wayne, Kyra Schon, Russell Streiner and
Vincent Survinski, Theatrical Trailer and TV Spot, Night of
the Living Bread, Original Commercials by Image Ten,
inc.
Disc Specs: Full Screen, Black and White, Dolby
Digital 1.0 Mono English
"They're coming to get you, Barbara," uttered jokingly in
a cemetery far from the city of Pittsburgh, sets the tone
for George A. Romero 's shockingly original, independently
made classic, macabre tale of zombies on a rampage. What
follows is an intense hour and a half 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.
Elite Entertainment's dvd opens with the credit sequence
for "Night of the Living Dead" as we are used to seeing it:
scratchy, muddied and riddled with aritfacts before the
screen grinds to a halt to display the THX-approved log.
What follows is a revelation! Sharp images in a highly
detailed black and white print, no grain nor blurriness. The
starkness of the cemetery is positively frightening on its
own, but when the first zombie lops his way toward Johnny
and Barbara the viewer knows that he is in for a delightful
presentation of this classic film. If there is a flaw, it is
inherent in the film itself: there is a slight freeze/jitter
accompanying shifts in camera angles; it is not a
troublesome problem, being barely perceptable, and I believe
it is lodged within the camera's negative. Also unfortunate
is the fact that the film is defaulted to play immediately
following the THX logo, rather than going to an onscreen
menu.
"Night of the Living Dead" is presented with a fairly
clean Dolby Digital 1.0 channel mono.
Fans of "Night of the Living Dead" will certainly not be
disappointed by the special features Elite has gathered for
their Special Edition DVD. I really liked the short film
spoof, "Night of the Living Bread," - - the title says it
all. (Of course one's sense of humor is subjective, and the
short is silly beyond belief). The television commercials
from Image Ten, directed by George Romero, will mean
virtually nothing to viewers outside of the Pittsburgh area,
but it's nice to see them. The theatrical trailers are in
terrible shape and bill the film, with sonorous voice-over,
as a bizarre adventure in fear, and surprisingly enough
contain the one shot of nudity from the film itself. Under
the Main Menu's "Audio Bites," viewers may chose from two
very fine audio commentaries:
Zombie Masters which features George Romero and John Russo,
the director and screen writer or Zombie Party featuring
nearly the entire cast, Duane Jones had since died, and his
contributions to the film are recognized by both audio
commentaries.
I couldn't possibly recommend the Elite Entertainment
"Night of the Living Dead" highly enough. "Night of the
Living Dead" is a seminal work in the annals of cinema
horror and has finally received a stunning transfer worthy
of its reputation. This is a full and richly textured film,
cinematically and thematically, which somehow has not lost
its power to chill the viewer. Perhaps because most of the
violence is left to the viewer's vivid imagination, rather
than graphically presented, the film will hold a place in
the pantheon of horror films. With Elite's presentation,
viewers lucky enough to track one down will be able to enjoy
many more nights with "Night of the Living Dead." A true
American classic.
 (5/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (4/5)
 (3/5)
 (4.5/5)
(5/5,
NOT an average)
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