5
(undead creatures, church-going character and an opposition to church voiced)
7
(violence, brief nudity)
6
(worth seeing and revisiting)
I've run across a number of old horror movies I thought were highly overrated. Most of my favorites have turned out to be movies I'd never heard of before seeing them. Night of the Living Dead is an exception. I thoroughly enjoyed this flesh-eating piece. You probably know it's about zombies – the dead reanimated and walking around, but you may not know anything beyond that so I'll fill you in just in case.
It's about a group of people hiding out in a house trying desperately to survive the onslaught of hungry corpses. Should they make a stand in the house or barricade themselves in the basement? Should they defend their position or try to get to a safer location? Much of the movie revolves around their clash of ideas each believing that the others' will get them killed. They fight amongst themselves as much as they fend off attacks of the zombie hordes.
The performances are largely quite good (despite the cast being unknowns with short filmographies – most beginning with this movie and some ending with it as well) with conflicts that are both well written and well executed. Whose idea is the right one? The debate is open. Talk amongst yourselves….
That's part of what I enjoy about the movie. We can never know if a different course of action for the group would have resulted in a better outcome or if their fates are sealed no matter how they try to battle it. Debating the various possibilities amongst other viewers can be fun. The story and events are dark and disturbing, much more so than the average black and white horror movie. The zombies are very nicely done and actually manage to be creepy. Maybe they aren't as graphically disturbing as some of the modern CG-enhanced zombies, but that doesn't mean they aren't done well.
Events do not play out at all like I would have expected. This can be good if you like movies that take you along for the ride. If you prefer the more conventional plots with a more standard conclusion and typical heroes you may find yourself disappointed.
We also don't get everything explained to us. How are the dead coming to life? Why do they feel the need to go after the living? I like having explanations, but so many movies these days focus on trying to explain EVERY single thing that it's nice to see something once in a while that says, “Here's what's going on, roll with it.”
The movie is not without its flaws, though. Some of the scenes are too campy. In particular there's a stabbing scene that seems overdone to me. The vocal effects sound too off the wall, and it feels drawn out. Some of the lulls in the action are long. Other than that, though no complaints come to mind.
Morality
This is a rather bleak movie and may be enough to disturb even some of the desensitized modern audiences which is rare for a movie from the 60's. The zombies kill and eat people. Others are stabbed or shot. There is also a lot of violence against the zombies. While it isn’t as visually graphic as it might be if filmed today, the suggestion of violence is strong.
There is some mild strong language here and there.
There are 2 instances of nudity. They involve a naked female zombie and are so quick and off center that many people miss it completely. I myself didn't notice the second nude shot the first time I watched the movie.
Spirituality
The story involves reanimated corpses, but unlike most (maybe ALL) zombie movies that came before it there is no voodoo involved this time.
A woman prays as her brother berates her for it. They have a brief discussion about going to church which the brother thinks is stupid. This seems to be more of a character building moment than a commentary on church-going to me, but take it as you will.
While the situation here is dire and extreme, it reflects all of life to some extent. We are always presented with choices and have to decide on this or that action depending on the desired outcome and who we hope to benefit. We can focus on ourselves or we can concern ourselves with the well-being of others. We can't always know if the choice we made was the best one because we can't see the far-reaching consequences of every decision. All we can do is strive to make the best decisions possible at all times.
As Christians we should be favoring those decisions that glorify God and show love to our neighbors while trusting that whether we make the right choices or not God is control and not taken by surprise when we do something wrong.
In Night of the Living Dead there almost seems to be no choice that turns out to be the right one. I've certainly felt like that before. As my favorite band sings “everything I do hurts someone.” Every attempt to make things right only worsens the situation which is why I say this is a bleak film. It reflects that frustration in life.
Final Thoughts
Night of the Living Dead is a classic well worth seeing. Highly influential and respected, any fan of old black and white horror, particularly zombie movies, really needs to see this.
Buying Guide
Night of the Living Dead has even more options to sort than a lot of the other public domain movies I've covered. When getting this one you'll want to make sure that you are getting the version of the movie you expect to.
A search turned up a few different Blu options, but they are all either region 2 releases or not in print except for a Shockfest multi-pack.
On DVD there's an “uncut” release from Gaiam. A “Millennium Edition” offers a ton of extras. A Weinstein release offers a remastered transfer. Legend offers a colorized version. The “30th Anniversary Edition” also offers a number of extras. The “Special Collector's Edition” is digitally mastered.
There are plenty of others that I found that didn't seem to offer anything special not to mention a huge number of multi-movie packs (this is a main selling point of many of them). I'll cover a couple of those sets and a Halloween special package in detail.
The best Blu listing I found mentioned a 1080p image, and though the audio is still mono it is Dolby digital. So it sounds like it might be a good quality presentation, but I couldn't find one actually for sale. I couldn't even find the name of the company that produced it.
The Ultimate Shockfest Blu collection seems to be part of a slowly growing trend (or perhaps attempt at a trend) of using Blu's storage capacity to fit a lot of movies on a single disc. 20 public domain films (some very common, some fairly rare) reside on a single disc in standard 480i definition (no HD here). The best I can say for these is that they seem to occasionally present the original image ratios and may be very slightly improved quality over some of the cheaper DVD budget packs. Otherwise they offer nothing special aside from being exceptionally self-space friendly. They offer no extras and can be somewhat hard to find.
Despite some of these DVD's saying they are “uncut” every single listing has the same run time in the specs which is the same run time as the versions that I own. All of them offer the same 1.33 “full-frame” ratio though the sound specs vary. Unless I specify something different expect mono sound. If I don't mention any extras it means none were listed for that version.
The Gaiam version mentions being digitally remastered so it might very well have decent quality though none of the comments I saw mentioned this specific release.
The same can be said for the Weinstein release.
The colorized version also includes the original black-&-white. It has been “restored” and includes a 5.1 surround sound mix. The description mentions “bonus features” suggesting there's more than one, but it only specifies a commentary by Mike Nelson (Mystery Science Theater 3000).
The Special Collector's Edition does not mention anything that makes it special or particularly geared towards collectors except for being digitally mastered. It may very well offer more, but details on it hide from me.
There appears to be 2 versions of the 30th Anniversary Edition with one being “limited” and the other not. The limited version is a 2 disc package while the other is 1 disc. They offer the original edit of the film along with the extended version that fans universally hate. It speaks of a new score for the original and remastering. There's a behind-the-scenes feature, a gallery of images, a scene from Flesheater, a music video, and a 32 page book. The limited edition also includes a soundtrack CD.
The Millennium Edition offers remastering and even 5.1 THX surround sound. The quality is said to be good though it didn't get as much praise as I had expected. Extras include a parody, a gallery of images, a history of Romero's company, scenes from a lost Romero film, interviews with at least 2 of the actors, looks at collectibles and props, the script, scrapbooks from cast members, liner notes from Romero and Stephen King, and some other looks at Romero's directorial work.
Final Recommendation:
The Millennium Edition sounds to me like the way to go for the best offerings for fans although the Anniversary Edition has a few goodies especially if you're curious about the new footage. I'd enjoy hearing the Mike Nelson commentary but don't think the other offerings on the colorized edition can compare to some of the others. If you're not overly concerned with extras or the best possible quality you can get this in all sorts of cheap packs. You'll probably end up with a copy just by buying horror multi-packs sooner or later anyway. I own a few different copies without making any effort to seek the extra ones out. None of the ones I'll cover below is ideal, but they are budget-friendly. Of those the “Halloween Collector's Edition” is perhaps a bit more desirable but may be the hardest to find.
This is a “Halloween” Collector's Edition (meaning the holiday not the movie) set by Madacy that includes a book and some CD's all unrelated to the movie. I can't promise that you'll be able to find this edition for sale anymore.
Video
1.33:
This is the TV standard ratio as all the prints I have are. It is about on par with the other transfers I've seen with perhaps a bit more trash. The image shifts a bit but not as bad as the Chilling 20 pack. It's a tad washed out. It's far from great but not as bad as some.
Audio
2.0 mono:
It has a little white noise but a marginally better mix than others I've seen.
Ultimately even though this transfer is far from great it's better than some and maybe even one of the better ones I've seen if only marginally so.
Packaging
This version comes in a DVD folder that comes inside a metal box with the other stuff.
The interface features some Halloween themed graphics that are amusing and a looping score segment.
And if you think you're getting anything other than the 96 minute version, you're not. None of the originally lost footage is included (I don't think that exists on any current release) and none of the detested newer additional footage is included.
Extras
OK, some of these aren't truly movie “extras” (it's more like the movie is an extra for the set), but I'll list them here anyway.
-Quiz: This is a game - multiple choice questions about the movie with a loop of the score in the background. A correct answer rewards you with a short clip of the movie. There is no final score or any kind of reward at the end.
-Ouija Board Info: This is a written history of the Ouija board. It's too short to be very interesting and is of questionable accuracy since the concept of communication with the afterlife is documented at least as far back as the Old Testament which I'm pretty sure existed before 1850.
-Voodoo Religion Info: This is a written history of Voodoo and is a little more interesting than the Ouija board but still very short.
-Romero Bio: This is a short, written bio of George Romero.
Physical:
-Music CD: 12 tracks of spooky themes like “X Files,” “The Shining,” selections from “Psycho,” “Tubular Bells” from The Exorcist, “Friday the 13th,” and others. These are not the original recordings but are reproduced in better quality than a lot of these collections that I hear.
-Sound Effects CD: This is a disc of random sound effects mixed together in an hour-long background soundtrack. I would be more impressed if it had different types of effects (maybe a “haunted house” track followed by a “haunted graveyard” track, etc.) instead of a mishmash of random looping effects some of which are very annoying.
-Book: “Urban Legends & Ghost Stories” is a 23 page book with spooky images and very brief summaries of various creepy tales.
Next is a bare-bones stand-alone DVD by UAV/Image.
Video
1.33:
The quality is simlar to the other prints with a washed out image and some trash, but the black looks more black here.
Audio
2.0 mono:
The audio is not terrible but does have more white noise than the other versions.
The blacker blacks of the image are offset by the additional white noise in the soundtrack.
Packaging
It comes in a standard plastic case.
It's the 96 minute version once more.
Extras
There are none.
Next up is Horror Classics, a 50 movie set. I had some trouble with my disc, but I think this is due to a faulty disc rather than a transfer issue.
Video
1.33:
As with the others it's moderately fair quality but is still obviously dated. It can look slightly more green than black and gets jumpy at times. It has some trash in the image and is a little washed out.
Audio
2.0 mono:
The sound is marginally better than some of the other releases having less white noise though some is still present. It's dated but fair quality with a mix that isn't great.
This is a slightly worse image than the two I've already covered but slightly better audio than the UAV/Image. The quality differences aren't significant, though.
Packaging
This particular disc is housed in a cardboard sleeve contained in a Velcro-fastened box (more recently repackaged in plastic). You can read about the set as a whole in great detail in the Horror Classics (50 pack) guide.
This is the 96 minute run time of the film once more.
Extras
None for this one, either.
Next is the 20 pack called “Chilling.”
Video
1.33:
There is a good bit of trash in the image and the pixels seem to shift around like water. Being produced by the same company as the 50 pack I expected the print to be the same, but this one is far harder on the eyes.
Audio
2.0 mono:
The sound has persistent white noise and some loud pops here and there. The volume level is good, and the dialogue is easy to follow.
This is the one print of the 4 I have that is notably worse than the others.
Packaging
The disc comes in a paper sleeve that lives in a plastic case. You can get more details about the set as a whole by checking out the Chilling (20 pack) guide.
This is also the 96 minute version.
Extras
Still no extras.