On the lead up to Halloween the DVD market starts its flood of cheery horror flicks to tingle down your spine for an odd moment of spooky thrills. It should then be no shock at all that ‘The Night of The Living Dead’ should be getting a release then, or should it ? This title has probably had the most releases on DVD that I am aware of for any one movie, you can get it on its own from a variety of labels, you can get it as a double billing with many old and new flicks in the bargain bin, or even as part of a Fifty Horror movie boxed set. Tartan released a very respectful version back in time for Halloween 2000 in the UK, a nice transfer with decent extras were also present in the Elite ‘Millennium edition’ for US consumption in 2002, or you can get it colorized, in pseudo 3D, or with a grungy gothic soundtrack. Anchor Bay pulled out the stops and released it as part of the ‘Trilogy of the Dead’ set as well as revamping it with ‘new’ footage for a ‘30th Anniversary edition’ (which should be burned and buried without trace). In fact if you go to either Amazon or AmazonUK you will get at least 40 different versions of said title in some shape or form. So why do we need another ?
In short, each version released has never given this classic the amount of attention it duly deserves, and now in a limited edition tin from the Contender Entertainment Group we have the man himself, George A Romero, on audio commentary, joined by Marilyn Eastman (Helen Cooper), Karl Hardman (producer) and John A. Russo (writer) giving us the one that kick-started his career and changed the face of horror forever with a sparkling remastered print, the first for the UK.
The movie should need no introduction but just in case for those seeing ‘Land of the Dead’
This was the first time we actually got to see zombies doing the gut munching routine, beforehand in classics such as ‘I Walked with a Zombie’, they were mindless drones doing the bidding of their mostly deranged masters through witchcraft or some magical potion. Here they become the dead, frenzied cannibals, ghoulishly seeking the living flesh of others to feast upon, changing their victims into zombies as well. There are hints of contamination from a satellite causing the dead to rise so typical in movies of the 50’s and 60’s with their atomic paranoia.
One of the many reasons that sets Romero’s movies aside from the rest of the undead pack are its political attentions, the first can be viewed in reaction to a wartime America coping with the struggles of Vietnam, with the second, third and now fourth installments looking at consumerism and social issues with an undead tongue placed firmly in a rotten cheek. Perhaps you may just consider that the first was simply George and his mates doing a shockflick on the cheep, and in the second the shopping mall was just a convenient and cheep place to make the film. Either way, landmark movies they are, and Romero has won himself a place in the annuls of horror history… it’s just a shame that in the fourth one he tries a new approach and has the undead evolving ! Come on George, dead are dead and here’s the proof it worked !
As previously mentioned there is a commentary from Romero and Co. Here we get to hear all the tales of film making from 1968 with mannequins being bludgeoned to sheep intestines being filled with water to make them seem less ‘lifeless’ to the casting of the wonderful Duane Jones (‘Ganja & Hess’ ) in the lead as Ben, the first time we had a colored hero in a movie without making it a racial issue at the same time, also, a trivia note is the inclusion Bill ‘Chilly Billy’ Cardale as the Field Reporter, who happens to be the father of Lori Cardale, the heroine of Romero’s later installment, ‘Day of the Dead’ . This is an enjoyable enough listen with the four hardly giving a pause between the banter, but it lies mostly on the technical side of things or even talking to the zombies on the screen. The second commentary, and more entertaining of the two, comes from Russell Streiner (Johnny), Judith O'Dea (Barbara), Bill Hinzman (the cemetery zombie and one of those responsible for the '30th Anniversary Edition' debacle), Keith Wayne (Tom), Kyra Schon (the little Cooper girl) and production designer Vince Survinski.
For the remainder of the extra content; there is an audio interview with the late Duane Jones against some black and white snapshots from the movie, and an 11 minute video interview with actress Judith Ridley (Judy). For geek value, there’s some footage of Romero’s lost movie ‘There’s Always Vanilla’ which may appeal to some but does not amount to much on their own. Some trailers and TV spots, an extensive Photo Gallery, some Prop Shots, and the Shooting Script included as DVD Rom content finishes this batch in lovely animated graveyard menus. In short and casting the groovy black and silver tin and the Prop Shots photos aside, this just falls short of the ‘Millennium edition’ from Elite that was issued in the US back in 2002. So why has it taken three years for the UK to almost catch up with the US ? I guess for a definitive edition of the ultimate night of horror we will still need to wait with baited breath, but until that one comes along this one will do just nicely.
'The Night of the Living Dead Special Edition’ is out to own now and available via AmazonUK , and the almost identical 'Millennium edition' is available now at Amazon .database .
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