Two 'Dead' Films Find Life on DVD

by Andrew Jupin

There is no doubt that George A. Romero's 1968 classic, Night of the Living Dead, is one of the most important contemporary, American horror films ever made. The film was the start of a terrifying new direction for the horror genre and at the same time was a biting critique of contemporary, American life and some of the more popular ideologies at that time. The film was able to criticize things like race relations and contemporary familial structure, while at the same time scaring the pants off of audiences all over the world. It was also a great achievement in the realm of independent, American filmmaking.

Forty years later, Romero is still chugging along with films in his 'Dead' series after most recently releasing the critical overkill (no pun intended) Diary of the Dead. Here, Romero is attempting to stomp on things like television news media and the affects of You Tube on today's society. The problem (as you can read in greater detail in my review of the film) is that all the subtlety that Romero was once the master of is now replaced with endless amounts of obvious remarks from characters that don't belong in a Romero film to begin with. One of the great aspects of Romero's casting over the years as been his ability to select average, believable looking people to play his characters. The opposite is true for Diary which is filled with pretty girls and chiseled guys, none of whom seem at home in a George A. Romero production.

Well as of today, Dimension Films is granting you, the consumer, the chance to purchase both the good and the bad. Both Diary of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead are finding new homes on DVD. While the Diary disc seems pretty standard--special features include the usual rambling Romero commentary, and behind-the-scenes featurettes--there is one unique feature available which is a series of five short films made by fans and selected by Romero himself. Yes, the films are all about zombies and yes, MySpace is responsible. But nonetheless, they are certainly worth checking out.

But the real gem to come out of this Dimension Films zombie DVD release party is the Night of the Living Dead disc. The film itself became public domain years ago and because of this the DVD community has seen at least a dozen different releases of the film, all even worse than the last. You sadly even find the film crammed onto a DVD with at least six other films in one of those 'Great Horror Movie 50-Pak' things which is something so sad considering the upper echelon of horror that the film falls into. Well the great thing about the Night DVD is that it is fully remastered. This transfer looks absolutely incredible. The picture is crystal clear and the audio just crackles with every bone-chomping sound effect in the film. This special 40th Anniversary Edition also comes complete with two audio commentaries (one from Romero himself and one from select cast and crew members), an entire feature-length documentary called One for the Fire which chronicles the production and importance of the film, a separate Night of the Living Dead-centric Q&A with Romero himself as well as the final interview with Duane Jones, the African-American lead of the film who, along with Romero's casting insistence, helped break down race barriers in the motion picture industry.

In all honesty, if you're going to go out there and purchase either of these DVD's, make sure you pick up Night before you consider buying Diary. If anything, Diary is a rental. I think it's important to see all of Romero's films, but only necessary to own a select few. Keeping track of his body of work as a whole is important because the lows in his career, like Diary of the Dead, certainly give a whole new importance to the highs of his career, like Night of the Living Dead. And there honestly isn't a better edition of Night out there than the one being released today.