Revel in Romero: 'Dead' series has its day
This is a killer DVD week, as we get a chance to look at two films from horror master George A. Romero. The films came out 40 years apart, and watching them both offers a unique glimpse at how a filmmaker can change, and remain the same, over time.
Let's dig in:
"Night of the Living Dead" (40th anniversary edition) -- Romero's 1968 debut, the godfather of all modern horror films, remains scary and thought-provoking despite a few creaky moments when it shows its age. Romero, who co-wrote the script with John Russo, elegantly threads social satire through the fairly standard monster-movie plot, which has seven strangers holed up in a Pennsylvania farmhouse that's under siege by hordes of flesh-eating zombies. The strangers include a young girl whose brother was taken by a zombie at the start of the film, a hot-tempered, middle-aged father of a sick girl, and Ben, a young black man. As the strangers try to stay alive and plot their escape, a rivalry develops between the father and Ben, dividing the group into two factions. Meanwhile, news reports tell them that the dead are rising from their graves all over the world, committing mass murder. The only way to stop them, the authorities reveal, is to shoot them in the head.
Romero filmed "Night" in gritty black-and-white on a shoestring budget, giving the film a rough, raw feel. The violence, while shocking at the time, seems a bit tame today, and young horror fans might not like the zombies' slow, almost comical shuffling. But the film's final act, in which old-fashioned scary fun turns into bleak nihilism, still packs a visceral punch, capped by its famously dark ending. What's more, the political subtext of the film feels frighteningly relevant today. Romero made "Night" as the promise of the 1960s began to curdle in a swirl of racial violence and angry divisions over the Vietnam War. The film mocks politicians and other authority figures who cock their guns and boast that all is well even as the world teeters on the brink of chaos. "To us, they were the real zombies," Romero says on the DVD of the cops and sycophantic newsmen who swoop on the farmhouse at the end of the film like conquering heroes. "Night of the Living Dead" remains one of the true classics of the horror genre.
This 40th anniversary DVD includes a beautifully restored picture and a clear soundtrack, along with a nice set of bonus features. Romero provides a commentary, as do the cast members. There's plenty of behind-the-scenes material and an interview with Duane Jones, the actor who played Ben (one of the few black lead characters to appear in a movie in the late-1960s), shortly before his death in 1988. (NR; Genius Products, $19.98)
"Diary of the Dead" -- The success of "Night of the Living Dead" spurred Romero to make four more "Dead" films, including this year's "Diary of the Dead." In each film, Romero uses the zombie premise to attack various ills in American culture, be it consumerism or sexism. In "Diary," Romero sets his sights on the Internet age, when everyone is screaming their opinions online and filming every bit of their lives for viewing on sites like YouTube. Like "The Blair Witch Project" and this year's "Cloverfield," the movie unfolds as if it is all footage shot by characters in the film (a device that I'm getting a bit tired of). The plot is a simple update of the Romero formula: A group of Pittsburgh film students is attacked by zombies while making a film in the woods. They spend the film driving together in a camper, fending off the zombies while trying to find their families. Romero shows in "Diary" that he hasn't lost his ability to create gruesome scares, but the film is undercut by his sermonizing. In "Night of the Living Dead," the message played a secondary role to the story. In "Diary," the message takes over, leaving the story and characters feeling like afterthoughts. If Romero had tilted the balance the other way, "Diary" could have been a new classic. The DVD is a nice package, though, offering a Romero commentary, an excellent feature-length making-of documentary and other goodies. (R; Genius Products, $24.95)