I just picked up the graphic novel version of director
George A. Romero’s Night of the Living
Dead (1968) and was surprised first by the fact that someone even thought
that there needed to be an adaptation of the film and second, that the graphic
novel is comprised of scene shots of the film slightly animated to give the
image an impression of being hand drawn.
It makes the whole thing look like an old Ralph Bakshi rotoscoped
animated film (he directed the animated Lord
of the Rings film and Cool World).
It got me thinking of all the people that have had the balls
to take Romero’s classic film (which due to an era with the copyright is in public
domain) and deface it with yet another atrocity of which Romero and his fellow
filmmakers are probably not reaping the benefits. This goes for all the plethora of films and
graphic novels and even an animated film that have continued the story of NOTLD but not the legacy of which
Romero’s subsequent films have done (i.e. Dawn/Day/Land/Diary/Survival
of the Dead).
For the purposes of this article I will only be discussing
films rather than graphic novels, comics, books, and other mediums. Let’s first take a look at the films that are
official remakes of Romero’s films starting with his own NOTLD (1990). Romero wrote
the screenplay for this film but gave directing chores to his frequent
collaborator Tom Savini. In many
respects, Romero improves upon the screenplay from the original but the film
suffers from lacking the punch of the original.
The late ‘90s were horrible for the horror genre as violence was toned
down due to studio interference and public outrage. Much of the violence is off-screen and the
zombie genre was more or less dead and buried at this time. This
film was ignored by audiences upon its original release (although I am happy to
say I saw the film on opening night).
Next comes the remake of Dawn of
the Dead (2004). This remake came
out at just the right time to re-invigorate zombies to the modern
audience. This film was the forerunner
for the fast moving zombie and took onscreen violence to a new and shocking
level. This was a fast paced and
suspenseful film from beginning to end.
It is hailed as one of the best horror remakes ever right up there with
John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) and
David Cronenberg’s The Fly (1986). The final remake is Steve Miner’s Day of the Dead (2008), which is
considered a travesty. With a vegetarian
zombie and zombies that climb and crawl on walls as if possessed by a demon
this film was laughed at despite the capable name cast. This is a film that fans despise despite the
fact it was handled by Miner who is an icon of the genre having directed Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981),
Friday the 13th Part 3-D (1982),
Halloween: H20 (1998), and House (1986), among many others.
Next up on our list is the NOTLD; 30th Anniversary Edition (1999) shepherded into
existence by John Russo and Bill Hinzman (co-writer and producer/First Zombie,
respectfully). Russo added scenes with
Hinzman and made several other changes none of which enhanced the film. This is the version that was most inspired by
George Lucas’ augmentations to the original Star
Wars trilogy and Steven Spielberg’s changes to E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
A film whose existence has been forgotten by most. On the opposite side of the spectrum is the
animated version NOTLD: Reanimated (2009),
which is an artistic homage to the original as artists from all over the world
augment and/or animate segments of the film in different styles creating a
unique amalgamation of a film. Despite
having no connection to the original filmmakers of the ’68 classic this is the
ultimate fan-film of love not just to the film but to fans of the horror genre
in general.
Before digital 3-D technology revolutionized the industry NOTLD 3-D (2006) was released upon the
world in a limited theatrical run using anaglyph technology. This Sig Haig (of Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects) starring
monstrosity utilized every cliché of the 3-D movie while retelling NOTLD in a modern day setting. This film is better left forgotten as is its
sequel NOTLD: Re-Animation (2012). This being said both films do have some
decent gore gags but the overall plot of the films are lacking despite the
horror icons that populate the films (Re-Animation
stars Andrew Divoff and Jeffrey Combs).
In this same vein of the 3-D remakes is NOTLD: Resurrection (2012) from the UK which is completely
uninspired despite the modern day setting.
What makes the film an atrocity is the horrible script, bad acting,
amateur cinematography, and complete lack of any originality. The same cannot be said of Mimesis: NOTLD (2011) which is a self-aware,
home invasion style film in which a group of people find themselves reliving
the events from the film. This is
actually a pretty entertaining new take on the material.
Up next are all the unofficial sequels which are all the
films Romero had nothing to do with. Return of the Living Dead (1985) and its
four sequels are the most famous. The
first film redefined zombies again by claiming that the events of the film NOTLD really happened. Zombies in the film were also intelligent and
could speak but the true difference is that these zombies craved brains instead
of any old body part. This film ushered
in a whole new and different type of zombie.
Of note is the fact that this film was originally conceived by NOTLD co-writer/producer John Russo who
would also produce NOTLD: 30th
Anniversary Edition and Children of
the Living Dead (2001). With the
exception of Return all of Russo’s
subsequent films have been atrocities to the legacy of the original. Bill Hinzman (the First Zombie see in the
original NOTLD) decided to expand his
character’s role by developing the film Flesheater
(1988), which he also directed, but this
film is marked with a bad script, horrible acting, subpar makeup effects, and
uninspired action and gore sequences.
This is an amateur film in every way despite the pedigree behind the
camera. This film has about as many
redeeming qualities as Day of the Dead 2:
Contagium (2005). Ana Clavell and
James G. Dudelson purchased the sequel rights to the original film to craft
this in name only sequel that has nothing to do with any of the Romero
films. It does have zombies but that in
and of itself does not make a good film.
The last in name only sequels would be Zombie 2 (1979) also known as Flesh
Eating Zombies (and even more simply Zombi
or Zombie). In Italy the original Romero Dawn of the Dead was released as Zombi and this is the Lucio Fulci
directed sequel/prequel to that film which was an easy way for Fulci to cash in
on the success of a popular film. Fulci
directed a more traditional zombie film with the use of a voodoo like religion
and the dead rising from their graves.
Since the Italian film industry was very fond of ripping each other off
and changing the titles of a film whenever it suited them. There are actually three more films in the
series (plus maybe a few more with titles changed). Italian zombie films are a completely
different monster all their own.
Now that you have a better understanding on just how many
films are associated with Romero’s films (not to mention the list of
documentaries on hand) the question to ask yourself is – How much is too much?
Romero himself may have taken a break from producing another
post-Survival of the Dead (2009) and
he may have a complete disregard for all the films cashing in on his legacy but
that won’t stop them from being made. On
average, there is a new film produced every couple years and along with the
comic and graphic novels there is no sign of NOTLD’s popularity from subsiding.
So even though there are too many different films and stories currently
out there, as zombie fans we can always do with a few more.
Either that or you can wait until Romero produces another
zombie film (since I’ve seen them all on the big screen since ‘90s remake).
Director Bill Philputt has crafted one of the most engaging
and comprehensive documentaries on one of the most celebrated zombie films ever
made. There is no denying the impact
this film has had on the zombie and horror-comedy genre which is why it’s one
of the most talked about films to this day.
People talk about Return of the Living Dead in the same way that they
speak about John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London in that these are two
of the rare occasions where horror and comedy were perfectly integrated. The one reason why this film never stayed
with me is because of this very same thing as unfortunately I was always a
bigger fan of the nihilism of Romero’s Day of the Dead released the same year.
