The obvious cheapness of these productions, rather than being a detraction, actually heightens their realism.
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This DVD's designation is something of a misnomer. Actually, there are two complete movies on the disc. There is the digitally mastered 1998 "edit" of George Romero's original film; and there's a second rendering with over fifteen minutes of newly filmed material added, produced and shot by three of the film's original creators, John Russo, Russ Streiner, and Bill Hinzman. Both versions use a new stereo musical score composed by Scott Vladimir Licina.
Probably like most people, I had only seen "Night of the Living Dead" on TV, maybe half a dozen times, mostly on late-night commercial television in fuzzy prints with continually intrusive advertising, and again on VHS tape and wee-hours cable in only slightly better shape. Now we have two definitive versions for home viewing. Purists will opt for the original, of course, but the Thirtieth-Anniversary Edition, the one with the new footage, is fun, too. On DVD the picture quality in both versions is more distinct than anything that has come before, the black-and-white photography more sharply contrasted, and the new musical soundtrack a vast improvement over the wheezy old one. Add a few assorted bonus items, and you get a disc no horror-movie buff should miss.
I won't detail the familiar story line except to remind readers that an unexplained phenomenon has caused the recently dead to rise from their graves and become flesh-eating ghouls. A small group of people are trapped in a deserted farmhouse, trying to fend off these zombies as best they can. A good deal of the film's original shock value has worn off after thirty years, but it's still appropriately gruesome and bloody. Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, and Karl Hardman star.
The new scenes in the Anniversary Edition are largely unobtrusive, most of the footage coming at the beginning in the form of a prologue that helps to explain a little of the later story; and there are a couple of added scenes within the film, like one of a family in a car wreck. It's a kick to see Bill Hinzman reprise his role as the graveyard zombie. But the most controversial section is the new epilogue. Frankly, it adds nothing to the story and effectively diminishes one of the best endings ever used in a horror film.
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[release]2734[/release]