Rating: 
Summary: Resident Evil (Every Rip-Off Has An Inspiration)
Review: I'll never forget that night...a cold October night...a night that would forever change the way I would come to view horror films as a genre...I was 13 years old. It was 3:00 A.M., late Friday night/early Saturday morning. I was the only person in the house still awake, the rest of my family had gone to bed hours earlier. With all the lights out, I made myself comfortable, lying down on the living room sofa, my only "companion"...a television set, which crackled and hummed to life with a mere pressing of the "power" button located on the remote control that resided in my hand. Now, I'd always been a huge fan of horror films, but had never thought of myself as being a person that could actually become frightened as a result of having viewed one. I was wrong. The two hours that were to follow would come to be, for me, the most tense, pulse-pounding and, ultimately, terrifying two hours spent watching a motion picture... The film...director George A. Romero's original, unforgettable cult classic..."NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD"! Mr. Romero's nightmarish tale of seven strangers trapped and isolated inside an old Pennsylvanian farmhouse by an army of grossly disfigured, cannibalistic corpses, has been terrifying audience members, old and young alike, for nearly 35 years now, and will continue to do so for a long time to come. From its ominous beginning to its shocking conclusion, "Night of the Living Dead" is a true horror film masterpiece...taut with nerve-shattering tension and nail-biting suspense! Unleashed upon an unsuspecting public in the winter of 1968, "Night of the Living Dead" quickly became one of the most successful independent horror films ever to be released and eventually led to the completion of two follow-up features, "Dawn of the Dead" (1979) and "Day of the Dead" (1985), a color remake in 1990, and "Document of the Dead", an insightful, and thoroughly entertaining, behind-the-scenes documentary recorded primarily upon location during the actual filming of "Dawn of the Dead". A now infamous 30th anniversary edition of "Night of the Living Dead" was issued direct-to-video via the Anchor Bay company in the summer of 1999, but instead of glorifying the motion picture in all its cinematic splendor, the video's producers decided to cut and re-edit the film, trimming portions of classic footage and music in favor of inserting pieces of new, and highly absurd, footage and music that serve only to detract from the viewer the feelings of sheer terror and suspense that come with viewing the original version in its entirety.
Rating: 
Summary: NOTLD
Review: We deserve this. After countless...VHS and DVD releases, that awful 1980's colorized version, and that blasphemous 1998 re-edit (John Russo, I'm still not over you!), this is the edition that's a keeper. After violent fan reaction to the aforementioned, George Romero comes to the rescue with a beautiful transfer, THX certified sound, and enough extras to keep you busy for hours. Trailers, TV spots, the amusing parody "Night Of The Living Bread", interviews with stars Duane Jones and Judith Ridley, an insightful commentary by George Romero and cast, and footage from a "lost" George Romero film. As another reviewer pointed out, you have to use the >> on your remote control to go through the shooting script, photo gallery, cast members' scrapbooks, and the posters and collectibles, but it's still a treasure trove for "Dead" fans.
Rating:
Summary: Resident Evil (Every Rip-Off Has An Inspiration)
Review: I'll never forget that night ... a cold October night ... a night that would forever change the way I would come to view horror films as a genre ... I was 13 years old. It was 3:00 A.M., late Friday night/early Saturday morning. I was the only person in the house still awake, the rest of my family had gone to bed hours earlier. With all the lights out, I made myself comfortable, lying down on the living room sofa, my only "companion" ... the Magnavox television set a few feet away from me which crackled and hummed to life with a mere pressing of the "power" button located on the remote control that resided in my hand. Now, I'd always been a huge fan of horror films, but had never thought of myself as being a person that could actually become frightened as a result of having viewed one. I was wrong. Little did I know that the following two hours spent in front of that old television set would come to be, for me, the most tense, pulse-pounding and, ultimately, terrifying two hours spent watching a motion picture. The film ... director George A. Romero's original, unforgettable cult classic ... "NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD"!! Mr. Romero's nightmarish tale of seven strangers trapped and isolated inside an old Pennsylvanian farmhouse by an army of grossly disfigured, cannibalistic corpses, has been terrifying audience members old and young alike for nearly 35 years now, and will continue to do so for a long time to come. From its ominous beginning to its shocking conclusion, "Night of the Living Dead" is a true horror film masterpiece, taut with tension and suspense, that never once allows the viewer, for even a moment, to calm down or relax. Unleashed upon an unsuspecting public in the winter of 1968, "Night of the Living Dead" quickly became one of the most successful independent horror films ever to be released and eventually led to the completion of two follow-up features, "Dawn of the Dead" (1979) and "Day of the Dead" (1985), a color remake in 1990, and "Document of the Dead", an insightful, and thoroughly entertaining, behind-the-scenes documentary recorded primarily upon location during the actual filming of "Dawn of the Dead". A now infamous 30th anniversary edition of "Night of the Living Dead" was issued direct to video via the Anchor Bay company in the summer of 1999, but instead of glorifying the motion picture in all its cinematic splendor, the video's producers instead chose to cut and re-edit the film, trimming portions of classic footage and music in favor of inserting portions of new, and highly absurd, footage and music that serve only to detract from the viewer the feelings of sheer terror and suspense that come with viewing the original version in its entirety.
Rating:
Summary: Move over "Beautiful Mind!"
Review: Wow! What a picture! Last night, after chumming around with a few friends of mine at the country club,I returned home at 3 A.M, prepared to enter into soporific delight when, suddenly, I felt this strange and undeniable urge to turn on my wide screen television set! Thus, I searched frantically for my remote control, and finally when my patience was nearly at an end, I located the remote underneath my alligator skin suitcase.Quickly, I turned on my TV set [$$$],and there before me loomed a haunting image I shall not too quickly forget: a decrepit female corpse eating the brains of a young man who had the terrible misfortune of stumbling into the wrong graveyard at the wrong time!What an interesting concept! Corpses clawing their way through the soil that separates them from the ground level above and their eternal resting places below. But, the Zombie-like corpses have not returned to the land of the living for mere pleasure, of course! NO, they are on a zealous mission to remove from the world as many functioning brains as possible!Clearly, this story is an allegory, or a parable, if you will. It reminds one of the brain-removing procedures of the epic film "Planet of the Apes," but, of course, the story is really meant to symbolize the communist forces at work in this world, and the cannibalistic nature of ideological disease that is Marxism. Communism is predicated on the principle that men have an inalienable right to another person's labor, property, and ideas. Sometimes, as the purges of Stalinist Russia demonstrated, a bloodbath is necessary to destroy perceived threats to collectivist dogma. Hence, what is the destruction of 60 million Russians to a nation that simply desires to cultivate a zombie-like populace, unthinking, unfeeling, uncaring: dead to all humanly ambitions except the advancement of their anti-human ideology!Indeed, Free thinkers are not welcome in the graveyard of collectivist ideas!I recommend this movie to the free thinkers of this world! Bolsheviks beware!
Rating:
Summary: About Elite's Millennium Edition DVD
Review: Elite's new "Millennium Edition" DVD of the 1968 horror classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD includes all of the material from Elite's 1997 DVD edition, plus a few more extras from Elite's '94 laserdisc edition. Both Elite DVDs contain the original unedited version of the film. The video transfer of the Millennium Edition (ME) looks to be identical to that of the '97 DVD version. To those who haven't seen either edition, the THX-certified video transfer is simply immaculate. Made from original negatives, the transfer has a kind of sharpness, clarity, and contrast that are, according to director George Romero himself, superior even to the print used for the film's original theatrical release. The mono audio is clean and strong, and it sounds identical in both editions except it's in Dolby Digital 1.0 on the '97 edition, but 2.0 on the ME. There is also a mildly effective Dolby Digital 5.1 track on the ME. The two audio commentary tracks (recorded circa '94) from the LD edition have been duplicated on the '97 and ME DVDs. All the principals except Duane Jones are featured, with the actors on one track and the director/producers on the other. Although the commentaries resemble a jovial get-together for the most part, they do provide considerable details about the making of the film -- the casting of Duane Jones was strictly color-blind, the Barbara character was originally to survive, the filmmakers managed to obtain a helicopter for free for some of the scenes, etc. The commentators also provide many insights to their crafts. For instance, co-producer/actor Karl Hardman says he decided he should play Mr. Cooper in a more demonstrative manner after seeing Jones' calmer portrayal of Ben. Compensating for the lack of Duane Jones in the commentaries, the ME DVD includes a 16-minute audio excerpt of a 1988 interview of him. In it, he expresses his gratitude for associating with the film, but stresses his need for privacy and anonymity. He recalls an amusing anecdote in which two people who sat next to him argued whether he was really Duane Jones. When they concluded that he WASN'T, he wasn't the least bit inclined to correct them. This interview was to be Jones' last, and he would pass away later that year. The ME DVD also includes a 10-minute video segment of an interview of Judy Ridley (who played Judy), who provides more anecdotes from the film as well as her experiences before, during and after the making of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. The interviewer is co-producer Marilyn Eastman. The other extras on the ME DVD include eight TV commercials made by Romero and company (the '97 DVD has only four), a 5-minute clip of Romero's followup film THERE'S ALWAYS VANILLA that features then-couple Judy Ridley and Russ Streiner, a few production photos from VANILLA, the hilarious 8-minute 1990 parody film "Night of the Living Bread" (in which Barbara is a brunette, Ben is shorter and chubbier, and hundreds of slices of what could truly be called "wonder bread" are used) that is also on the '97 DVD, text material on the history of the filmmakers, and the original shooting script (which spans over 300 frames). The shooting script is preceded by a brief rough draft which indicates the film was originally intended to be a comedy. Rounding out the extras is a "Scrapbook" section containing 100 or so still frames of memorabilia collected by the filmmakers, including correspondences, photos, newspaper clippings, etc. Both the '97 and ME DVDs are all-region and without subtitles and closed captioning.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best horror films ever made....
Review: George A Ramero in his first movie hits gold. This is a film about the dead comming back to life and eating human flesh.
(Side note..The movie was to be called Night Of The Flesh Eaters) After seeing her brother killed in a graveyard ,Barbara runs to a nearby farmhouse where she meets Ben another person running from the dead. A few more people are introduced into the farmhouse and that is where the story really is. Ben and a cantacorous old man named Harry Cooper can not get along and even try to kill one another. This movie shows that no matter how bad the situation is outside that we still can't get along.\
This is one of the best films ever made, horror or otherwise. Ramero really captures the moment in this one. If you are not on the edge of you'r seat at the end of this one than you have not been watching. It is a gripping film.
Avoid the remake by Tom Savini the make-up/effects wizard of Dawn Of The Dead, just watch this one agian.....
Rating: 
Summary: sounds...
Review: I worked at a video store and played this film,which the musical score which they changed on this dvd... ruined that horror classic feel that the original score had which made it scary,i just scene in tower another edition released thats uncut which should be alot better ,it was just released.
Rating:
Summary: Does the Original A Great Disservice; Avoid!
Review: Some years back, a colorized version of "NOTLD" appeared on TV; the stark black and white zombies of one of my favorite independent films suddenly became green. Yes, green. I didn't watch more than ten minutes of that version, and I should've stopped at about the same minute count with this "30th Anniversary" version. The added prologue, epilogue and additional scenes (which weren't cut from the original film, but recently filmed for inclusion here) not only fail to make any significant contribution to "NOTLD," they actually DETRACT from it. For instance, why would you want to mute one of the most chilling openings in film history? I'm referring, of course, to the opening scene where the main undead character slowly ambles up to the bickering brother and sister, eventually killing the brother. That scene, however, no longer opens the movie. Now, we get a couple of country bumpkins going off to bury a corpse. The new material is warped not only by poor writing -- the additional material serves NO PURPOSE to the story -- but abysmal acting. Despite its budgetary constraints, the original "NOTLD" had some decent acting. Duane Jones in particular does a terrific job. This new version contains some performances so terrible as to incite its own form of terror: "NOTLBA" ("Night of the Living Bad Actors") I haven't seen the definitive version of "NOTLD," though I suspect that version is the same one I saw on late night television over a decade ago. I have, however, seen what is certainly NOT the definitive version. This one.
Rating:
Summary: Finally a Definitive Edition !
Review: I just picked up this new Elite Millennium Edition today and I am impressed to say the least. This edition takes everything included in the previous top of the line Elite edition and adds more features and much nicer packaging. Also included is a new 5.1 audio mix that faithfully reproduces the mono mix with more clarity and ambience. Best of all this edition is fully approved by Romero himself. Thanks Elite!
Rating:
Summary: Finally!
Review: I don't need to start off by selling the merits of this film. If you're here, you know that the movie stands on its own. I'm also not going to talk about the shoddy DVD releases that have preceded this one. I hold myself in shame that I ever bought the 30th Anniversary Edition. I'm going to keep it in a drawer in good condition in the hopes that one day I'll at least be able to break even when some poor sap wants to laugh at it and pay good money for it. That all being said. WOW! George summed it up in the first minutes of his commentary by expressing his hope that this was, finally, the definitive version of his masterpiece. The new transfer is nothing short of amazing (espescially considering all that have come before). The levels of detail that can be seen, combined with the quality of the source material have rendered a thing of beauty the likes of which probably haven't been seen since the editing bay. I took a chance and listened to the new 5.1 sound mix and I wasn't disappointed. It still feels very much like a mono mix, but there's a better ambience. Purists such as myself will also want to check out the original mono mix. I was a little put off by the presentation of the extras at first, but of course I'm lazy. They require lots of >> pushing and sometimes the scans lack enough detail to be able to read. Give yourself a little time, however, and you'll be greeted with a wealth of information about this film. Of particular interest to me were his (admittedly somewhat buried) TV commercials. They're well worth digging for. As for the commentary tracks, I have only listened to the one by George, John Russo, producer Karl Hardman (Harry Cooper) and Marylin Eastman (Helen Cooper). This is commentary just how I like it: very technical when it needs to be and very anecdotal and full of the kind of trivia that only a group of close friends can do. Did you know that Judy O'Dea (Barbara) has been doing make-up and food styling? I sure as hell didn't, but it's great to know. It certainly explains that element of her performance where she's basically fondling the sets. I know she was playing catatonia to the hilt, but please... Oh well, it all makes sense now. [No offense, Judy. My ex and I cite your performance all the time! We love ya.] As a fan of Romero's since I first started watching films critically as a teen in the 80's, one who has the sountrack to both "Night" and "Dawn" on vinyl, and as a DVD conisseur today - I can't recommend this disc more highly. And, always remember: They're dead, they're....all messed up. Cheers!
| 
