Night of the Living Dead: 25th Anniversary Documentary

This documentary, "Night of the Living Dead: 25th Anniversary Edition (1993)", finds a fondness in the hearts of movie lovers who are grownup with George A. Romero's zombie film NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968). There are great interviews with the producers couple Marilyn Eastman en Karl Hardman, who played a couple in that classic horror movie together with their daughter, Kyra Schon (the first zombie child). Marilyn and Karl show what 1930s records they used to gather the soundtrack for the film for, including the sound effects. There was no money to contract a composer and an orchestra to write and play new music. Also there's a round-table conversation between Romero, co-writer John Russo, Karl Hardman again and Russell Streiner (Johnny, the first victim in the movie). Next to this there are small interviews with Sam Raini (EVIL DEAD, SPIDER-MAN), Wes Craven (NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET) and Tobe Hooper (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, POLTERGEIST). A treasure for any classic horror movies lover!

Night of the Living Dead: 25th Anniversary Documentary (1993)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

This documentary was produced for very little money and it does have a somewhat cheap feel to it but at the same time it's a great look at the making of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. We start off with a roundtable discussion between George A. Romero, Russell Streiner, John A. Russo and Karl Hardman as they talk about how the movie got made as well as other production stories. Other cast members including Marilyn Eastman and Judith O'Dea.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD has been discussed in so many different documentaries that it's easy to overlook this one and especially since it happened rather early in the film's life or at least it was released before DVD and Blu-ray where the film got even more attention. Fans of the film will certainly want to check this out since the roundtable with the four main people was quite fun to watch.

Not only do you get to hear from the filmmakers but we also get to hear from fans of the film. These fans include John Landis, Fred Olen Ray, Tobe Hooper, David DeCoteau, Sam Raimi and Wes Craven. Obviously these are some of the biggest hitters in horror history so getting to hear them talk about the first time they watched the film and what impact it had on them was great to hear.

Again, the documentary has a very low-budget feel to it but the number of interviews make it a must-see for fans.