Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated

Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated (2009)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

One could argue that George Romero's 1968 film NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was one of the greatest horror movies ever made. One could also argue that it has caused some of the most outrageous and stupid moments in terms of rip-offs, remakes and flat out idiotic fan movies. You had a remake in 1990, a 3-D remake, countless impersonators, fan documentaries, a couple sequels that would eventually be remade as well and all of this because of there being no copyright on the film. Oh, and let's not even go into the countless Italian, German and Japanese films. I think the biggest crap-fest of them all was the "30th Anniversary" gig that had John Russo filming new scenes and adding them back into Romero's film. This film, subtitled REANIMATED, features the original audio track from the Romero film but with a new look.

The entire concept of this film is that they'd take the soundtrack and dialogue from the Romero film and let artists from around the world add their visuals. With this we get animation, claymation, stop-motion, comic book visuals, acrylics, sock puppets and we even get a strange cartoon-like version of when the zombie reaches through the window and grabs Ben. There are all sorts of styles going on here and they change quite often, sometimes a single shot changes direction. I must admit that this is a rather strange way to watch a movie but there are a few styles here that I'd love to see the entire movie made of. This type of thing certainly isn't going to be for everyone and I think it's safe to say that it wears out its welcome before the end credits but at the same time there's no question that a lot of imagination went into this thing and I can't help but respect it. I'm not sure who exactly to recommend it to but if watched in pieces I think most people will at least respect the thing. What impressed me the most is how it was all put together with countless people giving their impressions of a scene and for the most part it all goes together very well. Needless to say, I think some moments work better than others but you have to expect that. The scene with Ben first showing up was extremely good as was the first meeting between Ben and Cooper, the truck catching fire and of course the final attack sequence when the zombies are entering the house. Since the movie uses the original audio I was surprised to see how suspenseful it actually is even without the original footage to back it up. REANIMATED certainly isn't a masterpiece but it's a rather unique item that's certainly a lot more imaginative then countless big-budget films out there.

Taking about making something scary look very ridiculous. They keeping go back and fourth with definite styles of animation. Play the soundtrack from the original. Cartoon mice are in this movie. So are puppets. There is ever footage from the original with weird images flying around there heads. Come on this is not a 4.6 it is just overrating it. I give this 4 out 10. Because it is pointless movie. Do not bother with it and just see the original. It is one of the scariest movies made in the 60's. And this does nothing for it. I wasted my time with this believe me. Do not wast your time with this. Do not send money on this. It is a rip off.

I don't know what it is about George Romero's NOTLD, but I always feel compelled to watch any variation of it. I've seen the colorized version, the Savini remake, the 3-D Sid Haig remake, and even that 30th anniversary version with new footage by John "Paycheck" Russo. It is a film I am infinitely familiar with, so this new take on it sounded rather interesting. Basically, artists from all over the globe offered their (free) services to animate the original film beginning to end with tons of different styles. You end up with a final product that reminds me of the great early 90s MTV series LIQUID TELEVISION (anyone remember that?). Unfortunately, the end product is - like the contributors - all over the map. The animators utilize all kinds of styles from hand drawn to computer animation to live action usage of dolls. When it is on top of its game, the film's animations are fantastic, breaking down Romero's film into a variety of unique interpretations. For example, Andres Silva's take on the window attack is fantastic as he re-interprets it in the form of a Tom & Jerry style cartoon with cats (zombies) and mice (humans). When it is off, however, it is really rough with some downright embarrassing stuff that looks like it was slapped together in Microsoft Paint. Also, some points of the film just use live action footage with artistic filters over them to fill in the gaps. Project coordinator Mike Schneider should be commended for such a grand idea, but he should also be chastised for not exhibiting some level of quality control. I get it, this is just fans doing their work to honor Romero's masterpiece. But that should be no excuse for shoddy animation that sometimes even pixelates on screen. These sub-par efforts undermine the truly rewarding work on display here.

Having to sit through NOTLD: 3D was one of the worst experiences I have had in this age of taking a Romero classic and sequeling or pseudo-remaking the damn thing. That, the recent Day of the Dead "remake", and the worst of the bunch, Day of the Dead 2 – Contagium make me wish Romero was already dead so he wouldn't have to know about them. Actually, I almost wish he didn't have to see Survival of the Dead either.. Anyways, if you're a huge NOTLD fan like myself, you're going to find a lot to like with NOTLD: Reanimated. What they did here was take the original 1968 version and keep all of the audio intact, so the only changes come from the imagery, which, as the title hints to, are a few dozen interpretations of the story from various animators. The styles of animation vary from CGI, to hand-drawn animation, illustration, acrylics, claymation and even sock puppets. Each snippet could run from a few seconds to a few minutes of footage – enough for the viewer to become comfortable with the variation of the segment, but interested in what else is coming. Obviously, the film makers have a lot of respect for the classic and this version really works as an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" type of experiment. The version I received has V3 on it, so there are a few different versions floating around with different scene variations. I may just put this on as often as the original, as it is a great companion piece and warrants repeated viewings.

I will keep it very short.

It's not the animation that an average joe like.. As the plot summary says

"The mixed media featured include puppetry, CGI, hand-drawn animation, illustration, acrylics, claymation, and even 'animated' tattoos, just to name a few"

To be honest, I had an headache after watching this one.. too much mixture of everything.. and now I can't sleep :(

Do watch it's trailer if you're planning to see this, the "Artistic" people might like it.