While prowling the new release section of one of the local Blockbuster’s in the area, I happened upon a film that made me laugh. What caught my attention was the title, Night of the Dead, though just in passing, I had mistakenly thought it was the classic Night of the Living Dead, and the cover art was different than what I had seen before. There’s good reason for that as it’s not Romero’s film, but nice ploy to lure people in.

Now, boldly above this is the statement, “more shocking than Re-Animator,” and that’s really a big classic to try and take on. We also have find that the film comes from “master of horror Eric Forsberg,” who, upon checking his bio on IMDB, has a grand total of one horror film he’s ever direction. Sure, on is official site he credits Alien Abduction, but that's more science fiction I'm afraid, and he also wants to credit Snakes of a Train (the knock offs show no sign of wear) but he only wrote the scipt., This one. I see how it works now. Well, Aaron and myself have recently completed the first draft for a horror film ourselves, and thus I say that we are also masters of horror at this point. Where in the hell is our parade?

All that aside, Night of the Dead: Leben Tod (and that part is conveniently left off the packaging, otherwise you wouldn’t think it was Romero’s film in passing) really borrows as much as it feasibly can from Re-Animator without treading the grounds that would bring about a lawsuit. Dr. Gabriel Schreklich (Louis Graham) has been working on a formula to bring the dead back to life.

Okay, yes, very familiar, but instead of featuring a glowing, green reagent (just like is shown on the cover) the good doctor first seems to have engineered Pepto-Bismol to do his evil work, then later a darker substance that very well could be watered down teriyaki sauce. This is stored in a refrigerator that also houses many forms of what could only be described as Cool Aide, and Purplesaurus Rex seems to also be in the mix.

Anyway, Dr West . . . . I’m mean, Dr. Schreklich’s wife and daughter are killed in a horrible (actually funny) automobile accident and we then fast-forward a year where the doctor has set up a new hospital with very few patients. Working along side him is his nephew Peter Sturben (Gabriel Womack) and pregnant wife Anais (Joey Jalalian) who wants to leave and go to a real hospital to have their child. That’s all well and good, until an illegal immigrant couple and their injured, adult aged anchor baby show up at the hospital in need of medical attention. It seems to be the perfect chance to test out the latest version of his formula, but the plan goes horribly wrong at Miskatonic University . . . oh, the hospital rather. Sorry about that.

So, how is Night of the Dead more shocking than Re-Animator. Well, in this case I suppose the shock first off is that someone would actually put up the cash to finance the film. Second would be that a distributor decided to release it on DVD, knowing good and well that the film was going to have every horror fan on the face of the planet raking it across the coals because of the obvious rip-off. You want me to keep going? Fine, the third reason is that aside from the other ridiculous claims on the packaging, you find that this is the unrated director’s cut, amazing for a film that probably only saw a theatrical run in the director’s home town. Let’s not forget the final claim that it’s an instant cult hit. These are the reasons that it’s more shocking, and it has nothing to do with the movie itself.

Night of the Dead is filled with bad acting, special effects that show effort but become laughable, clichéd ideas, a horrible script, ineffective lighting, an amateur approach at terror . . . . it’s really just a bad film all the way around the board. Okay, when you have a scene that requires darkness, using a filter on the scene doesn’t make it mysterious, it simply makes me, and I’m sure others, laugh. Bad edits don’t make a good film, and there are plenty of them to be found here. There’s also the case of the “magical shotgun” towards the end of the film that somehow manages to get off over 30 shots without reloading. I think it was actually around 31 shots, but I lost count due to laughing too much. Plus, why do we find some zombies can’t be taken down by a bullet while others it just takes one shot? Beats the hell out of me.

One of the most important things in any zombie film though isn’t necessarily the plot, but it’s the zombies themselves. What we find in Night of the Dead are zombies that are both fast and slow, meaning maybe the length of being deceased and reanimated has bearing on things, but that really isn’t discussed. The zombies also talk, mentioning how they are so hungry and need food (human flesh.) They also seem to have a magical quality about them, capable of dragging a human far too quickly across floors, then disappearing from a room with no other exit into a hallway that also seems to be a dead end, then once again appearing right behind our victim. We also find a reversal of Re-Animator when the doctor has his head ripped from his shoulders, then reattached to the body of a zombie which previously had its head bashed in.

Oh goodie, the DVD has some special features as well. If you’re really interested, there’s a making of feature, but to be honest, I didn’t even bother. There’s also commentary from the master of horror himself, Eric Forsberg. There’s even a music video from the band Kissing Violet who provided a song for the film, and if the performance in the video is any indication, than this could very well be one of the most boring acts to see live. Also included is Forsberg short, It Takes Guts, another horror film, so I guess he's technically done two, but I don't think you can count something done in your teen years as a film so much as a learning experiment.

So, is Night of the Dead simply one of the worst zombie films ever put to celluloid? Actually, it’s not as Day of the Dead 2 still holds that honor, and for the sake of argument, probably always will, but Night of the Dead easily comes in second or third. It took some inventive individuals in the 70’s and 80’s to bring the zombie genre to where it is, and with the new millennium, Eric Forsberg and a number of other directors seem determined to drive the nails into the coffin and finish it for good. Night of the Dead is the type of film I would suggest you not even see on a dare, especially if you’re a fan of Re-Animator. You’ll only find yourself disappointed and enraged.

 

-mike-