Director – Thomas Brown (Maximum Impact)
Starring – George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, John A. Russo (My Uncle John is a Zombie!, The Majorettes), and Russell Streiner (There’s Always Vanilla, Night of the Living Dead)
Release Date – 1993
Rating – 3/5
Blu Release – 3.5/5
Tom Savini’s Night of the Living Dead is the movie that opened me up to horror. I remember watching it for the first time at my grandmother’s house. It scared the living shit out of me. The opening with the tree with the title song playing really set the mood and for the remainder of the film I was sitting on the floor in front of her chair with my foot against her completely glued to the screen. I had to keep my foot against hers to make sure she was there. The movie left it’s bloody mark on me and when it was over my grandmother instructed me to go to her movie shelf. She told me that what we watched was a remake and she had the original on tape. She blew my mind. I couldn’t fathom what a remake was but when we watched the original I became obsessed. Both films tell the same story but the original hit me hard. To this day it is still my favorite horror film.
When I started collecting movies I went out of my way to nab every release of Night of the Living, documentary, fan film, and so on for my collection. In 1993 Thomas Brown made a documentary for the 25th anniversary of the original film. This look back at the classic movie that forever changed the zombie sub-genre was retitled to Reflections on the Living Dead and received a blu release from Tempe Digital. I needed this in my life and grabbed a copy.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows several of the remaining key members of the original Night of the Living Dead production as they look back at how the film was made. We get a glimpse at some of the struggles, on the fly changes, fund raising, and scoring of this groundbreaking film and what brought them all together. **Spoiler Alert**
I’ve collected a few Night of the Living Dead and Dead series documentary over the years. I’m almost certain I have this film under the original title on DVD somewhere in totes in storage but I had never taken the time to watch it. If I was to compare it to the others I’ve seen I would say it was decent but some of the others goes to great length to demonstrate the impact it had on horror and pop culture alike. However, what this documentary does differently is that it gets several members of the production together to actually reminisce about filming. Sadly, several of them are no longer with us so it was nice to see them sitting around talking about their time on set and behind the scenes.
The interviews we get in this one is more like a roundtable discussion. They do jump from topic to topic but it’s still fun listening to them talk about their experience on the film. The information we are given is very informative. Most horror fans know about a lot of the rumors and lore behind Night of the Living Dead but it means so much more hearing Romero, Russo, and others talk about it first hand.
Finally, the editing on this one is smooth for the most part but because of the way in which the group jumps from topic to topic makes editing a little jumpy. Overall, Reflections on the Living Dead is a rather insightful look into one of the most influential horror films of all time. The documentary does get a little dull but is still a very entertaining watch. This release looks great on blu and is a must for any Romero or Night of the Living Dead Fan. Get it now from Tempe Digital.
Special Features:
Commentary
Complete Unedited Roundtable
Original 1993 VHS Version
Free Soundtrack MP3 Download
Free Vimeo On Demand
Tempe Digital Trailers
