From Creature Corner :
Inevitably as soon as someone even so much as mentions that they are touching one of the works of George Romero the fans go ape shit and start screaming for the heads of anyone who would even consider such a thing.
We all witnessed it with the Dawn remake and also when Savini updated Night of the Living Dead some 15 years ago.
When I first posted about Dean Lachiusa’s newly edited version of Romero’s original titled Night of the Living Dead: Survivors Cut I naturally assumed that the fan backlash was only to be expected. Well, so far just the opposite has held true and interest in the project seems very strong.
Dean was kind enough to send along a DVD version of his work for me to check out. The Real Video stream that is available to all of us is good, but well you know, it’s Real Video so you get what you get.
I am very glad that Dean sent the DVD along because the quality is exceptional and the color effects and such are much more effective.
What Dean has done is not so much a redo as it is a retooling. NOTLD is in the public domain, which simplified basically means that anyone who wants to **** with it can. Usually this ends up with some horrible monstrosity piece of crap (think Night 30th Anniversary Edition) but this time around the film got into the hands of someone who not only respects Romero’s work but who is also a very talented editor.
Upon viewing the disc the first thing you notice is that the opening is completely different. Dean has shot a new opening that explains the space probe that Romero hints at in his film. The new opening fits in very well and Dean did a wonderful job of matching up the footage. It is really pretty hard to tell that this new opening was not shot at the same time as the rest of the film.
After the new opening we are taken directly to the farmhouse where Barbara is already holed up. The whole cemetery scene does not take place until about a third of the way through the film when Barbara recounts what happened to Johnny via a flashback. Again, I liked this new twist in the layout of the film. It really didn’t change the story any and seemed very effective in it’s new context.
Throughout the film scenes have been moved and at no point did it seem to detract from the film. The flow is still good and very effective.
Another major change is the inclusion of a running radio broadcast that plays throughout the film. I found this change added to the film in a major way. Instead of finding a TV upstairs our survivors now huddle around a big old Zenith radio where constant reports from the outside world are pouring in. These reports just added to the tension for me as it quickly becomes apparent that the world is going to hell in a hand basket and that help may not be coming any time soon, if at all.
The last major change is Dean’s use of color to highlight the film. The entire film has not been colorized just certain scenes and it has not been colorized like the way Ted Turner has done. This is whole frame colorization. For instance, when Barbara heads up the steps in the farmhouse and finds the corpse, the screen quickly turns bright red and then fades back to black and white as she in horror escapes back down the stairs. These types of scenes happen throughout the film and again I found them to be quite effective.
It is very interesting to see Dean’s take on this film and would recommend that all fans of the film pick up a copy of this for themselves and check it out. I found it entertaining and very well done. If someone is going to mess around with Romero’s work then at least they can do it well and with good intentions. Dean has accomplished both.
To view the Real Video stream, click here
To go to the home page for the project, click here
Keep an eye to the Corner as I will be conducting an interview with the director soon.