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Film: Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated
Year: 2009
Director: Mike Schneider
Writer: George Romero and John Russo
Starring: William Burchinal, Bill ‘Chilly Billy’ Cardille and Marilyn Eastman
Review:
This film uses the original audio from Night of the Living Dead from 1968. In place of the footage is different artists’ work that tells the story with images, animation and films. There are images that have drawn, comic-like as well as computer generated. There are also animations that are used in place of the film itself. Some of these animations are done on computer; some are similar to cartoons as well as clay figures and stop-motion.
They also use video games and computers to create how the film would look in those simulations. Now the problem with some of this is that the characters do not look anything like the characters from the film, since they probably do not have full control over the skins. I will say that the environment looks very good and looks a lot like the house from the original film. It looks like it was done on the video game The Sims. Now the problem, I do not believe they have guns in The Sims, so I don’t think it is. It is a similar program. There is also a similar Pokémon style screen where the filmmaker follows the story with the decisions made.
There are also some scenes from the film filmed with toys. There is one that uses Barbies, Furbies, baby dolls as well as hand puppets. These ones are little bit more comical, but they also do a pretty good job at conveying what is going on in those scenes. These are little bit more limited than some of the animation though.
The film also features some of the original footage that is altered. There are some where people and zombies appear as greenish polygons with white lines that appear to show definition in the characters. There is also footage that is black and looks like they have been hand-drawn. These are good in that they use a lot of darkness and use white space to create a dramatic effect.
All of these different types of art and more are spliced together to tell the story of this horror classic. I was a little leery when I came in to watch this, but I am glad I did in the end. It really makes you realize how talented people are out there. I also have to give it to Mike Schneider. He is the director as well as the curator who had to go through all of this art from all of these artists and compile it together in a coherent film. The film itself is good as a supplement to the original film. If you haven’t seen the original, I would watch that before this one.
What I didn’t like about this film is that some of the art used wasn’t very good. I do apologize to those I am referring to and I won’t point out those individuals. I do give them credit for putting their work out there and I have to say that this person has their work in a feature film. I am going to go with a negative at this film in that it really isn’t a film either. It takes something that was already made and then created a companion piece to it. This film really isn’t something that can stand alone. It really is more of a special feature for the original film.
I would only recommend seeing this film if you really like Night of the Living Dead. This film uses the original audio and just replaces the footage with different art by those who love it. Some of it is really good and some of it is not. What is really impressive is the hard work that director and curator Schneider put into bringing this all together. Not a stand alone piece, but if you really like this horror classic, I would say give this a viewing to see what other fans take on the film with art is. Do not watch this film until you have seen the original.
My Rating: 5 out of 10