Review: 'Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film'

When a scrappy commercial production agency decided to branch out into feature films, the Latent Image team had no idea they would change the face of horror forever. As violent and despairing as Night of the Living Dead would be, the story behind the movie is kind of adorable. Its creation was a true all-hands-on-deck operation, as actors doubled as makeup artists, foley artists, and sound mixers. Pennsylvania locals pitched in to play zombies more than willing to stuff Silly Putty and actual intestines into their mouths. While the job of film-director tends to attract only the most massive of egos, George Romero had to be talked into directing the picture after trying to fob it off on Karl Hardman, who co-produced the film and played surly dad Harry Cooper, among several other behind-the-scenes roles. And everyone dressed up and rode in limos to attend the boozy premier in Pittsburgh, which lavished the film with the local attention it wouldn't really receive nationally until it became a Midnight Movie sensation.

So, as depressing as Night of the Living Dead the movie is, Simon Braund's Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film is a surprisingly delightful read. It's also great to look at. The most immediately striking feature of this book devoted to a black-and-white horror classic is all the color production photos included, which really bring out the orange makeup slathered on the actors. There are also images of pages from the original script, up-close shots of various versions of the horrible chewed-up corpse Ben discovers in the farmhouse, a very amusing photo of the cast posing with the cans of black paint and Bosco they used for blood, a pic of Romero's rather excellent Ben Hur-inspired painted logo for the Latent Image, lots of smiley snaps from that black-tie premier, and even a clipping of Roger Ebert's infamous review of the film's traumatized, underaged audience. Night of the Living Dead is a scary, unforgettable, bone-rattling horror movie. Night of the Living Dead: The Official Story of the Film also makes it unexpectedly fun.