Night of the Living Dead Reviews

[Mutineer]

Ill start First and foremost, you will find my commentary on userfilms that are submitted here to be honest. I will never blow smoke or praise a project for fear of hurting peoples opinions. In time, I hope that this will be seen. If it is ****, I'll say it. It it is rad, I'll say it. None of it matters, it is my own subjective .02 I have not hidden my disdain for this project since hearing about it; NothLD 07. I found it a shameless use of the original classics title in spite of others doing it. Even the ONE SHEET is a rip off of the original films poster art. Then I heard that it really was nothing like NIGHT but pays some homage. And after all, it was not at all like NIGHT; but then I scratch my head and ask "Then why use the name to pimp your project?" First and foremost, congrats to the filmmaker for getting off his duff and actually making a film. Shooting a feature is a daunting task much less writing it as well as cutting it. But this is mostly where my praise will stop. This is a forgettable Zombie film. At 40 minutes into the piece I have not only gotten 1 zombie but I have gotten nothing but cell phone conversations, and sadly, there isn't a lot of excitement in cell phone conversations. I found the the dialogue a mess with nothing but exposition moving us forward. The characters were without any emotion and the lead actor made me want to punch him really hard in the nose; it's okay, I feel the same way about Julia Roberts. The filmmaker has a lot to learn from even the more rudiment techniques in filmmaking from the Split Edit and the use of the Line (axis) to the more advanced audio and lighting. I almost was annoyed when the filmmaker went Dutch because of the painfully obvious ignorance in every other category. Was he going Dutch on purpose or was it an accident ? Overall, this was like a 4 year old that has finally taken his first **** on the toilet; nice but now lets learn to wipe your ass as this was amateur filmmaking at the lowest end of the curve. Just because one can make a feature, doesn't mean they should make a feature as this filmmaker just isn't ready for primetime. Most importantly, I like one thing in my zombie filmss and there just weren't enough zombielove in this for me. A lot of people sitting around talking about zombies though. Keep shooting as you'll only get better with more practical experience. I look forward to seeing that growth.

[DVW5150]

Assumptions can change how a movie affects outcome, Ill be honest, I had no expectations about graphic quality . The green lighting was abit much , the begining in black & white to color was good. I like choclate syrup... When the characters were inside wherever they were, it would've amped the tension with some sounds from outside of where they were. Sirens, distant crashing , lights flicker.An occasional foley of zed moans . For an outlaw movie, it shows Mr. Eveneshen has more than potential. I must say, some of the acting was not convincing enough. Good writing & hard work pays off big I hope for all involved.:skull. All in all , worth your time to see ; how GAR has inspired some cool young film-makers.

[CSZ]

I did find myself laughing at how cheesy it was. At first I was laughing with it but then after about 20 minutes I got the feeling that the film maker wasn't trying to make me laugh. So I started laughing at it then I started to get pissed the name NOTLD was used for this film. I think if you wold of went with a return of the living dead approach you wold of had something. It was bad acting,editing and dialogue If you turned it up to realy bad it wold of been good. I liked the line...Did you get his name...No he bit me! ..Now That was funny!

[ngm231]

now not that a 14 year olds opinion matters... but i f***ing loved it. i was expecting to see somthing along the lines of changing just a few of the charecters and scenarios around, but the first ten minutes of the film threw me for a loop. aside from a few zombie tards everything else seemed very well done. i don't know if im correct but i think the guy in the yellow shirt who got eaten was from survivors. Loved the film and am buying a copy of the dvd. A+ sincerely, Nick M.

[capncnut]

All in all, worth your time to see; how GAR has inspired some cool young film-makers. i f***ing loved it. i was expecting to see somthing along the lines of changing just a few of the charecters and scenarios around, but the first ten minutes of the film threw me for a loop. aside from a few zombie tards everything else seemed very well done. There you go, two people that know their s**t as opposed to speaking it.

[DjfunkmasterG]

Ok here are my thoughts... I like Reese's escalation and I had my reservations about Night of the Living Dead, but I am with the people who like it. My biggest pet peeve is the TV news reports, they made the film seem way too amatuer and thats the biggest problem with the movie. I thought the character interaction was good, however, I did feel his buddy used the word cocksucker way to much, to the point it got annoying, but the movie had me feeling the Heeby Jeebies while watching it. Now I know Reese had less of a budget than I did for my flick, but I felt he did very well, and I would be proud to have this in my zombie collection. Night of the Living Dead 07 is one of the best no budget indie zombie films I have watched. The sad thing is people will tear it to shreds because of the title, and not give the film the chance it deserves, and that is a fcuking shame because this is a very watchable film.... Hopefully though they can look past the cheesy TV segments which I feel are the lowest point of the film. out of

[MinionZombie]

Howdy folks, I checked it out this avo, and you'd better throw me on the "loves Night 2007" fire. Yeah, the news report bits were the weakest link in the chain for me too, they did pull me out of it when they cropped up, but that was basically the only flaw worth noting. Anything else is just the usual things you learn to polish as you continue filmmaking, the sort of things the filmmaker themselves will have already spotting when editing or sooner, so I won't bother talking about that stuff (which is only a minor issue anyway). Onto the good and great stuff - I was quite impressed by how well you did at the acting gig, Reese, some of the lines were quite complex (I know I'd have been struggling big time), but some of the exchanges were rather spiffing - and actually quite funny (especially the exchange near the end with the girl/lady/young woman (pick your term of preference ). The final chunk of the film was my favourite part...   I thought the exchange between Reese's character and his lady friend was rather good, and actually quite funny too, but it didn't detract from the drama of the moment either...and my all-time favourite part - suicide via garden trowel to the face - F*CKING GENIUS. This felt like a proper remake/reimagining. It took key aspects and reorganised them completely, such as Barbara, or certain aspects of the story, and transplanted them into a new story - that's how a remake is supposed to work, so I give props and respect for that. It was also quite dark at times, which I really enjoyed...   Such as that psycho woman who baseball-bats Reese's mate on the noggin' so she can feed her zombified husband - gloriously devious and I also liked how that plot thread was left hanging, the thought of possibly more innocent victims falling into her web was a nice possible suggestion when you're done viewing and have time to mull it over. All-in-all, a solid no-budget indie zombie fest, lots of fun, well made and enjoyable...*mental hugs*

[Debbieangel]

I know I am known to give encouragement and not put anybody's work down but, I have to say I really do feel Reese has soo much potential and this film was well done. The dialogue between the characters was excellent it kept ya interested in what was going on even when zombies werent on the screen. The only thing I didnt care for was the newscast,for me it the pic wasnt too clear but, other than that ... I for one think you did a good job Reese and your cast and crew!!!

[B. Brown]

I'm going to give this an 8 / 10 ... 10 being as good as the original NOTLD. Pros: 1. The acting was great by everyone, with the exception of the crazy man in the community center who had the mop obsession. It was good to see he was punished for that, though, later on. 2. Continuity and Flow: The film was very stable as far as the plot went... and it flows very nicely. 3. Color Grading: Interesting use of colors in this movie, from that greenish horror tint, to the black and white. 4. Satisfying: It was overall a very enjoyable film to watch; it definitely made my Friday night exciting. There wasn't any crazy BS in it either- military heroes didn't show up to save everyone, and there weren't any retrofitted buses with plows on them. 5. Footage: Awesome camera work, overall, and the audio was done well. 6. The Romero Factor: The film wasn't exactly terrifying, but that's what gave it the Romero trait. NOTLD, DOTD, DOTD, and LOTD weren't exactly horrifying films, but had interesting meanings to them all... which is the case for this film. Cons: 1. Low amount of zombie action. I would have liked to see more. 2. Unnecessary F-bombs. This is minor though... not something that really bothered me too much. 3. I could have gone for more gore, but that's just me. 4. Nudity. Where's it at!!!??? .... ............. what? Just kidding, of course. Overall, excellent job to you and your team, Reese. Two thumbs up for this movie.

[Klaang]

I really liked the film, I think you have done an excellent job on it. I think it is interesting to see a new take on the story with many comparisons to the original. Well done. -Klaang

[Tofu]

4/5. Call me a NOTLD 07 fan. I thought the acting was better-than-average overall, and excellent in certain parts, especially from Reese. You really should give yourself an acting credit, dude; you obviously busted hump on this picture, and acting goes right along with that. I thought the green coloring was a little much at first, but after the first few minutes, it simply becomes part of the picture, and in fact helps contribute to the claustrophobic feel that I think was the intention here. I for one was not disappointed, but actually glad there wasn't an overload of zombie action. Just a little bit peppered here and there. It made what we did see worth it, and was classic Romero. I didn't have much of a problem with the language; it maybe seems excessive at first, but really, if you're surrounded by a bunch of angry flesh-eating mofos, who wouldn't be dropping the "F" bomb every other word? I would. I did have a few issues with the flick. As has been mentioned before, the newscasts felt really amateur, especially compared to the almost professional execution of the rest of the film. It really felt out of place. It might seem revisionist, but personally, if it were my film, I'd go back and reshoot/re-edit those parts before going to DVD. The rest were really minor, and as MinionZombie said, the kind of stuff that every developing filmmaker will notice and learn. There were a few minor audio issues, and in particular, one case where the shot composition didn't quite feel right -- a conversation between John and Mick. I can't remember exactly where, but I do remember it was before they got John's arm disinfected in the bathroom. There was something about the way each character was facing off-camera, and the angle at which they were shot, that made it feel like they were not talking to each other, but each to a wall and had been edited together. But again, that's all minor stuff. Overall, a great effort, and definitely a new addition to my DVD collection once it's released. Great stuff, and congrats!

[livingdeadboy]

thanks to all of you who are watching and writing reviews, getting a better response then I thought.

[Danny]

like multineer i aint one to sugar coat my views (sprays the mz reppellent to ward him off, so he just lurks by the fence yelling "jaded mother****er!" ). anway, onto the review. MAJOR SPOILERS!!! when i first heard about the project i wasnt exactly that excited, though i wasnt going "oh not another frikkin remake" either , though night is my least favrouite of the films ,mostly becuase ive seen it so much i can probably recite the script from memory. So i wasnt expecting anything spectacular or anything to crap, i whent onto google video expecting an average type movie, and to be honest an average movie is kinda what i got, though thats not saying its bad, just nothing that i can see becoming "cult" in the foreseeable future. whilst it was nice to see the idea redone rather than just remade, which i think theres still 2 or 3 in the works right now , it seemed more akin to deadlands than night pace wise, romero famously revelaed his movie monster within the first 10 minutes of the movie but any real zombie action only occured in here around 25 to 30 mins into the hour long feature which shows the pacing could have been sped up a little to be inkeeping with the george romero vibe. the script was well written, despite the obvious limitations that come with no budget filmmaking, as was the action, when action scenes occur they give the right level of frantic pace to the scene but the overall colour sceme of the scenes and camera work meant, even when outside, the mise-en-scene of the feature felt very claustrophobic, like the camera was set to half zoom by accident, the choic of camera angles was a little basic, but again totally forgivable, the one major fault visually was the editing faults. a few exampels of this are when to people are having a dialogue but are being filmed on seperate cameras, it is very obvious that they are talking and stopping and moving the camera and starting again rather than just setting up two camcorders and have then talk that way, there was minute second delays that made the dialogue seem a little rushed, though that means the director makes good use of 'clerks' style 5 minute one shots for monologues, which really gets around this. the biggest problems with this film that really dragged it down a little in my book were the unfortunate continuity errors, most prelavent during the final scene with his ...i think love interest but i cannot be sure, they both spit up blood but when the camera cuts away to them adn then returns the blood is either instantly dry or not there at all, now little touches like that may not seem like much but if they were that abviously noticable then it will slightly impede the viewing experience. script wise the biggest fault was the lead character being given all the choice dialogue, i mean its understandable to make your protagonist stand out but even the bastards of the piece need a few emorable lines, which they were sadly lacking here. The tv segments seemed far more ammetureish than the rest of the film and really broke the reality of the piece so you stopped being drawn in and whent back to thinking "this is just a movie", that i would have improved upon myself. From a fan view however my biggest letdown was at the end were , after the venus probe type things at the start , which appeared the director was using the romero rule of not giving away the cause he states indefinatly at the end that it is a virus, so the film is filled with more than 2 "someone got bitten and is dying" characters, in my opinion this is a sub par plot device that is now expected from the genre and can be used purely as a safe fall back for a lack of plot development, though thats just my view as a horror fan, that shouldnt be taken to say anything about the calibre of the film itself. On the plus side, with zero budget the director has created an excellent homage to the godfather of the zombie subgenre of horror which, whilst nothing to memorable is still very entertaining for a fan of these types of films which i can recommend viewing if only for the experience of seeing a film which you can tell was made by a fan for the fans, rather than for the cred's. whilst dragging with a slightly stale plot i found this film to be an entertaining way to spend an hour, sure you may not be urged to review it many times over but its still above the likes of redneck zombies and vampires vs zombies so i can recommend it. my view, 6 skulls out of ten.

[livingdeadboy]

thanks for the review Hellsing, and thanks for actually pointing out what could stand to be fixed without being crude or vacuous about it . Every movie we make we try to improve something, so those comments go along way. Same goes will all the other helpful reviews.

[Mutineer]

like multineer i aint one to sugar coat my views The problem that usually stems from 'forum users films' is that they don't want to hear or see critiques that may be harsh (not suggesting LDB is reacting this way, he is not); yet no one, including these budding filmmakers, has a problem with trouncing on other films that are in release, calling them trash, a waste of time, the director is a hack; etc ... My commentaries are not personal, but merely a subjective opinion. I expect a lot more from todays filmmakers and the technology and wisdom available and if I don't see it, I'll let them know. I'm an amatuer filmmaker myself and think everything I have ever done is **** despite the mixed reviews I have gotten. So, don't take it personal. If you can't handle negative critiques in a forum of your own peers, then what are you going to do when your films make it into the real world where'll they tear you to shreds ? - LDBoy My review was fiull of some helpful future advice (or even on a Re-Cut) of your film. If you don't want to hear from me then at least Google it: Split Edit http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/split_edit.html 180 Degree Rule http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/180_degree_rule - I prefer a community of peers that are honest yet helpful. I wasn't kidding when I said making a feature is a daunting task; wow. I do commend you for getting it done.