“One of our favorite indie film studios, Glass Eye Pix, will be heading up a documentary on George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Rob Kuhns (codirector and editor for PBS’ Enemies of War) is joining forces with executive producer Larry Fessenden for an in-depth look at the undead. Birth of the Living Dead will detail how an unassuming group of filmmakers in Pittsburgh started the zombie revolution with a script inspired by the sociopolitical horrors happening around them. The film aims to transport viewers back to the turbulent 1960s, when Romero’s zombie onslaught reflected the graphic war that was erupting on TV screens across America. Roger Ebert described the impact it had on young audiences when the film debuted in the steel city:
“The kids in the audience were stunned. There was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying. There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying… It’s hard to remember what sort of effect this movie might have had on you when you were six or seven. But try to remember. At that age, kids take the events on the screen seriously, and they identify fiercely with the hero. When the hero is killed, that’s not an unhappy ending but a tragic one: Nobody got out alive. It’s just over, that’s all.”
The documentary will premiere at the IFC Center in New York on November 6, with a simultaneous rollout on iTunes. See if the trailer whets your appetite. Also, don’t miss the sweet poster artist Gary Pullin created to celebrate the film.”
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