SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Steineded How sad is this?

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Leofwine_draca BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD is a fun tribute documentary exploring the making of George Romero's low budget horror classic, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, exploring the things it was influenced by as well as the genre it influenced. The main disappointment is that none of the cast or crew involved with the making of the film provide comment other than Romero himself, but the director is such an engaging personality that it doesn't matter. Plus, plenty of modern filmmaking-related figures are happy to talk about the movie too.This documentary works so well because it explores the political context surrounding the film's making. Riots, the Vietnam War, race relations, and gun violence all play their part and are discussed here. It's the type of documentary that makes you look at the film in a new light, and the bits about the casting of Duane Jones in a non race-related role are particularly interesting. I find that when documentaries like this are made with such obvious love and enthusiasm for the subject matter they're impossible to dislike in turn.

MartinHafer While I am certainly no fan to zombie films in general because the genre has been WAY over-saturated in recent years, I have enjoyed a few of the films and understand that they still are very popular and important films despite my misgivings about many of the recent films. So, because of this, the new documentary Birth of the Living Dead is well worth seeing and is rather timely. It is THE granddaddy of all modern zombie films—the one that led to subsequent generations of such pictures. In fact, it's one of the most important movies of the 1960s and it's one every film student and horror fan should see and appreciate. It managed to overcome its low production values and humble origins to become a cult favorite.Not surprisingly, the creator of the original film, Night of the Living Dead, George Romero, is featured in this documentary. When he's being interviewed is when the film is at its best. His tidbits about the making of Night of the Living Dead are really interesting and I wanted even more of this than Romero provided. Additionally, a variety of experts are interviewed and they discuss what they love about the movie. Also not surprisingly, various clips from this seminal film are shown throughout this homage. Among the topics covered are the director's expectations as well as how he made the film, the impact of the film on pop culture, the reaction of the critics (both immediately after the film was released and later after many re-assessed the movie), the political and racial themes in the film (whether intended or not) and how the film was groundbreaking as well as how it mirrored the times in which it was made.This documentary certainly is well worth seeing and I recommend you see it provided you first see the old film it's based on—otherwise it might be a bit confusing. However, it's not a perfect making of film and could have been a bit better. As I mentioned above, the inside information from Romero was great but too often various 'experts' (and I have no idea what constituted this in many of the folks chosen to discuss the film) talked a lot more about hidden social significance (something that Romero revealed is NOT always in the movie) and the times instead of talking more about the original movie itself and how it was made. Still, despite this, the film is reasonably well made and kept my interest throughout. For horror fans and film students, it certainly should be a film to watch.

SnoopyStyle It's 1968. Pittsburgh filmmaker George Romero introduces the world to the flesh eating zombie. He started working for Fred Rogers on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Then Romero recounts how he gathered a group of people to develop and film the classic horror. It's a real indie at a time when indies had no money.It's a documentary and it's nice to have Romero tell his story. None of it is too surprising. It's like Romero doing the commentary for his movie. It's also a great underdog story of independent filmmaking. I could do without the modern influences and less of the talking heads dissecting the movie moves. I rather have more stories about the making of and the stories of the people around the movie. The social commentaries are fine but it's rehashing old territories. It takes up a lot of movie. I like the part after they finished the movie and I love the stories of the little kids watching the movie.

george.schmidt BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD (2013) ***1/2 Documentarian Rob Kuhns' valentine to George A. Romero's seminal zombie horror film 'Night of the Living Dead' gets the richly deserved revered treatment by dissecting the cult classic 45 years after its unleashing to an unsuspecting populace and influencing cinephiles for future generations and filmmakers everywhere. Interviewing fellow pundits like executive producer (and fellow filmmaker) Larry Fessenden, critics Mark Harris and Elvis Mitchell, producer Gale Anne Hurd (who admits echoes of NOTLD in her post-zombie-apocalypse sensation THE WALKING DEAD), and Romero himself who recollects the shoe-string budget, lack of initial general interest upon the film's release and the tidbits of giddy fanboy insider info on how he got the chiller made. Kuhns wisely incorporates film footage of the 1960s political ongoings and social strata that the film more-or-less unintentionally evoked as themes/messages to show just how timely/less it truly was. Fun and insightful and perfect for those die-hard fans of the undead.