From
the back cover
“They
are coming, rising rotten from their graves, filling the night with a furious
howl, and staining the earth bloody red. . .
“They
are growing, their powers are swelling, from feasting on flesh and gnawing on
bone, now they are drunk on the sweet taste of blood. . .
“Now
they are here, and they march to the rhythm of death. Now they will crash down
the gates, take all that is theirs, and wipe the blood from their lips. . .”
Review
Night is an
excellent, stripped-to-the-bone undead (as in: zombie, a word that’s not
mentioned in Night) novel. Even if you’ve seen the original 1968 film
like many people, this is a taut, chilling and burn-through book,
with enough gore to satisfy many viscera-appreciative readers, but not so much
it distracts from the deftly sketched characters and urgent happenings within
the story. Many of the characters, e.g. Ben, are given more backstories than
they are in the film, and there are at least two additional scenes that add to
said backstories and further the minor differences between Night‘s book
and original film version.
The
book likely won’t alter anyone’s outlook on either book or the film versions,
along with their sequels and offshoots, but Russo’s Night is a gripping,
lean, no-bulls**t and short companion piece to the original
film.
If you
are a fan of Night like I am, this is worth owning for a quick-thrill,
iconic, hour-or-so read, and an acknowledgment of what a milestone the original
film is: it completely altered how filmmakers and viewers saw the zombie
genre─a media-quaking switch from voodoo-based undead to modern-day-neuroses
undead.
#
There
are too many film versions─remakes, sequels, spin-offs, rip-offs and the
occasional worthwhile homages─to list here. Suffice to say, the original film,
on which this book is based, was released stateside on October 4, 1968. George
A. Romero, who co-wrote the screenplay, directed the film.
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