Monday, March 23, 2020

Night of the Living Dead by John Russo

(pb; 1974: movie tie-in novel, based on John Russo and George A. Romero’s screenplay. Prequel to Return of the Living Dead and Escape from the Living Dead, also by John Russo.)

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.

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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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