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The Hungry Dead: Midnight and Escape from the Living Dead
Your book. . .guided me through my first completed movie. --Quentin Tarantino, on Scare Tactics
From the Master of the Living Dead
John Russo's brilliantly chilling screenplay for the 1968 groundbreaking Night of the Living Dead helped pave the wave for the flesh-eating spectacles that have thrilled zombie fans for three generations. Here, for the first time in one volume, are two of the master's most gruesome and demented novels of gut-wrenching mayhem. . .
Midnight
First, they captured small animals. Then, they moved on to bigger prey. Now the backwoods family that slays together stays together for one last midnight a pair of unsuspecting travelers whose ritual torture and sacrifice will only intensify the demonic clan's cravings. . .for more.
Yeah, they're dead. . .they're all messed up.
Escape From The Living Dead
In an isolated roadside diner, a desperate group of strangers barricade themselves against a ravenous horde of undead customers who crave something more than the early bird special. They want flesh. Human flesh. With a side order of brains and stomach-turning terror.
A Two-for-One Feast for Hungry Horror Fans!
"An unrelieved orgy of sadism." -- Variety on Night of the Living Dead
From the Master of the Living Dead
John Russo's brilliantly chilling screenplay for the 1968 groundbreaking Night of the Living Dead helped pave the wave for the flesh-eating spectacles that have thrilled zombie fans for three generations. Here, for the first time in one volume, are two of the master's most gruesome and demented novels of gut-wrenching mayhem. . .
Midnight
First, they captured small animals. Then, they moved on to bigger prey. Now the backwoods family that slays together stays together for one last midnight a pair of unsuspecting travelers whose ritual torture and sacrifice will only intensify the demonic clan's cravings. . .for more.
Yeah, they're dead. . .they're all messed up.
Escape From The Living Dead
In an isolated roadside diner, a desperate group of strangers barricade themselves against a ravenous horde of undead customers who crave something more than the early bird special. They want flesh. Human flesh. With a side order of brains and stomach-turning terror.
A Two-for-One Feast for Hungry Horror Fans!
"An unrelieved orgy of sadism." -- Variety on Night of the Living Dead
369 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
6 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
John A. Russo
208 books103 followersJohn A. Russo, sometimes credited as Jack Russo or John Russo, is an American screenwriter and film director most commonly associated with the 1968 horror classic film Night of the Living Dead. As a screenwriter, his credits include Night of the Living Dead, The Majorettes, Midnight, and Santa Claws. The latter two, he also directed. He has performed small roles as an actor, most notably the first ghoul who is stabbed in the head in Night of the Living Dead.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 21, 2022
Well, that was a flaming heap of dung. I honestly don’t even comprehend how this is the same author as the Undead omnibus. Midnight was slightly better than Escape of the Dead, but not by much. They both read like very cheaply budgeted B movies. Bad character development, full of cliches, and some of the most ridiculous situations and dialogue I’ve ever read. I’m a bit mad that I wasted the time finishing it. If these had been full length novels, they would have been abandoned, and consigned to my DNF shelf.
May 25, 2022
2 novels in one book. 'Escape of the Living Dead' is trash. Really no characterizations or any strong discernible plot.
'Midnight' was far more interesting. Originally published in the 80s, I believe. The paperback is expensive so if you find a copy of this, at least grab it for Midnight.
'Midnight' was far more interesting. Originally published in the 80s, I believe. The paperback is expensive so if you find a copy of this, at least grab it for Midnight.
August 11, 2015
This may have been the worst book I have ever read.
October 29, 2019
Hard pass on seconds ...
John Russo may have earned ‘legend’ rank for his part in creating the classic film Night of the Living Dead, but the The Hungry Dead, a prose collection of two of his horror novellas, falls well short of his prior pedigree.
The first story Escape of the Living Dead is a kind-of, sort-of sequel to NOTLD, beginning at the denouement of the black-and-white movie as a militia of the local constabulary and gun-toting rednecks put down the first zombie outbreak. Cue Dr. Harold Melrose, your average mad scientist, who absconds with a few of the recently returned undead to an isolated laboratory — with predictable results. A few years later, the zombies eventually escape and the whole mess begins all over again.
The tale is needlessly cluttered with serial killers, bad bikers, and (and this is just the worst) the doctor’s genetically-engineered daughters — who were cured of the original zombie-infection only to evolve into quasi-vampires, whose bites create yet more zombies (not vampires) ... and ugh, it’s like a goulash of smeared together parts. The story construction also leaves a lot to be desired. Characters get chapters of development — only to be summarily written off in a line or two. Law-enforcement — even for schlock horror — seems unbelievably inept and there some flat-out stupid character moments, such as when Deputy Barnes awkwardly decides that now is the perfect time to ask protagonist Sally out on a date ... just a few hours after she’s been kidnapped by Hell’s Angels and watched her mum become a ‘zombie lunchable.’
The second story Midnight is actually quite a bit better, dialing into the ‘video nasty’ vibe of films like Last House on the Left. Here Russo’s antagonists, a Mother’s Day-esque family of devil-worshiping siblings, are rather richly developed and disturbingly creepy. There’s also a very dark sub-plot with main protagonist Nancy’s pervy step-father that has a few nice nasty twists and then culminates in some legitimate gut-wrenching. Midnight certainly had a shot at climbing way above expectations ...
Sadly, the story also ultimately falls short with choppy plotting and poor protagonists. Sure ... it’s a horror book and we all get it that the good guys may not win. But at some point, you’ve got to keep things interesting. At least give your protagonists some semblance of a fighting chance. But there’s too much ‘lambs to the slaughter’ for this one to really ratchet up the tension and the end just kind of ends with a whimper. Midnight was certainly the better of the duo, but it just doesn’t sell the whole package of the book on it’s own.
Final Verdict: I’d give this one a pass. As much as I love zombie-lit, Escape of the Living Dead was just barely digestible. Diehard horror aficionados may find something to love in the second story Midnight but if your looking for a bit of a guilty pleasure in the genre, then I would go to one of Richard Laymon’s books as better alternative.
P.S. And I call B.S. on whoever penned the book jacket teaser: “In an isolated roadside dinner, a desperate group of survivors barricade themselves against a ravenous horde of undead ...”. It takes ‘til Chapter 24 for us to get a handful of folks barricaded into a bar ... and they are out of there just fifty pages later. That’s like summarizing the plot of Star Wars: A New Hope with the words: “In the worst bar on the worst planet in the galaxy, a young boy and a grizzled Jedi Master must confront a extraterrestrial hive of scum and villainy ...”. Sloppy Kensington Books ... just sloppy.
December 15, 2021
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I was excited for this book. I love the basic plot of a family of serial killers that hunts together through either some religious zealously or through family tradition. This book promised me that. Problem was that the book fell short by a great deal both in the plot and the execution.
My first issue was the feminist issues that I have to raise YET AGAIN. The molestation and rape of women was yet again a huge plot driving force. One of the girls would not have been captured if her step-father did not try to rape her. The girls attempted to use their sexuality to trick the men into having sex with them to get away, despite one of the girls being a die hard catholic (who had already committed the sin of adultery). The girl’s religion only came up when it came to her sex life and when she was praying. Why does her sex life matter in the plot outside of objectifying her to make her more interesting instead of creating an actual character?
The plot fell short because the author built up a rich back story to the reason why the family hunted, but stopped short of explaining how and why the family had a cult following. There is also the issue of explaining the mother. Seriously, what is up with the mother?
The ending was a good one. It left right in the middle of the action and allowed the reader to guess what would happen to the last girl which is probably more frightening than what the author would have described. I like the author’s writing style, but I don’t think this story did justice to how he writes. There are too many secondary characters that were given large back stories that did not need to have them. There was literally a throw away character that was in love with the sister of the killing family. There was no need for him to exist, but he was given a good chunk of back story that really didn’t need to be known to advance the plot and have the story be horrific.
I really did want to like this book, but instead I feel meh about it. It wasn’t amazing and it wasn’t the worst thing I have read. It wasn’t scary or boring. It was too middle ground on everything.
I was excited for this book. I love the basic plot of a family of serial killers that hunts together through either some religious zealously or through family tradition. This book promised me that. Problem was that the book fell short by a great deal both in the plot and the execution.
My first issue was the feminist issues that I have to raise YET AGAIN. The molestation and rape of women was yet again a huge plot driving force. One of the girls would not have been captured if her step-father did not try to rape her. The girls attempted to use their sexuality to trick the men into having sex with them to get away, despite one of the girls being a die hard catholic (who had already committed the sin of adultery). The girl’s religion only came up when it came to her sex life and when she was praying. Why does her sex life matter in the plot outside of objectifying her to make her more interesting instead of creating an actual character?
The plot fell short because the author built up a rich back story to the reason why the family hunted, but stopped short of explaining how and why the family had a cult following. There is also the issue of explaining the mother. Seriously, what is up with the mother?
The ending was a good one. It left right in the middle of the action and allowed the reader to guess what would happen to the last girl which is probably more frightening than what the author would have described. I like the author’s writing style, but I don’t think this story did justice to how he writes. There are too many secondary characters that were given large back stories that did not need to have them. There was literally a throw away character that was in love with the sister of the killing family. There was no need for him to exist, but he was given a good chunk of back story that really didn’t need to be known to advance the plot and have the story be horrific.
I really did want to like this book, but instead I feel meh about it. It wasn’t amazing and it wasn’t the worst thing I have read. It wasn’t scary or boring. It was too middle ground on everything.
December 4, 2013
I have been a Night of the Living Dead fan since I was a kid. I picked this up hoping for some campy fun zombie romp. But since this book contained two very different books I need to review them separately.
ESCAPE OF THE LIVING DEAD:
The plot was basically 16 years after the zombie plague a crazy doctor is experimenting on zombies and all hell breaks loose. This book was horrid. There were so many flaws that I was cringing by the time I finished. My biggest problem was that there was no consistency. Sometimes the zombies felt pain other times they didn't. Sometimes they seemed to be able to reason and other times they were mindless eating machines. The electric lines were destroyed but a garage door opener worked. And there was a vampire sub-plot that didn't go anywhere but sort of felt like it was a prequel to another book. I would rate this book 1/5 stars.
MIDNIGHT:
This book is about a Satanic cult. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. Reading this book reminded me so much of when I was a kid on Saturday afternoons sitting on my Grandpa's couch watching really bad horror movies from the 60s and 70s. The really good low-budget blood-splattered gore fests. This book was like watching one of those movies. This book had plot twists, lots of suspense, a little T&A, blood, and a perfect ending. It was spot on. I could only rate it 5/5 stars.
ESCAPE OF THE LIVING DEAD:
The plot was basically 16 years after the zombie plague a crazy doctor is experimenting on zombies and all hell breaks loose. This book was horrid. There were so many flaws that I was cringing by the time I finished. My biggest problem was that there was no consistency. Sometimes the zombies felt pain other times they didn't. Sometimes they seemed to be able to reason and other times they were mindless eating machines. The electric lines were destroyed but a garage door opener worked. And there was a vampire sub-plot that didn't go anywhere but sort of felt like it was a prequel to another book. I would rate this book 1/5 stars.
MIDNIGHT:
This book is about a Satanic cult. IT WAS INCREDIBLE. Reading this book reminded me so much of when I was a kid on Saturday afternoons sitting on my Grandpa's couch watching really bad horror movies from the 60s and 70s. The really good low-budget blood-splattered gore fests. This book was like watching one of those movies. This book had plot twists, lots of suspense, a little T&A, blood, and a perfect ending. It was spot on. I could only rate it 5/5 stars.
March 8, 2014
This book contains Escape from The Dead, and Midnight, this review is of the first half of the book.
Escape from the Dead is the third "living dead" book from the man who helped create the Zombie movie genre with George Romero. John Russo breathes new life into the genre with creating a new slant on the cause and effect of whatever it is that caused the dead to rise up. Amid that story line there is a lot of flesh eating, and murder and mayhem. The book has an ending but leaves the door wide open for a sequel which I implore Mr. Russo to write. Like now. Great book for any horror fan and must read for any zombie fans.
Escape from the Dead is the third "living dead" book from the man who helped create the Zombie movie genre with George Romero. John Russo breathes new life into the genre with creating a new slant on the cause and effect of whatever it is that caused the dead to rise up. Amid that story line there is a lot of flesh eating, and murder and mayhem. The book has an ending but leaves the door wide open for a sequel which I implore Mr. Russo to write. Like now. Great book for any horror fan and must read for any zombie fans.
August 13, 2015
I only read the first story. Quite honestly it wasn't great. 2 and a half stars really. It never really went anywhere and was left completely open ended. Zombies weren't very real to me and the characters were kind of dopey. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Could not really wait to finish simply because I hate to leave books unfinished if for no other reason.
August 28, 2014
Wasn't the worst I have read. Wasn't the best, either. Just glad I did not pay full price for it, lol!
September 9, 2014
This novel contains two books in one, so the price is great for two separate zombie stories.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews