The Complete Night of the Living Dead Filmbook

by John A. Russo, George A. Romero (Preface)

Here is the exciting in-depth story of a horror classic—told by an insider! John Russo, who co-authored the screenplay for Night of the Living Dead, also wrote the novelization and helped produce and promote the movie. Following that early, enormous success, he has gone on to write, produce and/or direct three more movies and to publish eight more novels. Millions of fright fans know him as the perpetrator of macabre creations such as Midnight, Bloodsisters, The Awakening and Day Care.

Night of the Living Dead has been called a fluke, a classic, a gross, outrageous money-grabber. It's also been called a symbolic work laden with commentary on the pressures and terrors of a ruthless modern society. Whatever it may be, no one can deny its rude, powerful effectiveness. To this day, it continues to draw crowds and to scare the living daylights out of them.

The Complete Night of the Living Dead Filmbook is a gold mine full of entertaining, enlightening anecdotes. It includes numerous photographs, many of which have not been published before. Film fans and budding film-makers will enjoy and appreciate this comprehensive, insightful look into the creation of... "...one of the best horror films ever made."—Andrew Sarris, 'The Village Voice'.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

John 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.

Reviews

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Night of The Living Dead by John Russo, George Romero is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made – you find thousands of notes on films from The NYT 1,000 and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and YouTube channel, where my macaws steal the show


5 out of 10

Flow https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... is a classic of psychology by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, co -founder of positive psychology, that looks at what brings people to The Zone, makes them have Maximum Experiences and we have some rules, conditions we could learn

One is in control, concentration is formidable, we have clear meaningful goals, time changes its normal flow, we are challenged, in the area between burnout and boredom, feedback is constant and instant, it is an autotelic experience and I take those and check them with seeing Night of The Living Dead and it is not Flow
Although Night of The Living Dead is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and it has a Metascore of 89, which is impressive, and it means that critics thought this film excellent, most of them anyway, I would not put this in my Top 500, even the Top 10,000 Favorites, if I ever compile such a thing

Seneca https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... was great philosopher, also one of the richest men in ancient times and in history, and he had some advice which I keep reminding myself regarding time “It is not that we have a brief length of time to live, but that we squander a great deal of that time.”
That is, watching Night of The Living Dead would have been a mistake, I did see some minutes, and it was promising, with this man and woman visiting the cemetery, a bit of humor, but then the Living Dead appeared, and my daughter, Hannah, was amusing in observing that this was made before Computer Generated Images

You would get that this is a sort of zombi – I am not good at this nomenclature, it looks to me as if zombie equals Living Dead, but maybe I am wrong – from the way he keeps his mouth open, today they will make something on the computer, I am not thrilled by the horror genre, ergo this is clearly biased, subjective
Blink https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... is another psychology book of paramount importance, and readers find how we make decisions in under one minute, The Thin Slicing Theory, also about The Harding Effect – which could be changed to the Orange Fool effect

There are mistakes, but the point would be that it is evident from the first scenes that this is not the kind of motion picture that I would like, which is not saying anything about its ‘value…beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ – there is the allegory element, most often, the idea would be to look for symbols, yet, I still do not like this feature

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review title: The legendary beginnings of a film legacy

When movie legend George Romero passed away recently, informal memorials popped up around the Pittsburgh area to honor the man who put the city on the movie map. And it all began with the super low budget film that spawned an industry: The Night of the Living Dead. John Russo was part of the team that made the movie with their own money, their hard work, and most important their heart, soul, and integrity; Russo wrote the screenplay, did behind the scenes production and promotion work, and even played an onscreen zombie role.

This rare souvenir book tells Russo's version of the history of the movie. It is heavily illustrated with stills from the movie, production shots, and promotional and review materials. Russo provides insider knowledge about the low-budget movie making process, casting, locations, makeup, and filming. We learn that "They're dead; they're all messed up" (one of the all-time great lines in movie history) was an improvisation by the actor playing the small-town Western Pennsylvania sherrif during a TV interview. Along the way John Russo documents the care and quality that went into making the Living Dead, confirming the love and respect fans have shown for this "cult" movie (Russo spends some time arguing against the "cult" label) since its debut in 1968.

If you are a fan of the movie, this is a collector piece you'll want to keep if you can find it. In fact, if you need more proof of the lasting and far-ranging impact of the movie, I found this classic in a small used bookstore in Oslo, Norway.

[Shawn Robare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though slight at a mere 100+ pages (many of which are full of photos and poster imagery), this memoir of the filming of Night of the Living Dead by the co-writer. producer, & actor John Russo is so damn good. It covers everything you'd ever want to know about the film.

[Zedsdead · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memoir by one of the producers about how he and Romero and eight of their friends and family cobbled together the funds and equipment to make a movie, without having any idea what that movie would even be about.

There are lots of beautiful grayscale photos of the production and ads created by their fledgling agency. Lots of back-slapping of the other principal players by the author.

It's surprisingly engaging. Even knowing the outcome, I found myself rooting for them to succeed.