Birth of the Living Dead (2013)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Did we really need yet another documentary about NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD? Probably not but this one here is so entertaining and gives us some fresh looks on the subject that fans of the George Romero classic will certainly want to check it out. Director Rob Kuhns interviews Romero who touches on familiar subjects like his early career, how the story came up and the impact the film had once it was released. Where the documentary sets itself apart is that it focuses in on some of the more political moments in the film including what was going on in the world at the time. Vietnam and the Civil Rights are certainly discussed here. You might be saying that we've heard these stories before and that's true but this documentary manages to throw out some good information and even better is that we get some professional critics who discuss the impact of the film and their memories of seeing it as children. Elvis Mitchell has some great stories about the first time he watched the film and there's some great stuff dealing with how the distributor pretty much threw this film into kid matinées. There's even a great sequence where people discuss how everything zombie wise pretty much goes back to this film and Romero. Even more interesting is the talk of the lead black actor and the type of movies Sidney Poitier was doing at this thing. I really wish Romero would have commented on this part of the subject but he doesn't. With that said, this is certainly a highly entertaining documentary, although it does run a bit short at just 75-minutes.