Chronicles of the Living Dead (2015) User Reviews

A Valuable Look at the Timeless Film

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 20 October 2015]

The inside story of the important horror classic "Night of the Living Dead" as told by those who were there and those who were inspired by it. Including rare archival interviews, new interviews and visits to the original locations, "Chronicles of the Living Dead" also addresses the issue of the film's infamous copyright status, a legal debacle that continues to plague the original creators to this day.

If you want to learn about Latent Image, Image 10 and the $6000 that started the film... this is a great place to start. You might not know that these guys were making commercials at the time. (Missing from this film is the tie-in to Mr. Rogers.) J. R. Bookwalter is interviewed extensively, which is a little strange. George Romero also does not appear, relying almost exclusively on John Russo and Russ Streiner. It would have been nice to have Kyra Schon or some other perspectives. Bookwalter is great, but he is no more involved than any other modern filmmaker.

This film seems to have been created to really discuss the copyright issue, which is something worthy of discussion. Unfortunately, this looks at it very shallowly. The same things are repeated over and over again, without ever getting into the details of what the law says. This could have been educational, but never strays into the weeds (like it should).

The film raises the idea that its public domain status has increased its availability. This is a view I firmly believe. Because it is free to use or show, it has turned up in movie bundles and is often featured on TV or within shows as something the characters watch. Would it have been a classic anyway? Possibly. But it is hard to deny the possibility that it got big in part because it was everywhere.

Fairly interesting documentary about the making of the classic film "Night of the Living Dead"...

[dwpollar · 4/10 · 9 May 2020]

1st watched 10/1/2016 : Fairly interesting documentary about the making of the classic film "Night of the Living Dead", it's impact and it's future. The movie is interesting when the original makers talk about the making of the movie - but some of this is stock footage from another documentary - but wanes when newer filmmakers talk about it's impact, and when the copyright mistake becomes part of the movie. Russ Streiner, who played Johnny in the original, as well as produced and filmed parts of the movie - is kind of the main host of the film. His dedication and appreciation for the film is obvious. John Russo and Gary Streiner are the other on-the-spot moderators for the film, and the rest are in the stock footage including George Romero. A couple newer independent filmmakers express their appreciation and a store owner of "The Living Dead Museum" is also presented. I think the fact that the movie drifts from the making of the movie, to it's copyright issues, to it's impact to future filmmakers, and is trying to do too much minimizes it's impact. A piece about the copyright issues by itself would be interesting - the making of the movie would definetly be interesting - even a retrospect from future filmmakers would be good, but all 3 is too much in too small a timeframe. I am a big fan of the film they are discussing so anything about it usually interests me, but I found myself becoming bored about ¾ the way thru as the info seemed to start becoming repetitive. Good info for fans, but as a documentary piece it doesn't quite cut it.