I don't know what it is about George Romero's NOTLD, but I always feel compelled to watch any variation of it. I've seen the colorized version, the Savini remake, the 3-D Sid Haig remake, and even that 30th anniversary version with new footage by John "Paycheck" Russo. It is a film I am infinitely familiar with, so this new take on it sounded rather interesting. Basically, artists from all over the globe offered their (free) services to animate the original film beginning to end with tons of different styles. You end up with a final product that reminds me of the great early 90s MTV series LIQUID TELEVISION (anyone remember that?). Unfortunately, the end product is - like the contributors - all over the map. The animators utilize all kinds of styles from hand drawn to computer animation to live action usage of dolls. When it is on top of its game, the film's animations are fantastic, breaking down Romero's film into a variety of unique interpretations. For example, Andres Silva's take on the window attack is fantastic as he re-interprets it in the form of a Tom & Jerry style cartoon with cats (zombies) and mice (humans). When it is off, however, it is really rough with some downright embarrassing stuff that looks like it was slapped together in Microsoft Paint. Also, some points of the film just use live action footage with artistic filters over them to fill in the gaps. Project coordinator Mike Schneider should be commended for such a grand idea, but he should also be chastised for not exhibiting some level of quality control. I get it, this is just fans doing their work to honor Romero's masterpiece. But that should be no excuse for shoddy animation that sometimes even pixelates on screen. These sub-par efforts undermine the truly rewarding work on display here.
Review of Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated
