Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.
NIGHT OF THE ANIMATED DEAD (2021)
Label: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 71 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Director: Jason Axinn
Cast: Josh Duhamel, Dulé Hill, Katharine Isabelle, James Roday Rodriguez, Katee Sackhoff, Will Sasso, Jimmi Simpson, Nancy Travis
Night of the Animated Dead is an animated adaptation of the 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead, which was directed by George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead) and co-written by Romero and John Russo (Midnight), which as it slipped into the public domain immediately upon release went on to numerous public domain releases and re-configurations through the year, including remakes, re-imaginings and sequels. Back in 2010 it was given an animated release that utilized the audio from the original film as Night of The Living Dead Reanimated, and now we get a full-on animated remake with a brand new voices cast.
Night of the Animated Dead is an animated adaptation of the 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead, which was directed by George A. Romero (Dawn of the Dead) and co-written by Romero and John Russo (Midnight), which as it slipped into the public domain immediately upon release went on to numerous public domain releases and re-configurations through the year, including remakes, re-imaginings and sequels. Back in 2010 it was given an animated release that utilized the audio from the original film as Night of The Living Dead Reanimated, and now we get a full-on animated remake with a brand new voices cast.
The new animated film, directed by Jason Axinn (To Your Last Death) and animated by Mexican start-up company Demente Animation Studio, is basically a shot-for-shot remake following the same blueprint established by the '68 original, with siblings Barbara (Katharine Isabelle, Ginger Snaps) and her wisecracking brother Johnny (Jimmi Simpson, Under the Silver Lake) driving out to a rural Pennsylvania cemetery to visit the grave of their father, at the urging of their mother. Once there Johnny jokes with his sister about a ghoulish looking stranger they spot wandering the cemetery, jesting that he's coming to get her, and sure enough, the shambling man does just that. Johnny comes to defend his sister when she is attacked but is knocked down hitting his head on a grave marker, killing him.
Frantically Barbara flees to the nearby car but in a panic she cannot get the car started, so she puts it in neutral and the car rolls down hill, but unable to control the vehicle it strikes a tree, forcing her to flee on foot from the deranged man who is still in pursuit. She finds shelter in a nearby farmhouse, inside discovering the grisly corpse. A short time later a man named Ben (Dulé Hill, Gravy) shows up, also fleeing the reanimated undead, establishing that the man in the cemetery was not an isolated event. Fast-thinking Ben begins to board up the windows and doors of the house to protect themselves against growing amount of the undead who are amassing outside, Barbara, just like the original, is not much help, having been left in a state of shock following the attack and death of her brother. With the house somewhat secured the pair settle in for the night, listening to the radio, learning that the mysterious re-animated corpses have overtaken not just the local area but the entire Eastern U.S..
The plot thickens when a group people who have been hiding in the basement emerge, having been cloistered away down there the entire time; we have stubborn know-it-all Harry (Josh Duhamel, Batman: The Long Halloween) and his wife Helen Cooper (Nancy Travis, The Kominsky Method), along with their daughter, Karen, who has been bitten by the undead, plus teenage couple named Tom (James Roday Rodriguez, Psych) and Judy (Katee Sackhoff, The Mandalorian). The two group do not see eye-to-eye, with Harry and Ben having their own set of ideas about the best course of action to take. Harry seems emasculated when Ben takes charge, and the men continually bicker over who should control the TV, radio and a gun that is found in the house, creating an increasingly hostile atmosphere. The group watch further news broadcasts that detail military interventions, and the possible cosmic-origin of the plague, which could have originated from a satellite that exploded upon re-entry into he earth's atmosphere. As in the original movie the undead are the initial imminent threat, but they are not the only threat, as the chaos and panic increases it's good old human nature that compounds the problem, with fears and prejudices taking root and infecting the ranks of the living.
While this sticks true to the original as far a plot and story there are some subtle change-ups, like a flashback to Ben encountering the dead earlier at the gas station, which is only referenced in the original film, and later when the teenagers go up in flames while trying to gas-up the pick-up truck at a farm gas pump they take the opportunity to offer a bit more animated gore to the scene, but it's pretty slavish to the original, which is not a bad thing, I mean c'mon, it's Night of the Living Dead, it's a stone-cold classic! Where the film suffers the most for me is the animation style which is simplistic and has very little style, which sort of ruined it for me. The artwork on the Blu-ray is not representative of the animation style, and I usually love the WB animation stuff, but this failed to deliver.
While I didn't love the animation style the voice cast is pretty decent, aside from those mentioned above in the review we also get Mad TV's Will Sasso (The Three Stooges) as Sheriff McClelland. No real issues with the voice cast, they're all quite good, but that animation is a stinksville, especially for such a fantastic premise. It's a bit like the comics I read, if I cannot get into the artwork I find it quite hard to enjoy it, no matter how great the story is, that's just the way my brain's wired.
The single-disc release arrives in an standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring a pretty cool illustration that is far and away much better than the animation found in the film, in my opinion. The same artwork is featured on the slipcover, and inside there is a digital code for an HD copy of the film.
Special Features:
- Making of the Animated Dead - Join director Jason Axinn & Producer Michael Luisi as they regale fans with the careful process of honoring the iconic classic with their vision for an animated remake, including scene breakdowns and booth recordings with the cast! (10 min)
- Making of the Animated Dead - Join director Jason Axinn & Producer Michael Luisi as they regale fans with the careful process of honoring the iconic classic with their vision for an animated remake, including scene breakdowns and booth recordings with the cast! (10 min)
Night of the Animated Dead (2021) feels to me like a cheap looking cash-grab profiting on the public domain status of Romero's NOTLD. While the core story still works the animation style is a serious turn off, but your mileage may vary depending on what you think of the animation style, and I think that Night of the Living Dead Reanimated did it better and with more a lot more heart.
Screenshots from the WBHE Blu-ray:
Extras:
