A NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD *** USA 2022 Dir: Kenny Scott Guffey & Jake C. Young. 80 mins
As most movie fans know Night Of The Living Dead (1968) is in the public domain and there has been no shortage of remakes / spin-offs / sequels to that movie so it is refreshing to see a film where they take that films idea and follows up on it in a new way. In A NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD we follow a group of podcasting friends as they seek to find the truth on whether the supposed events of Night Of The Living Dead (1968) occurred, as the group discuss on their podcast to their listeners there has been many theories as to wherever it actually happened. Once they find the farmhouse where these questionable events happened the friends begin to search the property and stumble across a diary of a little girl named Karen Cooper, yes that very girl from Night Of the Living Dead. If this isn’t proof already of those events in 1968 they soon encounter a zombie who attacks the friends. With the President of The United States Of America announcing a state of emergency as the dead rise this only cements further truth in past events. As the living fall and the dead continue to rise the question begins to come to mind, is everything really all it seems to be or is this a delusion of a sick individual?
A NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD cleverly incorporates the Covid-19 Pandemic into its storyline with several characters mentioning the virus and the use of masks to stop the spread of what could be worse then Coronavirus. In a time where we see many movies have had to wait for the pandemic to be over, the cast and crew of A NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD make a smart use of the unfortunate situation we are currently all living in by having a small but efficient team that bring this intriguing story to life.
With many movies and TV shows following in the footsteps of The Walking Dead in terms of making the zombies very decayed, in this film they smartly choose to make the dead/infected look more akin to those in Night Of The Living Dead (1968). This not only works for the look of the film but also helps with potentially any budgetary constraints.
Some of the horror community may groan when they hear of another zombie movie as the sub-genre has been done to death (pun intended). I would say personally that although the genre has been swamped since The Walking Dead, that you should definitely give A NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD if you are wanting to be back to basics and more character focused with your zombie films.
With a nice tight running time of 80 minutes, a script which keeps you wanting to watch how the story develops, a cast who are all wonderful with their portrayal of their characters and Directed competently by its two Directors, A NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD is a zombie film which gives a refreshing dose of re-animation to the zombie genre.
Review by Peter ‘Witchfinder‘ Hopkins
A NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD is out now on Blu-ray in the USA and Streaming Platforms worldwide from VIPCO and BayView Entertainment.