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Absolutely the worst movie.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Like it or not, George A. Romero truly is the father of today's horror cinema. The original "Dead" trilogy – NIGHT, DAWN, and DAY – accomplish that simple truth in unveiling a very human metaphor wrapped in the grisly package of blood-letting entertainment. And why not celebrate the man and his accomplishments? Perhaps dig deep into the motives and industry tales of movie-making. Perhaps that is what Rob Kuhns set out to do with his BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD documentary. Unfortunately, the data unearthed in BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD could have been a solid DVD featurette. Instead, an additional 40 minutes of repetitiveness was added, dragging the film down as a lumbering, undead walker.To its credit, BIRTH sets the stage of 1968 America, when NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was released, quite well providing key insights to the civil rights movement as well as to the fact that NIGHT stars an African American. Likewise, the documentary gets right into how – and why – the film was made and some of the issues and trickery Romero and his crew employed during production and editing; Romero himself is presented as both jolly and candid.Then the film rinses and repeats. And repeats. And, oh, did you forget that NIGHT starred an African American? Well hold on tight, you'll be reminded in just a few short minutes as horror film director Larry Fessenden will tell you how great the original film is and repeat the lines verbatim for the camera. Granted, the docu's subject is NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, but that topic alone screams out for accompaniment. There was absolutely no mention of the 1990 remake, nor the 2004 remake of DAWN. And obviously the most apparent of Romero's offspring – THE WALKING DEAD – is only shown as a background image. Kuhns showed the historical relevance of NIGHT, but only provided the merest taste of its social impact, a taste that was sorely missed.

If you read the "storyline" description of this Documentary you would assume it's about the production of the film "Night of the living dead", and yes we get maybe 15 minutes of some interesting tidbits on the investors and players involved BUT the remaining 60 minutes is pure drivel. I give it 3 stars for the 15 minutes of somewhat entertaining stories. It loses 7 stars from the somewhat laughable metaphoric connections to the late 60s in terms of racial violence and the Vietnam war. They could have spent 5 minutes on how it was somewhat unusual to cast an African American in the lead at the time and how some of the shooting visuals looked a little like riot and war footage. Instead we get an hour of Vietnam and race riot footage and trying to connect it to different scenes in the movie. The taglines and plot descriptions on various websites like IMDb and vudu look like it's targeted to 'Romero' fans but should only be shown in a political science class and that's a stretch.

'BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)Documentary on the making of the classic 1968 zombie film 'NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD'. It was directed by Rob Kuhns (making his feature film directorial debut). The movie features interviews with the director/writer of the zombie masterpiece (and it's many sequels), George A. Romero, and many others involved with the flick as well as several film aficionados and movie experts. I found it to be very informative but kind of boring.The documentary goes through the history of the entire production of 'NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD', starting with what Romero was doing before he even came up with the idea for the movie. It uses footage from the film (as well as other zombie flicks and TV shows it's inspired) mixed with current footage of people talking about the movie. Some of the people interviewed include actors Larry Fessenden, Elvis Mitchell and writer/producer Gale Anne Hurd. The interviewees talk about how ahead of it's time the film was as well as how it created an entire genre of movies (the zombie flick).'NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD' is obviously a great and classic film that did start a new genre as well as spawn some equally classic and groundbreaking sequels ('DAWN OF THE DEAD' and 'DAY OF THE DEAD' are two of my all-time favorite horror movies)! It is interesting to learn about the film, and how it was created, and this documentary is very informative but the whole way it's put together and presented is not very interesting or entertaining. It feels a lot more like a special feature, on a special edition DVD, than an actual movie (especially at it's 76 minute running length). I'm surprised this movie was released in any theaters at all. Not a complete waste of time but it's not a lot of fun either. It's definitely worth watching if you're a die-hard fan of the movie and/or the genre though.Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny7Y7pgmZpA

It's not often that one can trace back the origins of an entire genre to one body of work, let alone have that seminal entity still directly influence all its successors in one way or another. We can from time to time point out overt homages to a keystone effort or see themes and imagery blatantly stolen, but in the case of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, we've simply seen a genre organically (and sometimes brilliantly) evolve within the confines of the trendsetter's mould.Efficiently and entertainingly, Birth of the Living Dead takes us back to the late 1960's where times were tough, social divides were widening and where one nearly novice auteur dared to craft a horror film unlike anything audiences had seen before, and arguably, haven't seen since.In viewing the first entry in Romero's "Dead" series decades after its first release, not analyzing what it must have meant at the time is an easy feat. For most watching it now, they'll be struck by how well it holds up, rather than that it featured stark parallels to the climate at that time, both intentionally and otherwise. Race wars at home raged, and so too did the Vietnam War overseas – the symbolism of unstoppable, remorseless monsters laying siege to one's home rung far too true in some cases. Birth of the Living Dead strips away these layers and provides us with a capsule of time when a movie became more than just a movie.The film also intriguingly touches on the casting of African American lead Duane Jones, an addition to the crew that was purely based on skill, and who was not accompanied by changes to the script to address his ethnicity. This resulted in (at the time) a black man serving as the leader of a group of white folk who did not engage in slurs or anything of the like and instead played things out as it would between those of the same race, or if those prejudices did not exist at all. It was man versus the undead and man versus man at the same time, but not because of racism.All of this insight would of course be for nought if Mr. Romero himself were not to wryly chime in on his experiences, thoughts on the actors, the filmmaking process and everything around and in between. At age 73 he's still as chipper and sarcastic as ever, and frankly is just a blast to watch on screen. Furthermore, his commentary of things he would have changed today and things he wished could have been accomplished then, help to flesh out a man who has spent his life in the industry.If there was one major complaint I would have against Birth of the Living Dead it would be its slim runtime. While digestible in the best of ways, it could have dug a little deeper into the mythos of the film and the actual filmmaking process. It's a shame that many of the cast and crew have passed on since filming as their lack of insight into how the process went for them softens the bite of the documentary a tad, but of course I can't lay blame on something that cannot be altered, and as it stands it still paints a very vivid picture.While slight in areas, I would certainly label Birth of the Living Dead as essential viewing for fans of zombie films, Night of the Living Dead or of the man behind the magic. It's overall an immensely enjoyable watch that should leave most fans, save the die-hard, with something new to mull over about one of the greatest horror films of all time. If at the very least it makes you want to partake in another viewing of the iconic flick, then that's good enough in my book.