8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Too scared to watch Dementia 13, November 11, 2003
This review is from: Night of the Living Dead / Dementia 13 (DVD)
I saw Night of the Living Dead and was terrified. I live down the road from a cemetary, so that didn't help. I'm usually not too big on horror films, but I thought that is movie if from 1968, "how scary can it be?" It doesn't have the big cinematic effects that movies have today, which I think made me uneasy. And it just got more terrifying from there.
Being the over-analytical person that I am, I wondered how were the zombies able to break the door. I mean, c'mon, its a solid wood door on an old farmhouse, but like I said, I'm over-analytical.
When everyone was turning on each other, it reminded me of the Twilight Zone episode "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street".
I definately didn't expect the ending.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing, October 2, 2004
This review is from: Night of the Living Dead / Dementia 13 (DVD)
It's hard to find really good horror movies. I often find that today's horror movies with all their special effects rely too much on things jumping out at you and ridiculous-looking ghosts. These two movies, both student films, were made with a very low budget. I think this is part of what allowed them to be so great. Unable to rely on special effects, these movies were made scary with lighting, music -- ambience.
I wish I could talk about the quality of this particular edition, but I don't have it. It's a shame because both of these movies are hard to find in good condition. However, I can say that these are two of the scariest movies ever made. These are the movies I compare every horror movie to.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cult horror at its best, July 15, 2006
This review is from: Night of the Living Dead / Dementia 13 (DVD)
Cult horror movies are the like zombies -- they don't die, but stick around. And two excellent ones are in this collection: zombie frightfest "Night of the Living Dead," and Francis Ford Coppola's early "Dementia 13." Not only are the movies excellent, but the transfers are good as well.
"Night of the Living Dead" starts when a crashed satellite starts emitting radiation, which causes the dead to rise out of their graves to devour the living. Barbara (Judith O'Dea) is visiting a grave with her brother -- when suddenly a shambling, dead-faced man murders him, and chases her down the road to a farmhouse.
But she's not alone -- a kindly man named Ben (Duane Jones), a young couple, and a family are also hiding there. The refugees barricade themselves for protection -- but now there are hundreds of zombies closing in. They must fight with fire and their wits... but it may not be enough.
"Dementia 13" is a whole different kind of horror. Louise Haloran's (Luana Anders) unpleasant husband has just died of a heart attack, during a row out on a lake. Because he died before his mother, in-law Louise won't get a penny. So she sinks his body, claims he's in New York, and returns to the ancestral home in Ireland, hoping to get the old lady to adjust the will.
But his family is just as weird as her scheme, with a troubled sculptor, shy type, dead father, and a mother obsessed with her dead child. They presently attending the annual memorial for one of the daughters, who died (ironically) by drowning. But of course, things get spiced up as Louise arrives -- somebody is running around the castle, killing with an axe.
Both movies are excellent examples of their own genre. George A. Romero created the blueprint for zombie movies, while Coppola's first masterpiece is a Poe-esque suspense film. Each is outstanding in its own way, so it's a pleasure to see them together and in good condition.
And both directors do an amazing job. Romero creates a nightmarish, claustrophobic atmosphere in his movie, where no matter where you go, you're trapped -- and the humans might kill you if the zombies don't. The finale is a tragic, but very realistic twist.
Coppola was still a young, raw director when he made "Dementia 13," compared to the more experienced touch he brought to the "Godfather" movies and "Apocalypse Now." But he showed in this movie that he had rare talent -- a Hitchcockesque talent for suspense, and a way with cameras and actors that made everything scarier than before.
Diamond Entertainment did a pretty solid job with both of these films. Usually two films on one disc are of poor quality, but the quality of both these is quite good. There's a lingering dark tint on the left side of "Dementia 13's" print, but it doesn't obscure anything. Otherwise, most of the time it's sharp and clear, as is the sound.
This double-pack not only provides two classic cult movies, but in excellent condition. Definitely one for fans of the dark, unusual and bizarre.
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