Night of the Living Dead

Director George A. Romero's low-budget debut, Night of the Living Dead, is second only to Psycho among influential horror films. But while time has dimmed its subtext (flesh-eating zombies as a Vietnam-era metaphor for America devouring itself), more damage has been done to Night's reputation over the years by hordes of blurry, abridged public-domain TV and video versions. This disc was made using the original 35 mm negative, and it resurrects some of the most evocative black-and-white photography ever to grace a fright flick. All sorts of extra goodies also grace the package (running audio commentary by the director and cast, a bonus second disc with the entire original script, still photos, cast profiles, and more), but what's most compelling here is Dead itself, once again viewable as its Creators intended. A+