Children of the Living Dead 
(Region 2 DVD)
(2001)
by Billion$Baby

There are some who claim that Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space is the worst horror film ever made. Some of us know better.

One can only assume that the "children of the living dead" are actually Russo, Streiner and Hinzman, for still clinging to their connection to and involvement with Romero's Night Of The Living Dead. I'm not sure what makes Hinzman think that he's qualified to become involved in the film-making process. Bill, you were a zombie in a film from the late 60's for around 2 minutes of screen time. Give it up and do us all a favour!

The picture actually starts off well-enough. Five minutes in, Savini dies and his cameo is over. The film then goes rapidly downhill. Sorry to reveal that spoiler but this film was spoiled long before I wrote this review!

This film presents us with what appears to be a parallel world version ofthe events in NOTLD. After the initial zombie outbreak, the citizens regain control and everything is back to normal.

Or is it?

No! One of the surviving zombies has a bad rep. His name is Abbot Hayes and apart from the fact that he's dressed like Al Capone, he's also the funniest looking and least frightening screen villain that I have ever seen. When he jumps out in front of a camper van causing it to drop off a conveniently placed cliff, I dare you not to piss yourself laughing!

This is the sort of film that you will always be able to find on the internet, especially second-hand! Worth renting if only to remind yourself just how impressive a low budget film NOTLD really was! As another Horrorview reviewer mentioned to me, after this and the atrocity that was the 30th anniversary edition version of NOTLD (with new footage), it really is quite easy to assume that Romero was the driving creative force in the original NOTLD.

This reviewed version is the UK (region 2) dvd which comes with a photo-gallery and a trailer. Not very generous but who cares? What's the point of providing extras for a film like this? It would be like decorating a dog turd to look like a cake! Apparently the American (region 1) version comes with out-takes! That has to be good for a laugh! I really would like to see what they took out of this picture!

Take my word for it, this really is one of the worst horror films ever made. Avoid buying at all costs. Fuck off Abbot Hayes and take Russo, Streiner and Hinzman away with you! I would like to offer my sincere condolances to anybody who appears as a zombie in this film, or in the new footage on the 30th anniversary edition (ie, shit!) version of NOTLD.