Rating summary

Movie		0.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		0.5

Night of the Animated Dead Blu-ray Movie Review

George Romero for dummies.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 28, 2021

I finally found it! The most pointless horror remake since Gus Van Sant's Psycho. It's none other than Jason Axinn's Night of the Animated Dead, this year's crudely animated "update" of the George Romero indie classic that adds in one extra scene, plenty of over-the-top gore, and... well, that's pretty much it. Mercifully short at just 71 minutes including credits, it retains the original's who, what, when, and where: a group of survivors, led by resourceful Ben (Dulé Hill), desperately fend off throngs of hungry zombies in rural Pittsburgh, 1968. The only question left is... why?

When George Romero's original 1968 movie was infamously remade in 1990 by Tom Savini (a celebrated makeup artist who worked on several of Romero's films, including Dawn of the Dead), he obviously did so with the creator's blessing; Romero himself even rewrote his original screenplay for the occasion, and the result was a somewhat superfluous but watchable variant that retained some of the original's charm while adding in extra gore and changing a few major story components inside a shorter overall window of 88 minutes. Night of the Animated Dead is Savini's version with no self-control, amping up the gore to laughable heights and rushing through its story with reckless abandon. The substantial gaps in running time between this and the original are immediately apparent: I did a side-by-side comparison during the iconic opening graveyard scene and several lines, shots, and pauses have been removed to keep things moving... so much so that Barbara's inside the farmhouse by the six-minute mark compared to the original's 11. That should give you an idea of the approach here: unnecessarily rushed, with the whole show wrapping up in barely an hour before a surprisingly looooong credits sequence. And the added gore is its own problem, often distracting from the story with over-the-top blood and brain matter that feels like something a ten year-old would dream up.

But the story hasn't changed substantially, outside of speed and the negative effect it has on tension and character development. There is one new sequence: a two-minute flashback to "Beekman's Diner" (where Ben first finds the truck, which is only mentioned in the original film)... and it's fine, I guess. I'm still not sure if Night of the Animated Dead needed more scenes like this, but it at least brings something new and different to what's otherwise a half-assed copy-and-paste job. An expanded coda trades in the original's haunting still-photo slideshow for a more graphic death that I shouldn't have to fear spoiling, but either way feels as gratuitous as the rest of the new gore.

The real elephant in the room for most viewers, inarguably, will be this new film's stiff and amateur-grade animation, which quite honestly looks like a fan-made project that might've made its way onto the internet at least a decade ago. Character designs range from flat and boring to barely passable, but the real killer is frame rate: it's extremely low and this impacts everything from dramatic moments to action, turning what should be effective scenes of terror and drama into shoulder-shrugs or, worse yet, unintentional moments of comedy. The only real fundamental standouts are a few exterior backgrounds (which isn't saying much when 70% of the film takes place in a farmhouse) as well as some of the voice acting, which includes Dulé Hill in the lead role as well as Josh Duhamel (Harry Cooper, the abusive husband), Katharine Isabelle (Barbara), and Will Sasso (Sheriff McClelland). Damning with feint praise, indeed.

But let's not beat around the bush: Night of the Animated Dead isn't worth your time in October or any other month of the year. It's a pointless exercise that, simply put, doesn't need to exist...and if for whatever reason this ends up being your first exposure to George Romero's original story, wash your hands afterwards. Warner Bros.' Blu-ray nonetheless offers an OK A/V presentation and a bonus featurette, but neither will change your mind about the film.

Night of the Animated Dead Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Obviously I'm not a fan of the visuals here, but even within those limited boundaries Night of the Animated Dead could look better on Blu-ray. It's obviously not a disaster: line work remains smooth and color saturation is well-handled, affording some scenes a modest amount of depth that defies the flat-as a-board character designs. The main problem here is disc compression (which really shouldn't have been an issue, given the main feature's paltry running time), as artifacts are visible in shadowy corners and banding competes with most gradients, from harsh ones like headlights to even the softest of transitions. Even so, its intentionally scuzzy backgrounds hide the most flagrant imperfections, and in-motion some of the less noticeable ones aren't nearly as distracting as they might look while poring over still frames. But the fact remains that Night of the Animated Dead isn't a great-looking film -- either by deign, or the animation team just couldn't do any better -- and this Blu-ray still somehow feels like a less-than-perfect effort.

Night of the Animated Dead Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

One of Night of the Animated Dead's only bright spots I haven't mentioned yet is its sound design, which amps up the creep factor with atmospheric touches and a new score by Nima Fakhrara; it trades in the original's mixture of era-specific Theremin cues and shrill orchestral touches for a more percussive, ambient vibe that, while not necessarily better, at least strives for a different identity. Unsurprisingly, dialogue is crystal-clear, offering none of the original film's on-location limitations but also feeling too clean at times -- the opening conversation between Johnny and Barbara, for example, no longer sounds like they're actually inside of a car. Still, it's a solid effort that dials up tension at a few opportune moments, even when the visuals can't keep up. English (SDH) subtitles, as well as a number of foreign dubs and subs, are also included -- they may have spent more on dialogue recording than the animation.

Night of the Animated Dead Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with admittedly cool-looking cover artwork (even though ol' Ben looks deceptively androgynous), a matching slipcover, and a Digital Copy redemption code. The bonus features are unsurprisingly limited in number and scope.

• Making-of Featurette: Animating the Dead (9:46) - This short and promotional piece is mostly back-patting fluff (and pretty hard to take seriously for that reason), but does offer some technical value with a few glimpses at the production itself including voice work, art and design, and even a few side-by-side comparisons between this version and the original classic. Participants include director Jason Axinn, producer Michael J. Luisi, and several key voice actors such as Josh Duhamel, Dulé Hill, Katharine Isabelle, and Will Sasso.

Night of the Animated Dead Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jason Axinn's Night of the Animated Dead is even dumber than it sounds, and whatever small amount of goodwill the director built up in 2019 with To Your Last Death (another gore-fest with even stiffer animation, if that's possible) has basically evaporated. For a more satisfying remake, watch the 1990 version instead -- hell, even the colorized original is light years better. Even at a paltry 71 minutes, Night of the Animated Dead isn't worth your time... and neither is Warner Bros.' lightweight Blu-ray, which to its credit could never had made lemonade out of this.