Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

The Night of the Walking Dead Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 26, 2024

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Danza Macabra: Volume Three — The Spanish Gothic Collection from Severin.

Since one might assume that one of the staples of Gothic media (film or otherwise), namely dank and spooky castles, were built in the veritable days of yore before the advent of the convenience of modern plumbing and water supplies, perhaps it's a more apt metaphor than usual to say that Severin is "returning to the well" for a third volume of offerings branded as Danza Macabra, after their previous releases of Danza Macabra: Volume One — The Italian Gothic Collection and Danza Macabra: Volume Two — The Italian Gothic Collection. As can probably be pretty easily gleaned from the subheading of this third collection, Severin is changing countries, and is here offering Spanish Gothic productions instead of the two previous volumes' concentration on Italian Gothic films, and with production dates ranging from 1971 to 1975 (with two films from each year). All four films in this collection are advertised as featuring new scans of the original negative for the first time. As with the other Danza Macabra collections, the films may be of variant interest and/or quality, but as usual Severin offers a really handsomely designed package that contains some outstanding supplemental features.

Despite this (alternate) title for a film also known as Strange Love of the Vampires, Night of the Walking Dead is most definitely not a George Romero joint, so to speak. Instead, as that "other" title may indicate, this is another "bloodsucker" effort from Argentinian director Leon Klimovsky, a name some diehard fans may recognize from a number of other similarly themed outings like The Vampire's Night Orgy. Kind of hilariously given that this film hails from 1975, which is at least a few years past the heyday of LSD and similar psychedelics, the opening of this film is a phantasmagoria of fuzz guitar and hallucinogenic visuals, but once the story begins, things settle down into a somewhat formulaic story of a damsel in distress named Catherine (Emma Cohen), who finds herself ensnared by local patrician Count Rudolph (Carlos Ballesteros), who for all intents and purposes is this film's stand in for another famous Count with impressive dental work.

If that particular underlying narrative may be well worn, kind of interestingly The Night of the Walking Dead does offer some detours from accepted canon, including fitful attempts to make the Count an exemplar of a persecuted minority. The film's obviously, um, suggestive title does come to fruition in a certain way, with shambling undead rising from their graves en masse. This offers some nudity to spice things up, and a rather large cast of supporting players that waft in and out of the story.

The Night of the Walking Dead Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Night of the Walking Dead is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The back cover of this release touts a "worldwide Blu-ray premiere now restored uncut", while further specifying this was "scanned in 2K from the negative for the first time ever". While not seriously deficient in any major way, I found this film to have the least consistently pleasing appearance of the four in this third volume of Danza Macabra. The color timing struck me as just a bit too skewed toward yellows at times, though that said, there is certainly commendable saturation most of the time. Some day for night scenes don't offer much in the way of shadow detail, but generally speaking detail levels are very good to excellent throughout. Very minor age related wear and tear can be spotted. Grain resolves naturally.

The Night of the Walking Dead Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Night of the Walking Dead features DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks in either English or Spanish. Both tracks seem to show overt signs of dubbing, meaning sync can be loose, as they say. In terms of overall mix and amplitude, I personally found very little difference between the tracks as I toggled between them. The snarling fuzz guitar cues sound rather nicely full bodied, and dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

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

• Audio Commentary with Kat Ellinger, author of Daughters of Darkness


• A Deadly Invitation to Another Dimension (HD; 10:03) is an appreciation by Angel Sala, Head of Programming at the Sitges Film Festival. Subtitled in English.


• Leo's Signature (HD; 8:08) is an interview with writer Juan Jose Porto. Subtitled in English.


• Dead Man Walking (HD; 18:32) is an interview with actor Jose Lifante. Subtitled in English.


• Spain's Cinematic Vampires (HD; 24:39) is a video essay by Xavier Aldana Reyes, author of Spanish Gothic: National Identity, Collaboration and Cultural Adaptation


• Alternate Spanish Title Sequence (HD; 1:32)

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

It's kind of weirdly fascinating how The Night of the Walking Dead revisits any number of, well, clichés from the canon of vampire films ranging from Nosferatu to Vampyr to Dracula and beyond, while also simultaneously trying to inject some "new, improved" material. I frankly think the film might have benefitted from a bit less of the former aspect and more of the latter. Technical merits are generally solid, and as with all of the films in this set, Severin has assembled some worthwhile bonus features, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.