End of Year Mini-season
We’re closing out 2021 with three films widely varied in their vintage, subject matter, production values and directorial style. Their titles are:
October: Night of the Living Dead – USA, 1968, George A. Romero
November: The Truth – France, 2019, Hirokazu Kore-eda
December: Letter from an Unknown Woman – USA, 1948, Max Ophuls
October being Hallowe’en month, it seemed not inappropriate to re-visit George Romero’s famous (or infamous!) schlock-horror classic* that has had an influence on subsequent horror genre movies far out of all proportion to its provenance, attitude, social commentary and rough-edged production values.
The Programme Note for Night of the Living Dead is attached to this Newsletter, with October 28th at 7.30 pm being set for a Zoom meeting to exchange your impressions of it. If you wish to partake in this event, please access the link in the Programme Note for the meeting particulars. (You will of course need to have the Zoom ‘app’ installed on your computer.)
For those who wish to send in reactions individually, please Email info@abfilms.org.uk with your score (A → E) and comments. These reactions and comments will be published on the ABCD Website (https://abfilms.org.uk) and/or included in the Zoom discussion relevant to the film. You will also find the comments for September’s film Bitter Lake on the Website.
* Historical note by Gary Tooze, writing for dvdbeaver.com:
In 1968, a small group of friends in the business of making commercials and industrial shorts wanted to try their hands at “real” movie-making. Given the recent explosion of the exploitation and horror film market, led in the USA by godfather of gore, Herschel Gordon Lewis, it was decided that a horror film stood the best chance of being seen and maybe even making some money. George Romero and John Russo came up with an idea, and the group scraped together just over $100K and got started. With money tight, they used local talent, friends, and even investors in the film as actors. One of the investors was a butcher who provided the blood n’ guts for the operation. No one could have guessed that from these humble beginnings would emerge what is, arguably, the greatest of American horror films. A movie who’s negative was once stored in the basement of a Pittsburgh ad agency, now resides in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
All three films are available to stream now on BBC iPlayer – check the links above for where to find them.