Halloween Movie Night #10 - Night of the Living Dead

I watched Night of the Living Dead as part of an 80's icon comeback. Remember Elvira? She is apparently making a return to her TV show Elvira's Movie Macabre and Night of the Living Dead was the first movie to be showcased.

I have seen Night of the Living Dead before and though it is responsible for the whole idea of zombies as we know it today, it's a pretty cheesy movie. I still don't know what the useless blond Debbie's whole point of being in the movie was. While Ben (Elvira calls him a "young Barack Obama") is busy boarding up windows and doors, Debbie just sits on the couch in a daze. When other characters enter the picture and start arguing, Debbie just sits on the couch in a daze. Every time someone notices her, they give her an odd look until someone explains "her brother died" as though that excuses her pointless existence. She even fades into the story with no real resolution to her character, though by that point I didn't really care.

I realize that Night of the Living Dead is a classic and I shouldn't be so hard on it since it was made in the 60's. Still, even Psycho, also made in the 60's manages to capture my attention more.

What may have ruined this viewing of the film for me was Elvira. She would pop on the screen every now and then with a Mystery-Science-Theater-style comment. At one point, Debbie picks up the phone to see if it's working and a bubble popped up with Elvira pretending to be on the other line. The gag was as unfunny and pointless as Debbie's existence in the movie.

Bookending the commercial breaks was a weak storyline about Elvira returning her basement studio to the look of a lair. While holding a can of dust, she explains that she's "dusting." She goes through a box of old props and makes stupid comments about things she pulls out. I'm guessing that since I never saw her show back in the 80's, I'm missing the point of her character. I did see her live show once at Knott's Scary Farm and I remember her jokes being funnier. For example, she commented that the rollercoaster Corkscrew was going to be removed from the park. Her insight was that "there would be no more screwing around at Knott's." It's cheesy, but it's funny and I still remember that joke to this day. Another joke I still remember was when she called her tits "Lethal Weapon 1 and Lethal Weapon 2".