davextreme: horror

Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts

06 September 2009

Night of the Living Dead and the Public Domain

I happened to notice that The Night of the Living Dead is available on iTunes for $5. This is notable because one, it’s a great flick, two, $5 is cheap, yet three, it’s actually a work in the public domain, and thus obtainable for free from the Internet Archive. Wikipedia explains:

Copyright status
Night of the Living Dead lapsed into the public domain because the original theatrical distributor, the Walter Reade Organization, neglected to place a copyright indication on the prints. In 1968, United States copyright law required a proper notice for a work to maintain a copyright. Image Ten displayed such a notice on the title frames of the film beneath the original title, Night of the Flesh Eaters. The distributor removed the statement when it changed the title. According to George Romero, Walter Reade “ripped us off”. (Wikipedia)

Still, $5 for a copy that’s pre-formatted for an iPod or AppleTV isn’t so much.

11 November 2008

Charlie Brooker responds to Simon Pegg's criticisms of running zombies

Charlie Brooker responds to Simon Pegg’s criticisms of running zombies

“Face facts. It’s time to embrace diversity, Simon. Make room in your heart for all breeds of zombie.” (Scroll down a little, or read the part about President-elect Obama.)

05 November 2008

Simon Pegg on why the undead should never be allowed to run | Film | The Guardian

Simon Pegg on why the undead should never be allowed to run

29 October 2008

War and Social Upheaval Cause Spikes in Zombie Movie Production

I’d like to see a set of charts that correct for the number of movies released that year, or even the number of horror movies released per year. It’d also be interesting to know how the release of horror movies in general correlate to social trends. Torture Porn (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Saw) coincides well with Vietnam and Iraq, for example, times when Americans felt helpless in a violent world that traditional military solutions couldn’t solve.