A Horror Classic Gets Animated In ‘Night of the Animated Dead’

A classic never dies, especially one that deals with the undead.  George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead is certainly the grandfather of all things zombie related today and arguably a Mount Rushmore film in the horror genre itself.  Tackling a re-telling of that wouldn't be easy, but there is an interesting spin coming.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is bringing Night of the Animated Dead to DigitalHD beginning on September 21st, followed by a Blu-Ray combo pack and DVD release on October 5th.  They're teaming with The Long Game and Hemisphere Entertainment to not only give us an animated version of the story that we know, but also add some scenes not found in the live action classic.  Whether that excites you or terrifies you, either way I'm guessing you're interested in seeing those extra scenes.

The voice cast boasts quite the list of impressive names including Josh Duhamel (Jupiter’s Legacy, Transformers) as Harry Cooper, Dulé Hill (The West Wing, Psych) as Ben, Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps) as Barbara, James Roday Rodriguez (A Million Little Things, Psych) as Tom, Katee Sackhoff (The Mandalorian, Battlestar Galactica) as Judy, Will Sasso (MadTV) as Sheriff McClelland, Jimmi Simpson (Westworld) as Johnny and Nancy Travis (Last Man Standing) as Helen Cooper. Jason Axinn directed the film, with animation provided by Demente Animation Studios. Executive producers include Richard Potter (Diciembres), Thomas DeFeo (The Seventh Day) and Jamie Elliott (Fighting with My Family). Producers are Ralph E. Portillo, p.g.a. (Buddy Games), Robert Feldman, p.g.a. (Dr. Shroud) and Kevin Kasha (I Spit on Your Grave).

The synopsis is pretty simple: "In Night of the Animated Dead, siblings Barbara and Johnny visit their father’s grave in a remote cemetery in Pennsylvania when they are suddenly set upon by zombies. Barbara flees and takes refuge in an abandoned farmhouse along with stranded motorist Ben and four local survivors found hiding in the cellar. Together, the group must fight to stay alive against the oncoming horde of zombies while also confronting their own fears and prejudices."

The only thing that's lacking to this point are the special features.  All we know so far is that there will be a "Making of" special feature coming up with physical release.