Summary
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Festival of the Living Dead is a spiritual sequel to Night of the Living Dead, bringing new life to an iconic horror masterpiece.
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The Soska Sisters bring gore, scares and excellent character development to their best film yet, Festival of the Living Dead.
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Callbacks, homages, and Easter eggs make horror remakes personal, and Festival of the Living Dead nails it as a sequel.
Festival of the Living Dead is a spiritual sequel to George A. Romero’s Night of the Living DeadAnd I’m here for him. The Soska sisters, Jen and Sylvia Soska, who sometimes go by the name “The Twisted Twins”, have been directing movies together for years. Their projects are firmly planted in the horror genre, with plenty of gore to satisfy the most ardent horror fans. Their work in The ABCs of Death 2 And Rabid is what initially attracted me to them, but with 2024s Festival of the Living, I think they are finally coming into their own.
Festival of the Living Dead is a spiritual sequel, or companion piece, to the 1968 horror masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead. in festivalAsh (Ashley Moore) and Iris (Camren Bicondova) are two friends who live in a world where the events of NOTLd are known by all, and zombies are always a possibility. Ash is even the teenage granddaughter of Duane Jones’ character, Ben, from Night. Iris and Ash go to a zombie-inspired music festival where the dead rise again, and The teens and their friends must fight to survive the night.
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Why Festival of the Living Dead is the perfect spiritual sequel to the George A. Romero classic
Festival is a loving homepage to the original zombie movie
The timeline of the US Night of the Living Dead Universe is already wildly complicated, and I’m never sure if a film is in the Return of the living dead Continuity or Romero’s line. And then, where do the remakes go exactly? So, if Festival of the Living Dead Wants to call itself a spiritual continuation to NightThen I say make it an official sequel. Who says no? Even if Sister Soska never wanted to festival To be a direct sequel to Night, It is such a love letter to the original, you have to admire their admiration.
But in horror movie remakes? Give me callbacks, homages, references and easter eggs.
Isn’t this one of the best reasons to consume horror remakes and sequels (which are sometimes one and the same in our sacred genre)? That they remind us of the scares and memories of enjoying the original? I also love new horror films. It’s to new horror I turn to for legitimate scares, interesting new directions, and things I haven’t seen before. But in horror movie remakes? Give me callbacks, homages, references and easter eggs. This is what makes horror remakes so personal and why Festival of the Living Dead Works so well as a sequel.
Festival of the Living Dead is hands down my favorite Soska Sisters movie
Festival features the twisted twins doing their best work
The Soska sisters have dabbled in horror movie remakes and sequels before, with See no evil 2 And Rabid. They also made smaller shorts in notable horror anthologies like ABCs of Death 2. All the while, they have made many original films, viz Vendetta And American Mary. however, Day of the Living Dead is far and away the sisters’ best film. It is clear to me that the only thing limiting the two directors are budgets, which are probably not easy to get as young independent filmmakers working out of Canada.
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Notable Soska sister movies |
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Title |
Year |
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Dead hooker in a trunk |
2009 |
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American Mary |
2012 |
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Rabid |
2019 |
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On the beach |
2022 |
Even with the low budget, Festival of the Living Dead Manages some great gore, scares and excellent character beats that actually made me a little bummed when people were eaten by zombies, a coup for even the better zombie movies. Every time the Soska sisters make a movie, they become more confident, more experimental and more interesting as filmmakers. I can’t wait to see what the twisted twins have in store.