‘Night of the Living Dead’ not so dead serious

A live adaptation of a horror classic with a comical twist is set to premiere on the Playhouse Merced stage with shows planned through Halloween weekend.

The first performance of the “Night of the Living Dead” live adaptation is at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at the playhouse, 452 W. Main St. The show continues through Nov. 1, including two shows on Halloween night.

Director Joe Hypes said the show is “fun and crazy” and particularly technical. It features flying heads, loose intestines, dripping blood and several fight scenes.

The 1968 film is often considered the original zombie movie, though that’s not technically true. Still, many horror fans regard it as the movie that set the mold followed by all zombie movies since.

The live-action version is spliced with pre-recorded cut scenes, news broadcasts and even clips from the original film. The script plays up the silliness and absurdity during some death or attack scenes, but also has scary moments and blood-curdling screams.

The story replays several times as the characters walk through the consequences of the different decisions they might make. These alternate endings give the story another twist the film doesn’t feature.

The play stars G.B. Blackmon III as Ben, and Bridget Mitchell as Barbara. RC Essig and Dianne Kocher are Harry and Helen Cooper, while Ryan Dziadosz plays Chief McClelland and Travis Walsh performs as Vince.

The zombie make-up was provided and designed by Zane-It, a downtown shop that sells makeup, costumes and other novelties, according to a news release.

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 4:13 PM with the headline "‘Night of the Living Dead’ not so dead serious."