The title of my blog, “Movies Made Me,” reflects the idea that certain films—or, more to the point, my remembered experiences of seeing certain films—have influenced my sense of self in a deeply meaningful way. Or, as Daniel Kraus puts it: there are certain films “that float in the air you breathe, that fold into your DNA.” For him—as for me—one of those films is Night of the Living Dead.
Cue the music (which, in this case, is called “Eerie—Heavy Echo”).
Kraus’s new book, Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Changed My Life and Saved the World, is sort of a DVD audio commentary track for the film, sort of a film school master class with scene-by-scene (sometimes frame-by-frame) analysis, sort of a personal memoir by a well-known horror author, and sort of a cultural analysis and celebration horror films in general. There have been other in-depth studies of Romero’s first and most famous film (Joe Kane’s Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever Made and Rob Kuhns’s documentary Birth of the Living Dead come to mind) but none of them have been this granular or this intimate. This is not a “love letter” to Romero’s film; this is a stalker’s private diary.
Kraus is the perfect tour guide through Romero’s apocalyptic world, not only because he’s a lifelong horror fan, but because he’s a talented storyteller with an academic’s love of research. In his first foray into nonfiction, Kraus’s authorial voice is as compelling as the voices in his novels (which include two collaboration with George Romero himself!). The book reminds me of Stephen King’s endlessly entertaining nonfiction Danse Macabre, and also (at times) of the anthology It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror, which allowed me to experience some of my favorite horror films through completely new eyes.
Making me see Night through new eyes is a tall order, because I’ve watched it dozens of times over the years. I have also written extensively about it, as one of the movies that “made me.” I’ve made the pilgrimage to Pittsburgh, shambled through Evans City Cemetery, done the convention circuit and collected the autographs, even interviewed Romero a couple of times.
Apart from my own obsession with the film, Night has been so thoroughly chewed up and spit out by so many critics that it’s easy to assume there is nothing new to say about it, nothing more to be learned or experienced. Until a book like this comes along.
Partially Devoured is a deep dive, trivia-obsessed but not trivial. It’s a book about our identity-shaping engagement with important stories, written by someone who understands, intellectually and emotionally, how art becomes a part of us. It’s also a book about community, shared enthusiasms, shared experiences, shared identity—and how these things change over time. There’s a metaphor to be extended here: something about being partially devoured in a kind of hermeneutical loop. Or maybe a pun about zombies and “feedback” loops. I think George Romero would have appreciated that.
And I know he would have loved this book. He would been a little embarrassed, sure. He would have raised his voice, for dramatic effect, and said he couldn’t understand why anyone would care so much about Night of the Living Dead. (Then again—in our current political climate—he might understand it a little better now.) Regardless, he would have been humbled and moved by the thoughtfulness of Kraus’s analysis and the passion behind his prose, which is just as infectious as the filmmaker’s cinematic vision and personal charisma. What more could a horror fan ask for?
Partially Devoured will be published on March 10, 2026.
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