Daniel Kraus examines how Night of the Living Dead saved his life and changed the world with his new book Partially Devoured
Author Daniel Kraus had the incredible good fortune to be chosen to finish two unfinished manuscripts, The Living Dead and Pay the Piper, that legendary filmmaker George A. Romero left behind when he passed away in 2017. Hiring Kraus to work on Romero material was a fitting match, as Romero’s feature directorial debut Night of the Living Dead, the film that introduced us to the idea of flesh-eating zombies (without even calling its ghouls zombies), happens to be Kraus’s favorite movie. Now, Kraus has taken a deep dive into the film and its impact on his life and the world with the book Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World, which Counterpoint will be publishing on March 10, 2026. Copies are available for pre-order at THIS LINK.
The 320 page book has the following description: The New York Times bestselling author of Whalefall and Angel Down dives into a horror movie classic to examine his favorite film’s importance to our history, culture, and psychology–a perfect blend of research and memoir for fans of the movie, the genre, and beyond. Daniel Kraus first saw George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead when he was five years old. Through watching it approximately three hundred times since, Kraus discovered the many ways the film is tied to his childhood trauma and how its influence has carried into his adulthood. He couldn’t help but wonder: Are there other admirers of the film out there who feel the same? Partially Devoured uses a frame-by-frame deep dive into Night of the Living Dead to produce a kaleidoscopic cultural investigation of the film’s importance and to examine the author’s early life of rural isolation and local violence. Careening from film analysis to rabbit-hole tangents, Partially Devoured will take readers from screaming laughter to the depths of grief, all while illustrating how a beloved genre film has woven itself into so many facets of our lives.
Night of the Living Dead is also one of my favorites and it’s the movie I have watched more times than any other, as it’s my default choice to put on when I want to kick back and relax (I find the sound design and black and white visuals of this terrifying movie to be really comforting), so I look forward to reading what Kraus has written about it. Special effects artist Greg Nicotero, who worked with Romero many times over the years and is developing a movie about the making of Night of the Living Dead, has read the book and said, “A stroke of genius! This is the definitive love letter to the film, written with such meticulous passion and demented glee that you feel yourself standing on the set during the shoot.“
Are you a fan of Night of the Living Dead, and will you be reading Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World by Daniel Kraus? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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