George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead scared the holy bejesus out of me as a child. Who came up with the idea to play Creature Feature right after Saturday morning cartoons, anyway? The googly-eyed host, Dr. Paul Bearer, certainly made it hard to change the channel with his stockpile of tasteless and terrible horror jokes that only my young self could appreciate. But in the end, I always regretted tuning in, because once the movie started, I was glued to the screen. NOTLD gave me an unhealthy fear of being eaten alive by my neighbors, and for years after seeing it, whenever we moved into a new house, I checked the doors of every room so I knew whether they were the heavy, durable kind or the hollow, able-to-be-punched-through-by-a-zombie kind. NOTLD remains one of my all-time horror movie favorites, and you can bet I'm attending Beach Theatre's "Zombie Night" screening of the 1968 classic this Saturday. Locals are invited to attend in their dead best. The Funeral Daizies — a punk rock outfit that dresses in scary costumes and performs songs like "Only Bones Remain" and "Transylvania Blues" — perform before the screening. The usual midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show follows. Sat., Feb. 16, 9 p.m., 315 Corey Ave., St. Pete Beach, $5 general ($8 double feature ticket includes entry to RHPS), 727-360-6697, beachtheatre.com.
