Subtitled 'Three Films About the Power of the Past', The Living Dead was the second major documentary series made by British film-maker Adam Curtis. This documentary investigates the way that history and memory (both national and individual) have been used by politicians and others. Adam Curtis' trademark narration, filled with subtle irony and underplayed astonishment, is, as usual, complemented by a hodge-podge of historical film clips, frequently creating playful, chilling, and absurd associations. In The Living Dead, his usual obscure fragments from the BBC's film archives are bolstered by clips from German vampire movies, American Cold-War thrillers, and British ghost stories. The past, he tells us through this weird montage, is best not forgotten, lest it reassert itself on an amnesiac population.
