The Dead will rise again this weekend and, for the first time, Judith Ridley is rejoining them for the ghoulish goings-on.

Ridley, now a librarian in Arizona, played Judy, one of the survivors holed up in a farmhouse cellar in "Night of the Living Dead." She meets a fiery fate when she tries to make an escape with Tom (Keith Wayne) in a truck that goes up in flames.

Tom and Judy had been on their way to a lake when they heard radio reports about the ghouls and detoured to the farmhouse. That's also where characters played by Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman and young Kyra Schon sought refuge from the flesh eaters.

Ridley, a previous horror holdout, will be among the dozen-plus cast and crew members at the second Living Dead Festival in Evans City, Butler County, on Friday and Saturday.

Once a receptionist who occasionally worked as a hand model or extra for a Pittsburgh producer of commercials and industrial films, Ridley auditioned for Barbara (or Barbra, as the name was misspelled). "I was dreadful," she says on the festival's Web site. "The far less demanding role of Judy was created for me, perhaps out of sympathy."

In the years since "Night," Ridley did food styling for TV commercials but steered clear of horror hullabaloo.

So, her participation is "huge," says event organizer Gary Streiner. He was a sound engineer on the '68 movie, had a cameo as a posse member and later became a producer whose credits include the Jerry Seinfeld documentary, "Comedian."

"We have 14 'Night of the Living Dead' guests, cast or crew members, and seven of them have never been in front of an audience before," says Streiner.

He is the brother of producer Russell Streiner, who played Johnny at the film's beginning, and both are sons of 91-year-old Josephine Streiner of Highland Park. She lent her green Pontiac LeMans to the production (Johnny drives it to the cemetery) and doubled as one of the undead, too.

The festival at EDCO Park, 154 W. Main St. in Evans City, is less than a mile from the cemetery in the movie. Admission is $15 per day or $25 for both days. See www.thelivingdeadfest.com for details.

Ridley is one of the reasons "NOLD" devotee Joe Barbarisi, a 44-year-old warehouse manager and aspiring filmmaker from Bergen County, N.J., drove the seven or so hours with his wife, Linda.

He first saw the movie when he was 4 or 5 years old and estimates he's seen it "100 times, no doubt, probably more." Joe, who is making a short tribute film called "Flowers for the Dead," and Linda are here for 10 days.

Barbarisi is looking forward to watching the 1968 landmark film outside on Halloween and talking to panelists who worked as ghouls or reporters or posse members or special-effects experts who blew up the truck or made the squibs that squirted fake blood.

The festival will open Friday at 2 p.m. with cast and crew members on hand to sign autographs ($20 fee applies per signature) and field questions.

Andrew Jones will display his collection of "Night" advertising materials and sell and sign copies of his book, "Advertising 'Night of the Living Dead.' " Participants also can take advantage of face painters along with caricature and tattoo artists.

Panels will start at 3 p.m. (Russ Streiner, Terry Gindele, Dave James, Josephine Streiner, John Russo) and 5 p.m. (Ridley, Chuck Craig, Dick Heckard, George Kosana). The Resonators band will entertain at 4 p.m., a pig roast starts around 5:30 p.m. (and requires a separate ticket), and The Botched will perform at 7:30 p.m.

Participants then plan to retire to Sports and Spirits on Main Street in Evans City to watch the TV show "Medium," in which Patricia Arquette's character, Allison Dubois, is inserted into "Night of the Living Dead." (See story, page W-23.)

The festival resumes Saturday at 11 a.m., with a panel at 1 p.m. (Ridley, Russ Streiner, James and Russo). A disc jockey will play tunes at 2 p.m., musician Richard Reifenstein will perform at 5 p.m., another panel with available talent will begin at 6 p.m. and Norman Nardini will go on at 7 p.m.

Another first for the festival: the premiere of a new 20-minute film called "Song of the Dead" made by Russo, who co-wrote "Night" with Romero, and Russ Streiner at roughly 8 p.m.

In "Song," Nardini and fellow rocker Shari Richards play husband and wife entertainers who are targeted by a serial killer. The short, with original music composed by Nardini, will give a taste of a planned 90-minute theatrical version to be shot in spring 2010.

Gindele, a Floridian who played a ghoul hammered with a tire iron, has made a short called "Day in the Life of a Ghoul," which will be screened. Like others associated with the movie, he always insisted he played a ghoul, not a zombie and his short is "absolutely hysterical," organizer Streiner promises.

The main movie attraction, "NOLD," is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on an outdoor screen 15 feet high and 20 feet wide (bring chairs and blankets). Tickets for the movie only are $8 in advance or $10 on Halloween at the door. Moviegoers will be admitted at 6:30 p.m., which means you get the Nardini performance and shorts as a bonus.

Like others, Gary Streiner has pondered the popularity of "Night."

"It gets back to the fact it created a genre, it didn't exist before -- slow-moving, flesh-eating, not knowing quite clearly what caused it to happen," he said. Although a newsman mentions mysterious radiation levels, the origin of the outbreak is never established.

"There's an element of weirdness and creepiness," Gary Streiner says. "Largely, it's the fact it actually has a story, it's not gratuitous, it's not faces blowing off, arms ripped apart, they all serve the story. In modern zombie stories ... the more gore the better."

Moviegoers also relate to the "realness of it, it was like 'The Blair Witch Project,' the crudeness of production, the look of it, the black and white, very much a documentary style in its day, even though it was not."

The two-day celebration won't be the only draw for Deadheads. Dormont's Hollywood Theatre and Horror Realm are partnering on the Steel City Zombie Trick or Treat on Halloween, Saturday, starting at 6:30 p.m.

On tap: a costume contest with a prize for best Steelers zombie, a zombie movie trivia contest, raffles, prizes and giveaways.

At 7 p.m. on Saturday, the theater will show the original "Dawn of the Dead," followed by "Black Christmas" at 9:30 p.m. and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at midnight. Each movie requires a separate ticket, which can be purchased at the door.

Leonard Lies, who played the machete zombie in the original "Dawn of the Dead," will meet fans and the theater will sell tickets for the chance to win a "Machete Zombie" goodie basket.

For details on the Hollywood Theatre, which reopened at 1449 Potomac Ave. on Aug. 1, go to www.hollywooddormont.com or 412-344-1245. For details on Horror Realm, see www.horrorrealmcon.com.

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