Night of the Living Dead (1990 Remake) [DVD]

This 1990 remake of George A. Romero's classic 1968 horror film isn't bad at all (as far as remakes go). This version was written by Romero (he was also co-executive producer) but directed by Tom Savini. The good cast features Babylon 5's Patricia Tallman (who at 5' 9" is quite a tall woman), Candyman's Tony Todd, Tom Towles, from Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer and Bill Mosley from House Of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects.

On the whole, this remake sticks pretty close to Romero's original film but the opening scene where Barbara and Johnnie encounter Zombies in the cemetery is slightly different, the ending has been changed and does not pack as big a wallop as the original and some other aspects are a bit different. The main difference of course is that the 1968 film was filmed in black and white (although it was reissued in an awful computer-colourised version) whereas this 1990 version is in colour.

Quite a few 1960s horror films that could have been filmed in colour were filmed in black and white instead in order to achieve a certain look and create a creepy atmosphere. Prime examples of this are Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho", Mario Bava's "The Mask Of Satan", Robert Wise's "The Haunting" and, of course, George A. Romero's "Night Of The Living Dead". I must say that the 1968 version of "NOTLD" is much creepier than the 1990 version largely because of the way it was filmed - the eerie black and white photography really adds to the overall effect and creates the right sort of mood for this type of film.

If you have not seen the original film then you will probably enjoy this remake much more than if you have seen it, if you know what I mean. It virtually goes without saying that the original has become something of a horror classic and did not really need to be remade but the remake is still an entertaining and enjoyable horror film in its own right.

This DVD features the film in its correct aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and the special features include a director's commentary, filmographies, a featurette and a trailer.

A very good film. If your into zombie films & such, you'll Feckin love this. Although it's considered old now & re-make. It's still amazing. So it doesn't have all the fakey computer rubbish. That's what's so good! It still gives me the creeps to watch it over 20 years later! I watch these newer zombie films & think yeh it's good, it's got action, adventure & realistic make-up & really grusome scenes. But they don't scare me. They don't build any tension for me.
This stuff has it all! Buy it. Now....right now.

Tom Savini, famous for being the biker gang leader in Dawn of the Dead and the special effects man behind Friday the 13th (not to mention the guy with a pistol in his pants in From Dusk till Dawn...) bravely attempted to remake a film which defined 60s horror - and he didn't do a bad job. Obviously, someone from an FX background is going to pile on the gore (why not, eh?) but the biggest twist for me in this film was the main character, Barbara. Rather than being a typically 60s feeble heroine, eventually eaten by her undead brother, Patricia Tallman takes her life into her own hands (it seems her time on Star Trek wasn't wasted) and comes out guns blazing - a welcome twist well in with the tradition of Romero's original trilogy and in keeping with the idea that the better horror films get most of their ideas from a contemporary public consensus. It's true, should the dead walk now we'd be much better prepared than we would have 30 years ago; women wouldn't run around screaming for help like Penelope Pitstop, they'd be up there shotguns 'tchk-tchking' right beside us blokes....