Main Cast: Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman, Tom Towles, McKee Anderson, William Anderson, William Butler
Release Year: 1990
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Makeup wizard Tom Savini's color remake of George A. Romero's 1968 classic follows the original almost shot-for-shot, so quality comparisons are somewhat pointless. The film was clearly made for younger viewers who refuse to watch black-and-white films, no matter how good they may be. The result is passable, but the very fact that the original was made 22 years before makes this version seem almost dated in its restraint. By the time of its release, Romero had already geometrically raised the gore quotient with Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985), so Savini's starting back at square one further lessened the impact of this pointless retread. If this version has anything to offer, it is Patricia Tallman's engaging lead performance as a gun-toting independent woman, one of this film's few elements not lifted wholesale from Romero. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
Review
Made for reasons of profit (by writer/producer George Romero's own admission), Tom Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead doesn't seem so much mercenary as perfunctory. Highly watchable and reasonably frightening, it suffers from familiarity for most of its running time, a final third offering the only significant departure from the original. Still, it's a pretty rich story and Savini does right by it, serving up tension, jolts, and gore in good measure. Helping out are good performances by Patricia Tallman and especially Tony Todd, probably the best actor to work almost exclusively in the horror genre. Not a necessary film, and, thanks its familiarity, lacking most of the impact of the original, it's still a superior effort when compared to most of its horror contemporaries. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
Katie Finnerman - Judy Rose; Heather Mazur - Sarah; Dyrk Ashton - Truck Zombie; Jordan Berlant - Porch Zombie; Walter Berry - McGruder; David W. Butler - Hondo; William Cameron - The Newsman; Bill Cardille - TV Interviewer; Tim Carrier - Autopsy Zombie; Charles Crawley - Window Zombie; Berle Ellis - The Flaming Zombie; Stacie Foster - Doll's Mom Zombie; Greg Funk - Cemetary Zombie; David Grace - Policeman Zombie; Kendal Kraft - Bob Evans Zombie; Pat Logan - Uncle Rege; Jay McDowell - Front Door Zombie; Bill Moseley - Johnnie; Zachary Mott - Bulldog; Pat Reese - The Mourner; Albert Shellhammer - Cousin Satchel; John Hamilton - Crowbar Zombie
Credit
James C. Feng - Art Director, Kensington Falls Animation - Animator, Christine Romero - Associate Producer, John A. Russo - Co-producer, Russ Streiner - Co-producer, Barbara Anderson - Costume Designer, Tom Savini - Director, Tom Dubensky - Editor, Menahem Golan - Executive Producer, George A. Romero - Executive Producer, Paul McCollough - Composer (Music Score), Chris Pangikas - Musical Direction/Supervision, Terrie Godfrey - Makeup, Jeannee Josefczyk - Makeup, Optic Nerve - Makeup Special Effects, Cletus Anderson - Production Designer, Marc S. Fischer - Production Designer, Frank Prinzi - Cinematographer, Ami Artzi - Producer, Declan Baldwin - Producer, Brian J. Stonestreet - Set Designer, Everett Burrell - Special Effects, Matt Vogel - Special Effects, John Vulich - Special Effects, Phil Neilson - Stunts, George A. Romero - Screenwriter, John A. Russo - Screenwriter, John A. Russo - Play Author
Another remake would follow in 2006, titled Night of the Living Dead 3-D; however, none of the original cast or crew had anything to do with it.
Initial reaction to this remake was largely negative. Roger Ebert awarded the film a mere one star out of a possible four stars. Leonard Maltin assigned it two out of four stars. Recent criticism has been more appreciative, and the film currently holds a 70% "fresh" approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
A group of embattled humans fend off hordes of walking dead in a secluded farmhouse in Western Pennsylvania. However, interpersonal feuding between the people in a house proves just as deadly as the zombie attack.
The story follows the same essential story of the original Night of the Living Dead, but with slight alterations. Ben (Tony Todd) and Harry Cooper (Tom Towles) shoot and wound each other. Barbara, no longer the whimpering damsel from the original film, escapes the house and makes a run for it, which she intended on doing all along. Ben stumbles down to the basement as the zombies finally enter into the house. Ben then limps to a chair and finds keys to the gas pump, which was destroyed when Tom, desperate to get gasoline, tries to shoot the lock and misses, causing the station to blow up, killing himself and Judy. Ben then spits his last cigarette out of his mouth and begins laughing at the irony of the news on the radio playing next to them that they have just now discovered that flesh-eating zombies have attacked as the mass of undead bang on the door. Later, when Barbara returns to the house with a zombie hunting posse, she realizes Ben has become a zombie. A member of the posse then shoots him. Barbara is standing in mourning looking at Ben's corpse when Harry (who climbed into the attic and did not turn into a zombie) grabs her arm and says "You came back, you came back" with an extended hand of friendship. Barbara swiftly shoots him in the head. When two of the posse come upstairs to check why shots were fired, Barbara says "There is another one for the fire". Barbara (Patricia Tallman), a frightened, nearly catatonic character in the first film, is stronger in this version, and is the only survivor from the group in the farmhouse.
The film was handled by the same team as the original, with the exception that directing duties were handled by famed special make-up effects artist Tom Savini, who originally signed up with hopes of doing the make-up effects as he was not able to for the original film. Romero served as producer for the remake, and he recruited some of the original camera and sound crew to participate.
To avoid an X rating, Savini had to cut several scenes from the film, some of which can be seen on the DVD. Savini sometimes shows the entirety of the cut scenes at conventions.
