Zombie Movie Review (4) of the Day: Night of the Living Dead 1990 (10/23/11)

"There's another one for the fire"

So here we are 22 years later since the original Night of the Living Dead. This '90 version is a remake but it is not one of those remakes by other people, oh no. This movie is also done by George Romero and John Russo but it was directed by the great Tom Savini. Like I said it has been over 2 decades, everyone involved has a great deal more experience under their belts, effects and technology have improved, and they finally have the budget they always wanted for the original.

So is it better? Worse? About the same? This can be a loaded and philosophical question. I mean most times even if the guys that do a remake do it well, the original fan base gets passed at them for messing with their cult classic. However, that danger does not exist here as the same exact people did the remake with the same exact screenplay.

The movie opens with a nice opening credit sequence where we will see Romero's as well as his wife Christine who helped produce it (they met on the set of Dawn and fell in love), Russo, and Savini, about a hundred times to overcompensate for the lack of copyrighting faux pas back in the day.

Savini wanted to do an updated movie with better effects and relevance to the modern era but he wanted it to stay true to the original. How to do this? Well they decided: let's do the movie like we never saw or made the original. That being said, it is pretty much a faithful shot for shot remake.

However, certain things obviously changed to make it more relevant for the time. The racial tension between Ben and Cooper is still present only it has more of a subtle undertone. The main difference in characters is that Barbara is now a stronger, cool headed, fully fleshed out, lead character rather than the catatonic she was in the original. This being mostly a result of the sexual revolution and let me tell you something: I fecking love Barbara in this. She is wonderful. Once again, like the last Ben, the actor just walked on, did a smashing performance and was signed on right there and then. The makeup is certainly better. I mean the original did not even have any make up. However, the makeup is also more realistic than Savini's job in Day. That is what five more years experience, effects updates, and a bigger budget will give you.
There are also subtle differences in the film. At the end a new broadcast confirms my original suspicion that it is late August as the broadcast states it is the 23rd. In addition, this time, Johnny and Barbara are visiting the grave of their mother rather than their father.

I also love this ending. I will not give anything away but what i will say is that it is different and it is still fantastic. The rednecks are back are more in your face than ever before in a Romero movie and Barbara watching them have fun killing the undead, makes the observation that "we're them and they're us" Which is really philosophical. This is why I love these films: there are always existential overtones! Anyway, the question is again asked: are we worth saving? Are we any better? That is the thing about zombies. It's more of a Jaws kind of movie than a Freddy, Jason, etc movie, the villain is not evil, zombies don't kill for fun, they kill, like the shark in Jaws, for food, they are hungry. And with the small exception of Bub, they don't know any better. The real monsters and villains of these films are the other people.

Anyway, so in 1969 we had very prevalent racism. And in 1990? Well....HIV/AIDS. A new virus is sweeping the world over; there are a lot of rumors, propaganda and misinformation going on. People are terrified that if they just touch you, you will be infected. When really, they are not that threatening, as Barbara points out about the zombies, "they are so slow, we could just walk right by them" suggesting, people with AIDS are not to be feared so much. Unless their fluids get into your fluids, and in fact, the real people to watch out for are the ones who want to kill them on site and have a good time while doing it!

So is the remake better? Overall yes! The original is still a great film with great messages and an ironic ending. However, in the remake, the acting is better, the make-up is better, the effects are better, the zombies are more convincing, and it still has a dark uncomfortable feel to it, claustrophobic almost and surreal. It is effective as a horror and it was done with fans in mind. The great lines of "they're dead, they're all messed up", "another one for the fire", and "They're coming to get you Barbara" are still in the remake.

And as a side note fun fact, towards the end a guy that grabs Barbara is played by none other than Greg Nicotero. Nicotero, as I mention in Day, is one of the many followers of Savini and who would go on to have his own huge effects company and end up doing the makeup/effects for several future Romero movies and is currently doing work for The Walking Dead.

Overall, I give this film a bump up from 3 out 5 for the original to 4.5 (4 1/2) out of 5.