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Night of the Living Dead
There is a fate worse than death.
Reviewed by Misfortune

While visiting their mothers grave to lay a wreath, Barbara and Jonny are attacked by a strange man. Soon after he saves her from the guy, Jonny's skull gets smashed against a tombstone. Now Barbara is all alone, and she starts hauling ass. Finally she comes upon a farmhouse, and Ben, who helps deal with the few dead that have shown up early on. It seems safe enough to her, but within a few hours, it will be surrounded by the dead.

Directed by Tom Savini, the remake of the 1968 classic holds true to what the original was. It also manages to add it's own look to make it in the 90's movie market. What’s amazing about this movie, is that it's a remake, and good at the same time. Out of anyone Romero could have chosen, Savini was perfect. Left in the hands of the likes of John Russo, this would have been another Children of the Living Dead.

Barbara, and her new found ally soon find out that they are not alone. Five other people in are the house as well, four more adults, and a teenage girl. While the zombies start to surround the house, the people inside argue over where the safest place is. They try to hold the flimsy barricades in hopes of keeping the increasing numbers of the dead outside.

While not as campy as the original, I really liked the fact that Romero's rewrite wasn't a scene-by-scene version of the original. He updated the script for the nineties, and the result is beautiful. Making Barbara the heroine, instead of the babbling idiot was a nice change of pace. Because the original is my all time favorite, the first time I watched this movie, I expected to hate it. While I don't consider it as good as the original, this movie is definitely a worthy remake. Writing this review just 16 days before the remake of Dawn of the Dead, I'm also thinking of it as well. I can only hope that the remake for the second of Romero's trilogy, is equally as good.

Patricia Tallman as Barbara does a great job. From being scared shitless, to take-charge zombie killer, she does it well. Tony Todd, is usually the last guy you want to meet in a horror movie. His character, Ben, is the backbone of the movie. Even though the film revolves around Barbara, if Todd didn't play vulnerable and tough at the right times, it could have ruined the movie.

The fact that Tom Savini directed this movie, means you can count on the gore. There is plenty of it, and it's done perfectly. The only nudity, besides that of the overly hairy graveyard zombie, is of course the naked female zombie butt shot. An homage to the first, but you take what you can get. Regardless of the fact that this is a remake, it is one of the best zombie films out there. And even though Romero didn't personally direct it, this movie is still worthy of his name.

9 out of 10 over-acting zombie mailmen


Night of the Living Dead
There is a fate worse than death.
Reviewed by Marshal Earp
This is a very underrated film. You never hear much about it, which is unfortunate. In fact this is one of the scarier zombie films ever made. Its very dark, no comedy (again I generally despise horror comedy) and has great effects. Tom Savini deserves a lot of praise that I don't think he properly received for a great zombie flick.

My mother considers herself a big horror fan and she never saw this when I told her about it. She tried brushing me off thinking it would be a cheesy remake but I forced her into watching it. Needless to say she was very impressed. I think a lot of people carry this attitude because it seems not a whole heck of a lot of people have ever seen this. That’s a major shame.

You ready for this, I may get some flack but here it comes, I THINK THIS REMAKE IS BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL! I know, I know many may think I’m nuts but its true. Don’t get me wrong, the original was a classic but that was because it was the first. This is a better acted, better written, darker, scarier, less campy, and more gory version of the original.

Much credit to Mr. Savini for holding true to the original story but making it better. I don’t believe a plot explanation is necessary because if you are on this web site you MUST have seen the first one, well this ones the same. The only plot difference is Barbara who instead of being a wuss is tough and sensible. I frankly enjoy that twist. It also creates a deeper sense of doom. In the end these characters completely collapse and you get that feeling that many horror films fail to provide.

I firmly believe if this would not have been a remake of a classic masterpiece it would have gone down as one the best if not the best zombie films ever made. Granted it probably never would have existed, but you get my point.

This definitely makes my list of top 10 all time zombie flicks, probably top 5... Scratch that and stick it in firmly at number 5. Thank you Mr. Savini, this movie should have earned you more directing opportunities, I’m sorry it didn’t. Can you imagine if he got his hands on the "Resident Evil" films? Man he could have made them great!

8 out of 10 eaten up Uncle Reeje's

Night of the Living Dead
There is a fate worse than death.
Reviewed by jareprime
This is a great film and surpasses the original by leaps an bounds in my opinion. Not just because of the color and gore, but it's just a good scary flick from start to finish and the best zombie movie I've seen yet.

Like said in the other reviews it is just an updated version of the classic, but somehow comes off as so much more and so much better. I honestly think that this is Tom Savini's best accomplishment in the business also. I like his effects and can take his acting, but in remaking Night of the Living Dead, Savini truly showed great craftsmanship and not just with his zombies.

I also think the cast was great as well Tony Todd and Patricia Tallman were both very impressive and you even get a little Bill Moseley thrown into the mix, all and all just a superb film.

If you have never watched either of the versions of NOTLD watch the original first, then watch this one. If you do it in reverse order, you might not even be able to finish the first one. This is one of the rare times when a remake truly surpasses the original.

Night of the Living Dead
There is a fate worse than death.
Reviewed by WL Paynecraft
This is a good film. I just rewatched it this weekend. Good special effects. Good tension. A great twist at the end. It has it all.

One thing that irked me about this though (and the original as well) was some of the characters. I found many of them annoying. It reminded me of some of the Cube movies. In one instance I got to sit there and endure the teenage girlfriend scream at the top of her lungs for several moments while everybody else was nailing the doors shut. Everybody always screaming and yelling at each other really got on my nerves at times. I was greatly anticipating the demise of several of these characters.

I don't want this to take away from the film too much though. A great remake of a great original. I give it 8 out of 10 bright sunny days to start a zombie holocaust on.

Night of the Living Dead
There is a fate worse than death.
Reviewed by nfctdvoyc
To be honest, I wasn't impressed with this movie at all when I first saw it back when it was released. The original affected me so much when I saw it as a kid that I don't think I gave the remake a fair chance. And given that I wasn't that experienced with horror movies at 20, especially zombie movies, I decided to give this one another shot based on the many good reviews I've seen of it. I'm very glad I did.

I had to download this fucker. Netflix doesn't have it, and the local stores only have the original. That may have turned out to be a good thing, though. I watched it sitting in the dark at the computer, much closer to the monitor than I would have been to my TV. I think that added to its effectiveness.

I have to say I jumped a couple of times, which impresses the hell out of me because I don't jump very easily anymore. The zombies looked fantastic, and the gore equally so. Bill Moseley is almost unrecognizable as Johnnie, but he was perfect.

I didn't like the ending of this one as much as the original. I also hate when a remake tries to redo classic lines word for word. Nobody could ever top the sheriff in the original saying, "Yeah, they're dead, they're all messed up."

A great flick overall.

Night of the Living Dead
There is a fate worse than death.
Reviewed by Splatterscribe
I loved this movie when it hit in 1990. For several years I attempted to clue other people in to how good this film was. Then I didn't get a chance to see it for a while.

When I did manage to revisit the film five or so years later, I was surprised that although I liked tit, I wasn't as impressed the second time.

Since then, with each viewing my appreciation for the NOTLD remake dissipates. What started out seeming fresh and inventive now comes off as somewhat hackneyed and (pardon the pun) stiff.

Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a decent movie. Tony Todd is plausible as Ben and there's a fair amount of atmosphere. Good makeup f/x too, though it needed more gore.

However, in hindsight I think the fact that I was a horror hungry eighteen year old when I first saw this movie had a lot to do with my initial reaction. Viewings of later films (original or remade) that covered similar ground illustrated -in my opinion at least - that this should have been much better given the pedigree of the talent involved. The characters are stereotypes to the point of absurdity and the changes made to the various fates awaiting them didn't necessarily enhance the story. I liked what was done with Barbara, but her final scene with Cooper made me groan.

That leads me to this film's biggest snafu, Cooper. In the original film, Cooper is indeed a full fledged asshole... but at one point you see clearly that much of his anger and bad attitude come from raw fear, fear for himself, fear for his daughter.

I didnt buy it this time. Either it was the script (Cooper keeps repeating the line "You bunch of yo-yo's" as if hoping it will eventually sound cool) or an inability of the actor taking on the role, but he didn't seem fearful, he just seemed to be mean. There's a definite difference and for me it was noticeable. I didn't for a second buy that he gave a crap about his family or anything else. Something went awry with this interpretation of the character and it damages the film.

Again, at the time I thought this was an incredible movie, but too many superior zombie films have been made (including in my humble opinion Land of the Dead) for me to accept this as exceptional based on the title. Romero can and has given us better.

Six out of ten gas pump barbecues.

(1990) Tom Savini, John A. Russo, George A. Romero

Tony Todd .... Ben
Patricia Tallman .... Barbara
Tom Towles .... Harry Cooper
McKee Anderson .... Helen Cooper
William Butler .... Tom
Katie Finneran .... Judy Rose
Bill Moseley .... Johnnie (as Bill Mosley)
Heather Mazur .... Sarah Cooper
David W. Butler .... Hondo (as David Butler)
Zachary Mott .... Bulldog
Pat Reese .... The Mourner
William Cameron .... The Newsman
Pat Logan .... Uncle Rege
Berle Ellis .... Flaming Zombie
Bill 'Chilly Billy' Cardille .... T.V. Interviewer




Rating: 7.75

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Romero's Dead Series:
Night of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
Day of the Dead
Land of the Dead
Diary of the Dead

See Also:
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Dawn of the Dead


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