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Night
of the Living Dead
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There
is a fate worse than death.
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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
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Night
of the Living Dead
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There
is a fate worse than death.
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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
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Night
of the Living Dead
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There
is a fate worse than death.
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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.
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Night
of the Living Dead
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There
is a fate worse than death.
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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.
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Night
of the Living Dead
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There
is a fate worse than death.
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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.
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Night
of the Living Dead
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There
is a fate worse than death.
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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.
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(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
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