Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Directed by: Tom Savini
Written by: John Russo and George A Romero (original screenplay)
Featuring: Patricia Tallman, Tony Todd, Tom Towles, McKee Anderson, Katie Finneran, William Butler
Barbara and Johnny have had to drive miles out into the Pennsylvanian countryside near Pittsburgh to visit their recently deceased mother’s grave. A trip Barbara takes seriously but one which her brother Johnny sees as a chore. After visiting the graveside Barbara and Johnny are shocked by a dishevelled and disturbed undertaker and even before they can recover, they are attacked by what appears to be a gravely wounded and psychotic stranger. Johnny is seriously injured defending Barbara and she must escape on foot. She stumbles across a country house and after seeing more apparent psychotic people wandering about and seemingly moving in to try and attack her, she enters the seemingly empty house. It is here that her nightmare begins…
Made at a time when the zombie films were starting to make a comeback this is at first glance a straight up remake of the original that started it all ‘Night of the Living Dead’. With the Godfather who decided the living dead would be flesh-eaters George A Romero as an executive producer it was up to his old collaborator and ace make-up man and actor from his early efforts Tom Savini to take the directorial reigns.
This could have been more of disaster than a zombie plague.
It was not.
Savini shows from the start that although he is over-the-top and inventive with his anatomically correct and gore-some special effects in the zombie classics and many other horror films he has also learned a lot about the art of making a film. It pays to bear in mind that not only was directing but he was directing a much-loved classic that many people were waiting to take severe umbrage at the minute the opening credits rolled. Well it must be said old ‘Blade’ from the Dawn of the Dead proved he was more than a zombie slaying biker.
Although a great part of the action takes place at ‘night’ hence the title the opening sequence is filmed in bright spring time – completely the opposite to what you might have been expecting and with the ‘gag’ opening sequence starting off the ‘attacks’ but then on we were treated to some impressive zombies we were on a familiar if slightly different path.
As with the first Barbara, Patricia Tallman, rocking a particularly fetching short cut to her fierce ginger-red hair seems to be heading towards being a useless female lead, going as Judith O’Dea did in the original into a non-speaking near catatonic state, which in the original was to be Barbara’s undoing. No, this Barbara gets her act together and proves to resourceful, brave and bright. The sort of attributes that you would need to survive ‘Night of the Living Dead’. Tony Todd makes is a great modern Duane Jones and enhances his hero-role by not making the best of decisions from time to time. Harry Towles is great as the repugnant Cooper which if you use Social Media you will know is fairly accurate. I saw this in the cinema when it came out and I would have said his character was a little over the top but nowadays I think it is spot on. In fact, although Cooper treats his wife dreadfully and is clearly very frightened not all his decisions are wrong, but he is a villain, and a villain must do what a villain must do. His wife, the attractive McKee Anderson like all the roles from the previous film is expanded and given a bit more to do and has a bit more character. Only the role of Tommy and Judy-Rose seem similar and a bit stereo typical and have the same stupid fate befall them as the original. Katie Finneran as Judy-Rose ends up with the traditional screaming role which even in the 1990s seemed a bit old hat. I mean she got on and did what she had to during the action so why the high-pitched screaming?
The set pieces are convincing with various zombies in various states of distress or not, wandering around the countryside and we do get a re-run of the nice-bottom nude lady-zombie. Surprisingly for a Savini effort this is fairly free of real gore and most of what would be blood splattered grue takes place off-screen. In the case of this film it appears to be a strength not a weakness. Unlike the original this is a much more athletic and trim film and has little to no flab around the middle. The acting, particularly from three main leads is strong and the movie’s ending, different from the original, is more satisfying. Savini tips his hat to the originals with the blood splatter over the trowel in the cellar and a helicopter watching the ‘good old boy’ action near the end, is that Fran, Stephen, Peter and Roger in this new timeline watching before they fly off to the mall?
I am pleased to say this remake of much-loved horror-film classic is a welcome addition to the genre being well-made, well-acted and intelligently updated. The lighting and cinematography are fine, set a tone and do not ruin your enjoyment which, particularly for a film taking place mainly at night is a fine skill to master.
The film is not without flaws as any film is. The location of the cemetery if you think about it for more than ten minutes does not make any sense and how come there are some many graves there? Where do all those zombies come from? There are bloody hundreds of them for a place out in the sticks. These are all ‘nitty-gritty it makes no difference’ points being honest. You can pick any horror film apart when you start applying logic.
If you liked the original Night of the Living Dead but perhaps never really liked the black and white ‘we have no budget’ feel of it then this remake by Tom Savini is the one for you. It feels like a love letter to genre and is made by someone who knows exactly what a Romero-style zombie film should be like.
Truth be told it is a well-made and fun zombie film.
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