Night of the Living Dead (1990)

Director:

Tom Savini

Writers (WGA):

John A. Russo (earlier screenplay) and
George A. Romero (earlier screenplay) ...

Release Date:

19 October 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

There IS a fate worse than death.

Plot:

The unburied dead return to life and seek human victims.

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Attack | Cemetery | Helicopter | Flesh Eating Zombie

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

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	...	The Flaming Zombie
Bill 'Chilly Billy' Cardille	...	T.V. Interviewer

Runtime:

92 min | 88 min (cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (TVC)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Finland:K-18 | Denmark:15 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Belgium:16 (video rating) | Netherlands:16 | Ireland:18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:18A | Chile:14 | Germany:(Banned) | Germany:18 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #30628) | Australia:M (cable rating)

Filming Locations:

East Buffalo, Pennsylvania, USA

Company:

21st Century Film Corporation

Trivia:

At one point in the film, a female zombie can be seen walking through a field with the house in the background. This zombie hears the banging from the humans in the house trying to board up the windows and is attracted to the noise, so she turns and begins staggering to the house. This woman actually owned the house in real life. The producers wanted to use the house in the film and agreed to give the woman a small acting part in exchange.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Barbara is loading the Henry lever action rifle, she is loading the cartridges bullet first. This would lead to a malfunction in the rifle, as the bullet end must be facing toward the muzzle for the cartridges to properly feed from the magazine tube into the chamber.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Johnnie: They're coming to get you, Barbara!
Barbara: Stop it!
Johnnie: They're coming!
[evil laughter]
Johnnie: They don't like being awaken this way!
Barbara: Why do you have to be so mean?
Johnnie: 'Cause I'm your older brother. Being mean and heartless is part of the job.

Movie Connections:

References Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Not needed--but OK

The dead come back to eat the flesh of the living. A small group of people are holed up in a farmhouse. They have to fight the dead from getting in...and each other.

There was no reason (that I can see) to remake the 1968 classic "Night..." but George Romero (director and co-writer of the original) wanted it. He scripted it and got makeup artist Tom Savini to direct. The results are OK. It could have been a disaster but wasn't. It's not a scene by scene remake but it does have some of the original dialogue. Still it makes some pretty extreme changes.

Barbara in the first movie was little more than a basket case. Here she is strong and intelligent and can hold her own. It's never really explained how she became such a crack shot though. Tony Todd is a good actor--but not here. He has the unenviable job of playing the part that Duane Jones played so well in the original. He is good...but not enough. The other actors are all pretty OK--the same as the originals were.

There are some cute visual and verbal references to the first film and the gore has been upped drastically (though not as much as it could have been). There is also an eerie and very effective music score throughout the movie. I found this a little slow but that's because I've seen the first multiple times in the past. And this one tacks on a screamingly obvious "ironic" finale.

It's OK--but the original is still the best. I give it a 7.