The Tom Savini remake.

The Night of the Living Dead remake is one that I have refused to watch for a very long time. Because the original Romero film is a classic in cinematic history, and despite some of his later films I still love George. I also have a lot of respect for director Tom Savini and I understand why this film needed to be made. Because the company screwed up hard on the 1968 version and forgot to put that simple “OC donut steal” sticker which shoved the film very early into the public domain so Romero didn’t make jack shit on it. I won’t fault the guy for wanting a version he could own and actually make some revenue with.

The 1990 remake stars Tony Todd. I absolutely hated the first ten minutes of this movie. For starters it relegates the opening scene between Barbara and Johnny to a hastily-rushed voiceover as the car is pulling into the graveyard and I don’t understand the reasoning behind that other than maybe they felt it was needed to keep the film legally distinct enough to copyright. It seems determined to one-up the original by having a fakeout and then multiple real zombies. The scene where the Johnny falls on the grave and cracks his head is awful as Johnny is so very clearly a dummy and the camera stays on the shot for so very long.

But ultimately I kinda liked the remake.

Let’s talk about the ways the remake improves on the original. For starters, Tom Savini is directing and about 20 years of film progression and a budget higher than a $3 steak has led to the zombies looking a lot more like zombies. And I love the 1968 proto-zombies, the fact that they look just like normal corpses has a distinct creepiness to it. Barbara also has a lot more character in this movie. In the original she remains in a pretty catatonic state throughout most of the film and then gets killed by Johnny. In the remake she has a lot more agency, acts as the voice of reason, and becomes something of a badass over the course of the night.

Also she’s played by Patricia Tallman who in addition to commanding the scenes later on is smoking hot with that short haircut. The zombies in the remake are also more zombie-like. The proto-zombies in Night of the Living Dead did eat flesh but they were also more versatile in their violence. Karen (Sarah (Heather Mazur) in the remake) eats her dad but only after he dies, and stabs her mom to death with a gardening trowel as a zombie. The remake zombies are more flesh-eating than the originals. There’s also a lot more emphasis on the in-fighting between the survivors and I liked how they treated Harry Cooper’s (Tom Towles) character at the end.

Which leads me to the bad part; the infighting between the characters. I don’t know how they pulled it off, but Harry Cooper received a massive downgrade from the original. The remake turns him into much more of a one-dimensional asshole. He treats his wife Helen (McKee Anderson) worse than the original and it’s pretty obvious that his confrontations with Ben (Tony Todd) are blown over the top to create conflict. It’s like watching fights break out in reality shows where you know the dial is secretly being cranked behind the scenes.

And while I did just praise Patricia Tallman, I’m putting the characters overall on the bad list. While I like that Savini and Romero gave Barbara more of a character in this version and apparently this is closer to Romero’s original plan for Barbara, he did turn virtually everyone into a movie caricature and less of a real-feeling human being. Ben is an obvious movie hero caricature instead of just a guy. Harry is the obvious villain from within. Tom (William Butler) has been rewritten as the nephew of the people who own the farm they’re hiding out in so he and Judy (Katie Finneran) can occasionally remind the rest of the cast that they could have kicked them out at any time. Ironically they would have survived easier outside than inside.

Oh and Judy. I have nothing against Kate Finneran, the character of Judy is awful. Never stops her high-pitched screaming. Also rather than have the gas leak in the truck scene, of course Tom has to take his gun and try to shoot the lock off the gas tank causing a big explosion. The first words in the remake are “they’re coming to get you, Barbara” as Savini gives absolutely no time to building up tension with the car ride, relegating Johnny and Barbara’s opening back and forth to a dubbed over conversation so he could have Johnny get into a prolonged fistfight with the zombies.

In other words, there’s too much overacting. And it works in some parts but not in others. Should you watch Night of the Living Dead remake? Yeah. I think you should watch the original and then watch the 1990 version because there’s no right answer on which one is “better” objectively speaking. I prefer the original, but that also might just be because I saw the 1968 version as a kid and didn’t watch the 1990 version until my mid 30s. The original has had a lot more time to dig itself into my heart.

Also Tom Savini and George Romero are clearly geniuses, because they managed to identify Tony Todd before he hit it big and cast him as the lead. Todd was in 1988’s Platoon as Sergeant Warren, but it’d be another few years before his big role in Candyman.

Rating: B