Night of the Living Dead (1990)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Powerful

Nice effects though.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A decent and certainly one of the better/best remakes of Romero's iconic work - still better than 90% of the contemporary zombie flicks. One that every aficionado of the undead business should know.

The main services provided by this decent remake are threefold: to give Barbara something to do, other than her 1968 counterpart who remained on the couch staring at the walls for the majority of the film; to give the film colour; and to utilise the colour for some gruesome and only slightly unconvincing gory effects. Other than that, it's much the same as the original, and it works splendidly. If you can forgive its utter destruction of the original ending, which I think I can.

Romero heads his series into the nineties with an updated remake to his cult classic night of the living dead.The story is pretty much the same with a few new twists thrown in like Barbara (Patricia Tallman) is now a xena warrior princess instead of the meek helpless character from the previous film who breaks up arguments, shoving zombies out of her way and bringing in the Calvary. Tony Todd does an excellent job as Ben and makes him his own.Now set in color losing the old fashion Hollywood style feel and reveals the rubbery texture used for the makeup. Johnny hitting his head on the headstone and Barbara breaking the iron over the farmer zombie's head are obviously dummies. The camera angles hung to far on the moon and cuts back to the same image throughout as if to allow the audience a bathroom break.Another flaw was the revelation they could walk past the zombies the whole time neutralizing the threat and made the whole 80 minutes a waste of time. It makes the characters look stupid and feel inferior to the originals who came before them.I don't know what happens to George Romero and Tom Savini but both lacked the creativity and skull that made them a brand.While some will appreciate the new changes, it was an epic fail for me and undone the greatness that is the original night of the living dead.

As much as re-makes usually aren't sitting well with me, then I just had to take a chance on watching this 1990 re-make of the 1968 movie that just revolutionized the entire horror genre and sparked the zombie sub-genre; "Night of the Living Dead". But with the dread of director (and special effects master) Tom Savini failing to fill out the massive footprint left by George A. Romero hanging over the movie, it was either a make or break experience.And now in 2016, I can say that I have watched this 1990 re-make numerous times since back in the 1990's. Yes, it is a re-make that is well worthy of the original movie upon which it is founded. And director Tom Savini really stepped up to the task and showed that he was able to skillfully grace the re-make in the spirit of the father of all zombies; George A. Romero.The story told in "Night of the Living Dead" needs no introduction. And if you are a fan of the horror and zombie genre, then you will already be familiar with the storyline. And if you are not, and if you are a horror fan, then you seriously need to get around to watching the 1968 original and this 1990 re-make. As such, I am not going to delve into story details here.Director Tom Savini did deviate some from the original story, which was acceptable and good, because a frame by frame re-shooting of the original movie would have been disastrous. And I must salute him on his accomplishments with this movie.The cast also deserves a good share of credit for making this movie into what it was, because people really did good jobs with their given roles. Again, especially since they had a lot of pressure hanging over their heads, as they had to live up to the 1968 classic. But they managed to do so quite well. Tony Todd (playing Ben) and Patricia Tallman (playing Barbara) in the lead roles were carrying the movie quite well. And Tom Towles (playing Harry) really portrayed the despicable character quite well. Personally I think it was a shame that Bill Moseley (playing Johnnie) didn't have a bigger part in the movie, because he really is an iconic actor in the horror genre."Night of the Living Dead" does have some great special effects, and why wouldn't it have with director Tom Savini also being a masterful special effects man himself. The zombie make-up was really nice and had lots of good details, which is essential for a zombie movie.I enjoy all things zombie, and it is sacrilege not to be familiar with "Night of the Living Dead" if you are a zombie aficionado. And this 1990 re-make is a well-worthy addition to the zombie genre, and is most worthy of a place in the movie collection right next to the original 1968 version.So the only thing left to say is: "They're us. We're them and they're us."