Product: Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Rating: 4.0
The way the original was SUPPOSED to be
Yeah, that's right - Romero got it right this time. Quit your "if it's not B&W;, bad acting, terrible effects and zero budget then its not worthy" whining. This is a new century, and people expect believability and accuracy in movies these days. Even Romero knew it, and that's why he re-wrote the script.Consider the following:0. Say this out loud until this undeniable truth sinks in: "First" doesn't mean "only" or "best". If you're still driving a Ford Model A, however, then you have every right to deny that progress serves a purpose.1. The most outstanding difference between this version ("90") and the original ("68") is that in the 90 version, people actually behave like real people. This is a new century, people are smarter, and lame acting just doesn't cut it anymore. The "Oh, I fell down and lost my shoe so I better just lay here and act helpless" crap doesn't cut it anymore (and hasn't for decades). The only exception to the realistic behavior found in "90" is Harry Cooper. In real life, it would have taken less than 10 minutes for those in the house to shoot the selfish, lazy jerk and throw his carcass out into the yard as Purina Zombie Chow.2. 90's makeup and effects were great (they did some major homework to get it right). 68's sucked. Period.3. The zombies are much more true-to-form zombies in 90. They come off as actually being dead. In 68, they were too intelligent and ran too fast, and merely looked like your typical hangover.4. What little gore there was in 90 was actually very believable and very well done. The "gore" (chocolate syrup, actually) in 68 was ridiculous.5. The end in 90 was WAY better than in 68. Romero fixed his own movie. Hear that Romero worshippers?6. There is one more realism hit in the movie, but Romero corrects it: Fact is, Americans know guns and we know how to use them. At any time, those in the house could have walked out of town with ease, effortlessly plinking any zombie in the forehead that wadered into their path. What turns this plot blunder into a great bit of realism in the movie, however, is that Barbara herself makes this very point (but they ignore her for the sake of the story). Kudos to Romero for having one of the two main characters actually state the obvious reality of the situation in the movie.I just bought this DVD. Like everyone else, I have seen the original B&W.; Because of this fine remake, I have no interest in the original B&W;, regardless of it's historical value to the genre. This remake the movie the original was supposed to be. If Romero himself didn't think so, he wouldn't have remade it.