Product: Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Rating: 4.0
Surprisingly entertaining remake
Roger Ebert once told me that the secret to making a good thriller is to make sure that it can't age. The best thrillers never get old, and never lose their edge. Movies like "Halloween," "The Silence of the Lambs," "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer," and of course "Night of the Living Dead" have never lost their death grip on the collective jugular of movie goers. Back in 1990, George Romero wanted to remake his 1968 cult classic with brand new make-up effects from the man who assisted him on his previous zombie pictures, Tom Savini, in the director's chair. Age has been kind to the original version of this film, and I anticipate the same will be true with its surprisingly effective and well-acted remake.I was really impressed with Tom Savini's (The King of Splatter) work on the "Dawn" and "Day of the Dead" films, along with his work on "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2" and "Friday the 13th (and Part 4)," so when I saw his name stenciled after the words "Directed by" on the video box, I immediately rented it. The most obvious changes in the film lie within the newer, state of the art make-up effects, which range from a man broken in half from a car collision to a man walking around with the Y-incision from his autospy displayed to the world at large. There are other little differences in the film, which mostly reside in the performances (bravo to Tony Todd), the demeanors of the characters (Patricia Tallman's character is much tougher than the timid, frightened woman her predecessor played), and an all-new ending. The film still incorporates the trademark Romero satire, but it's much subtler and more understood than it was in "Dawn of the Dead." The characters in the remake are more engaging than in the original, and I think the new make-up helps the film work well on the horror level. Sure, it doesn't have the grainy, documentary feel that the original had, but the movie still works. I like it a lot.