Product: Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Rating: 3.0
They're not going to get this Barbara...
This drew a hell of a lot of flak when it was released in 1990 and quite unfairly too. People compared making a remake of the classic 1968 "Night of the Living Dead" to remaking "Citizen Kane". Some fans of the original howled with horror before the film was even released!Of course there were those who kept quiet and waited until the actual film was shown before passing comment. There were some too, who changed their mind upon finally seeing the film.NotLD (1990) still divides Romero's fans into two distinct camps. You either love it or you hate it. There are few fans of the series that are completely neutral.The remake of "Night of the Living Dead" is, in fact, a rather decent attempt at trying to something new with a film that is very much an essential part of cinema history. It was never going to be universally loved, but credit must be given to Tom Savini for having a go and producing a very good update on the story and it's a story that few horror/film fans would unfamiliar with.Basically, Dead bodies are returning to life, inexplicably, with a ingrained need to feed on flesh. A group of people must garrison themselves in a farmhouse and hold off the dead until the morning.While the story is simple, the execution in both versions is well done. There is a constant level of strangeness and uneasiness throughout and this time 'round the living dead look better too, allowing for the advancement in make-up effects.There are a number of changes in the basic story, none of which take from it and there are some changes in character and situations that allow both versions to have enough of a difference for the remake to have a point. Remakes, on the whole, are a difficult prospect though. Differ from the story too much and you have something like the appalling "The Wicker Man", or stick to the original story too much and you have a situation like Gus Van Sant's utterly pointless "Psycho" frame-for-frame remake.This is no gore-hound paradise though. Anyone expecting Savini to pull tons of guts out of his make-up box and have hundreds of disgusting on-screen zombie munching are going to be disappointed. Savini's version of his Buddy George Romero's film is remarkably restraint. This time around there won't be the same outrage that accompanied the original 1968 movie, even though that is now tame by today's standards. That's not to say that the films effects are not good, they are, but this film is no "Day of the Dead".NotLD (1990) needs to be approached from a fresh perspective, if at all possible. The viewer who is familiar with the original must try and leave it to one side and enjoy the remake for what it is...a well acted and effective zombie/horror film.