Night of the Living Dead

Plot synopsis:
Barbra (Judith O'Dea) and Johnny Blair (Russell Streiner) drive to rural Pennsylvania for an annual visit to their father's grave. Barbra is attacked by a strange man (Bill Hinzman) walking in the cemetery. Johnny tries to rescue his sister, but the man throws him against a gravestone; Johnny strikes his head on the stone and is killed. After a mishap with the car, Barbra escapes on foot, with the stranger in pursuit, and later arrives at a farmhouse, where she discovers a woman's mangled corpse. Fleeing from the house, she is confronted by strange menacing figures like the man in the graveyard. Ben (Duane Jones) takes her into the house, driving the "monsters" away and sealing the doors and windows. Throughout the night, Barbra slowly descends into a stupor of shock and insanity.
Ben and Barbra are unaware that the farmhouse has a cellar, housing an angry married couple Harry (Karl Hardman) and Helen Cooper (Marilyn Eastman), along with their daughter Karen (Kyra Schon). They sought refuge after a group of the same monsters overturned their car. Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Ridley), a teenage couple, arrived after hearing an emergency broadcast about a series of brutal murders. Karen has fallen seriously ill after being bitten by one of the monsters. They ventured upstairs when Ben turns on a radio, while Barbra awakens from her stupor. Harry demands that everyone hide in the cellar, but Ben deems it a "deathtrap" and continues upstairs, to barricade the house with Tom's help.
Radio reports explain that a wave of mass murder is sweeping across the eastern United States. Ben finds a television, and they watch an emergency broadcaster (Charles Craig) report that the recently deceased have become reanimated and are consuming the flesh of the living. Experts, scientists, and the United States military fail to discover the cause, though one scientist suspects radioactive contamination from a space probe. It returned from Venus, and was deliberately exploded in the Earth's atmosphere when the radiation was detected.
Ben plans to obtain medical care for Karen when the reports listed local rescue centers offering refuge and safety. Ben and Tom refuel Ben's truck while Harry hurls molotov cocktails from an upper window at the ghouls. Judy follows him, fearing Tom's safety. Tom accidentally spills gasoline on the truck setting it ablaze. Tom and Judy try to drive the truck away from the pump, but Judy is unable to free herself from its door, and the truck explodes, killing them both; the zombies promptly eat the charred remains.
Ben returns to the house, but is locked out by Harry. Eventually forcing his way back in, Ben beats Harry, angered by his cowardice, while the zombies feed on the remains of Tom and Judy. A news report reveals that, only a gunshot or heavy blow to the head can stop them, aside from setting the "reactivated bodies" on fire. It also reported that posses of armed men are patrolling the countryside to restore order.
The lights go out, and the zombies break through the barricades. Harry grabs Ben's rifle and threatens to shoot him. In the chaos the two fight and Ben manages to wrestle the gun away and shoots Harry. Harry stumbles into the cellar and collapses next to Karen, mortally wounded. She has also died from her illness. The ghouls try to pull Helen and Barbra through the windows, but Helen frees herself. She returns to the refuge of the cellar to see Karen is reanimated and eating Harry's corpse. Helen is frozen in shock, and Karen stabs her to death with a masonry trowel. Barbra, seeing Johnny among the zombies, is carried away by the horde and devoured. As the zombies overrun the house, Ben seals himself inside the cellar, where Harry and Helen are reanimating, and he is forced to shoot them.
Ben is awakened by the posse's gunfire outside the next morning. He ventures upstairs; the posse spot him through the window and mistake him for one of the ghouls, shooting him through the forehead. Ben's body is thrown into a pile of bodies, laid next to the original zombie from the cemetery and they are all lit on fire.

Tags: suspenseful, cult, horror, violence

Review:
Wanting to re-visit the genre he created, George Romero approached Tom Savini to direct a remake of his 1968 masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead.While the film follows the original closely, it does have some important changes.
Other changes help blend the film much better into Romeros Dawn and Day. The use of tools by the zombies for example, is lessened and removed at times, creating more continuity between Night, Dawn, Day and Lands time-line of the undeads abilities.Some seem to automatically shoot down the remake in favor of the original, I've watched this version almost as many times as Dawn and Day, and believe the film tops the original in almost every way.
Perhaps there would have been a bit more tension if it had been filmed in black and white but it was very tense throughout.The ending is also different as well but good nonetheless.If you liked the original, then I recommend this version as well..
Romero turns over his classic horror film to be remade, and it's in the hands of Tom Savini (who did brilliant makeup for Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead).
More style is added, to be sure, but Savini and Romero (who scripted this one) could've gone farther.With that said, Night of the Living Dead (1990) was an enjoyable horror flick experience, one where it's a good time with color and gore and all (plus more full frontal zombie nudity) and as long as you don't think too deeply about what you are watching (and certainly don't try to compare the 1968 and 1990 versions together), you'll have fun.
The main difference in this version, apart from obvious ones like being filmed in colour and with some more sophisticated special effects, is the expansion of the Barbara character, who is much less passive and more important to the plot.
They have to fight the dead from getting in...and each other.There was no reason (that I can see) to remake the 1968 classic "Night..." but George Romero (director and co-writer of the original) wanted it.
Make-up maestro Tom Savini's color remake of Romero's 1968 classic follows the original almost shot-by-shot,but it's of course not better film.This remake was clearly made for younger viewers who refuse to watch black-and-white films,no matter how good they may be.The result is passable,but it lacks dark atmosphere and mood of the original.If this version has anything to offer,it is Patricia Tallman("Army of Darkness")in an engaging lead performance as a tough,independent heroine.This is only my opinion,but I'm really fed up with "strong female lead" concept that every new horror film seems to have.The next thing I dislike in this picture is the lack of gore.For God's sake this film was directed by gore wizard Tom Savini-the man behind such hard-core splatter flicks like "Maniac","Nightmare" or "The Prowler".The violence is very tame-even by today's standards.However the acting isn't bad,the zombies are pretty scary and the film is never boring.Recommended for horror buffs all around the world..
Night Of The Living Dead is a terrific and memorable remake that combines great direction,a wonderful cast,a good score and great special make-up effects.
And while the Night Of The Living Dead remake isn't a good as the original it is a well-done and worthy remake of the original classic from Tom Savini and George A.
Romero.Set in Pennsylvania,Night Of The Living Dead tells the story of a group of strangers including Ben(Tony Todd),Barbara(Patricia Tallman),Harry Cooper(Tom Towles)and his wife Helen(McKee Anderson)Tom(William Butler)and his girlfriend Judy Rose(Katie Finnerman)who are holed up in a farmhouse and have to fight off Zombies who want to eat their flesh.Night Of The Living Dead(or Night Of The Living Dead 90)is a wonderful Horror remake that was the directorial debut of Special Effects master Tom Savini and with a screenplay by George A.
Remaking a classic landmark film like Night Of The Living Dead(1968)is no easy task but I think Savini,Romero and company have made a film that is one of the better Zombie films and remakes around.
One of the reasons Night Of The Living Dead 90 is a great remake and Zombie movie is that while it's the same story as the original with the same setting,characters and some of the dialog but is updated and works not only as a remake of the original film but as an homage as well.
This film doesn't have a lot of the social commentary like the first film or any of Romero's other Zombie films(like Dawn Of The Dead in 1978 or in Day OfThe Dead in 1985)it does tackles that same themes as the original such as tension among the human characters and pulling in different directions showing how things fall apart in drastic situations which will always be relevant.
Where as Barbara in the original and was pretty weak and was always screaming,the Barbara in this film is strong and tough always shooting and fighting the zombies and holding her own when things start to fall apart which almost like Ellen Ripley in the Alien franchise.
The Zombies are still the slow walking dead creatures they were in the original film coming from every corner and wanting to feast on the living and attack in packs.
Great effects.In final word,if you love Zombie films or Horror films in general,I highly suggest you see Night Of The Living Dead 90,a terrific and memorable remake that's not as good as the original but still an entertaining Zombie movie.
A woman (Patricia Tallman ,she had known Tom Savini since they went to college together, he chose to cast her because of her strong-willed demeanor) along with an African-American named Ben (Tony Todd, Laurence Fishburne and Eriq La Salle both auditioned for the role of Ben ; Ving Rhames was also considered) escape the frightening zombies to take refuge at a house .
If anything, I think that Barbara is something of a feminist icon in a movie genre that's severely lacking in pro-feminist characters.While Tallman does a fantastic job, the "Candyman" himself Tony Todd totally steals the show as Ben, a man very much thrown into a leadership position that he admittedly might not be 100% ready for.
William Butler, Katie Finneran and Tom Towles turn in fine performances as well, though admittedly Towles's character Harry was a bit of a one-dimensional whiner."Night of the Living Dead '90" is a movie that is just DRIPPING in atmosphere.
Whether you've seen every zombie movie, played every game and read every book or you're an outsider to the genre like me, I highly recommend you check this wonderful remake out..
That is unless you are a die-hard fan in which case you'd probably gain nothing from the experience.There's nothing that I can throw at this movie, it doesn't reflect badly on the original, nor is it a bad film in its own right.I just don't get why it was remade, we know and love (maybe loathe) these characters already, do we need another clutch of actors to repeat the performance like a dodgy kebab?
It is fair to say that, in zombie movie terms, the original 'Night of the Living Dead' was a classic.
Makeup FX master Tom Savini took the role of director for this entertaining remake of George Romero's zombie classic.Strangers must battle armies of zombies when they become isolated in a rural farmhouse.While this remake rather wisely sticks to the basics of the original film, it does differ at some points.
Supporting cast McKee Anderson, William Butler, and Bill Moseley are also effective.While no horror film will probably ever live up to Romero's classic Night of the Living Dead (1968), this remake certainly doesn't try to.
Produced by the late, great original "Night of the Living Dead" director George Romero, and directed by special effects guru and constant Romero collaborator Tom Savini, it follows the same basic plot of the original film, but also adds a few new things in the mix as well.If you saw the original film, you know the plot: Barbara and her prankster brother Johnnie are at the cemetery to lay flowers on their mother's grave when Johnnie, sensing Barbara's fear and unease concerning graveyards, taunts her with the infamous phrase, "They're coming to get you, Barbara." Little does he know, he's about to proved correct when the living dead attack.
Unfortunately, this particular remake suffers from two blights upon late-eighties/ early-nineties movie making 1) The need for a happy ending and 2) the need for political correctness.The original Night of the Living Dead was fascinating because it had at least one person we could identify with no matter who we were, and in many cases we could identify with the entire cast because each represented a part of ourselves.
In the remake, Tom Savini does a fine job with the director's chair and the film benefits hugely from two very strong performances from Tony Todd and Patricia Tallman.
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".
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.
this movie is a direct remake of the original Night of the Living Dead, but if you're going to breathe new life into a series, don't make it EXACTLY like the original, I would have been more satisfied if they had just released the original in colour.
Tom Savini tries too hard to make this like a 50's and 60's horror flick...including the over acting from the cast.but, my opinion might be a bit biased, because I personally am a fan of remakes that just take the principal plot and make it a different way much like the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.I say, watch this one but keep an open mind that it is a direct remake of a 60's horror film in every way possible.
Loving zombie good films i hate so much this stuff, i don't know how Romero was involved in this or why Savini went into directing.
A total senseless action and ending, losing all the good things from the original, they spent half of the film putting light nails on the windows like crazy, oh god i better stop here.These are the films that dishonor zombie genre.
I mean, I could go along with this if the remake had actually been a respectable piece of work; the original Night of the Living Dead is one of the finest horror films ever made, and quite simply THE uncontested best zombie flick.
Night of the Living Dead (1990) is the remake of the 1968 black and white horror by George Romero.
This movie is a classic zombie horror, it's great and there are a lot of thrills throughout.If I have to knock it at all, the acting could be a bit better.
There are no big names in this movie but for what it is, being a fun zombie movie, it is good enough.Also I would say that the movie is a little bit too much like a copy of the original grandfather of all zombie movies "Night of the Living Dead".
It can't possibly be better than that so if you want to remake the movie at least make it different, add more twists or different settings etc.At the end of the day this is a fantastic movie that you can still enjoy today, some great cheesy special effects and gore, and lots of fun zombie deaths!.
I like zombie movies in general and so was curious to see a remake of the seminal film that ignited the genre.
I not only find this to be one of the finest horror movies of all time but I believe this version is superior in almost every way to the original.Night of the Living Dead follows the same storyline as the first one.
she doesn't talk much after her traumatic experience in the cemetery in the opening scene, so i headcanon her as an autistic heroine with selective mutism Harry Cooper, the drunken wife beater who hides his family in the cellar, becomes the more irritating character, largely due to poor acting on Tom Towles's part: the escalating tension between Cooper and Ben that was a driving facet of the plot in the original film just isn't very effective here there are some memorable scenes and zombie designs; the altered ending is far less impactful than in the original, but satisfying nonetheless.
The original creators of the seminal Night of the Living Dead (1968) reconvene 22 years later to, well, make some money!It was a compromised production, with director Tom Savini announcing that the finished cut is not half the film he set out to make.
i just watched night of the living dead on scream channel.suffice to say,i wasn't very impressed.there was zero tension in the whole movie.i was too bored to care about the characters.and what's with that ending?it seems like it was tacked on,when they couldn't think of any other way to end it.it was just over.there was no logic behind it.another failure i thought was the so called makeup effects, which did not look at all real.and if you watch carefully some of the actors playing zombies were not always in character,that is they didn't act like zombies.i can't compare it to the original,which i haven't seen,but i will say it doesn't compare with the 2005 version of dawn of the dead,or even 2006's land of the dead.if i could describe this movie in one word,it would be-- underwhelming 2.5*.
Thinking that they might have more hope but one of the survivors in the house finds out that these strange people are actually the living dead coming back to life and attacking (and eating) the living.This film is a scene for scene remake of the Disturbing Original until near the end.
The ending of Savini's version perfectly recaptures the opening shots of the original Dawn of the Dead, complete with ignorant, beer drinking yahoos in plaid flannel making sport of the zombies in some of the films most upsetting scenes.
Not so with 1990's "Night of the Living Dead."  In fact, this could very well be the last Hollywood remake that was done right.Tom Savini's directorial debut is solid as he takes what many feel is an untouchable classic and actually improves upon it.
To start off, I have never seen the original 1968 Night Of the Living Dead, but I love this movie!
Romero's sake, who else would be better off directing his film masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead, over his right hand, special effects man, Tom Savini.
I would recommend to watch it if you are really boring and don't have anything better to do.I didn't like the plot, the characters and the performances.The plot of the movie is about a woman (Barbara) who goes tho visit her dead mother to the cemetery in the country, and there she is going to be attacked by zombies, she get to run away and find a house where she meets a group of people.
Tony Todd and Patricia Tallman give the most memorable performances of their respective careers and Romero and Savini come through like a horrorcane and deliver the greatest horror film ever conceived.With today being Halloween, this is my pick for a great creepy movie to watch on this Day of the Dead 2005..
Whereas Zack Snyder's recent remake of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead utilised only the bare bones of the original's script, Tom Savini's 90s version of Romero's Night of the Living Dead took far fewer liberties with its plot, opening almost exactly like the '68 horror classicwith a brother and sister being attacked by the undead in a rural graveyardand rarely straying from the original for the rest of its duration (bar a few subtle tweaks to keep things interesting).However, although the film will undoubtedly feel extremely familiar to fans of the 'Dead' series, there is still much to enjoy about Savini's effort, and it is highly recommended viewing nonetheless.Patricia Tallman plays Barbara, a young woman who seeks refuge in a farmhouse after the dead begin returning to life to devour the living.
The original Night of the Living Dead is a classic horror film.
What is at once satisfying and disappointing about Tom Savini's 1990 redux of George Romero's penultimate horror film "Night of the Living Dead" is that it's a well-done B movie that retains the same western-Pennsylvania atmosphere of its predecessor.
George Romero's original "Night Of The Living Dead" is among the all time horror classics.
2 Blueprints for Tom. Tom Savini's first real film as Director, the "re-make" of the 1968 classic horror film, Night of the Living Dead, was an interesting and good movie with its moments.
Night of the Living Dead might be a remake, but this is the definitely the best and my all-time favourite zombie movie ever made.
tom savini directed remake of a classic romero film *possible spoilers*.
I've tried finding good zombie movies, and very few have turned out to be worthwhile, like Diary of the dead was pretty good when I first seen it, a second viewing would prove otherwise.This one is just great, I have yet to see a better zombie film, and maybe I should watch the original, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.Simply Savini needs to direct more.
Originally Savini worked on Dawn of the Dead and other films directed by zombie godfather George.