Few films have made such an impact on popular culture in half a century or so as the original version of Night of the Living Dead. John A. Romero’s 1968 black and white horror classic had introduced plot concept of zombie apocalypse which would be used in many official and unofficial sequels, homages and parodies in various media like film, television, books, comics and video games. When the inevitable remake, directed by Tom Savini, came in 1990, the result was predictably underwhelming.
Co-written by Romero and John A. Russo, the script very faithfully, at least for the most part, follows their 1968 version. The plot begins when Barbara Todd (played by Patricia Tallman) and her brother Johnny (played by Bill Moseley) arrive at remote cemetery in rural Pennsylvania in order to visit their mother’s grave. There they get attacked by group of corpse-looking assailants who kill Johnny and force Barbara to seek shelter in what seems to be abandoned farmhouse. Barbara is joined by Ben (played by Tony Todd), a very resourceful man who helps her defeat similar-looking people in the house and informs that the phenomenon is apparently widespread through the countryside – people are for mysterious reasons turned into violent cannibalistic zombies that, while slow-moving, can be dangerous in large numbers and impervious to any injury except to the brain. Ben and Barbara are joined by owner’s relative - teenager Tom Bitner (played by Tom Wallace) and her girlfriend Judy Rose Larson (played by Katie Finneran). They also discover another group of survivors – Harry Cooper (played by Tom Towles), his wife Helen (played by McKee Anderson) and daughter Sarah (played by Heather Mazur) – hiding in the cellar. As night falls and zombies begin to gather outside, seven survivors are at odds what to do. Ben, who establishes himself as a leader, argues that they should board up windows and try to reach gas station, get fuel and escape, while cowardly Harry argues that they should all get into cellar. This creates tension that could be as dangerous for the group as the zombies.
New version of Night of the Living Dead was made for two reasons. One is in original version losing copyright and ending in public domain (which, ironically, helped its concept being popularised through various knock-offs). The other was in younger generation of horror fans simply refusing to watch anything made in black-and-white (and thus enjoy gore in its all of its colourful glory which became genre standard in 1980s). The film was produced by 21st Century Film Corporation, studio founded by Israeli producer Menahem Golan after the collapse of Cannon Films. Despite Golan’s penny-pinching ways, 1990 version ended with at least twenty to forty times larger budget than the original. Direction was given to Savini, long-time Romero associate who then had established reputation as one of Hollywood’s top experts in make up experts, mainly due to his work in horror films. Having all that considered, new version of Night of the Living Dead looks like great disappointment. Savini directs film straight, and uses cold colours that make film look uninspired and cheap, almost like a television production. Despite some make up effects that made zombies look more grotesque and frightening than in earlier version, violence and gore is very subdued because of censorship concerns.
The only visible improvement in the film is quality of acting. New film had more professional cast. Tony Todd stands out with his very realistic portrayal of a resourceful man under unimaginable stress and it is easy to understand why the actor later had a strong impact in the role of Kurn in Star Trek television shows and as Candyman in eponymous horror film series. Another good impression is brought by Patricia Tallman, actress and stuntwoman whose character represents the film’s major departure from original; in the beginning she is portrayed as frustrated, passive and panicked damsel in distress, only to gradually transform in resourceful fighter and survivor not that very different than Ellen Ripley. Romero and the rest of the team probably tried to repeat the impact of having black protagonist in 1968, when the racial prejudices were more prevalent than today. Turning Judy into heroine as some kind of feminist statement, however, didn’t work that well in 1980s, when many other horror films had used concept of Final Girl. The idea to add additional social and political commentary with display of zombie-hunting redneck militia at the end is compromised with Barbara’s lame dialogue lines that state what is supposed to be obvious and make authors sound overly pretentious. Night of the Living Dead is entertaining enough to be recommended for casual horror fans, those requiring high quality or iconic zombie films should better look elsewhere.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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