Comment The remake of the original. Whilst this is no where near as good as the original night of the living dead, it still has its moments. Directed by make-up and sfx artist Tom Savini, it actually has some nice gore effects, but it stays faithful to the original movie and covers a lot of the same ground.
Decent but not as good as the original, as is nearly always the case
The story: In this remake of Romero's classic, seven strangers take refuge in an old farmhouse while combating the cannibalistic corpses of the recently deceased.
Tom Savini takes over the reins this time around to remake possibly the most influential horror movie ever made. With a few twists and turns, he puts a wonderful new spin on the black and white classic. Although this version isn't as impactfull as the original, it's definitely the more entertaining and visually stunning film, but everyone will have to decide for themselves which they prefer.
Barbara (Patricia Tallman) and her brother Johnny (Bill Moseley) drive to a secluded cemetery to visit their mother's grave. As a man comes stumbling towards them from off in the distance, Johnny teases "They're coming to get you Barbara." A zombie takes the two by surprise, and Johnny is killed in the struggle while Barbara flees to what she thinks is an abandoned farmhouse.
Ben (Tony Todd) shows up at the house low on gas and hastily disposes of a zombie in the front yard. The two immediately begin to barricade themselves inside the house as the sun sets over the countryside and more and more zombies start congregating outside. In the basement they find five other people in hiding: Mr. Cooper (Tom Towles), his wife and daughter, who had been bitten by one of the creatures, as well as young Tom (William Butler) and his girlfriend Judy Rose (Kate Finneran). Tensions quickly rise as Ben and Mr. Cooper get involved in a struggle for power. Mr. Cooper wants to retreat to the basement for safety, but Ben insists that everyone should stay upstairs where there's still a chance to get away. You'll notice that certain things in this movie are slightly different from the original, especially the ending, which I actually prefer to the original.
I can't give enough praise to Tom Savini for making such a wonderful film. In my opinion, this version is better than the old black and white movie. There are a lot of great scenes that occur during the course of the night as the strangers fight to survive until the light of morning. Savini uses your knowledge of the original to throw a few surprises at you, as well as a few scares. The zombies are without a doubt my favorite part of the movie. The make-up is exceptional, actually being based on photos from several autopsies that the special effects team studied to capture the look of the recently deceased. The movie captures that feeling of impending doom that made the original such a classic. There's a decent amount of gore, but the film doesn't use it as a crutch in place of a good script. The story is still great, as well as all of the characters.
I watched this movie based on its own merit and came to the conclusion that it's truly a classic in and of itself. The characters are wonderful, the story (which stays mostly true to the original) is great, and the zombies are among the best I've ever seen.
I highly recommend this movie. I'm generally not for remakes of classics, but this movie seems to be the exception to the rule.
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