HALLOWEEN HORROR DAYS ~ DAY 28: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990)

One of my favorite horror remakes and one that I don't hear enough people talking about is the 1990 remake of George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. This film is a project put together by some of the genre's greatest performers and creators and it is a delight to see them all together. Let's not forget that it is also one helluva movie. There have been numerous remakes of the Romero Zombie series, all three of the original trilogy have been remade, some to mix reviews. Steve Miner's (director of Friday the 13th II & III, Halloween H20, and Lake Placid) Day of the Dead remake was met with horrible reviews while Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake was met with generally positive reviews. This remake, in my opinion, is the best of them all.

Zombies for the last few years have been at the height of popularity. There are three kinds of zombies now, the original Voodoo mysticism zombies, shambling flesh eating reanimated corpses, and track star rage virus people. For a while there it looked like the raging running zombies were all the rage and slow walking zombies were dying out. But thanks to the television series The Walking Dead the shambling cannibal corpses are coming back to life! This film uses the classic shamblers and quite effectively.

The zombie apocalypse has hit. Corpses with brain still intact are getting up and attacking the living, ripping them apart and consuming their flesh. A group of unrelated survivors are forced to seek refuge in a secluded farmhouse. They reinforce the doors and windows and try to simply survive the night. They learn from emergency broadcasts that people bitten by these things turn into more of them in a matter of hours. Some are calling it Judgement Day. "When there's no more room in Hell the dead will walk the Earth."

The great Tony Todd (The Candyman) plays the iconic lead hero Ben and delivers an amazing performance. Tony is one of those fantastic actors who can play the scariest villain you've ever seen and next play an endearing hero. Bill Moseley (Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part II and Devils Rejects) makes an appearance along with Tom Towles (Devil's Rejects and House of a 1,000 Corpses). William Butler too plays a role in this film, a man famous for the horror greats who have killed him in the movies (He was killed by Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th Part VII, appeared in two episodes of Freddy's Nightmares, and killed by the chainsaw family in Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part III). Just like all the others he ends up a crispy snack for a group of zombies.

One of the main reasons why horror films took off in the 1980's, maybe the direct reason, is all due to the efforts of one man and his crew of make-up effects artists. That man is Tom Savini. His gore effects redefined the horror genre. He even played a bit role in George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. This film is his directorial debut and as of yet his only feature film. And the film is signed off by the master of the living dead himself, George A. Romero, acting as executive producer and screenplay writer.

I should also mention lead actress Patricia Tallman (of Army Of Darkness and Babylon 5) as the classic character Barbara. Barbara's character is taken in different direction in this film, instead of a helpless victim she gets a healthy dose of Sigourney Weaver and becomes the badass backup hero. The film, like the original, is serious and very well acted. I remember seeing this movie for the first time late night on TNT and I was glued to the screen the whole two hours. Watching it today the film has lost none of its potency. All in all if you look at everyone involved with this film it is a recipe for greatness and that's exactly what this movie is.

Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 2 out of 10