Back in 1990, Tom Savini took a crack at directing the remake of "Night Of The Living Dead." The results are interesting. Now we all know the 1968 version, but this one changes some things, although not too much. The story or job they do on the remake has some good changes, or so I believe! I liked the idea of how they make Barbara much tougher than she was in the original. She starts out scared, but toughens up as the movie goes on. Tony Todd plays Ben, who does a good job. Now the zombies are more interesting thanks to Tom Savini's make-up job. I liked this remake better than the original, but I still think the original gets more respect. Now enough with the plot/cast/FX. "NOTLD 1990," opened in theaters October 19th 1990. It was filmed between April and June of 1990. Filming wrapped up on June 8th, the same day "Another 48 hrs" was released to theaters. It grossed $2,884,679 opening weekend. I was some of those dollars, as I saw this in a theater Saturday October 20th. Originally, Tom Savini wanted to start the film in black and white, then slowly add color to it. I would have liked to have seen how that would have looked.. Some gore was trimmed, though in one scene, we see a zombies head blown clean off. Now the DVD version of this film has a great transfer and a cool documentary included.. I really did like this version and was glad to have seen it on the big screen.. If you haven't seen this yet, check it out. It can't hurt... I rate this film at 3 stars out of four...
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Zombies!... 1990 style!!!!
Back in 1990, Tom Savini took a crack at directing the remake of "Night Of The Living Dead." The results are interesting. Now we all know the 1968 version, but this one changes some things, although not too much. The story or job they do on the remake has some good changes, or so I believe! I liked the idea of how they make Barbara much tougher than she was in the original. She starts out scared, but toughens up as the movie goes on. Tony Todd plays Ben, who does a good job. Now the zombies are more interesting thanks to Tom Savini's make-up job. I liked this remake better than the original, but I still think the original gets more respect. Now enough with the plot/cast/FX. "NOTLD 1990," opened in theaters October 19th 1990. It was filmed between April and June of 1990. Filming wrapped up on June 8th, the same day "Another 48 hrs" was released to theaters. It grossed $2,884,679 opening weekend. I was some of those dollars, as I saw this in a theater Saturday October 20th. Originally, Tom Savini wanted to start the film in black and white, then slowly add color to it. I would have liked to have seen how that would have looked.. Some gore was trimmed, though in one scene, we see a zombies head blown clean off. Now the DVD version of this film has a great transfer and a cool documentary included.. I really did like this version and was glad to have seen it on the big screen.. If you haven't seen this yet, check it out. It can't hurt... I rate this film at 3 stars out of four...
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I liked this remake better than the original, but I still think the original gets more respect.
ReplyDeleteWell, that's for two reasons, IMO.
First, Romero's classic original IS an original. He did something no one else at the time had ever done before. Savini was working from his model and didn't really bring much of anything new or worthwhile, with the exception of some gore.
Second, while the original is loaded with political commentary on the society of the times, it was never heavy-handed about it. It didn't put hammering home a message above being entertaining first. Savini's version, OTOH, is so in-your-face with it's political-minded clap-trap, it actually ruins the film for me.
You mentioned Barbara being stronger, but that's not really the case, It was really more the others being WEAKER in comparison to her, especially the male characters, who are played up as either incompotent boobs or as hostile-minded jerks. It was a totally radical feminist viewpoint, where the men are attempting to be dominating a-holes and not listening to the much smarter woman, who seems to know just what to do and how to do it. And in the end, who's the only one left alive from the crew? The woman no one would listen to. She even gets her female revenge by killing Tom Towels character, who was the worse of the lot (because he's a WHITE man and they are evil personified, don't you know).
There is one interesting thing about this film, in that it was some of the earliest work from actors Tony (Candyman) Todd and Bill (Devil's Rejects) Moseley. Sadly, the former is played as a hostile and controlling jerk, while the latter is played as a bumbling idiot (I mean, he shoots at the lock on a gas pump with a shotgun! How much more stupid can you get?).
So, for those reasons, and maybe more I haven't even thought of, the original 1968 version is given much more respect. And deservedly so, as far as I'm concerned. I'd only give this film 2 stars, at BEST, provided I was feeling generous at the time.