Night of the Living Dead (1990) - What is this?  A remake that works!

It is fair to say that, in zombie movie terms, the original ‘Night of the Living Dead’ was a classic.  Not only was it pretty gory and creepy for its time (hey, it was still the sixties!), but it also carefully alluded to the racial tensions of America at the time.  Therefore, it not only cemented its place in the horror hall of fame, but also won praise for its daring social commentary.

How could anyone truly do the original justice by remaking it?  Well... perhaps one thing that may go a long way is by giving it back to the people who made it to begin with!

Yes, zombie overlord George A Romero returns at (well, near) the helm to make sure the remake goes smoothly.  If you don’t know... the film is about the start of a worldwide zombie epidemic.  While society crumbles a rag-tag bunch of people try to survive the night in an abandoned farm house, while trying to fend off seemingly never ending waves of flesh-eating ghouls.  Now, that synopsis actually describes both the 1968 version and the 1990 remake.  The latter’s first selling point is that it sticks to the original concept pretty tightly.  In fact, the story is basically a shot-for-shot remake (okay, not ‘shot-for-shot’ in that depressing ‘Psycho’ remake, but shot-for-shot enough to keep the basic premise constantly the same).

Yes, it has some changes.  First of all the remake looks better.  It has a higher budget and has a more ‘polished’ feel to it.  Plus all the actors really do play their parts well (some even being improved, in a few cases).  Basically, the original is so good, that a remake that simply takes everything that’s good at it and just updates its look and feel for a more modern audience isn’t such a bad thing. 'Candyman's' Tony Todd is the star and takes the mantle of 'Ben' this time round.  Anyone who's seen 'Candyman' will know he's more than capable of carrying a film and he's the perfect man to play the new lead here.  If you've seen the original you'll know that the 'female lead,' aka 'Barbara,' spends much of the movie practically silent and traumatised by the whole event.  This time round Patricia Tallman plays her a lot more 'up to date' and gives her character a far more 'multi-dimensional' feel to it.  However, no great film would be without an equally great villain.  Yes, of course the zombies are - technically - the bad guys, but Tom Towles plays 'Harry Cooper,' a man more dangerous than a dozen flesh-eaters - and someone you'll be dying to see get what's coming to him.  He's great, simply because you'll love to hate him and steals every scene, even from heavyweights such as Tony Todd.

Yes, the original was a classic, simply because it was – for want of a better word – original.  There had never really been anything like it before, therefore it’s stayed the test of time.  Yes, it was filmed in black and white (and the ‘coloured in’ version looked a little odd) so having what is technically a ‘properly coloured’ version of the same movie is no bad thing.

If you were to ask most (a) zombie purists and (b) film critics, they’d probably tell you that nothing could outdo the 1968 version.  And, to be fair, they may be right.  However, that doesn’t stop the 1990 remake being a decent enough little zombie film in its own right.  If you like your undead slow, creepy and relentless, give this one a go.

8/10 The Force is definitely strong with this one