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Night of the Living Dead

Night of the Living Dead

List Price: $19.94
Your Price: $17.95
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent Remake.
Review: This is the 1990 remake to the classic 1968 zombie classic " Night of the Living Dead", it's about a horde of walking dead corpses caused by a pleague that invades a farm house owned by people and those people must defend themselves for the night.

A remake that proves it can be as great as the original masterpiece, Tom Savini directs while George Romero is the executive producer and co-writer of this remake. There are some good gore and fine acting especially by Candyman's Tony Todd.

I highly recommend this remake before you see the "Dawn of the Dead" remake.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Are you kidding
Review: Are you kidding me? Tom Savini directed this. The master of special effects gore. This movie should be rated PG except for the language. There is no gore or blood. None. I'm not kidding. The original was edgier and gorier and that was 1968! I bought it because I love zombies and the Romero trilogy and Savini but let's be honest, the acting was horrible and the gore was nonexistent.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely amazing
Review: This not only is an amazing remake, but they change just enough for it to be a great movie to stand on its own two legs.

Without giving too much away, I will say that the acting is top notch. Yeah, a few times it gets hokey...Judy Rose won't shutup...but then again, if you were being attacked by zombies wouldn't you freak the hell out?

Basically, this is the movie that made me realize that good horror movies are nothing more than dramas with more blood and guts. The writing and acting provided great tension, and the direction (Savini's debut) was nothing spectacular, but then again, we didn't need matrix style effects for the movie to be effective.

One of the charms of this movie is its simplicity. The story is simple and the goal is even simpler...to survive. But when the dead come back to life, and you can't believe your own eyes...it turns out not to be quite that simple.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Lol...Filth
Review: My absolute FAVORITE horror movie of ALL time is "Night of the Living Dead"...The 1968, black/white, low budget version. I started watching the 1990 version 'Sci-Fi' one afternoon, and I didn't stop watching it until it was over...Why? It was hilarious...Plus they had a better zombie movie on afterwards, and I didn't have anything else to do until then... This movie is despicable compared to the original. From terrible dialogue to terrible themes, this movie is just TERRIBLE... If you haven't seen the 1968 version, with all enthusiasm from myself, please watch it a.s.a.p., but never subject yourself to the remake unless you're either punishing yourself, or you need a good laugh...

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Give me the original
Review: My first real taste of "The Living Dead" series was with Dawn of The Dead which I absolutley loved. This sparked my intrest into zombie movies and horror movies in general so when I spotted the remake of Night of The Living Dead I decided to pick it up. At first watch I thought it was alright (it was partly in denial, and the fact I had never seen the original). So then a friend bought me the original and I watched that and I absolutley loved it. So then it brought me back to the remake and upon a second viewing I realized how crappy this remake is.

I found it funny how much worse the acting was in the remake than in the original. I mean I figured that a movie made in 1990 could at least be at the same acting as a movie made in 1968 but the remake gets totally blown out of the water. I mean the characters in the remake are so blown out of proportion(Tony Todd does a good job but that's about it). They overdramatized the drama and the tension to such a ridiculous degree. I mean between Cooper spouting off overly angry stale dialogue(where did they get the term yo yo's and why did they have to use like five times in a row, I figured it might have been a term from the 60's but it's not even in the original), and Judy Rose going into hysterics every time a zombie hits a door I felt my head was about to explode.

So I do not reccomend this movie at all, not just because I didn't enjoy that much but for the fact that if you want to watch a good version of this movie just pick up the original.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Bloodless remake
Review: I couldn't believe how bad a zombie movie this was in the hands of the two people most associated with the Living Dead series. Romero's dialogue is awful, and isn't help by some of the terrible performances (esp. Tom Towles). What I was looking forward to was better special effects than the original due to the bigger budget. The fx sucks. The zombies are boring and the blood looks brownish (chocolate syrup again?) You'd think with Savini behind the camera, the effects would have played an important role in the film (ala Chris Walas' Fly sequel). But the zombie's look like a bunch of drunks. I know that this film had to be cut to get a R rating, but I've seen much gorier films from the 80s. I watched this movie for the second time after seeing Day of the Dead a few days before, and there's no comparison between this and Romero's superior film. And all you people who keep giving this movie 5 stars must have never seen a real horror movie before seeing this snoozefest.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 11 year old writeing
Review: I SAW THIS MOVIE ABOUT 1 YEAR AGO AND IT WAS GREAT! pATRICIA tALLMAN IS GREAT. THIS MOVIE IS GREAT. i FORGET WHO THAT GIRL IS WHO GETS BLOWN UP IN THAT CAR! I BUYING THIS NEXT WEEK SO I WILL BE WATCHING IT ALL WEEK.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One Of The Best Horror Movies Of The '90s!
Review: On August 16 and 17, I went to my first horror convention, which was HorrorFind 2003 in Maryland. I came along for one reason: to meet Tom Savini, the greatest gore wizard in horror movie history. This guy is so cool; his effects look so real, even when watched behind the scenes. I brought along my DVDs of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 90 (which he directed) and THE PROWLER (which he did a commentary for with Joseph Zito and features some of his greatest gore effects) for him to autograph. (My NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 90 DVD was also signed by John A. Russo, Russ Streiner, Tony Todd and Bill Moseley.) It was so cool meeting Savini and telling him how awesome his effects are; I e-mailed Savini a few days ago to tell him about his effects on DAY OF THE DEAD.
Before the convention, I saw NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 90 twice; I watched it the second time listening to Savini's commentary. I must say, this remake is light years better than most remakes that are trotted out lately because it stays true to the original yet has its own unique twists. I totally loved what they did with Barbara (brilliantly played by Patricia Tallman); she went from a catatonic victim to a kick-ass, yet sympathetic, heroine. Tony Todd was excellent as Ben; it's easy to see why Savini went with Todd for this role, since Todd really put his heart into his performance. I also loved how they increased the dramatic tension in the story, especially the conflicts between Harry Cooper (Tom Towles), who now resembles Captain Rhodes from DAY OF THE DEAD, and everyone else. The zombies are also the highlight of the film, as they truly looked dead, which was the goal of the effects crew. In fact, Savini's direction is reminiscent of Dario Argento (whom he worked with on TWO EVIL EYES and TRAUMA), especially in the way the film manipulates the viewer with his/her knowledge of the original before hitting him/her with a new twist (e.g., the opening graveyard scene). And besides, George A. Romero and a few others involved with the original were involved with this remake, which is always a good sign.
This DVD has great extras along with the aforementioned commentary, which is informative in detailing the production and various studio problems and scenes which Savini was never able to film. There's also a terrific documentary, "The Dead Walk," which has interviews with Savini, Russo, Streiner, Tallman, and special effects man John Vulich; this also includes deleted gore scenes among other details of the production, including how it came to be. It was really interesting to hear that Savini thinks that it's what you don't see that's scarier, like traditional horror fans, and I agree with that, and that he's proud of this movie despite the problems that were encountered. Me, I think that this remake has become a classic in its own right, especially when you consider AIDS was still on the rise then. Highly recommended!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: 15 minutes later and you'll be hungry again...
Review: Let's just say you're a zombie fanatic. You've seen Romero's classic "Night of the Living Dead" a million times and you've even picked up the gold standard of that tasty little gem of zombie goodness, the Millennium Edition. You've had many a night of popcorn and beer watching all of the movies in the infamous "Living Dead" trilogy back to back.

You're easily pleased with the bucketloads of linguine with red clam sauce served up by Italian Master Chef Fulci in "Zombie", "House by the Cemetery" and "The Beyond", you've gone punk and rocked the Casbah with "Return of the Living Dead", and you've grooved to the End of the World with the nihilistic "28 Days Later".

In other words, if it involves flesh eaters, you've been there, done that, and seen it all. So what's not to love about the idea of a remake of "Night of the Living Dead", only in glorious techni-color (think red---bright, glossy, gory, glorious RED!), with the leering Candyman himself Tony Todd in the lead, and with Gore Maestro Tom Savini helming up the production?

Good question. Look, I'm no remake snob; if a director has something new to say, or a different way of saying it, by all means slap a fresh coat of paint (or blood and gore!) on that bad boy! But this 1990 remake of "Night of the Living Dead" says the same old thing, only with less flair, less suspense, less sheer bone-chilling horror, less style, and surprisingly---given that Savini helmed this little outting---less gore. Where's my red clam sauce, Savini?

Once again the Dead Walk: Barbara (played by Patricia Tallman, a career stunt-woman and all-around tough cookie who played the Deadite witch in the Pit in "Army of Darkness") and Johnny go to a lonely cemetery, Barbara and Johnny run afoul of the Living Dead, Barbara seeks refuge in an abandoned farmhouse, and ultimately teams up with a frightened ragtag group of fellow survivors. We've heard this little song before, but for my money, zombies ambling about the Pennsylvania countryside looking for flesh to chew on never gets old.

The editing is tight, the pacing is pretty good, and the acting is all spot-on: Tallman ditches the hysterics and grabs a rifle, Tony Todd is eerily note-perfect in his homage to Duane Jone's Ben, and Tom Towles glowers and acts spineless as Mr. Cooper (Towles showed up as the doomed Deputy in "House of 1000 Corpses", and also played the evil Otis in "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer")---and is it just me, or is Heather Mazur the cutest flesh-eating little girl in movie history?

There are also some deft little twists at the end, and all in all the remake of "Night" is a fun little romp, and while it can't measure up to the ghoulish brilliance of the original, it gets lots of mileage for its $4.2 million budget. So why am I still hungry after this zombie snack? Gore, that's why---there really isn't any of it. Evidently the initial cut would have gotten a triple-X rating, and Savini had to make some liberal slices off his film to get an "R"---so I reserve the right to add two more stars once I get my hands on a juicy unrated Director's Cut.

Final Verdict: Savini's "Night of the Living Dead" tastes great, but is way less filling. Have a backup copy of the original just in case.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This is a remake after all...
Review: Horror remakes never spark excitement among fans or critics, and usually for good reason - remember the horrible "Haunting" and "House on Haunted Hill" remakes? Or the abysmal "Psycho" remake? However, Tom Savini's remake is surprisingly effective and well crafted, it defies the cardinal rule that says horror remakes, invariably, suck.

The story has been told numerous times, in both George Romero's and Lucio Fulci's zombie movies. This remake has some notable differences from the original. For starters, the heroin is stronger, more of a fighter than the catatonic Barbara that Judith O'Dea played in the 1968 classic. The other big difference is the blood and make-up effects. Director Tom Savini has only gotten better as a make-up and SFX artist over the years, and he makes each zombie stand out with his prosthetics and make-up attachments. The gore has also been substantially increased. The dialogue, which often borders on the absurd, is also modernized, with plenty of four letter words and colorful lines. Having said all that, this is not necessarily better than original (there is no way it could have been), but it can stand alone as a good, solid horror film. Tom Savini proves with this remake that he can direct as well as do SFX, so it is a wonder that he didn't direct more often.

For people buying the DVD, there are some solid extras that make it worth the price tag. The best feature is the feature-length commentary by Director/SFX artist Tom Savini. He is an eloquent speaker, and gives plenty of insight and interesting tidbits. There is also a nice featurette entitled "The Dead Walk", which consists mainly of behind-the-scenes footage. It is neither the best nor the brightest of featurettes, but it is fun nonetheless. What also deserves special mention is the cover art for the DVD, which is fantastic.

Horror fans will find a lot to like in this 1990 remake, while cinema purists will no doubt find plenty to dislike the film in equal capacity. For me, I really enjoyed this version, and have always considered it to be a good horror movie in it's own right. The DVD package is good value, and an easy recommendation for any horror enthusiast.


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