Born out of a desire on the part of original Night of the Living Dead creator George A. Romero to make back some of the money that his 1968 horror milestone earned \u2014 but which he never saw \u2014 the 1990 version of NOTLD ended up becoming a minor horror classic in its own right. Directed by makeup FX legend Tom Savini (in his feature directorial debut) from Romero’s screenplay, the remake stands in the shadow of its towering predecessor, but ultimately honors it. And, had Savini been allowed to fully realize his vision, it may have gone even further.<\/p>\n
A bit of what Savini intended has been restored in the movie\u2019s new 4K UHD release on Blu-ray, which includes both the original theatrical cut of the film and an \u201cuncensored\u201d version. While it follows the same basic plot as its predecessor \u2014 seven people take refuge in a farmhouse as the initial stage of the zombie plague begins, with conflict and chaos ensuing \u2014 the 1990 NOTLD makes some notable changes as well: it turns female lead Barbara (Patricia Tallman) from a catatonic bystander into an action hero, and also alters the original ending, which was an acidic comment on the civil rights battles of the 1960s.<\/p>\n
How Was Night of the Living Dead (1990) Initially Received Upon Release?<\/p>\n
The remake of Night of the Living Dead came about because the original film, due to legal and copyright issues, had passed out of the hands of George A. Romero and fellow creators like John A. Russo (co-writer\/producer) and Russell Streiner (producer\/cast member). As a result, the filmmakers saw little of the profits<\/a> from one of the most successful independent movies of all time, and were worried that someone would remake it without their participation.<\/p>\n The 1990 movie was not nearly as successful as the 1968 one \u2014 it grossed $5.8 million<\/a> against a budget of $4.2 million \u2014 and got a mixed reception at the time of its release. Roger Ebert, in his one-star review<\/a>, said there was \u201cno reason\u201d to watch the redux, while Variety<\/a> called it \u201ccinematic grave-robbing.\u201d The Los Angeles Times<\/a> was kinder, with critic Kevin Thomas declaring it \u201ca well-sustained entertainment.\u201d The ensuing years have seen a critical reappreciation of the film, with DVD Talk<\/a> calling it \u201cone of the more effective horror remakes out there.\u201d<\/p>\n Why Is It Important to See Now?<\/p>\n The zombies approach in Tom Savini\u2019s Night of the Living Dead.<\/p>\n Columbia\/Kobal\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n In many ways, Savini\u2019s Night of the Living Dead is a flawed film. The original film\u2019s lo-fi, almost documentary-style, black-and-white look cannot be replicated, so this color version initially had the somewhat slick veneer of plenty of late \u201880s\/early \u201890s horror, with a synth-heavy score to match. Some of the actors \u2014 especially Tallman and a young Tony Todd (Candyman and Final Destination) as Ben, the Black hero portrayed by Duane Jones in 1968 \u2014 are quite good, while other performers, such as Tom Towles as antagonist Harry Cooper, are frankly tough to watch.<\/p>\n Yet since it\u2019s produced by the original movie\u2019s creators, this NOTLD is very much part of the Romero zombie pantheon, which also includes other touchstones like Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985). It shows that even a movie made literally as a cash grab, when done with care and respect, can still turn into something compelling and effective while offering up some new ideas and themes.<\/p>\n Most importantly, the new edition allows us at least a glimpse of what Savini wanted to do with the film, which was buffeted by budgetary trims at one end (which reduced the number of action sequences the director planned, as he has said many times) and cuts to achieve an R rating at the other (which reduced the blood and guts). The \u201cuncensored\u201d version now available contains more gore than the R-rated theatrical version, while also presenting for the first time Savini\u2019s original concept of starting the film in black and white as a homage to the original, with the image snapping to color during the first zombie attack.<\/p>\n What New Features\/Upgrades Does The 4K Blu-ray Have?<\/p>\n The \u201cuncensored\u201d version of the film on the Blu-ray should give a better idea of what Savini envisioned.<\/p>\n Columbia\/Kobal\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n As mentioned above, this 35th anniversary edition of Night of the Living Dead contains both the theatrical and \u201cuncensored\u201d versions of the movie, both upgraded to 4K. The UHD presentation is colorful and detailed, with the nighttime scenes in particular now looking more atmospheric than ever. While the film is a little too brightly lit in spots, the restoration adds a lot of texture and richness to the image that wasn\u2019t always visible before. There are multiple audio options as well.<\/p>\n Savini and moderator Michael Felsher deliver a new commentary track for the \u201cuncensored\u201d version, while an older commentary from the director has been retained, along with an archival 27-minute interview titled \u201cSavini\u2019s Night\u201d and other previously issued featurettes. New to this edition are interviews with cast members Bill Moseley, William Butler, McKee Anderson, and Heather Mazur, zombie performers Greg Funk and Dyrk Ashton, editor Tom Dubensky, and producers John A. Russo and Russell Streiner. Sadly, Romero himself passed away in 2017 \u2014 but his second pass at Night of the Living Dead, no pun intended, lives on.<\/p>\n Night of the Living Dead is available for purchase on 4K Blu-ray now.Learn Something New Every Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Born out of a desire on the part of original Night of the Living Dead creator George A.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[26809,75107,96,6163,75108,596,12663,40701,75106,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-165971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-adex-light-bid","tag-blu-ray","tag-entertainment","tag-freelance","tag-freelance-recs","tag-homepage","tag-horror","tag-hp-latest","tag-inverse-recommends-movies","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}