Released: October 1968, October 1990
Director: George A. Romero(1968), Tom Savini(1990)
Rating: Not Rated(1968), R(1990)
Run Time: 95 Minutes(1968), 88 Minutes(1990)
Distributor: Criterion Collection(1968), Sony Pictures(1990)
Genre: Horror
Cast(1968/1990):
Duane Jones/Tony Todd: Ben
Judith O’Dea/Patricia Tallman: Barbara
Karl Hardman/Tom Towles: Harry Cooper
Marilyn Eastman/McKee Anderson: Helen Cooper
Keith Wayne/William Butler: Tom
Judith Ridley/Katie Finneran: Judy
When it comes to classic horror movies, most people tend to refer to the 1920s and 30s for the classics, and they’re not wrong. Dracula, The Wolfman, The Mummy, The Invisible Man. These are all classics in every sense of the word. How do you define a classic? Is it because of its age or when it was made? Not necessarily. To me, a classic film is a movie that stands the test of time regardless of when it was made and released. The aforementioned monster movies still hold up incredibly well after nearly a century. It speaks volumes about the craftsmanship and passion of those earlier film-makers that those movies are part of modern pop culture. When somebody asks about a classic ZOMBIE movie, that’s a little different. Most people would refer to either the original Night of the Living Dead or it’s follow-up film, Dawn of the Dead. Both are directed by the late and great George A. Romero. These aren’t the first zombie movies. That goes to White Zombie which was released in 1932 and dealt with voodoo. No, the zombies that most people are familiar with come from Romero’s movies. Today’s review is a bit of a double-feature. I will be reviewing both the original 1968 black-and-white Night of the Living Dead and the first remake of the film in 1990.
“They’re coming to get you, Barbara.” These infamous words are spoken by Barbara’s brother, Johnny at the beginning of each film. Johnny and Barbara are at a cemetery to pay respects to their father. In the 1990 film, it’s their mother. As Johnny begins to taunt Barbara, a lone figure stumbles into the cemetery and attacks Barbara. Johnny is ultimately killed by this stumbling “person.” Escaping with her life, Barbara makes her way to an abandoned farmhouse for cover. A black man named Ben eventually shows up to find cover as well. Trapped in the farmhouse, the pair discover other survivors and try to survive the night and hope to escape to safety. The story for both films is essentially the same: A group of people isolated in a lone farmhouse against an onslaught of the undead. The original film, which was released in 1968, had the “benefit” of being released during such a tumultuous time. This was at the height of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, so what you see in this movie could be interpreted as heavy-handed American cynicism and nihilism about what was happening both politically and socially. You could take the meaning of this movie as a form of “forced assimilation.” Or, you could see the undead as mindless citizens grasping onto whatever political or religious reasoning to give them sustenance. I don’t think there’s a wrong interpretation here. The movie has a lot more impact because of the subtext. The 1990 remake doesn’t have nearly as much to say, but that’s not really a fault of the movie. Again, the Tom Savini-directed film was released in 1990. Ultimately, while the story is very similar in many respects, it plays out a bit differently, and some people aren’t okay with it. They very much prefer the bleak nihilism of the original, and that’s I prefer too, but I won’t dismiss the 1990 film for doing something a little different, even if it doesn’t always work.
Let’s talk about casting here, because that’s another important thing to talk about when it comes to Night of the Living Dead. The original film featured Duane Jones as the first African-American man as the lead in a horror movie. He wasn’t hired because of that, but because Jones was the best actor for the part, but the effect that Jones’ casting had on movies in general couldn’t be understated. Duane Jones did such a fantastic job that it was hard to follow-up, but Tony Todd did a great as well. Todd, who would go on to play the titular character in the film, Candyman, was mesmerizing. Judith O’Dea plays Barbara in the 1968 movie. The character was kind of hard to connect with because she was catatonic for a good chunk of the movie. Unfortunately, women weren’t really allowed to be more than window dressing in horror movies at the time. Patricia Tallman plays the character a bit differently. In fact, the character was written differently in the 1990 remake because of the advances that women had made as leads in movies. Sigourney Weaver from Alien pretty much paved the way for Ms. Tallman’s portrayal in Night of the Living Dead. Her version of Barbara is tougher, but still vulnerable in certain ways, but she more than handles herself in the situation. Karl Hardman and Tom Towles play Harry Cooper, a despicable and cowardly character that eventually gets what’s coming to him. The casting was pretty good in both films, but there is a bit of a role reversal in the 1990 remake. That may not sit well with die-hard fans of the original film, but for 1990, it kind of works.
As far as effects go, I would have to say that the original 1968 film is a bit more visceral than the remake. First off, the movie was shot in black-and-white which adds a whole new layer of dread to what’s going on. There’s more gore in the original film, but because the film was in black-and-white, Romero got away with it. It’s not the goriest film I’ve ever seen, but there is definitely some blood-and-guts going on here. While most movies tend to use corn syrup for blood, Romero and company used chocolate syrup in some cases because of their shoe-string budget. Because of the black-and-white aesthetic, you really couldn’t tell the difference. The downside? The make-up on the zombies was pretty minimal, resulting in them having to move slow in order to get across the fact that they were the dead that came back to life. The 1990 film has better make-up design on the zombies, but some of the gorier moments were forced out because of the MPAA(now MPA). Yet, there were still some gruesome moments that would please the fans. Tom Savini, who is an effects artist himself, felt that less was more. That’s weird coming from HIM because he’s responsible for some of the most ghoulish effects in horror movies. In fact, he also runs his own Special Make-up Effects Program at the Douglas Education Center in Pennsylvania. The 1990 remake was his directorial debut and it’s not that bad.
Which movie do I prefer? The answer, unfortunately, is rather easy. The original 1968 movie gets my vote. This was a revolutionary kind of movie for 1968, and it came out during a particularly rough time in America, which added to the film’s impact and social commentary. It was also made on a shoe-string budget. You could tell by the lack of make-up effects and sets. Yet, that is one of the main reasons why the film has done so well over the years. The 1990 film doesn’t have that. It doesn’t have that real indie-level feel of the original and lacks the social and political subtext that made Romero’s movie so powerful. It has a lot to do with timing. The 1990 movie has some commentary, but it’s not as poignant. That’s not to say that the remake is a bad movie. Far from it. As a remake, it’s definitely one of the better ones out there, even though it doesn’t come close to some of the remakes of the 80s. It’s definitely a lot more polished than the original film with better make-up effects and a different conclusion. For a first-time director: Tom Savini did pretty good here. Tony Todd is always fun to watch and Patricia Tallman was pretty good. Sadly, the 1990 film wouldn’t be the ONLY remake of Night of the Living Dead. It was the first, but there have been several since…and the less said, the better.
I think there’s definitely room for both the 1968 Night of the Living Dead AND the 1990 remake. While the original is an absolute classic, the remake is pretty good in its own right, and I would recommend people check out both if they’re curious. As someone who is normally NOT a fan of zombie movies, Night of the Living Dead is the bar by which all other zombie movies are measured.