Night of the Living Dead remake

DARTH SABER

DARTH SABER

Master Member
What did you guys think of the Tom Savini remake of NOTLD?
I saw it recently and didn't think it was that bad.
A bit cheesy at times, and low budget but pretty faithful to the original.
 
DARTH SABER said:
What did you guys think of the Tom Savini remake of NOTLD?
I saw it recently and didn't think it was that bad.
A bit cheesy at times, and low budget but pretty faithful to the original.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I remember it. The reason why it was so faithful to the original is because it was made "in the family." What I mean by that term is basically this: if a group of people have worked together on a previous project (which as many people who work on long film or TV productions describe such production groups as being "a family") that have worked together on a newer project are basically keeping it "in the family". A good example would be people who were associated with the stage play "The Rocky Horror Show." When a film adaptation was done, most of the actors who performed in the various presentations were brought on for their roles (which included Richard O'Brian, Patricia Quinn, Little Nell, Tim Curry, Jonathan Adams and Meat Loaf {who starred in the Roxy presentation of the show along with Tim Curry}). Not only that, most of the crew who helped put the original stage show together (which includes the director of the show Jim Sharman), came back to work on the film. Even after the film achieved cult status, most of the same people who worked on the original film came back and did "Shock Treatment," keeping it "in the family" so to speak.

When it comes to "Night of the Living Dead", some of the people who worked on it worked in the original "Dead trilogy" (which at the time, there was only three films, before Romero made the recent three films) came back to work on this production. Tom Savini, as we all know, did the makeup effects in "Dawn of the Dead" and "Day of the Dead" (and even starred in "Dawn" as Blades). Not to mention the fact that both Romero and Russo came back as producers (Romero's wife, Christine, was a producer on the remake also starred in the original "Dawn of the Dead" along side her husband and was the assistant director for the film), and Romero himself even revised the original screenplay for the remake. So, the reason why it still played true was because it was "kept in the family."
 
I much prefer Patricial Tallman's survivor girl transformation over the annoying, whining, useless female in the original. I really like the remake and it has a spot in my video library.
 
Is this the 1989 remake i have been trying to find on dvd? If so it was alot better than the Day of the dead remake with ving rhames and at least it was filmed in the original area. Even Romero seems to have lost touch with his roots and now films in canada.
 
I loved it. It's faithful enough to the original to be called "Night of the Living Dead," but changed just enough to stand on it's own as it's own movie. The acting and (obviously) make-up is far superior to the original. The original will always hold a place for being original and the first movie to make the zombie genre what it became. However, I think in many ways, the remake re-does what the original did, only better.
 
I read once that the reason it was made "in family" was in an attempt to strengthen the copyright of the original which was left off in an oversight and thus became victim to public domain usage.
 
Yep. Another remake was in the works at the time... since an oversight with the title copyright had put the movie in public domain. The people that had made the original had to jump on making their own remake in order to make money off the name before someone else did.
 
Savini's a pretty cool guy. He used to come to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh all the time to talk to the kids in the effects classes. My buddy and i used to see George Romero all the time too in Shadyside, I'm pretty sure Monkey Shines (whast that the one with the crippled guy and the insane monkey) was filmed partly there. I know nearly all of romero's first films through the 70s and 80s were in Pittsburgh or the surrounding area.
 
gobler said:
+2 :thumbsup

I do love the OGs but the remake was just...swell :cool
Click to expand...

+3 :thumbsup

For many of the same reasons mentioned above. Better acting, better makeup, better ending. Tony Todd fan. Loved the line Tallman had about just walking around them.
I paid to see it in the theater. I think there were ten people there opening weekend. Too bad, it deserved better.

Now, anybody ever see that godawful special edition original with newly filmed footage? Gads.
 
i remember watching the remake before i saw the original, thinking it was the original, and i was not pleased. granted now that its been years since i first saw both, i think the martha in the og was useless, but i think her being rambo in the remake wasnt as great either.

i think of the three originals AND the remakes in my opinion; day of the dead is weakest, dawn is the strongest. i hardly ever watch the first one for some strange reason.
 
I have been trying to get all of the Romero films and of the remakes I think this is the only one I will get. The Vhing Rhames thing was too gory for my taste. I saw this one before the first and I agree that she was just a prop in the first one. She was basically just there to be the embodiment of the terror everyone felt. In the 2nd one i just figured she's a local Pittsburgh area girl who has some redneck in her. Trust me there are girls that way around here lol.
 
cobalt crimson said:
Is this the 1989 remake i have been trying to find on dvd?.
Click to expand...

They have it on Amazon for about 7 bucks if you're interested.

I agree with all the opinions so far...this remake is just as good, if not better that the original
Oh , and I thought Tong Todd and the jerk guy ( in the basement) did a standup acting job.
 
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i would be one to disagree. while i dont watch it as much as dawn, i think the original night is better.

i think martha as a character in both films leaves alot to be desired.
 
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