Night of the Living Dead [Blu-ray]

Director: Tom Savini Tom Savini

Overview

Makeup wizard Tom Savini's color remake of George A. Romero's 1968 classic follows the original almost shot-for-shot, so quality comparisons are somewhat pointless. The film was clearly made for younger viewers who refuse to watch black-and-white films, no matter how good they may be. The result is passable, but the very fact that the original was made 22 years before makes this version seem almost dated in its restraint. By the time of its release, Romero had already geometrically raised the gore quotient with Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985), so Savini's starting back at square one further lessened the impact of this pointless retread. If this version has anything to offer, it is Patricia Tallman's engaging lead performance as a gun-toting independent woman, one of this film's few elements not lifted wholesale from Romero.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/23/2018
UPC:	0043396546349
Original Release:	1990
Source:	ALLIED VAUGHN
Language:	English
Time:	1:28:00
Sales rank:	15,027

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tony Todd	Ben
Patricia Tallman	Barbara
Tom Towles	Harry
McKee Anderson	Helen
William Butler	Tom,Hondo
Katie Finneran	Judy Rose
Bill Moseley	Johnnie
Heather Mazur	Sarah
Zachary Mott	Bulldog
Pat Reese	The Mourner
William Cameron	The Newsman
Pat Logan	Uncle Rege
Berle Ellis	The Flaming Zombie
Bill 'Chilly Billy' Cardille	TV Interviewer,TV Interviewer
Greg Funk	Cemetary Zombie
Tim Carrier	Autopsy Zombie
John Hamilton	Crowbar Zombie
Dyrk Ashton	Truck Zombie
Jordan Berlant	Porch Zombie
Albert Shellhammer	Cousin Satchel
Jay McDowell	Front Door Zombie
Walter Berry	McGruder
Kendal Kraft	Bob Evans Zombie
Stacie Foster	Doll's Mom Zombie
Charles Crawley	Window Zombie
William Anderson	Actor
Katie Finnerman	Judy Rose
David Grace	Policeman Zombie
Paul McCollough	Composer

Technical Credits

George A. Romero

John A. Russo

Tom Savini	Director
Everett Burrell	Special Effects
Menahem Golan	Executive Producer
Phil Neilson	Stunts
George A. Romero	Executive Producer,Screenwriter
John A. Russo	Producer,Screenwriter
Russ Streiner	Producer,Producer
Matt Vogel	Special Effects
John Vulich	Special Effects
Ami Artzi	Producer
Declan Baldwin	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Made for reasons of profit (by writer/producer George Romero's own admission), Tom Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead doesn't seem so much mercenary as perfunctory. Highly watchable and reasonably frightening, it suffers from familiarity for most of its running time, a final third offering the only significant departure from the original. Still, it's a pretty rich story and Savini does right by it, serving up tension, jolts, and gore in good measure. Helping out are good performances by Patricia Tallman and especially Tony Todd, probably the best actor to work almost exclusively in the horror genre. Not a necessary film, and, thanks its familiarity, lacking most of the impact of the original, it's still a superior effort when compared to most of its horror contemporaries.

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