Night of the Living Dead (1990) Review

Written by: ShawnStaggs   

We fast forward to 1990, and we see a remake of the classic, Night of the Living Dead. We start out the same...Barbara and Johnny are off to that faraway cemetery, and a zombie attacks. Then another. Johnny is once again killed and Barbara makes her run through the woods to that isolated farm house. When she enters she finds a corpse upstairs.

Finally, along comes Ben, running a zombie over as he floors it down the driveway (nice!). Once inside, Ben finds Barbara is a state of dumbfounded shock, but soon she begins to talk and open up. She even dispatches a zombie that attacks her in the living room. This new take on Barbara standing up for herself and fighting back is a refreshing and well accepted take.  Then we find that, as like the original, there are more survivors in the basement. Tommy, Judy Rose, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, and their infected daughter, Sarah. (Not sure why the character name change, but okay). Ben and Cooper butt heads off the rip, we can't be changing that! Ben and the others decide to start, that's correct, boarding up the house.

But soon, everything of course goes down hill. Tommy and Judy Rose are blown up trying to get gasoline. Sarah reanimates and kills her mother. Here's where we see new twists! Ben goes to take a shot at Sarah...Cooper takes a shot at Ben. Ben is wounded twice...Cooper is wounded as well and retreats into the attic. Ben is now too wounded to go on. Barbara flees into the night.

The next morning a search and rescue party arrives...with Barbara among them. They enter the house and Ben is found in the basement, fully reanimated. He is quickly dispatched. But when Barbara turns to go into the next room, we find Cooper has survived. Then we see Barbara shoot him dead.  I fully enjoyed this remake...and I think any fan of the original would. -Shawn Staggs