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- "Yeah, they're dead. They're all messed up."
- ―Sheriff McClelland
| Night of the Living Dead | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Credits | |
| Title: | Night of the Living Dead |
| Directed by: | Tom Savini |
| Written by: | George Romero |
| Produced by: | Ami Artzi; John A. Russo; Russell Streiner |
| Music by: | Paul McCollough |
| Cinematography: | Frank Prinzi |
| Edited by: | Tom Dubensky |
| Production | |
| Distributors: | Columbia Pictures; 21st Century Film Corporation |
| Released: | October 19th, 1990 |
| Rating: | R |
| Running time: | 92 min. |
| Country: | USA |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $4,200,000 |
| Gross: | $5,835,247 (USA) |
| Navigation | |
| Previous: | — |
| Next: | Dawn of the Dead (2004) |
Night of the Living Dead is an American horror film of the zombie sub-genre directed by special effects/makeup artist Tom Savini. It is a remake of the original 1968 indepdendent film Night of the Living Dead, written and directed by George A. Romero. Romero, a longtime friend of Tom Savini, returned to the franchise to write the screenplay for this film. The movie was also remade in 2006 as Night of the Living Dead 3D and re-imagined several years later as Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D. The premise of the film revolves around a group of seven people who hole up inside a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania in the hopes of surviving an attacking horde of flesh-eating zombies.
Plot[]
Barbara and Johnnie are siblings who have traveled two-hundred miles in an old Mercedes to visit the gravesite of their dearly departed mother. Barb is a mousy, demure woman while Johnny is acerbic and cynical As the two are paying their respects, Johnny attempts to tease his sister by creepily intoning "They're coming to get you Bah-bar-a." Just as they begin to argue, a zombie pops up an attacks them. Barbara tries to stab it with the pin from a wreath display, but ends up stabbing her brother in the hand instead. The zombie turns on Johnny and crushes his face against the cornerstone of a grave. Barb tries to flee, but the car pops into reverse and careens into a tree. Now she has to run for her life.
As she is running through the fields, more and more zombies come crawling out of the woodwork. She runs until she finds an old farmhouse nestled several miles off from the nearest town. Once inside, she comes upon a man named Ben. Ben had retreated to the farmhouse himself after being attacked by zombies at a diner. The two talk for a little bit and try their best to secure the house from the zombie hordes. Ben finds a television set and turns on a news broadcast. From here, they discover that the only way to permanently defeat these creatures is to destroy the head. Barbara encounters the zombified owner of the farmhouse, Uncle Rege. She strikes him several times with a fire-poker as Ben fights off another zombie with a tire iron.
Ben and Barbara discover five other people holed up in the basement of the house. They meet the Cooper family, who were apparently en route to a formal event when their personal misfortunes befell them. Harry Cooper is a whining cowardly self-righteous man, whose daughter Sarah had the misfortune of being bitten on the arm by one of the zombies. There is also Tom and his girlfriend Judy Rose. Tom is the nephew of Rege Celeste, the owner of the house. He had been helping his uncle and his cousin Satchel refurbish some of the rooms in the homestead.
Immediately, Ben and Harry are at odds with one another. Ben wants to board up all the doors and windows while Harry prefers to stay in the basement. The two argue with one another at great length while the others begin boarding up doors and windows. Ben makes it clear that he is boss of the upstairs section of the house. Every now and again, a zombie tries to break through the wall and the gang is forced to beat it back with hammers.
As they assess the situation, they come upon another problem. There is only one operable vehicle at the house, but it has no gas. There is an old gas pump on the back quarter of the property, but a key is required to open it. Right about this time, Barbara swallows her fear and begins to assert herself with greater control and dominance. Looking out one of the cracks in the windows, she notes to the others how embarrassingly slow these zombies are. She grabs a shotgun and takes two of them down as they begin to tear away at the barricade.
The gang continues to argue with one another, but before long someone turns up a set of keys. Tom and Judy Rose jump in the old pick-up and drive down to the gas pump. The zombies chase after them and Tom realizes two minutes too late that he has the wrong set of keys. He levels his shotgun at the padlock on the gas pump and attempts to blow the lock off. The shot causes the tank to explode and both Tom and Judy Rose are killed.
Back at the house, Harry's daughter Sarah finally succumbs to her injuries. She turns into a little zombie and bites down on her mother, Helen. Sarah shuffles into the living room where Ben and Harry are involved in another shouting match. Ben and Barbara realize that Sarah is now a zombie but Harry won't let them shoot her. Harry shoots Ben, Ben shoots Harry and Barbara shoots Sarah. Both Harry and Ben survive their respective wounds however. Barbara decides that she has had enough of this nonsense and leaves the house. Ben, bleeding to death, goes down into the basement while Harry remains topside to be attacked by some more zombies. Before dying of his wounds, Ben finds the actual keys to the gas pump and begins laughing maniacally.
Barbara meanwhile, manages to fight past a bunch of the zombies and get to town. She finds that a bunch of the locals have been making quite a bit of sport at the expense of the poor zombies. Each of them take turns tormenting the slow-moving zombies. Barbara is appalled at this behavior realizing that these pathetic creatures were once real living people.
She gathers a bunch of the posse members and returns to the farmhouse where she finds that Ben has finally succumbed to his wounds and has transformed into a zombie. They shoot him in the head and begin to search the rest of the house. Barbara finds Harry, who is miraculously still alive. She shoots him in the face and tells the others that she just killed another zombie. The posse collects the dead and pile them on top of a raging bonfire of corpses.
Cast[]
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Tony Todd | Ben |
| Patricia Tallman | Barbara |
| Tom Towles | Harry Cooper |
| McKee Anderson | Helen Cooper |
| William Butler | Tom |
| Kate Finneran | Judy Rose |
| Bill Moseley | Johnnie |
| Heather Mazur | Sarah Cooper |
| David Butler | Hondo |
| Zachary Mott | Bulldog |
| Pat Reese | The mourner |
| William Cameron | The newsman |
| Pat Logan | Uncle Rege |
| Berle Elis | Flaming zombie |
| Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille | TV Interviewer |
| Greg Funk | Cemetery zombie |
| Tim Carrier | Autopsy zombie |
| John Hamilton | Kyle, 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 |
| David Grace | Policeman zombie |
| Stacie Foster | Doll's mom zombie |
| Charles Crawley | Window zombie |
| Declan Baldwin | Photographer at bonfire |
| John D. Bert | Bckground vigilante |
| Don Brockett | Zombie |
| Butchie | Biker at bonfire |
| Earl Ellis | Zombie |
| Chris Gore | Zombie |
| John W. Iwanonkiw | Fighting truck zombie |
| Sean P. McCarthy | Meathhooked zombie |
| Bill McCue | Mouse eating zombie |
| Tara Rial | Girl in car |
| Russell Streiner | Sheriff McClelland |
Notes & Trivia[]
- Night of the Living Dead was released to home video (VHS) on August 25th, 1998 by Sony Pictures. It was released to DVD on October 5th, 1999 by Columbia Tristar Home Video.
- The tagline for this film is, "There IS a fate worse than death".
- This film marks the directorial debut of Tom Savini. Savini, who made his career in special effects, makeup and stunt work was originally considered for doing the special effects work on the original Night of the Living Dead. However, Savini was drafted in 1967 and became a medical photographer during the Vietnam War. Savini's experiences in Vietnam helped him to develop his craft as a special effects artist, in particular effects which involve anatomical gore as was seen in his previous work on Romero's Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead.
- Principal filming on Night of the Living Dead began on April 23rd, 1990 and concluded on June 8th, 1990.
- Russell Streiner, one of the Image Ten Productions staff members and the actor who played Johnny in the original Night of the Living Dead appears in this film playing the part of Sheriff McClelland.
- One of the television interviewers in this film is Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille, who also played a newscaster in the original Night of the Living Dead.
- The Mercedes that Barbara and Johnnie use in the beginning of the film actually belonged to Tom Savini. It was his first car that he purchased after becoming successfull in the movie industry.
See also[]
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