Am I the ONLY one that does not like the 1990 remake?
It had zero atmosphere. And I hated the lead woman. And I hated her short haircut.
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MovieChat Forums > Night of the Living Dead (1968) Discussion > Am I the ONLY one that does not like the...
Don't worry, you ain't alone. The politically-motivated change in Barbra's character stuck out like a sore thumb. The special effects, while perhaps way more gory, were over-the-top and looked like something you'd see at a mid-level haunted house attraction in October. It was just an all-around pointless remake that added nothing to Romero's Living Dead mythos.
shareThe music was better in the original too.Right from the beginning while the car travels the winding road the music made feel feel something especially macabre was coming.
shareI didn't hate it, I just thought it was kind of pointless. Except for changing Barbara into a badass (thanks a lot Alien/Aliens and Ripley) and being in color, it was just a carbon-copy of the original. It's nothing more than a curiosity, and a footnote, in the annals of The Dead.
shareAgreed
Never remake a classic iconic film .., it never works
"Never remake a classic iconic film .., it never works"
That's for sure. I've always agreed with something I read that Francis Ford Coppola said in an interview once... He wasn't against remakes per se, but that only films that were "almost" good or just average should be remade. And by that he meant films that had good stories, but because of some other fault in the production (bad casting, uninspired direction, etc) they didn't quite achieve what they should have the first go round. He didn't cite this one, but I'll use it as an example: there were two previous films made of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon before John Huston finally made it a third time and was smart enough to hew closely to the book. Third time was the charm in this case. share
Respectfully, I will disagree, and here is why. Now this is only my opinion, but in 1990, I was very thankful for a kick-ass Barbara. In the original, the character of Barbara was a squealing, mousy twig for the better part of half the movie. One can only take so much, and I applaud Ben for not throwing her to the zombies as a distraction. As the movie progressed, I more and more saw Barbara as more of a hindrance than anything. She didn't do a thing to help and worse just laid/sat there forcing people to take time from the barricade to tend to her. She died entirely too late in the film in my opinion.
Secondly, I applaud the remake for not doing what so many remakes do: it stuck to the story and didn't just up the gore factor. It was just as creepy and atmospheric as the original, and the zombies were given more of a "dead" appearance, thanks especially to being a color film. I wouldn't call it "pointless." Each film has its own merits, and aside from a kickass Barbara, I think the 1990 version was very faithful to the original.
Kick-ass Barbara was a joke, not because she turned into Rambette, but because her character initially hewed to the same personality as the Barbara from the 1968 film...then suddenly she "snaps out of it" and becomes a Marine. I do applaud the filmmakers of the '90 version for at least bringing something original to their version, but this change was poorly set-up.
shareOne of the things thats' veyr cool about 1968's, of course, is the end-already popular stock cues, every TV show and low-budget film - just like this one, heh heh -having used it. (Capitoal Executive) John Seely's (till 1965, at leadt prioir to this,when Seely's very close friend Ole Georg took over) Capitol's library (think many cartoons, even Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies in 1958, that few-see John Seely..Phil Green).. Hanna-Barbera and their Columbia Pictures parent Screen Gems (now back making a lot of Idris Elba hits and such) used it..frankly, with all due respct to Hanna-barbera' Hoyt Curtin and successor Ted Nichols, it would have been interesting to see how their big show of the time that "Night of the living cdead' that aldso had creeps, "Scooby-Doo" (never exactly a personal fave) would have done if that had been used.."Courageage Cat'-not a H-B, but Sam Singer-used it, and of course if you are familiar, among many others using the librar, Art Clokey "Gumby".s In fact that one,
The Wttch Witch", and among others, the cult fave "Small Planets"-"My BEUATIFUL ARPEGGIO" ,lol--featured the specific "Night of the dead" stock cues. Anyway, in short, that musical background and others from it were used by a LOT back then..(exceptions like Desilu, with their live audience-Loosy-Rickie-quip-ready music services, existed, though they wnet to using it..)
For a significant, at least here, mini-digression, many stock librarie, going back to the pre-World War Two decades existed. Just narrowing it down for relative sake, the libraies and composers (from my INTENSE research) - Libraries, EMI Photoplay (producer-Composer PHILIP GREEN) , the SAM FOX, MAJOR, MUTEL from the 30s and 40s, with ubiqitous composers MAHLON MERRICK, LOU DE FRANCESCO,etc., the fifties with (not used in the movie at hand, though) LaNGLOIS (Jack Shainlin, credited composer, with others..not relevant now..)
In short:
What made this flick tick (like that, huh?? :D) Beloved Stock libraries an cu
I always felt that Tony Todd didn't give his all in the 1990 movie. He's a much better actor than what he delivered.
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