“It’s a zombie! It’s a zombie,” the ski-masked punk yelled as he tried to wrestle free from the clutches of a corpse I had on display in the Museum of Schlock. The other gang members were busily trying to crucify the Revenging Manta, the ninja vigilante of downtown Orlando, to a wall in the exhibit. The other punks ignored him, holding up the unconscious body of my compatriot and readying a spike to drive through his wrist. The lights began to flicker overhead before turning off completely. I heard shouts turn into screams. Then came an unearthly moan. I felt around for my flashlight, dreading what I’d see when I turned it on.

— To be continued. 

Tonight’s movie is 1990’s Night of the Living Dead from director Tom Savini. Yes, this is a remake of the original classic, shot in color and released in theaters. I wanted to see it in the theater back in the day, but couldn’t get anyone to take me so I had to wait for it to come out on VHS and rent from whatever mom & pop video store my family frequented. Critics panned it, but my twelve year-old self loved it. I watched it again for this review and I think it holds up better than I remember.

We have a new cast: Patricia Tallman as Barbara, Tony Todd as Ben, and Tom Towles as Mr. Cooper among others. The movie follows many of the same beats as the original. We even get Bill Mosely as Johnny, teasing his sister like he did in the original. This time he gets his neck broken on a tombstone by the graveyard zombie which then chases Barbara to a local farmhouse as before. Barbara tries to keep it together, but loses it when a severed hand falls on her head. Another zombie falls over the balcony, quickly getting up to stumble after her. Ben shows up, plowing through a couple of zombies with his truck before heading inside.

Like in the original, Barbara gets close to losing it, but composes herself with the help of some straight talk from Ben. Now that we have a functioning Barbara this time around, the dynamic shifts and the plot takes some unexpected turns that we didn’t see in the original. Some things remain the same. Ben wants to board up the house. Mr. Cooper, who is even more unlikeable this time around, wants everyone to stay in the basement.

The rivalry between Ben and Mr. Cooper in this remake is even more intense. It’s as if on a subconscious level, they know they hate each other and how badly things went last time. Poor Tom tries to be the buffer between them, but it doesn’t work. That being said, Ben shows some real sympathy to the plight of Cooper’s daughter and promises Mrs. Cooper that they’ll get help if they can get to the gas pump.

Barbara thinks their plans are folly, that the house isn’t safe and that they should leave on foot before it’s too late. Ben still insists on staying behind and things go wrong like they did before. But there is a twist in that someone survives. I won’t say who. Watch it to find out. 

Jeff Shuster (episode 47, episode 102, episode 124, episode 131, episode 284, episode 441, episode 442, episode 443, episode 444, episode 450, episode 477, episode 491, episode 492, episode 493, episode 495, episode 496, episode 545, episode 546, episode 547, episode 548, episode 549, episode 575, episode 596, episode 597, episode 598, and episode 599) is an MFA graduate from the University of Central Florida.