a review of 活死人之夜

2020 Cult Movie Challenge Week 16: Cannon Group Week I've been a huge fan of the original ever since I first saw it at a screening in the cemetary abutting my college's campus in the mid-90s, but had never been curious enough about the remake to give it a look until now. And to be honest, I think maybe part of that has to do with how I don't really hear horror fans talking about this one as compared to the Romero original + sequels. But I have to say, this one has a lot to recommend it. First of all, the thing that struck me about this one is how close it was to the original, not just in terms of cute callbacks to the quotable lines, but to the beat-by-beat plot contours of the script. I guess it shouldn't have been a surprise, because it's literally Romero doing a rewrite of his own screenplay. Along those lines, I appreciated Romero's willingness to change things up, especially with regards to upgrading Barbara's character to have a bit more dimension and agency than in the original. I feel like Patricia Tallman's take on the role should be talked about a LOT more than it is, especially in the current age of overtly-feminist horror. I also have to give it up for Tony Todd in what I believe is his very first horror role. Duane Jones' Ben in the original is an indelible horror hero, but I like what Todd does here in terms of embodying the no-nonsense aspects of the character while also folding in a bit of extra genre awareness. I also like how his heroism acts as a catalyst for activating the heroism in Barbara, while not necessarily taking anything away from his character in the end. I was surprised to see that this was the only feature directorial credit for Tom Savini, who does a great job setting the scene in that house and moving through the controlled chaos inside and out. I'd assumed that he'd had a few more director credits under his belt, but looking at IMDB it looks like it's just this a bunch of TV episodes.