In the late 80's, rumours started circulating that
George Romero was working on a fourth "Living Dead" movie. However, as it turned out, this was not actually another sequel, but rather a
remake of the original.
Directed this time by Tom Savini, the story starts as it did before, with a young Brother and Sister couple, Barbara (Patricia Tallman) and Johnny (Bill Moseley), visiting their mothers grave at a secluded cemetery and Johnny joking about the dead coming back to life and them being attacked by a real zombie. Though in a somewhat different manner than before (which I won't spoil for you).
As before, Barbara flees to a nearby farmhouse to seek help, where she meets the drifter Ben (played by the enigmatic Tony Todd) and the others, Tom (Bill Butler), Judy Rose and the obnoxious Mr Cooper (Tom Towles). But this is where things start to diverge, Barbara is no longer the fearful, weepy, shock ridden girl from the original, but is now more like a gun toting arse kicker like Ripley from Aliens, or Sarah Conner in Terminator 2 and is only to eager to pick up a gun and fight. Whilst the friction between Ben and Cooper is a lot more tense, fraught and indeed violent, as their disagreements come to a head.
Whilst the basic plot remains more or less the same as the original, there are a decent amount of plot twists to keep you guessing as to who will survive, and who will be turned into a flesh-eating ghoul, right up to the films final moments. There's a lot more action, lots more gore and more nail-biting suspense as the survivors are once again held under siege by the zombies, who are starting to overrun the farmhouse.
Released in the early 90s, the film received mixed reviews, although was a firm favourite with horror fans. And would definitely recommend adding this to your collection.
