Night
of the Living Dead is in the public domain, so virtually anyone can remake it
and not have to pay any royalties to George Romero’s estate. However, just because you CAN do something,
doesn’t mean you SHOULD. I mean Romero
and Tom Savani even tried to remake it in 1990 and look how that turned out.
This
remake starts with same bickering siblings going to a cemetery, but it becomes
very different very quickly. Instead of
being immediately killed, Johnny (Ken Ward) basically ditches Barbara (Brianna
Brown), Ben (Joshua DesRoches) is white, and Harry (Greg Travis) is now a pot
farmer. Also, it seems that the zombie
outbreak is a local phenomenon, which lessens the impact of worldwide impending
doom. What the fuck?
I
guess making Ben white is the biggest problem.
Instead of making social commentary like Romero did, director Jeff
Broadstreet opts to make another stupid zombie movie. The updating of the classic moments from the
original are also weak. In this version,
Johnny delivers his famous “They’re coming to get you Barbara” line via a text
message. I’m not making this up. There are even moments that crib from Return
of the Living Dead and some of the make-up look like zombies from that film.
I
didn’t see this in its intended 3D format, but it didn’t look to me like much
popped out of the screen. All I can
remember is a joint, a bullet, a shovel, and a few hands. That’s not nearly enough to really justify
the 3D if you ask me.
It’s
not all bad though. I liked the opening,
which starts with the beginning of the original film before the camera pulls
back to reveal it’s just playing on a television set. The addition of Sid Haig as an ornery mortician
is one of the few treats. He skates by
on his persona alone as he seems more annoyed that the dead are coming back to
life than anything. Some of his dialogue
is good for a laugh too.
The
other bright spot is Cristen Michelle.
She plays a horny babe who gets caught having sex in a barn by the
zombies and is attacked in the nude. Her
extended nude scene is reminiscent of the one by Betsy Rue in the My Bloody
Valentine remake and is by far the best thing in the film.
A
handful of memorable moments aside, Night of the Living Dead 3D completely
falls apart in the end. The change of
the original’s ending is downright infuriating, although admittedly this ending
isn’t nearly as bad as Savani’s version.
Heck, Michelle’s nude scene alone gives this one the edge over that
flick any day.
AKA: House of the Dead 3D. AKA:
Night of the Living Dead 2007.
AKA: Zombie 3D.
You didn't like the 1990 remake? I personally really dug it and thought it was superior to the original film(at least in regards to Barbara, who was insufferably annoying in the original film) and thought this film was also pretty decent.
ReplyDeleteAlso don't really see what was wrong with the ending of the 1990 film and thought this film's ending was fine.
I saw NOTLD ‘90 in the theater but the film broke in the middle. I REALLY wanted to see it so we stuck around for the next show. Well, the film was fixed but the formatting was all off so all you could see was the visible boom mikes. Not the movie’s fault I know but it kinda tainted the experience. That aside, everything about the movie is wrong. Barbara as a warrior woman, turning Ben into an ineffectual leader, and the whole ending just doesn’t work. The effects are bad which stings cuz it’s Savani and it’s just flat out boring. I saw it last about fifteen years ago on AMC, before I started blogging and my opinion didn’t change much from the first time I saw it.
ReplyDelete