It would seem safe to assume that most horror movie fans have at least HEARD of the seminal classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the film that modernized how the living dead were captured and presented in pop culture and media. The crazy thing is that as influential as that film was the makers of it never had the foresight to make sure they owned the rights to the name of the film. That lack of copyright made room for lots of movies that leaned in on the name of the original and brought about lots of ‘unofficial’ remakes and other films that grifted on the work of Romero and the others.
Flash forward and Romero has decided it’s time to revisit that original film, in part so they can wrangle the rights back, and he turned to frequent collaborator and friend Tom Savini. Savini is the legendary special effects maestro who ruled much of the 1980s but also has a background in acting and stuntwork. Savini had directed on the television show ‘Tales from the Darkside’ and this offer to remake a classic was too good to turn down.
The problem was that the vision he had, fully fleshed out in storyboards ahead of time, was never realized. Between cuts by the MPAA (MPA), cuts due to budget and time, and cuts due to any number of production disagreements, NOTLD ‘90, as good as it is, was never the film Savini intended it to be. It was so different that it was hard for him to reconcile what it was with what it is.
With this book release – Night of the Living Dead ‘90 – The Version You’ve Never Seen – Savini is able to give an idea of what his original vision was and what it was meant to be. The book consists of a brief intro by Savini to put things into context, and then heads right into the storyboards with explanations beneath them.
It’s a shame the book wasn’t done in color, or in a bit higher quality because all of this feels a little cheap. The book is oversized, which makes sense, but the paper feels cheap and, especially when you get to the end where photos from the production are, it really makes you wish this had been more of a boutique book than it is. Perhaps its fitting that the book is what it is – and it’s lovely that it even exists – because Savini’s film has regularly been relegated to the ‘Oh, and…’ category and rarely fully appreciated for what it is. Savini and his film deserved a better form to get this story out, a full realized re-telling of the story of the movie, with the storyboards, and with as many well-reproduced photos as they wanted to put in.
This is more of a novel What If situation as the additions to the film that were never shot don’t add a lot to what the movie was, but it’s interesting to see how he was constantly unable to see through his full vision for the film. Essentially the things that were removed were gore shots and the things not shot were more for the art of it than the story or anything else.
The production of the book and copyediting is very spotty and, again, makes all of it feel a little more DIY and low-rent than the film and story deserves. Some of the commentary comes off as very catty too and you can tell that Savini still feels the sting of this one.
This is more of a book for fanatics, and not necessarily casual fans. It’s absolutely fascinating if you are film geek and want to look behind the curtains and see what a film like this was envisioned as with the knowledge of what it is. That the movie is as good as it is is a testament to Savini’s work and the brilliance of the original script and story. It’s great to get Savini’s side of things but I can’t help but wish there’d be a documentary or better quality book with more meat to tell the full story of the film and production.
I can only recommend this to diehards but if you are one, you’ll enjoy it, and it is a quick read.
3 out of 5
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