I was wrong about this film when it was released in-1990, thinking it was just a lame-hijacking of George Romero's story by some moron. Boy, was I wrong! It was co-produced by (and given a slight-revision in the screenplay) Romero and John Russo, the co-creators of the original. With Tom Savini directing-it, you cannot-go-wrong here, it's incredible, and Tom wanted to make it gorier, but the distributors wouldn't allow-it. I think at-this-point Savini was burned-out doing the makeup-gig, and has continued-directing since this film, whenever he can. He should, he's great-at-it, and has a good-eye for composition and timing--both crucial to effective-horror. Coupled-with his makeup-expertise, he is just excellent as a horror-director. I recommend his recent DVD-production, it's classic-horror that looks professional and solid.<br /><br />It should-be-noted that the film was made--in-part--to "shore-up" Romero's and Russo's (as-well as everyone who was involved-with the original) copyright to the original-film, which is only-fair--they have barely-been-paid for it since 1968. You know the little-copyright underneath a film-title in older-films? A distributor forgot-to-include this in the theatrical-prints, which is why you see DOZENS of shoddy-editions of the 1968-version. The Elite edition is the only-one to own, period. The only-downside is Elite should have wrangled an isolated-score function (which should be on all horror-films where the materials-exist to do it), as the original-score is very hard-to-find now.<br /><br />The film? It's an excellent-updating! I'm not-sure it should ever be remade after this one, honestly, it's so basic in the look that I cannot see it becoming-dated anytime-soon. Ususally, it is VERY young-individuals who say something is "dated". What does this mean?! Dated. Nothing, it just means you watched bad-prints of a film, and it created a false-aesthetic in your mind. Where-else does it exist? Your coffee-table? Anyway, Tony Todd was the best-choice in this remake, he's a Shakespearian-trained actor, and possibly one of America's greatest-living-actors. He even equals Duane Jones, one of the best-heroes in film-history in the 1968-version. But what is so radical in the 1990-version is the character of Barbara (played-wonderfully by Patricia Tallman), who is assertive and a genuine-survivor, a big-step even for-Romero at the time. But don't trust me, look at other horror-films from-1990, and you tell me.<br /><br />It should-be-noted that Bill Mosley is in the beginning-sequence as Barbara's brother, Johnny: "They're coming-to-get-you, Barbara. They're coming-for-you!" He's great! Overall, this is a worthy-remake that is gorier, freakier, and scarier in some-spots than the original. This is only due-to the constraints that faced the original--mostly because it was treading-virgin-soil! You can never top the 1968-version, it will never be done, because it was so revolutionary (still is) and original. It is THE original, and can be cited as truly kicking-off modern-horror as we know it today. The social-commentary should be obvious, and the film wears its politics openly, and proudly, as-it-should. Tom Savini's makeup-crew did an excellent-job on this film, and it had me cringing!I especially-thought they got the blood correct, it is usually-dark in real-life (ugh). If a remake doesn't say-something (anything) about the time we live-in, it isn't worth-much, but this film spoke (and speaks) well. The Columbia DVD is pretty-good, and has great-sound and an excellent-featurette.