McKee Anderson – Through the Shattered Lens

The dead are coming back to life! When her brother, Johnny (Bill Moseley), is killed by a zombie at the cemetery, Barbara (Patricia Tallman) flees and makes her way to an isolated farmhouse. It’s there that she’s joined by Ben (Tony Todd), a traveling salesman who is also fleeing from the zombies. Also hiding out at the farmhouse are young lovers Tom (William Butler) and Judy (Katie Finneran) and Harry (Tom Towles), his wife (McKee Anderson), and daughter (Heather Mazur). While the living dead lay siege to the house, Ben and Harry argue over whether it would be better to hide in the basement or to stay upstairs. Even in the face of an unimaginable crisis, the living just can’t stop bickering.

If the plot sounds familiar, it should. Unfortunately, this is not George Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead. This is a remake that came out in 1990. Apparently, when the original film was made, Romero forgot to include a copyright notice on the film and that, combined with a long court battle over the film’s profits, meant that he made next to no money off of its subsequent popularity. (In Romero’s defense, no one originally suspected that his low-budget zombie movie would go on to become a cultural phenomenon.) In the late 80s, when Romero heard that Menahem Golan was considering doing a remake, Romero contacted him and signed on to write the script and serve as an executive producer. Romero’s plan was to establish his copyright over the material while heading off a potentially terrible remake. And, of course, Romero hoped to finally make some money off of the whole thing. Tom Savini was originally brought in to do the special effects but Romero subsequently persuaded him to direct the film. Savini later said that directing the film was a nightmare. While Romero was supportive of Savini’s ideas for the film, the other producers were not and Savini estimated that only 40% of the film was his vision. Once filming was finished, Savini was contractually obligated to cut some of the film’s most gory moments to get an R rating.

Unfortunately, the remake doesn’t really work. Shooting the film in color robs the film of the harsh atmosphere and the almost documentary-style realism that made the first film such a nightmare-inducing success. What was once subtext is made explicit by the film’s script. As opposed to ending with a series of increasingly grainy still shots that bring to mind the records of real-life war atrocities, this film features Barbara watching a trigger-happy posse and literally saying that the living are just like the dead.

The biggest update is that Barbara no longer spends the entire movie in a state of shock. Instead, she grabs a rifle and turns out to be the best shot in the movie. Of course, after spending 90 minutes watching her shoot zombies in the head, it’s a bit hard to take seriously the idea that she would be offended by the sight of the posse. The remake tries to make Barbara a stronger character but then they cast someone who gave an absolutely terrible, one-note performance in the role, which kind of negates the whole thing. In the original film, Ben shoots Harry and it’s a sad moment because it shows that people cannot work together. In the remake, Barbara shoots Ben and we’re supposed to cheer because it’s a 90s film. Beyond that, though, one of the reasons why the first Night of the Living Dead was so effective is because Barbara had the reaction that we all secretly suspect we would have. I may not be happy to admit it but if the dead did come back to life, I’d probably be catatonic as well. Most people would. Not everyone is going to turn into an action hero whenever a crisis breaks out. I would be totally worthless in the face of a zombie apocalypse and so would you. The original Night of the Living Dead had the courage to admit that. The remake does not and that’s why the remake is ultimately just another zombie film.

(Of course, one could argue that by taking the original and spelling out its subtext and making Barbra into a stereotype, this film actually predicted everything from American Horror Story to Mike Flanagan’s Carrie.)

When it comes to the Dead, stick with the Romero originals.

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Mondays, I will be reviewing CHiPs, which ran on NBC from 1977 to 1983. The entire show is currently streaming on Prime!

This week’s episode features a future Oscar nominee!

Episode 5.2 “Vagabonds”

(Dir by Bruce Kessler, originally aired on October 11th, 1981)

The saying goes that “everyone had to start somewhere,” and, for actor Ed Harris, somewhere included guest-starring on an episode of CHiPs.

The future Oscar nominee appears as Lonny Wilson, the scion of a family of a hillbilly con artists. He and his brother, Daws (Jesse Vint), purposefully cause auto accidents and con their victims out of their money in return for not calling the police or the insurance company. Lonny’s young son, Jamie (James Calvert), is looking forward to joining the family business until he actually is injured while taking part in one of the family’s cons. Lonny reconsiders his way of life and, by the end of the episode, he’s cooperating with the highway patrol.

Does Ed Harris come across as being a future star in this episode? Well, he definitely has charisma. He has screen presence. That said, this is also CHiPs, a show that was mostly about capturing potentially serious auto accidents in slow motion. No one came across as being a future star on ChiPs and that was actually a part of the show’s appeal. The stars on CHiPs were always the motorcycles, the cars flipping over on the freeway, and Ponch’s blinding smile. That said, Ed Harris gives a good performance. For that matter, so does Jesse Vint as his brother. This is a well-acted episode of CHiPs. Such things do exist.

In all fairness, I should also note that, when this episode aired, Harris had already starred in George Romero’s Knightriders so, while Harris may not have been a household name, it’s probably still debatable whether or not this was really at the start of his career. Ultimately, the important thing is that, two years after appearing this episode, Ed Harris would play John Glenn in 1983’s The Right Stuff and firmly established himself as one of our best character actors.

As for this episode, it also features the Highway Patrol taking part in a “supercycle” race, which is a race featuring bicycles that you lie down on as you peddle. I don’t know why anyone would want to do that but whatever. Jon Baker wins. Yay, Highway Patrol!

On that note of victory, Retro Television Reviews is going on a holiday break so that I can focus on the Oscar precursor awards and reviewing Christmas movies so this will be last CHiPs review of 2025! CHiPs will return on January 5th, 2026!