(1990)
Dir- Tom Savini
Overall: GOOD
Partly due to the initial film accidentally getting lumped into the public domain, George A. Romero tried to beat the crowd to any remake rights continuing to fall into other's hands which led to the 1990, updated Night of the Living Dead. Romero penned the script and his frequent collaborator and "king of splatter" Tom Savini took on directing duties as well as his usual special makeup effects. Up until the last act which detours in a few significant ways, the plot adheres closely to the original which is hardly surprising due to Romero's involvement. The most noticeable change is the arc of Barbara, (Patricia Tallman), who keeps her wits about her this time and goes the empowered, bad ass final girl route. Otherwise, the gore is a bit more prominent, there is profanity, and the overall presentation is comparatively more over the top, making it fit in more with the times. As respectfully and professionally done as it is with all around solid performances to boot, obviously the film cannot dream of comparing to the original in terms of ingenuity or cultural significance. It still manages to be memorable in a number of ways though.
(1993)
Dir - Joe Dante
Overall: GOOD
Blatant nostalgia from front to back yet cleverly structured blatant nostalgia at that, Joe Dante's Matinee is his ultimate B-movie love letter. Once again teaming up with screenwriter Charles S. Haas after their proceeding and quite ridiculous Gremlins 2: The New Batch, the tone is unmistakably comedic here as well, while the story is genuinely heartfelt. Set against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis in Key West, Florida, John Goodman's William Castle stand-in Lawrence Woolsey seems gleefully indifferent to such real world events. He instead delights in putting on a schlock spectacle for the locale crowd, most of whom are high school kids caught up in drama of their own. Though it gets a bit messy as things grow more over the top and complex, it thankfully manage to stay light and humorous throughout. Besides Goodman who is excellent as always, the equally strong, young cast is complimented by a hilariously unimpressed scream queen in Cathy Moriarty and fun bit parts from Kevin McCarthy and an unknown Naomi Watts in the two films-within-a-film. Speaking of which, the radioactive man/ant hybrid premise in Mant becomes quite a convincing genre parody and if there are any complaints to be had, it is that we do not get to see more than a handful of snippets from it.
(1997)
Dir - Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Overall: MEH
The forth and final installment in the initial Alien franchise before Xenomorphs would go on to do battle with Predators and Ridley Scott would return with two prequels, Alien Resurrection also concludes the cinematic arc of Sigourney Weaver's Ripley. Serving as co-producer again as she had with the previous Alien 3, Weaver is joined by Winona Ryder, (perhaps the least convincing bad ass mercenary in any movie), and fun genre regulars Brad Dourif and Ron Pearlman. For this round, Joss Whedon was brought on as screenwriter whose seminal Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuted earlier that same year. Whedon hammered out a handful of scripts before producers were finally satisfied and originally worked it around a clone of Newt from Aliens before the focus once again shifted that concept back to Ripley. The "haunted house movie in space" tone from the initial film had long been replaced with full-throttle action and this transforms into full-throttle schlock here. French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet brings in a solid design team and the practical effects are outstanding. Though things are kept relatively tame during the first act, such restraint does not last long as the entire film degenerates into awful one-liners, laughably implausible set pieces, and loud, wet, explody nonsense.
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