The original “Night of the Living Dead” was really the start of the zombie film. Yes, there were technically zombie films before it such as “White Zombie” but in terms of giving you the core tropes, nothing can compare with the impact of the George A. Romero’s first zombie flick. While I was never a fan of the original film, I’m in no doubt that the “30th Anniversary Edition” is a butchery of it.

With some new scenes shot especially for this new version, we see that the first zombie to appear was actually a depraved killer. His funeral doesn’t go to plan when his dead body starts to walk. A band of survivors must try to survive the zombie outbreak. With more zombies on the attack, the group must attempt to flee the area before they are overwhelmed.

While I was not a fan of the original characters, they are infinitely better than the new ones. There is a new priest character, who is just awful. The performance is almost laughably bad; it feels like something out of a comedy skit. Some shots feature new zombies too. The problem is that all the new characters stick out like a sore thumb because of the way it has been filmed. Merely filming in black-and-white does not make it look like it was filmed in the 60s.

The original film at least flows fairly consistently but this newer version makes it a total mess. The new beginning and ending sequences are just stupid. Also, we have a new score that is just so weak. The “30th Anniversary Edition” is one of the worst re-releases I’ve seen for a film as it makes it worse in every conceivable way and just destroys the pacing of the film. Romero apparently did not make this but one of the original’s co-creators so at least Romero is blameless in this.