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BG Horror Club.

They Don't Know Shit: Savini's Night Rises Again

Cover Image for They Don't Know Shit: Savini's Night Rises Again
BG Horror Club
BG Horror Club
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Released: 19 Oct 1990
Rated: R
Runtime: 92 min
Genre: Horror
Language: English
Country: USA
Director: Tom Savini
Writer: George A. Romero, John A. Russo
Actors: Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman, Bill Moseley, Tom Towles
Plot: For reasons unknown, the recently deceased are rising from the grave as flesh-hungry zombies. Fleeing from the undead horde, a small group of survivors, including Barbara, Ben and Harry, sequester themselves in a remote farmhouse. With the zombies outside the house multiplying, tensions flare, as the group argues over the best way to escape their increasingly dire situation before they are overrun completely.

Look, I am not going to sit here and pretend this remake needed to exist. The 1968 original is a landmark, a nightmare in grainy black-and-white that invented an entire genre practically by accident. You don't remake that. You just don't.

Except Tom Savini did. And somehow, against every reasonable expectation, it works.

Maybe it's the cast. Tony Todd as Ben brings a gravitas the original couldn't afford. Patricia Tallman turns Barbara from a screaming victim into someone you actually believe might survive the night. The effects are exactly what you'd expect from the man who defined zombie makeup for a generation. It is not a shot-for-shot retread, but it plays the hits while changing just enough to keep you uneasy.

So yeah, they remade it. And yeah, it's worth your time. Come find out why.

Cold Facts for the Curious

  • 🎬 Tom Savini was supposed to work on the original 1968 film but got drafted to Vietnam instead
  • 🧟 The movie was produced by George Romero himself to reclaim copyright after the original accidentally fell into public domain
  • 💀 Patricia Tallman performed many of her own stunts, including the extended zombie fight sequences
  • 🔫 Tony Todd improvised several moments of physical intensity that made it into the final cut
  • 🏠 The farmhouse location was an actual abandoned property in Washington County, Pennsylvania
  • 🩸 The MPAA forced Savini to trim gore for an R rating; a newly restored uncut version hit 4K UHD in 2025
  • 📺 Bill Moseley, who plays Johnny, would later become a horror icon through his collaborations with Rob Zombie

Final Thoughts Before the Dead Arrive

This is a rare case where the remake earns its place at the table. It does not replace the original. Nothing could. But it respects the source while finding its own identity, mostly through performances that feel lived-in and desperate in ways the amateur cast of '68 could not quite reach.

The color palette is muted, almost sickly. The farmhouse feels smaller, more claustrophobic. And the ending? Well. Let's just say it earns its keep.

If you have never seen it, you are in for a solid hour and a half of escalating dread. If you have, come watch it with people who understand why this story still matters.

"They're coming to get you, Barbara."