Ian Woolstencroft: Night of the Living Dead (1990)

Remakes are usually pale shadows of the originals particularly in the horror genre, yet Hollywood never tires of churning them out. One of the few gems in the recent glut of remakes was Dawn of the Dead (2004) but that shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise; George Romero had shown back in 1990 that it was possible to update his classic zombie films for a modern audience with the Tom Savini-directed Night of the Living Dead.

The remake of Night is a good film in its own right but it works even better if you’ve seen the original. The film plays with the viewer’s expectations; you think you know what’s going to happen until it throws you a curve ball. The opening graveyard scene is the perfect example, making you jump by using what you expect to happen against you.

The most effective twist on the original is the character of Barbara. This isn’t the near catatonic woman we know from the original, this is an action heroine in the Sarah Conner/Ellen Ripley tradition. Patricia Tallman does such a good job of bringing Barbara to life that I wish this remake had spawned a sequel.

The original Night of the Living Dead has one of the bleakest and best endings ever put on film; this updated version may not be quite so bleak but it’s equally effective — “That's another one for the fire” indeed.

George Romero is the father of the modern zombie film and his screenplay shows how a remake should be done. If you stray too far it’s not really a remake, stick too close and you’d be better off watching the original (Psycho anyone?). While it doesn’t eclipse his original (hardly surprising as that film started its own sub-genre) it makes a nice companion piece to it and a film that any zombie aficionado should see.

Daniel Woolstencroft: Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Horror comedies are a difficult thing to do well. Oh sure, it's easy enough to create a horror film with a few gags thrown in (even if they are likely to destroy any atmosphere you've created), and it's even easier to make a supposed spoof of the horror genre and go all out for funny (although whether anyone would conclude that the end result was indeed funny is another matter entirely). But a true horror comedy - a film that is a genuine hybrid of the two genres - is really difficult to make work.

Shaun of the Dead aces it. It's not just a great horror comedy, but it's a great entry into its chosen horror sub-genre: the zombie movie. So it covers all the bases: very, very funny; suitably scary; and ticks all the boxes for the zombie genre it's simultaneously spoofing and contributing to.