Tom Savini’s Night of the Living Dead 1990 storyboards to be published

Last Updated on July 21, 2021

As I have mentioned several times in articles over the years, George A. Romero's 1968 classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is the one movie I have watched more than any other, my default choice to put on whenever I want to kick back and relax. I'm also a big fan of the 1990 remake, which was directed by special effects legend Tom Savini and written by Romero himself, but NIGHT '90 is a very compromised film.

Savini has described the experience of making NIGHT '90 as "the worst nightmare of my life", and says that the finished film only represents about 40% of the vision he had for it. The rest was lost due to budgetary limitations, clashes with the producers, and the wrath of the MPAA. The film Savini actually wanted to make is represented in the many storyboards he had drawn up for the film, as he had the entire movie visualized on paper before production began.

Almost 30 years after the release of NIGHT '90, we're now going to have our chance to see what Savini's film was meant to be, as the storyboards are set to be published by Happy Cloud Media, LLC. Happy Cloud made the official announcement today: 

In 1990, the eagerly-awaited remake of the seminal horror film, Night of the Living Dead, was released to theaters. Produced by the original team, the new film had a director in special effects maestro Tom Savini. His vision for the film was a gutsy, visual feast that would, he promised, “make death scary again.”

Disappointingly, for one reason or another, many of Savini’s most outrageous sequences were left unfilmed and unrealized. Now, for the first time, fans of the film can see for themselves the director’s unique vision for Night of the Living Dead 1990.

Happy Cloud Media, LLC is proud to announce the upcoming publication of Mr. Savini’s storyboards as realized by artist Brad Hunter, never before available in their entirety, and thoroughly annotated by the director himself.

Accompanied throughout by rare behind-the-scenes set photos, Night of the Living Dead 1990: The Original Vision will be a valued addition to any horror fan’s bookshelf. A rare glimpse into the work done prior to the cameras rolling, before the first actor is cast, there is the script, the director, and the ideas.

It's a shame that NIGHT '90 wasn't the movie Savini wanted it to be, but it's very exciting that we're finally going to see what his intentions for it were.

Night of the Living Dead 1990: The Unseen Version will be paperback and is expected to be an October 2019 release. Copies can be pre-ordered right now at the Happy Cloud website, going for a price of $19.99 plus shipping.