10 Lesser Known Horror Movie Final Girls You Need To Know
4. Barbara - Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Easy though it is to sniff at 1990's Night of the Living Dead remake as an act of cinematic sacrilege sight-unseen, the Tom Savini-directed, George A. Romero-scripted retelling does something very interesting - it gives us a Final Girl who wasn't one in the original film.
In Romero's 1968 version, Barbra (Judith O'Dea) is depicted as a relatively traumatised and helpless character throughout, until she's dragged away by the undead horde and presumably killed.
In the 1990 remake, though, Barbara (Patricia Tallman) is boldly reimagined as a more self-actualised character. Though she begins the film as stereotypically bookish - all large specs and comfy sweater - she soon enough sheds them and progressively morphs into a genuine action hero in her own right.
This is cemented in the film's revised ending, where when fellow survivor Ben (Tony Todd) dies following a shootout with the despicable Harry (Tom Towles), Barbara suddenly pulls a gun and shoots Harry dead without hesitation.
Though there's no matching Romero's original '68 film, this remake doesn't get the flowers it deserves for giving the female lead such a superior reinvention.