If the original Night of the Living Dead primarily deals with race, the remake primarily addresses sexism. I base that conclusion on the moment that makes me gasp in each movie. SPOILER WARNING
In the original, that moment is when the only survivor is casually shot and discarded with the reanimated corpses by the local authorities. Yes, they thought he was a zombie, but the movie was speaking to something more insidious in reality. In this remake, it is more shocking. Barbara knowingly kills a survivor who exhibited the worst aspects of patriarchy: beating his wife, protecting his reanimated daughter instead of living survivors, claiming someone else’s property as his own, using his physical strength to take away weapons from her and doing everything to survive without wanting to add anything to the community. Barbara clothes herself in patriarchy, conducts guerrilla warfare and decides who will live and die. It is a frightening conclusion: in a world where everything falls apart, it may still be soul killing/mad-inducing to kill a fellow human being, but also a feasible option in order to survive. I still prefer the original, but the remake was still sufficiently chilling to leave its own unique impression.