Romero's Next Dead Sequel Announced!

[Sinister]

The dead are rising again.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that horror maven George A. Romero has signed on to write and direct "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead," the latest sequel to his 1968 cult classic "Night of the Living Dead."

With a story mixing elements of "The Blair Witch Project" and the long-running "Dead" series, the film will follow a group of college students shooting a horror movie in the woods who stumble upon a real zombie uprising. When the onslaught begins, they seize the moment as any good film students would, capturing the undead in a "cinema verite" style that causes more than the usual production headaches.

After going more than two decades without making an independently financed zombie film, Romero told his production partner Peter Grunwald he was frustrated working within the system. "I was trying to convince Peter we could just run off and do it ourselves," he said.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/)

[Dr Morbius]

YES!!!! That just made my day!

[slightlymad]

Yes Yes nice to see if it comes out different

[Da Weiner]

Sounds promising. Would like to see this one.

[Sinister]

It certainly has an interesting premise, lets just see if Romero can keep away from the social commentaries that seem to over-innundate his films and make an entertaining Horror movie. IMHO he has made two great ones, a pretty good one and the rest are just pure dreck. Please no more "intelligent zombie" crap! When I go to see a Horror film I don't want to be told things I already know too well when it comes to race issues, unfainess to gender and the rich upper class versus the lower class poor. I want to be entertained. That doesn't mean I want to check my head at the door, but I don't want some film makers personal agendas shoved down my throat the second the house goes dark and the screen lights up either.

[Da Weiner]

How many films has Romero directed. I know he is behind the screenplays. Just curious.

[Sinister]

Rather than go into a lengthy descriptive post here, maybe this will clarify the matter a bit better: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001681/

[Da Weiner]

Thanx Sinister - I did like "Land of the Dead" and yes I agree with you on the "Intellegent Zombie" thing, but of course, with the thirst for live flesh will make any zombie try to outwit its prey.

I'm also for leaving the race issue at the door. I do believe that this factor has even crept into the horror movies and also being politically correct is way overused.

[krypt]

What do you guys mean by the race factor? I dont quite understand

[Da Weiner]

Just meaning how many people of different origin would get killed in the movie. Scary Movie 2 was one that made fun of the issue with one part of the movie were they were split up into groups thus leaving the colored people in a group on their own and stating that it always happens in a movie (for example).

[krypt]

Im having a hard time beliving always

13 ghost
The thing
dawn of the dead the remake
house on haunted hill
nightmare on elm street 3
the last two halloween's if memory serves correct

all had survivors of race. In my honest opinion i think thats a myth.

[Sinister]

Though I found nothing offensive about Doc's post, I will leave it deleted unless he specifies otherwise.

As for your race issue question, Krypt...ah, forget it. I don't know how to explain it to where you would grasp what I was saying and not take some sort of offense. Weiner's explanation though not my own take on the issue, will do for now. :D

[krypt]

Im open to everyones opinions im open minded weither i agree or not or grasp it or not.

[Sinister]

Okay. In Romero's zombie films with the exception of 1968's Night of the Living Dead, the African American leads in Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead survived. It is a well known fact that Romero's films in this regard are all platforms for his political views. In the first film, he was trying to show just how racist white folks of the period were. It is argued in many circles to this day that the rednecks who shot Ben in the final moment of "Night" knew he was alive, but saw it as an opportunity to kill a black man and get away with it under the pretense he was one of the undead ghouls. Who would know the difference and question it? I don't believe the hicks really knew that, not at the angle where they were firing from. People have to be politically correct in this dark age we live in about everything, even in films. Everyone is so frightened of being labelled a racist that they can't think outside the box. Anytime someone tries to make a statement in a film that's meant to be sold off as entertainment usually fail miserably. George Romero is no exception. Just check out the numbers for almost his entire film career. They speak for themselves.

Romero in my honest opinion tries too hard to prove he's not a racist that he will do so at the expense of making a half way decent film. Dawn of the Dead was his last one and that was almost 30 years ago. Forget the social issues this time around George and just make a movie that people can enjoy and not nod off to. He needs to go back and check out Dawn 2004, if he wants to really see how entertaining a zombie film can be without being stuck in one gear by trying to prove a point.

[Johnny Thunder]

Land was ok in my opinion and I live and die by Romero, and this approach seems fresh somewhat. Just last night my friend and I were discussing what could possibly be done that's new with zombies. I'm not sure this is it, but I'm hoping it does something fresh.

[Sinister]

I have some zombie ideas that i'm not going to discuss here because with my chosen profession looming on the horizon. I may need to utilize those very ideas into something more; that being said, I wonder how much of the "Independently financed Horror film" was GAR's idea, and how much of the decision was directly influenced that no major studio would touch him after that Land of the Dead fiasco? After that flop it is small wonder Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead redux got a sizable budget and he didn't.

[krypt]

i have heard GAR does not know how to manage money very well. Which would lead me to think some studios would'nt give him a large sum.

[Sinister]

George didn't get a large sum of cash because he's a questionable risk where it concerns box office bucks. He has yet to have a film that can be termed a commercial success. I strongly suspect like I said his independent financing is all a direct result of Land of the Dead having such a poor showing theaters.

[krypt]

Zack Snyder doesnt exactly have a huge repitoire compared to GAR. Why would they consider him high risk yeah he made some turds, but i think they all do at some point right? I would think Snyder would be higher risk not as much experience.

[Sinister]

The end result speaks for itself. I have viewed both Snyder's DOTD and Romero's numerous times and can say without reservation that Snyder's is the superior effort. Land of the Dead doesn't even begin to compare to either film. People may bitch and whine that George's lack of budget had something to do with all of it (And they have on other boards I have been on) I say that is a load of bullshit. You can have all the money in the world to pretty things up all you want, but a piece of crap is just that. Prime examples of this analogy are big budget schlockfests like Battlefield Earth and Van Helsing. Without substance, it will all fold like a cardboard box in a hurricane.

[krypt]

I could'nt agree more! and just for info i watch the DOTD remake multiply times a day.

[Sinister]

Shawn Roberts (Land of the Dead) is the first to be cast in George A Romero's Diary of the Dead (http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/film/1032), which is currently lensing in Toronto, Canada, according to Variety. Dread Central (http://www.dreadcentral.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=675) adds that Joshua Close (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), Michelle Morgan (Alien Fire), Jon Dinicoi (Weirdsville), Phillip Riccio (Rent-A-Goallie), and Scott Wentworth (Elizabeth Rex) have also joined! With a story mixing elements of "The Blair Witch Project" and the long-running "Dead" series, the film will follow a group of college students shooting a horror movie in the woods who stumble upon a real zombie uprising. When the onslaught begins, they seize the moment as any good film students would, capturing the undead in a "cinema verite" style that causes more than the usual production headaches.

[Johnny Thunder]

I want this to be good but I have some reservations about the Blair Witch style element....although it sounds vaguely like a Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things remake.

[Sinister]

I thought the same thing. Having it more reality based may be the way to go for Romero this time around. It can't be worse than Land of the Dead. That film, I'm pretty sure almost flatlined his career. I remember people on other boards complaining when I would say something like this, that Romero didn't have the budget to make the film he wanted. You can have triple digit millions to make a movie, but if the story is crap, that's not going to save it, no matter how many gore scenes and SFX are in the thing.

[morgan8586]

Come on, Land of the Dead wasnt that bad. Could it have been better? Sure, but its a horror flick. It has to be a little corny....

[Sinister]

Land of the Dead is much worse than I let on. There's enough plot holes so wide you could drive a semi through. Don't take my word for it though. Why do you think no studio that has any bucks wants to give Romero financing for any of his films anymore? He's a big financial risk. He can say all he wants that he's financing this new venture mostly on his own, but I'll bet you money this came after he was once again turned down when the coffers locked shut after the receptionists at these places announced to the Hollywood bigwigs that GAR was scouting for some cash. Big Daddy indeed! :sick:

[writer93]

I agree LOTD wasnt too good IMO.

[Sinister]

Romero needs to get some things put out there like quick. It's been almost two months since someone posted in this thread.

[Johnny Thunder]

We can make up stuff? Perhaps it will be better than the finished product. :D

[Sinister]

Considering his latest track record JT, your statement is almost a foregone conclusion. :D

[Johnny Thunder]

Not that you want to or should give away your ideas here, but how would you do the 'next' Dead movie? Assuming we keep to NOTLD, Dawn , Day, and Land what would be a 'logical' next step for a 5th movie? It seems to set up that the dead will go off and form their own commune somewhere and try to 'live' in peace. A Civil War of sorts?

Oh, wait, I know: zombies in space. (kidding) :D

[Dr Morbius]

Let's throw out some genre's!

Zombie romantic comedy..Zombie meets girl, Zombie eats girl, girl becomes Zombie, they unlive happily ever after.
Zombie political thriller..Zombie covers up eating the staff of the oval office.
Zombie murder mystery..Who ate it?
Zombie CGI animated cartoon..Walt Disney presents a Pixar film:A Zombie's Life.


Others:
Zombie western
Zombie gladiators
Zombie Medieval knights and dragons
Zombie time travel movie
Zombie musical

[Johnny Thunder]

Zombie western could work a la Jonah Hex meets the undead.

[Sinister]

Actually, if memory serves, some of Doc's suggestions are already movies or are being made into such. Truthfully.

As for what I would do to get a sense of logic where it concerns Romero's films is to get Romero out of the directors chair period and get someone who's more saavy to a genre he hasn't had anything really to lend to of any import in about two decades. If you want to get some sense of continuity back, disavow anything after Night of the Living Dead. Yes, even my favorite of the series, Dawn of the Dead would have to go. With a zombie plague of those proportions going on, mankind shouldn't have progressed too far technologically speaking anyway from the events in NOTLD; all styles and fashion should also mirror that era. DOTD would be stretching it and could be worked around especially if they had decreased the dead's numbers drastically until they weren't a problem unless they lazed off, thus setting up DOTD. It's still not as far fetched as that goddamn travesty, Land of the Dead. I have sort of an idea, but I think I would rather start with a fresh concept that has nothing to do with Romero's universe.

[RAXL]

See this was always my biggest problem with the Dead series.
Are they really even set in the same continuity?
Or are they just seperate movies, following a similar theme?

At the end of the original NOTLD, it seems to me that the humans, at least in Pittsburgh, were pretty much in charge. If Pittsburgh can do it, I would think the rest of the world could follow suit. :p :zombie:

[Sinister]

I don't even think Romero knows if it's the same continuity. He's always trying to push personal social issues as opposed to a coherent storylines.

But if you were going by continuity and wanted to add to the series, you would have to adhere to the very real belief that we as humans are apathetic and lazy by nature. Therein would lie the key to our downfall, as the dead would steadily increase daily while the populace would dwindle until we were overrun. That's at least how I could see it logically happening. But that's just my opinion and we know how much they're worth. :D

[Johnny Thunder]

I had always assumed it was in continuity in the sense that Night was the original outbreak of the dead, followed by the Dawn which seems to have the dead assuming a little more control; then by the Day the dead controlled most of the world, followed by Land where there were definite segregated divisions between what was left of humanity and the dead.