George A. Romero ushered in the modern zombie movie with his 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead, following it up with five sequels of varying quality, the last of which – Survival of the Dead – was released back in 2009. Given the enormous popularity of The Walking Dead, zombies are big business once again, so it would seem a perfect time for Romero to return to the genre for one last hurrah. However, the filmmaker has revealed to THR that he has no interest in revisiting the series at present, as he feels that Brad Pitt and The Walking Dead have killed the genre.
“I’ve sort of dropped out of it,” said Romero when asked about the future of the franchise. “The Dead are everywhere these days. I think really Brad Pitt killed it. The Walking Dead and Brad Pitt just sort of killed it all. The remake of Dawn of the Dead made money. I think pretty big money. Then Zombieland made money, and then all of a sudden, along comes Brad Pitt and he spends $400 million or whatever the hell to do World War Z. [Author] Max Brooks is a friend of mine, and I thought the film was not at all representative what the book was and the zombies were, I don’t know, ants crawling over the wall in Israel. Army ants. You might as well make The Naked Jungle. As far as I’m concerned, I’m content to wait until sort of zombies die off. My films, I’ve tried to put a message into them. It’s not about the gore, it’s not about the horror element that are in them. It’s more about the message, for me. That’s what it is, and I’m using this platform to be able to show my feelings of what I think.”
What do you make of Romero’s comments? Is he right about World War Z and The Walking Dead, and are you disappointed that we may have seen the last of Romero’s Dead series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
rs1981 says
I disagree on The Walking Dead part, but agree on World War Z. However, George can’t talk. His movie Survival of the Dead was horrible. It felt like he wasn’t even trying. The only thing I liked about it, was Alan Van Sprang. That is all that I liked. George has been slipping a bit on his movies. Last one of his that I liked was Diary of the Dead. Maybe it’s best that he takes a break.
Gary@FlickeringMyth says
Oh yes, Survival of the Dead was atrocious. I was not a fan of Diary of the Dead either, or Land (not compared to the first three, anyway).
rs1981 says
I enjoyed Diary and Land, but that’s just me. I’m thinking George might as well retire, since The Walking Dead is not ending any time soon. If he’s not wanting to do any zombie movies while TWD is still going, then he might as well retire.
Gary@FlickeringMyth says
I’ve only watched Diary the once, so maybe I should give it another chance before I write it off.
rs1981 says
Entirely up to you. I hope you enjoy it the 2nd time around. To be honest, I had to leave from the theater when it came out, due to my motion sickness. Camera man’s point of view, and the shaky camera didn’t help on the big screen. Smaller screen was better.
Luke Owen says
I’ve not been into George’s movies since Day of the Dead really. Land left a bad taste in my mouth, but I think that’s because I’d overhyped it too much in my head before seeing it in theatres. I really didn’t like Diary or Survival though. If he’d made another one, I wouldn’t rush out to see it.
rs1981 says
Yeah after the disaster that was Survival, I felt like he had run out of ideas, and was just trying to put whatever he could out. Surprised he’s complained about TWD though, because one of his regulars Greg Nicotero is on there. Greg has done both makeup and acting for George.
DukeF says
TOO BAD…..GEORGE DIED….and Brad Pitt and The Walking Dead…..LIVE..