When there’s no more room in development hell for another iteration of the undead, it seems the best thing to do is go back to where it all began. That’s what appears to be the plan for Village Roadshow Pictures, who have partnered with Chris Romero and the late George A. Romero’s Sanibel Films, Origin Story, Vertigo and Westbrook Studios to return to the world the horror legend created in 1968 by developing a sequel to Night of the Living Dead.
Deadline reports that the film will be written by LaToya Morgan, who has previous when it comes to organising zombie hoards having been a writer-producer on AMC’s The Walking Dead, and that Nanny director Nikyatu Jusu would be behind the camera for the potential franchise starter.
Jusu, whose film won the Dramatic Grand Gury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival said in a statement that “The original version of Night of the Living Dead is still so resonant to this day. Every era has the zombie that it needs and right now, zombies reflect the ways that humans treat each other and show us who is truly the monster.”
Morgan added that Night of the Living Dead was “one of the great cornerstones of the horror genre. I’m beyond thrilled to be playing in the sandbox that George Romero built and ecstatic to raise the stakes and push the envelope with this exciting new story.”
1968’s Night of the Living Dead has been re-released, remade, re-edited and re-animated over the years. Made for $115,000, the classic horror grossed over $30 million dollars upon release and has been heralded for holding up a mirror to the social and political issues of the world into which it shuffled. It’s fair to say that things haven’t gotten that much better, so Morgan and Jusu will have plenty of social commentary that they can get their teeth into with a sequel.
Are you excited to return to the world of George A. Romero’s classic, or has the amount of zombie content in mainstream made you brain-dead at the thought of it? Let us know by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
