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Retro Rewind: Behind the Scenes Video of George Romero’s Day of the Dead

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Written by Patti Pauley

Readers, I have to confess I stared at my screen for a long time before typing anything out. What could I possibly say about someone as iconic to the genre as George Romero that would do the man justice? After I thought long and hard about it, the answer is simply nothing. To call the man a legend in the genre is almost an understatement in its entirety given all that he has given us fans over his fifty years in the business. I’m just a tiny speck in this ever growing community, and to try and put in perspective Romero’s legacy and importance that will forever continue with us in the world of horror could take up to a 2000 page novel in the hopes to give him proper justice.

Image result for george romero gif Image credit: AMC

RIP George A. Romero

Born: February 4, 1940, The Bronx, New York City, NY
Died: July 16, 2017, Toronto, Canada

Image result for george romero gif

So to pay the wholehearted respect I have for the father of the Zombie Genre, I’m releasing this Retro Rewind a day early for the anniversary of Day of the Dead and in the wake of the heartbreaking passing of a true pioneer in the world of horror.  Romero’s Day of the Dead is personally and most likely an unpopular opinion, my favorite of his zombie movies and just like 1968’s Night of the Living Dead and ’78’s Dawn, was far ahead of its time. Although Day is considered the least successful out of the three mentioned, it doesn’t make it any less beloved and a staple that should be had in every horror fan’s collection. It also has been reported that Day is Romero’s favorite of the original trilogy, regardless of studios cockblocking him into making Day into something much larger as was intended.

Word has it that Romero’s Day of the Dead original script was to be an apocalyptic spectacle of glory on an H.G. Wells level complete with a multitude of zombie battles resulting from the training from a group of scientists looking to manipulate an undead army of their own. Romero had described it as the “Gone With the Wind of zombie movies”, but studios denied him of his budget when Romero insisted on filming the type of gore film that would present an unrated release and threatened to slash the funds in half. So, Mr. Romero was given the option of filming his vision with a very small budget and little to no gore or opt for a rewrite with the amount of violence he envisioned in Day of the Dead. As history goes, he chose the latter.

 

Anywho, regardless of scratched scripts and again, the least popular of the original Dead trilogy according to fan polls, Day of the Dead seems to be the one that bears the most political subtext with Romero screaming a big fat “FUCK YOU” to the government. The powers of the military undermine both science and decent morality in an effort to sustain command over what’s left of society.  Day of the Dead not only focuses on the aftermath of a true zombie apocalypse but the clash of ideologies between, well, let’s use the terms progressives and conservatives in a world gone to hell. And frankly, nothing is more terrifying than a small world of humans divided. Add in some zombies and you have a complete shit show ladies and gents.

In celebration of the life of Romero and the 32nd anniversary of Day of the Dead, I’ve dug up some really cool retro videos provided to the internets and uploaded by YouTuber Goremeister100. The YouTuber’s channel includes 20 super rad videos of Romero, Savani, Nicotero, and company behind the scenes making the magic happen and it surely is blissful to watch, so kudos to this righteous dude for providing the public with this fantastic treat for Dead fans. I’ve included a few of the videos here, however to get the full experience, head on over to Goremeister100’s channel in the link above.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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