Connect with us

News

George Romero: Are Zombie Films Really Dead?

Published

on

I’ve always been a huge fan of George Romero. And if you’re a fan of any sort of zombie films, you should be, too. The director changed the face of the zombie forever with his 1968 indie flick Night of the Living Dead. Everything since has just been more or less been trying to recreate the magic of that black and white masterpiece.

The impact of the film is still being felt today. The popularity of films such as World War Z and television shows like The Walking Dead are proof enough. But despite their popularity, George Romero has been finding some difficulty getting his own ideas out to the public. Is he a victim of his own creation?

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the director makes it very clear that he has, in fact, been pushed out. To quote:

Hollywood Reporter: Do you have thoughts on the future of the Dead franchise?

Romero: I’ve sort of dropped out of it. 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. [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.

This certainly is concerning, and the sadness behind these words is overwhelming. Romero’s films are some of the best that the horror genre has to offer. Regardless, it seems as if the passage of time has started to bury the filmmaker’s influence in favor of a more modernized, bubblegum-type zombie.

Zombies really are everywhere. Like the movies, they’ve been slowly closing in on pop culture until that final moment when we are completely overrun. Plants Vs. Zombies. Pride + Prejudice + Zombies. iZombie. The list goes on.

Romero has a point – mostly. It appears that if the image of the zombie has become so iconic that the idea of the undead being a vessel for a metaphor has become old news. Dawn of the Dead was a cynical outlook on consumerism. The creatures here flocked to shopping malls and trudged around mindlessly, much like the media had been commanding them to do throughout most of their lives. With each film, George Romero had been making a statement. These were personal films, ones with meaning and depth. And while I certainly did enjoy Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, it was mindless fun at best.

I do agree with the Night of the Living Dead creator for the most part. I understand what he is saying about feeling like he has been abandoned by all of these people who have taken influence from him, knowingly or not. However, I think there’s also something that needs to be said about this.

The difference between The Walking Dead and almost every other zombie-themed movie, book, or game, is that the strongest part about it is the human element. For all of the Walkers that can be found in TWD, it’s proven – especially by Negan – that even in a world infested with flesh eaters, the real monsters are still the people. It has always worked best when there is a strong element of human drama. When major characters die, the ratings skyrocket. Which is fine. That’s what happens with a good drama.

The Walking Dead understands human tragedy so much that I’ve heard many people call it a “Soap Opera with zombie cameos – which, in my book, is fine. It’s crossed more than one boundary and upset its fair share of people. Yet, the reason it remains so popular is because of the cast. Maybe the show isn’t making a political statement like Romero, but there is undoubtedly more to the show than just Walkers.

Again, it’s important to note that the show is the exception and not the rule. Zombies elsewhere have taken on a silly, comical appeal. More often than not, the undead rising from the graves are depicted in horror comedies. The more outrageous, and the more you can satirize the idea of a zombie, the better a movie seems to do. It’s an incredibly strange and unexpected trend.

I think that Romero still has it in him to make a good film. I truly do. He’s a smart, likable guy. We just need people to keep his name alive and to keep reminding everyone where The Walking Dead and World War Z came from in the first place. Despite the overabundance of zombies in this day and age, it seems pretty lonely without George A. Romero.

Demand his movies. Wear your Night of the Living Dead shirts. Help keep zombie films…human.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

News

The Pope’s Exorcist Officially Announces New Sequel

Published

on

The Pope’s Exorcist is one of those films that’s just fun to watch. It isn’t the most terrifying film around, but there’s something about Russel Crow (Gladiator) playing a wise cracking Catholic priest that just feels right.

Screen Gems seems to agree with this assessment, as they have just officially announced that The Pope’s Exorcist sequel is in the works. It makes sense that Screen Gems would want to keep this franchise going, considering the first film scared up almost $80 million with a budget of only $18 million.

The Pope's Exorcist
The Pope’s Exorcist

According to Crow, there may even be a The Pope’s Exorcist trilogy in the works. However, recent changes with the studio may have put the third film on hold. In a sit-down with The Six O’Clock Show, Crow gave the following statement about the project.

“Well that’s in discussion at the moment. The producers originally got the kick off from the studio not just for one sequel but for two. But there’s been a change of studio heads at the moment, so that’s going around in a few circles. But very definitely, man. We set that character up that you could take him out and put him into a lot of different circumstances.”

Crow has also stated that film’s source material involves twelve separate books. This would allow the studio to take the story in all kinds of directions. With that much source material, The Pope’s Exorcist could even rival The Conjuring Universe.

Only the future will tell what becomes of The Pope’s Exorcist. But as always, more horror is always a good thing.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading

News

New ‘Faces of Death’ Remake Will Be Rated R For “Strong Bloody Violence and Gore”

Published

on

In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, the Faces of Death reboot has been given an R rating from the MPA. Why has the film been given this rating? For strong bloody violence, gore, sexual content, nudity, language, and drug use, of course.

What else would you expect from a Faces of Death reboot? It would honestly be alarming if the film received anything less than an R rating.

Faces of death
Faces of Death

For those unaware, the original Faces of Death film released in 1978 and promised viewers video evidence of real deaths. Of course, this was just a marketing gimmick. Promoting a real snuff film would be a terrible idea.

But the gimmick worked, and franchise lived on in infamy. The Faces of Death reboot is hoping to gain the same amount of viral sensation as its predecessor. Isa Mazzei (Cam) and Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) will spearhead this new addition.

The hope is that this reboot will do well enough to recreate the infamous franchise for a new audience. While we don’t know much about the film at this point, but a joint statement from Mazzei and Goldhaber gives us the following info on the plot.

“Faces of Death was one of the first viral video tapes, and we are so lucky to be able to use it as a jumping off point for this exploration of cycles of violence and the way they perpetuate themselves online.”

“The new plot revolves around a female moderator of a YouTube-like website, whose job is to weed out offensive and violent content and who herself is recovering from a serious trauma, that stumbles across a group that is recreating the murders from the original film. But in the story primed for the digital age and age of online misinformation, the question faced is are the murders real or fake?”

The reboot will have some bloody shoes to fill. But from the looks of it, this iconic franchise is in good hands. Unfortunately, the film does not have a release date at this time.

That’s all the information we have at this time. Make sure to check back here for more news and updates.

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading

Movie Reviews

Panic Fest 2024 Review: ‘The Ceremony Is About To Begin’

Published

on

People will look for answers and belonging in the darkest places and the darkest people. The Osiris Collective is a commune predicated upon ancient Egyptian theology and was run by the mysterious Father Osiris. The group boasted dozens of members, each forgoing their old lives for one held in the Egyptian themed land owned by Osiris in Northern California. But the good times take a turn for the worst when in 2018, an upstart member of the collective named Anubis (Chad Westbrook Hinds) reports Osiris disappearing while mountain climbing and declaring himself the new leader. A schism ensued with many members leaving the cult under Anubis’ unhinged leadership. A documentary is being made by a young man named Keith (John Laird) whose fixation with The Osiris Collective stems from his girlfriend Maddy leaving him for the group several years ago. When Keith gets invited to document the commune by Anubis himself, he decides to investigate, only to get wrapped up in horrors he couldn’t even imagine…

The Ceremony Is About To Begin is the latest genre twisting horror film from Red Snow‘s Sean Nichols Lynch. This time tackling cultist horror along with a mockumentary style and the Egyptian mythology theme for the cherry on top. I was a big fan of Red Snow‘s subversiveness of the vampire romance sub-genre and was excited to see what this take would bring. While the movie has some interesting ideas and a decent tension between the meek Keith and the erratic Anubis, it just doesn’t exactly thread everything together in a succinct fashion.

The story begins with a true crime documentary style interviewing former members of The Osiris Collective and sets-up what led the cult to where it is now. This aspect of the storyline, especially Keith’s own personal interest in the cult, made it an interesting plotline. But aside from some clips later on, it doesn’t play as much a factor. The focus is largely on the dynamic between Anubis and Keith, which is toxic to put it lightly. Interestingly, Chad Westbrook Hinds and John Lairds are both credited as writers on The Ceremony Is About To Begin and definitely feel like they’re putting their all into these characters. Anubis is the very definition of a cult leader. Charismatic, philosophical, whimsical, and threateningly dangerous at the drop of a hat.

Yet strangely, the commune is deserted of all cult members. Creating a ghost town that only amps up the danger as Keith documents Anubis’ alleged utopia. A lot of the back and forth between them drags at times as they struggle for control and Anubis keeps continuing to convince Keith to stick around despite the threatening situation. This does lead to a pretty fun and bloody finale that fully leans into mummy horror.

Overall, despite meandering and having a bit of a slow pace, The ceremony Is About To Begin is a fairly entertaining cult, found footage, and mummy horror hybrid. If you want mummies, it delivers on mummies!

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Listen to the 'Eye On Horror Podcast'

Continue Reading