May 26, 2010 by Jami Philbrick
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: George A. Romero Mourns the Survival of the Dead
It's no wonder that legendary film director George A. Romero was nicknamed the Grandfather of the zombie movie, considering that he practically invented the genre. Romero created some of the most seminal zombie films of all-time including Night of the Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead and The Crazies, just to name a few. After taking a break from making zombie films, Romero returned to the genre in 2005 with George A. Romero's Land of the Dead, which is the highest budgeted and highest grossing film of his career to date. Following that picture, the director decided to go back to his roots and in 2007 made the low-budget film Diary of the Dead. While it was his fifth zombie movie, Romero has previously stated that it was not a continuation of his "Dead" series of films and in fact should serve as the jumping off point for an entire new series of zombie movies. That new series continues with the new film George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead, which opens on May 28th. We recently had a chance to sit down with George A. Romero and the legendary filmmaker spoke candidly with us about his new film, his legacy, Hollywood remakes of his previous work and his opinion of the current state of zombie movies. To watch our exclusive interview please click on the video clip below.
Like its predecessor, Diary of the Dead, George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead takes place in a desperate, nightmarish world where the dead walk the earth, relentlessly attacking the living. Off the coast of Delaware sits the cozy Plum Island where two families are locked in a struggle for power, as it has been for generations. Patrick O'Flynn (Kenneth Welsh) is the patriarch of the O'Flynn family and they approach the zombie plague with a shoot-to-kill attitude. The Muldoons, headed by Shamus Muldoon (Richard Fitzpatrick), feel that the zombies should be quarantined and kept alive in hopes that a solution will someday be found. The O'Flynns, who are clearly outnumbered, are forced to exile Patrick by boat to the mainland where he meets up with a band of soldiers, headed by Sarge "Nicotine" Crockett (Alan Van Sprang). They join forces and return to the island to find that the zombie plague has fully gripped the divided community. As the battle between humans and zombies escalates, the master filmmaker continues to reinvent the modern horror genre with wicked humor and pointed social commentary.
George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead was released May 28th, 2010 and stars Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe, Devon Bostick, Richard Fitzpatrick, Athena Karkanis, Stefano DiMatteo, Joris Jarsky. The film is directed by George A. Romero.
Sources: Jami Philbrick
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Vicky Keyte
@xybernetic if he didn't make zombie films back in the day the way he did he would not be looked on as the Creator of the undead genre but im sorry if it was not for this amazing director we would not have as many films as we do these days based on zombies and may i point out if zombie films are not scary they still make a large amount of the money that is in the film industry as zombies is something that people keep coming back for like the walking dead series and resident evil films none of this would be around if george didnt make his films like dawn of the dead in 1978 made a worldwide gross revenue of $55 million, making it the most profitable in the Dead series and the remake a further $100 million at international box office in 2004 im sorry but however you look at it george's dead series of films was what gave us the resident evil films and spin offs like shawn of the dead. And to finish i would like to say that he did NOT abuse the genre he just had bigger balls than anyone else out there to take it to a whole new level and despite what some people like yourself think this man is a legend and he always will be in the film industry if you like it or not.
Why Stop Doing What Your Good At!
4 months agoby @Vicky-KeyteFlag
Vanboy
George IS the creator of the Undead genre. He didn't abuse it. If you're good at something you should keep doing it. And he's still got his wits about him. He needs to go back and just make more about people looking for a place to stay safe, like in Dawn. All of this deep thinking, doesn't sit well the with undead aspect of what made the originals good. What made Dawn so good, is the character relations. The undead were just that. The ere undead and didn't have any personality or anything. The cool stuff had to do with the character's reactions to them and the hope for some normalcy.
Funny that George didn't mention the remake of Night of the Living Dead. That's very strange.
I liked all of the "Of the Dead" movies, except Diary. I really got annoyed when they made the dude with the camera out to be the weirdo. They do that in every movie, when a guy is filming everything, from Blair Witch, to Cloverfield. Just film it and have the rest of the characters shut the f*ck up, and stop asking the guy why he's filming. We all know why. If he didn't film there wouldn't be a movie. There's no reason to make the characters point out that it's weird. That's the only thing that I see with these first hand shot movies that won't allow them (the genre?) to have any kind of longevity. And that's the major suspension of disbelief we will have to supply, to fall for the fact that some dude will be filming all of this carnage and weird sh*t, instead of running his ass off to survive.
2 years agoby @vanboyFlag
deadjedi
It would be nice if people wouldn't make ignorant, sweeping statements about what is or isn't scary. You don't speak for the entire filmgoing public. Just because you're a jaded horror fan who's seen it all before doesn't mean that everybody else is, too.
2 years agoby @deadjediFlag
CelluloidDreams
George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead opens in Tempe Arizona - Thursday June 17 (8pm) Friday June 18 & Saturday June 19 - George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead (6, 8, 10pm) $8 - 35mm
2 years agoby @2movieguysFlag
Xybernetic
of course he has done good zombie movies but in their time..zombie movies are no longer scary.
2 years agoby @xyberneticFlag
Mutant
Yes, George is the man. Though I wish he would do Resident Evil, he would put the creep factor back into it.
2 years agoby @zenderFlag
Timmy
george is the man. deal with it!
2 years agoby @timmyFlag
KaoNoshi
He is capable of other things. He did Bruiser, the Dark Half, Martin and the original Crazies. Hes just using the zombie genre as a crutch. I think he still has more good movies in him if he just moves into new territory.
2 years agoby @kaonoshiFlag
Err
people love talking sh*t.
2 years agoby @err2005Flag
Xybernetic
oh and he didnt invented the genre he just abused it :p
2 years agoby @xyberneticFlag
Xybernetic
hes too old alredy. zombie movies is all this guy know how to do..or at least he thinks that.
2 years agoby @xyberneticFlag
KaoNoshi
I respect the man for what hes done, but seriously he needs to stop making zombie movies now. Do something else please.
2 years agoby @kaonoshiFlag