According to Variety, Lux Digital Pictures, a new German film company, is reanimating the dead in its first feature production, a 3-D remake of Night of the Living Dead, and resurrecting the possibility of private equity investment following the demise of film funds.

The Berlin-based Lux Digital partnered with the pic's producer-director Jeff Broadstreet, coming on board to completely finance Night of the Living Dead 3-D. Producers describe the film as "a homage" to George Romero's 1968 zombie classic -- a title that is in the public domain.

Launched last year by Ingo Jucht, Lux Digital is backed by several equity investors, a setup that may prove increasingly interesting to German investors who no longer have the possibility to invest in tax-sheltering film funds following the government's recent clampdown on the market. Investors can still invest directly in production companies, however.

"After the closure of the media funds, such a structure is one of the few opportunities left to investors who are really interested in film production," says Jucht.

Lux Digital is developing two other projects: Earth Creature, a sci-fi thriller penned by Night of the Living Dead 3-D scribe Robert Valding; and "Summer Love," a teen romance set in 1970s Cuba written by David Schmoeller.

Jucht is looking for a Latin American or Spanish co-production partner for "Summer Love," a story about an American teen who falls for a Cuban girl while visiting the island with his father.

Night of the Living Dead was released October 1st, 1968 and stars Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley, Kyra Schon, Charles Craig. The film is directed by George A. Romero.