Zombies: The Undead That Will Not Die

Zombies in film have been a thing since 1932 with Victor Halperin’s White Zombie (Widely considered the first Zombie film).  We won’t be looking that far back.  We will be focusing on the genre since it was defined in 1968.

 

Once upon a time in 1968, a man named George A. Romero brought to life and even defined a genre of horror that to this day, has captured our imaginations and fed our fears.  The Zombie genre.  You see, George had no idea at the time, that we would be looking back 50 years later on his work and proclaiming it’s greatness and its transformative power on the world of film.  He had no idea that there would even be a “Dawn of the Dead”, “Day of the Dead, or any other film.  No idea we would have remakes upon remakes of the original vision he had with John Russo and “Night of the Living Dead”.  What was started in 1968 however, has grown, like the hordes of the undead we see on the screen.

 

Hundreds of films have been made around these creatures over the last Fifty years and they have been all over the place.  Everything from Gore Soaked horror, to romantic comedies and everything you can think of in between.  We haven’t run out of ideas and situations to pit people against the undead yet, and it looks like this train has no plan of stopping any time soon.  I think its this reason, that zombies have remained in the spotlight so much since the 1990 remake of “Night of the Living Dead”, starring Tony Todd and Patricia Tallman (Ben and Barbra respectively).  There is something almost self-defeating and thoroughly terrifying about humanity having to fight its own risen dead.

 

Since 1968, we have seen a series of films, a loose spin-off, an explosion of art, music, clothing, games and so much more.  After Fifty years, why wouldn’t there be?  Fifty years…zombies are still going stronger than vampires, werewolves, aliens and almost every other creepy crawly out there combined.  Now with all that already going on, there is no way it could get better right?  Wrong!  So very wrong.

 

As I’m writing this, there is a small group of people, led by George C. Romero, who are working on a project known as “Romero’s Deadverse“. The “Deadverse” is described best by Cameron (George C. Romero). “The Deadverse is a very cool place full of love for George A. Romero, everything he created and everything I am working to carry into the future. At its root, this is the simplest explanation.

Upon a deeper dive into the “Deadverse”, your trip down the rabbit hole will introduce you to the phenomenon that has grown to global epidemic proportions. Whether you are new to the world of zombies or if you’re a seasoned fan with the most die hard of commitments to this world, you will find a place designed to finally pay the proper respect to the Godfather of the modern zombie, and my father, George A. Romero.” The “Deadverse” is also home to information on the next steps in the “Living Dead Saga” created by George A. Romero.  His son Cameron will be filming the next installment, titled “Rise of the Living Dead”. Along with the film, will also be a Table Top RPG, that will allow you, my dear Freaks, to enter into the world of the undead. Not just any world though. The world created by George A. Romero.

 

For Fifty years, we’ve seen Vampires come and go, werewolves as well, but zombies have been a massive constant. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon. The fact that the Romero legacy is in the more than capable hands of Cameron, leaves me feeling hopeful for the shambling corpses of our fallen in the future of film.

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