Romero Returns with "Diary of the Dead"
Filed under: Classics, Horror, Remakes and Sequels
George A. Romero directed the original Night of the Living Dead in 1968, which was followed by Dawn of the Dead in 1978, Day of the Dead in 1985, and Land of the Dead in 2006. Tom Savini remade Night of the Living Dead in 1990 and Zack Snyder remade Dawn of the Dead in 2004. Steve Miner is presently at work on a Day of the Dead remake -- and it's probably a few years too soon to expect someone to remake Land of the Dead ... maybe.Which means that Romero's got to bang out another sequel if he wants to stay two steps ahead of the re-makers. And that means good news, zombie fans! The master himself has just signed a deal to write and direct Diary of the Dead, which is a title that makes me giggle because it conjures visions of a rotting zombie trying to write something angsty and poignant in his frilly little diary. ...
The fifth Dead entry will borrow a page from The Blair Witch Project, in that Diary of the Dead tells the story of a bunch of film school students who trek into the wilderness to make a horror movie -- only to discover that the shuffling undead are more than happy to turn their horror movie into a reality show.
And it looks like Romero will be going indie-style once again. Universal bankrolled and released George's most recent zombiethon, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, Mr. Romero convinced his producer-pal Peter Grunwald that this time around they could just raise the cash and do it themselves. Cool.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-26-2006 @ 2:49PM
erock22000 said...
i hope this does not suck as much as land of the dead because that was a piece of crap!!!!!!!!!
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8-26-2006 @ 2:58PM
morphs said...
As a fan of anything Dead, I can't wait to see it. :D
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8-27-2006 @ 9:13AM
Darien said...
What happened to the Land of the Dead sequel that was suppose to follow Dead Reckoning?
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8-28-2006 @ 10:36AM
Monica said...
I agree with what 'morph' said: As a fan of anything "Dead", I also cannot wait to see it. Just as if they came out with more versions of Freddy, Jason & Michael Myers, true fans MUST make the pilgrimage to the next DEAD movie!
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9-02-2006 @ 2:32AM
Alex said...
Iam one of the biggest zombie fans ever. I saw every Romero zombie flick and loved all of them. I will see this one as long as its not actually like blair witch or Land Of The Dead. Good Luck ill be in the theater for this one.
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9-02-2006 @ 6:03PM
Norrock The Zombie Eater said...
All of Romero's zombie flicks are awesome, I would even go as far as calling Romero the king of the zombie genre. And it is so good to know that he is going to keep em coming, I am so glad he did not let the down fall of Land of the Dead discourage him, Alot of ppl did not care too much for Land of the Dead for some reason or another, I myself went to see it with an open mind cauise i knew with the way that the horror world is today they where not going to let Romero give us the Land of the Dead he wanted us all to see, I was however surprised with what they did let Romero bring to the big screen, The only real flaw i saw in Land of the Dead was the ending, And that i would not even go as far as calling a flaw Romero was just leaveing the door open for another chapter. Now that all this shit has been said about Romero's ( Or should i say Hollywood's) Land of the Dead Maybe it was enough to realy piss Romero off, And now he is going to make a zombie flick that will bite all of our asses. In order for him to do that Diary of the Dead might end up being more of a straight to DVD release, Because it sounds like Romero is going back to the start, Back to what made his zombie films so fresh to begin with, And if that is so than so be it, Bring on more zombies Romero!
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10-28-2006 @ 7:55PM
dbelltime said...
1. land of the dead was definitely "not" a "fall down". on the money side land made 45mio, that is 3 times the budget.
2. i couldnt really see any flaws in the movie. at least none that would really matter.
3. out of all the zombie flicks of the last 15 years or so land is by far the most serious and for sure the best.
4. the ending of land is brilliant. why? because romero continues to humanize the zombies. thats logical, since he always said "THEY are US".
5. the brilliance of "land", for me, lies in the fact that we where actually allowed to watch THEM gaining some some sort of intelligence.
6. the zombie rule book that never existet (romero comments on this on the dvd) slowly takes shape and it all might one day be even logical. even one shouldnt look for logic in this genre, especially not in romeros movies, because he is a intuitive filmmaker.
7. cant wait to see diary, land2 or diamond dead.
8. good to see, that he has got the money now to work independently again.
cheers
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11-03-2006 @ 7:00PM
adam mikael said...
Romero IS the King of the Zombier Genre. He made the modern Flesh Eating Zombie a true horror cult classic monster! I can't wait for the nightmares I'll have from this movie!
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11-03-2006 @ 10:48AM
paul said...
GEORGE IS FILMING IN NOVEMBER near Pittsburgh. DIARY OF THE DEAD has a completely unknown cast -- there's rumor of a direct to DVD release -- not sure how i feel about that. Also talk of then the final (6th) zombie film from GEORGE A -- WORLD OF THE DEAD (hmm...) and by the way, is it me or is LAND OF THE DEAD aging really well? Viewings of it on DVD show a completely professional and enjoyable viewing experience, time and time again...of course I wanted another DAWN type epic, but for what it is, it rocks...and also reports that GEORGE collapsed in October at true, but he's back as work -- GEORGE A LIVE FOREVER!
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11-06-2006 @ 4:59PM
Bill Heinisch said...
"DIARY OF THE DEAD" sounds excellent! I cant wait till this comes out! I hope Tom Savini has a huge acting part and does the effects.!!! ALSO, "LAND OF THE DEAD" was excellent.For everybody out there that didn't like it, it's probably because it wasn't rated pg-13 like all the pathetic horror films being made today.
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11-05-2006 @ 12:57AM
MoshLikeAPirate said...
Diary is getting back to what always interested me in the Dead series: The chaos surrounding the collapse of society in the wake of the dead's return to life. Land was an excellant movie (Though the unrated version is far better than the theatrical release) and I think it translated well in moving the story along from Day. Keep up the good work George. The true Dead fans are as behind you now as we have ever been.
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11-06-2006 @ 5:09AM
Robert said...
Everyone talks about how Land sucked. Its just they lack an understanding of George Romero's zombie films. Night was about racism and the war at that time, Dawn was about societys need to buy buy buy, Day was about how the government is controlling everyone's lives, Land showed what the other three has brought us to. George is right, they are us and we are them! I personally can't wait to see Diary of the Dead. Oh and someone mentioned Dead Reckoning being the sequel to Land of the Dead. Dead Reckoning, Diamond Dead, both were at one time suppose to be the title of Land of the Dead, they settled on Land of the Dead instead of the other two titles. But I do recall a rumor that George Romero will have about 3 more zombie movies that are direct to DVD that will fill in the gaps between Night, Dawn, Day, and Land. Not sure if the rumor is true but something to keep your ears out for. Don't forget though, true fans of zombie films, there is a new Resident Evil film in the making as well! (not by George Romero for those that didn't follow that)
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11-15-2006 @ 12:58PM
Joseph Vazquez said...
I enjoyed land of the dead but when are we going to see zombies that LOOK like zombies and not just humans in pale make-up? The best zombie creature design by far has been the TarMan look used in the ROTLD series. A Land of the Dead remake full of gore and zombies that have that tooth exposed, blood dripping, hellish look would be great. Honestly im sick of all these supposed zombie flicks that star nothing more then cannibals. I hope Romero or some other directors take this request and act on it. If DOTD has more people in make-up and no monsterous looking zombies then I wont bother with it.
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