Diary of the Dead, George A. Romero's first independent zombie film in over 20 years, follows a group of student filmmakers who, making a low-grade horror film in the woods, drive back to civilization ... only to find it isn't there anymore. We watch the film unfold as footage they shoot travelling through desolate and deadly buildings, neighborhoods, towns, cities -- coming to grips with the fact that the dead are walking and hungry and everything they knew is over. Shot outside of Toronto, where Romero now lives (but, as tradition demands, set near Pittsburgh), Diary of the Dead played both the Toronto and Sundance Film Festivals; Scott Weinberg's review from Toronto can be found here, while Jette Kernion's review is here.

Writer-director George A. Romero spoke with Cinematical about his zombie film legacy that stretches back to 1968's Night of the Living Dead, his concerns about the possibilities and perils of user-generated media, which Presidential candidate he thinks would have the best handle on attacking armies of the dead, and the undying popularity of the undead he created. " (If) I created anything ... it was the "neighborhood zombie" ... the guy with Nikes and a sweatshirt. ... Neighbors are scary, and when they're dead they're a bit scarier. But once you have that, it's idiomatic ... I half expect the zombies to show up on Sesame Street hanging out with The Count. ..."

Cinematical: I've read several notes and quotes from you saying that Diary of the Dead essentially felt like a new beginning.

George A. Romero: For me, it was a new beginning; I made four zombie films before this, and they sort of tracked, they were along a single storyline, even though they were 10 years or more apart, each of them. And they were just getting too big. The last one (George A. Romero's Land of the Dead) was a studio-supported film, which, you know, I turned around and looked at it: They let me make the film I wanted to make, I loved working with Dennis Hopper and Leguizamo and people like that, but I felt the film and I had sort of lost connection with the origin of the series, which was a little guerrilla movie that a bunch of amateurs made in Pittsburgh all those years ago. And I wanted to go back to ... I wanted to see if I had the chops and the stamina to make a little guerilla movie. I happened to have an idea that I wanted to do something ... all of my zombie films have had this kind of socio-political satire underneath them, and I've always used them as snapshots of the time in which they were made.

I got an idea that I wanted to do something about emerging media, with the mainstream losing its power and Joe Blow from Oshkosh taking over on the blogosphere. And it all sort of fell into place. And I thought 'Well, I can make a little film, do it pretty inexpensively, about students who are out shooting a student film when the sh*t hits the fan, when zombies sit up and start walking around.' I said 'We can go back to the very first night, and we can try to pretend ' -- even though that was 1968 and this is now --- 'that this is the same first night, when this phenomenon first begins to happen.'

Seems like this flick has been a loooong time coming, but if you're one of the charitable gorehounds who still can't wait for the Day of the Dead re-do, despite the fact that it's produced by the folks responsible for Creepshow 3 and Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (don't ask), then here's some good news. According to UHM.com, the flick will be arriving on DVD come April 8. Check out the classy cover.

And for those who've forgotten all about this thing, I can tell you that it was directed by Steve Miner (Friday the 13th Part 2) and written by Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination). Among the cast members are Ving Rhames, Mena Suvari, Christa Campbell, Nick Cannon, and the multi-chinned character actor Ian McNeice. To say George Romero had nothing to do with this remake is like saying Gary Coleman had nothing to do with the French Revolution.

Early word on the remake has NOT been good, and the producers' collective track record is exhaustingly terrible, but I'll admit that I've been curious about this one for a while. (Sue me, I like some of Steve Miner's movies.)

[ Thanks to Dread Central for the tip. ]

I love George A. Romero for what my Cinematical colleague Ryan Stewart does not -- the "symbolism bat," which allows Romero the freedom to use zombies to comment on whatever he wants. To me, that's a strength, not a weakness. Plus, Dawn of the Dead made me afraid of shopping malls, Day of the Dead made me claustrophobic and Land of the Dead made me wish I didn't work for a corporation.

His latest, George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead, debuted at Toronto and fairly well divided audiences. I've heard from supporters, detractors and those in the middle -- Scott Weinberg was on the positive side -- but I can't wait to see it for myself. And hey! Romero made it completely independently, so that's in his favor. Jason Morgan at AMC's Monsterfest blog points to Box Office Mojo, which lists a release date of February 15, 2008. (Our friends at Moviefone also have this release date.) However, neither The Weinstein Co. site nor the film's MySpace page confirm the date yet, so plan your life accordingly.

Another independent horror film just found its leading lady. Brittany Murphy has signed to star in the psychological horror flick 3:30 a.m., according to Variety. Murphy has dipped her feet into the horror pool in the past (The Prophecy II, Cherry Falls, arguably Don't Say a Word). Mick Davis wrote and will direct 3:30 a.m., which is "about a young woman who leaves Gotham after the death of her father to work in a country hotel." The film is said to explore "the connection between dreams and reality." Davis is credited as a co-writer of The Invisible, one of the worst-reviewed movies of the year, but also wrote the original Swedish version; he is currently filming Dylan, starring Kevin McKidd as the Welsh writer Dylan Thomas. 3:30 a.m. is scheduled to begin filming in January 2008.

Zombies appeared in movies early on, in White Zombie (1932), I Walked with a Zombie (1943), The Last Man on Earth (1964), and -- to some extent -- Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). But the infectious, flesh-eating, undead creatures we know today originated in George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968). No other horror movie was such a cornerstone, breaking new ground for its time, establishing the hard and fast rules for an entire subgenre and remaining a much-copied source nearly 40 years later. On top of all this, it's actually a great film, and hardly dated at all. When I first saw it, all alone in a dark room late at night, it gave me the shivers. But it also gave me food for thought.

Many have studied the complex relationship between the film's human characters, all trapped in an abandoned house trying to survive the night. Barbara (Judith O'Dea), after losing her brother to a zombie, becomes nearly catatonic. She's like the child of this twisted family. Ben (Duane Jones) is the leader, and though Romero apparently hadn't written the role for a black man, he evokes echoes of the Civil Rights movement that was brewing at the time. Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman) is white, middle-class America, with a wife, Helen (Marilyn Eastman) and a daughter (Kyra Schon). And Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Ridley) are typical teenagers, hoping to get married and settle down. It's easy to see all kinds of social commentary within this group of characters and their behavior, but even without all that, the film works very simply as a dramatic clash of personalities.

At yesterday's Brooklyn Rules press junket, Mena Suvari, who plays the uptown girl who falls in love with Freddie Prinze Jr's Brooklyn tough guy in the film, was eager to talk up her upcoming projects, including Day of the Dead. I asked her if she gets to turn into a zombie in the film, to which she replied: "No, I play a corporal in the Army and I save the day!" She also said that she worked six day weeks on gun training and did all her own stunts. She also told me that she will be in director John Irvin's (Hamburger Hill, Next of Kin) upcoming adaptation of the Hemingway novel, The Garden of Eden. Set in Spain, the story is about an expat American and his wife who both fall in love with a beautiful young woman named Marita -- the part Suvari will presumably play. "It's very deep. It's a Hemingway story, it's one of his last stories and its a very complicated piece," Suvari said. "We're shooting in Spain and it takes place in Spain and the south of France. I'm very excited about that."

I also asked Suvari about her very, very brief part as Richie Berlin in Factory Girl, and whether it was all that was left of something more substantial: "They took a couple things out, but there were so many cameos in that movie that were taken fully out ... they weren't in the movie," Suvari said. "They had me come in and shoot some extra footage that didn't go in there. Richie Berlin wasn't a huge fan of Andy Warhol, so she wasn't so much in the Factory. And I didn't really know what they were doing with it and with the character. Richie never really wanted to talk to me ... I had to dig to do my research. But she talked about how she felt like she was the only one who really cared about Edie, so they tried to play that up in the film and add a couple of things, and then they did a different route with Edie, making it more of a narrative, like when she's talking about it in the hospital, all of that was added later. They just went a different route." Stay tuned for a full Brooklyn Rules report.

Another day, another Day of the Dead. There's no doubt Zombies are hot these days with the recent remake of Dawn of the Dead and films like 28 Days Later, Land of the Dead and the upcoming 28 Weeks Later. There's also another zombie film currently making the rounds on the test screening circuit -- a remake of George Romero's Day of the Dead, directed by Steve Miner. Over at Ain't it Cool News they've posted an early review of the film based on one of those recent test screenings.

At the site, the reviewer, who goes by the moniker The Helper Monkey, gives his much considered opinion regarding the film's plot, acting and the directing talents of Steve Miner. Now, before I go on, the review at the site contains spoilers and so will this post -- so if you want to stay in the dark and experience the film's glory for yourself, don't read any further. If you just can't wait for any details on the film and don't care about reviews or spoilers then by all means read on. Really, I can quickly and easily summarize his thoughts on the film for you using his own words: "This movie sucks." Granted, that's not the most eloquent sentence ever written but it certainly does succinctly convey his feelings about the film.

Among his many complaints and problems with the film are the ludicrous story elements including the setup and the use of a "magic shotgun" with which the good guys can kill the Zombies. He also doesn't care much for the film's stars; Nick Cannon, and his reason for not eating human flesh once he's zombified (he's a vegetarian) and Mena Suvari as a very unconvincing Army second in command. As THM puts it in his review: "Again this is more of a warning than anything else. They are going to try and trick you into seeing this flaming turd. The ads are going to try and make you think this is another Dawn of the Dead. It's not."

I wasn't all that thrilled when I first heard about this Day of the Dead remake; I wasn't exactly elated when Steve Miner (Friday the 13th 2, Halloween 7) was handed the director's chair; and now that I've seen the extended trailer for the new Day of the Dead -- I'm still not entriely convinced. But hey, I was wrong about the Dawn of the Dead remake. Happily wrong, I might add.

OK, so I'm being a little tough on Steve Miner. The second Friday was pretty solid, but then again, he also directed that 3-D one. Ugh. Other flicks in Miner's rather eclectic filmography include the amusing House, the uncomfortable Soul Man, the goofy Warlock, the painful Big Bully and the snarky Lake Placid. So at least the guy knows where to point a camera. The man adapting Romero's Day is Jeffrey Reddick, he of the original Final Destination and the not-so-original Tamara. Cast members include Ving Rhames, Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon and ... Ian McNeice? Interesting.

Bankrolled by Millennium Films, the new Day of the Dead looks to be shooting for an early 2007 release. No word yet on who'll be doing the distributin'.

They remade Night of the Living Dead. They remade Dawn of the Dead. So... simple math dictates that someone absolutely must come along and give us all a remake of Day of the Dead. And in about five years, someone will probably want to remake last summer's Land of the Dead.

The new-fangled Day of the Dead, based on the 1985 George Romero flick, will begin shooting in Romania later this summer. Horror veterans Steve Miner (Friday the 13th Part 2, Halloween: H20) and Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination, Tamara) are behind the camera, and just now comes word that the cast will include Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino and, returning from the last remake, Ving Rhames as a large man with a gun.

For those unfamiliar with the third Dead flick, it deals with an underground military complex full of jerkface soldiers and the few zombies they're experimenting on. Until act III, anyway...

UPDATE: Recent news from blackfilm.com indicates that it's NOT Mira Sorvino who'll star in the zombie sequel remake, but Mena Suvari. Common mistake, I bet.