George Romero has talked about his desire to make two more Dead films, following Survival of the Dead, and with Survival getting a DVD/Blu-Ray release today, Romero mentioned that he's still interested in making them, should Survival be a success. Romero told Bloody-Disgusting that the other Dead films are very much in his mind.
If we get to make these other two [Dead] films I'd be in hog heaven, man. I'd love doing it, I'd love having the controls again. I mean, I really haven't had that kind of experience since the very, very early days, and it's great, you know? You feel like you're really doing your own work, and you're able to do whatever you want to do. So there's nothing like it. And it's liberating for the rest of the crew too, cause they don't have to, you know, wait for memos to go through. [Laughs] They can just come to me and ask me a question. So it's just so much easier. It's not even so much about where do you spend the money, it's about where do you not spend the money, which is just as important as where you spend it. More important, I think.
And what would those two other Dead films be about?
I have two storylines…I don't know if you saw Diary of the Dead, but there are these African-American guys who are also sort of deserters, who are looters. That would be one group. And the blonde that gets away in the end…she wasn't a minor character but she survived and takes off after the other guys lock themselves in the mansion. I'm also intrigued with the idea of being able to re-use characters and have them meet up with each other again and re-use story points and so forth. I've never been able to do that because the first films are all owned and controlled by different people. So I've never been able to sort of bring characters back. You know, I'd like to see "Big Daddy" while he was alive. I'd like to see "Bub" while he was still alive. But I can't do it because I don't own it.
But that ain't all. Romero also has a secret, non-zombie, scary movie in his brain as well.
Well, I can't really tell you the storyline because it's sort of a one-trick pony and I'm trying to keep it secret. But it's a non-zombie horror film, and for the first time really in my whole career…you know, people call me the 'scare guy' and I don't think of my movies as scary at all. Not since Night of the Living Dead when I was trying to sort of get under your skin a little bit and make it kinda creepy, I've sort of gone comic book with everything, and the scares are just sort of tricks, you know? Loud sounds, quick movements…they're not the kind of films that get under your skin. So this is a psychological drama, it's psychological fear. We're working on it right now. In fact, I've been writing the script. I should have it finished in a couple of weeks.
And what about those Deep Red remake rumors that spread months ago that had Romero directing a remake of his buddy Dario Argento's classic film? Romero told Dread Central that those rumors are dead.
Sometimes I find out about projects I'm "doing" the same way you guys do. Dario's son called me to ask if I was interested. I asked if I'd be working with Dario and Claudio said yeah. I told him that it sounded interesting but I'd want to speak with Dario first to see where we could go with it, man. By the time I got in touch with him, he told me he didn't know anything about it. So from there I told him, "Well, that's it, man! I'm out!"
Too bad. Romero remaking Argento would be just weird enough to be awesome. Except it would probably be made in Canada for about $500,000 with CGI gore. Never mind.
