I revere director George Romero for unleashing the modern zombie upon the world with his low-budget classic Night of the Living Dead (and even more so for the even more impressive Dawn of the Dead), but sometimes I damn his name for giving lazy filmmakers subject matter that can be replicated ad nauseum without a real need to make their films distinctive. Zebediah De Soto, who first brought up remaking Night of the Living Dead back in 2009, is stilling trying to get that film off the ground (or out from beneath it), according to Deadline. Only this time, he’s got the star power of Bollywood actor R. Madhavan and an actual title for the movie: Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D.
Romero’s film actually became public domain years ago due to a copyright error, which allows anyone who doesn’t care about originality rip the film off as they see fit. But even beyond the damned good 1990 remake of Romero’s flick from Tom Savini, we have already seen a 3D Night of the Living Dead flick. Jeff Broadstreet made it back in 2006 and it was a piece of garbage, and then he made an even garbagier sequel last year called Night of the Living Dead 3D: Reanimation. People usually only say this during political elections, but if I have to live in a world with three 3D Living Dead movies in it, I’m moving to another planet.
While I can’t speak for Madhavan’s work, this remake will co-star Tom Sizemore (alarm bells!), Danielle Harris (Hatchet III), Sarah Habel (Underemployed), Sydney Tamiia Poitier (Death Proof), Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects), Joseph Pilato (Dawn of the Dead) and Candyman himself Tony Todd, who was also in Savini’s remake. This B-movie cast probably didn't come together to create a classic.
The film is being shot using a CGI setting, and will utilize stereoscopic 3D, which will reportedly make the film feel like a hybrid of a graphic novel and traditional animation. As if my groans couldn’t get any louder. This actually sounds more in tune with De Soto’s evolved idea for an animated 3D Living Dead movie (Side note: there is already an animated version of Night of the Living Dead. I feel like I’m in a time warp).
De Soto’s remake, which he co-wrote with Warren Davis II and David Reuben Scwartz, will take place in a New York apartment building and have survivors barricading themselves in during a zombie invasion.
Obviously, some people will be pretty excited about this, but this is a tad too watered down a facsimile for my taste. How do you guys feel about it?
