It was three years ago when we first heard about a zombie project that was at the time being called NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: ORIGINS or simply ORIGINS, a project that stirred up attention and interest because it was set to be directed by Cameron Romero, the son of late master filmmaker George A. Romero, stepping into his father's DEAD universe.
Cameron Romero wrote the ORIGINS screenplay with Darrin Reed and Bryce C. Campbell, crafting a story
set at the height of the Cold War, when one scientist tried to give the world its best hope for survival and instead unleashed its worse nightmare.
Things have been very quiet on the ORIGINS front since early 2015, but on Halloween night Romero took to his Facebook page to confirm that the film is still moving forward in tribute to his father, who passed away this past July.
Many of you know that I have been working to tell a story for many years… My dad read the script and called it "genius" (I'm not saying that from pride, it's an actual quote and I have the email to prove it! :)) Many have approached me about making this film and I've said no to many because even though I'm not a "precious" artist, this one is special… this one is mine… this one… is my love letter to my dad… to his work… to the fact that he was once called the most dangerous filmmaker alive… to the fact that society in 1968 wanted to shut him up as much as they wanted to celebrate him…
This one…
This one is the prelude to "Night," the film that created the pop culture phenomenon that has inspired thousands of filmmakers from backyard auteurs to $180M features to the single longest running and most successful show in the history of television…
This one has been a long time coming…
In his post, Romero revealed that Shane Hurlbut will be the film's cinematographer, with Robert Kurtzman providing the special effects. He also revealed that ORIGINS was just a codename all along.
It is with absolute great joy that I would like to present to you all very late this Halloween night, the announcement for this project's official title.
… And it is my absolute promise to you all that this film will be everything it needs to be… it will be unapologetic… it will be the… RISE OF THE LIVING DEAD
The title announcement came with the unveiling of a poster, which can be seen below.
Hopefully the next announcement will be that RISE OF THE LIVING DEAD will be going into production soon. I'm looking forward to seeing what Romero will be bringing to his father's franchise.