Let's face it: without George A. Romero there wouldn't be "The Walking Dead".
The Godfather of the zombie genre, whose NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD remains one of the greatest horror films of all time and kickstarted the zombie craze, recently sat down with Big Issue to comment on the hit AMC series (as well as take a dig at the Brad Pitt-starring WORLD WAR Z), revealing that he was offered the chance to direct some episodes of the zombie show.
Romero shared…
“They asked me to do a couple of episodes of ‘The Walking Dead’ but I didn’t want to be a part of it. Basically it’s just a soap opera with a zombie occasionally. I always used the zombie as a character for satire or a political criticism and I find that missing in what’s happening now.”
Ya know, the man has a valid point there.
The zombie flick has changed considerably since Romero brought NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD to life in 1968, most notably in their penchant for chasing down their victims at pace. Should zombies be able to run? Romero weighed in…
“I guess Zack Snyder started that with the remake of Dawn of the Dead – fast-moving zombies, but the zombies in World War Z, my God, they’re like army ants! But in all the adverts here they never called it a zombie film."
As far as the term 'zombie' goes, Romero points out that he never referred to the risen dead in his NOTLD by that word.
“No, never did. I never thought they were zombies. To me back then, zombies were those voodoo guys who were given some sort of blowfish cocktail and became slaves.
“And they weren’t dead so I thought I was doing a brand new thing by raising the dead. Not that the dead haven’t been risen before… It goes back to Jesus, doesn’t it?”
What do you think of Romero's statements? Agree? Disagree? Spit back below and give us your thoughts.