I love George Romero, I really do. He’s a visionary – a man who elevated horror in a way that few can claim, a man who understood the nature of our fears went beyond loud noises in the dark, a man who used deep-seeded concerns about the way government operated to build a story where the mindless slowly hunted down the mindful.
But he’s quickly becoming third-career Michael Jordan instead of superstar Michael Jordan. The jersey was retired, George, and it’s time to leave it in the shadow box and reminisce about the good old days instead of slapping mud all over them.
According to Shock Til You Drop (which I plan to), the iconic director wants to make two more Dead movies, back-to-back, which he describes as a process that will feel “like home.”
As much as I madly respect the man, he hasn’t made a good film since Day of the Dead in 1985, and he’s been stuck in the same thematic hole for three decades. Normally, I’d champion an artist wanting to chase out the demons in his mind that he can’t seem to get out, but he’s not making anything worth watching, and that frustrates me.
I know he’s capable of it. We’ve seen it, just not in a long time, and for this current generation of horror fans, Romero is turning into the mediocre director that maybe he’s always been.
But we know better. How many more of these crappy Dead movies until we forget?
How many?
Writer’s note: I will eat my words completely if the final Dead movie features the zombies cleaning themselves up, developing full communication and societies to the point that it was all just an origin story for humanity. This scenario has to, somehow, involve Charlton Heston pounding his fist into the sand in front of the Status of Liberty.
