The dead are rising again. Horror maven George A. Romero has signed on to write and direct "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead," following in the tradition of his 1968 cult classic "Night of the Living Dead."
With a story mixing elements of "The Blair Witch Project" and the long-running "Dead" series, the film will follow a group of college students shooting a horror movie in the woods who stumble upon a real zombie uprising. When the onslaught begins, they seize the moment as any good film students would, capturing the undead in a "cinema verite" style that causes more than the usual production headaches.
After going more than two decades without making an independently financed zombie film, Romero told his production partner Peter Grunwald he was frustrated working within the system. "I was trying to convince Peter we could just run off and do it ourselves," he said.
Instead they convinced Artfire Films to finance the under-$5 million project, enough to work with union crew members who've been longtime friends.
Romero's new script replaces the original's static-filled radio with new technologies like smartphones to inform characters of impending doom. But fans can expect the classic Romero style.
"It has my sensibility, my sense of socioeconomic satire," he said. "And it has my zombies! They're not rushing around -- they're gonna be moving slow." Added Grunwald, "There'll be a lot of howling."
The film's four-week shoot is scheduled to begin October 11 in Toronto.
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/7081
A year after a moderate successful release of Universal's Land of the Dead here in the States and a very impressive overseas run, George A. Romero is once again on top of the zombie world and ready for another mouthful of flesh. We broke the news way back last summer that Romero wanted to begin a brand new trilogy of the dead, starting with Land, with the second film being entitled World of the Dead. No news has surfaced since then and I had thought that maybe it was dead in the water - but alas I was wrong! Welcome to George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead! Read on for the official news and plot details
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I can't wait, I think that Romero is at his best with a low budget. Even though I really liked Land of the Dead, the studio that he was working with gave him a few extra million for the movie but wanted things done their way. The movie was to be longer, but they wanted it cut down to 90 minutes for the theaters, they thought it was too long for a horror movie than what his original vision was.
This is good news, granted it doesn't continue the Dead story since by "Land" the outbreak has over ran the world. This starts a whole new trilogy.

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