George Romero, director of the hit zombie films "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead", believes that modern zombie flicks like "The Walking Dead" and Brad Pitt's "World War Z" have ruined the zombie franchise. He seems to be not pleased with this.
Zombies have now become a mainstream element of modern media. What was once a sub-genre of horror films is now a part of almost every film genre out there. From gory horror films to comedy and even to cheesy dramas, the zombies have been everywhere.
The zombies have even invaded the gaming industry from mobile games to high-end console gaming. There are even satire books written on surviving a zombie apocalypse. There is almost no place that the zombies haven't invaded yet.
George Romero must have had these in mind when he said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter "I've sort of dropped out of it. The Dead are everywhere these days. I think really Brad Pitt killed it. 'The Walking Dead' and Brad Pitt just sort of killed it all." The zombies' tone has somewhat lightened up that they just aren't the scary, brain-eating creeps that they used to be.
They won't stay dead! #nightofthelivingdead #originalzombies pic.twitter.com/sFdsZhkGXC
— Dr. Eff Designs (@DrEffdesigns) October 6, 2016
Another sentiment of George Romero was the budget, early zombie movies including his own "Night of the Living Dead" were able to get away with low budget productions. Doing away with A-list actors, producers are able to keep expenses at a minimum.
With Brad Pitt's "World War Z" and the fairly new "Walking Dead" TV series, production costs have gone through the roof. With the rise in the quality and cost of these movies, also came the rise of the audiences' expectations. Audiences have been spoiled with the high-quality special effects and A-list actors, such as Brad Pitt, in current zombie franchises.
George Romero hasn't made any clear mention of plans to make any new zombie movie soon. However, he will be showing a restored version of the 1968 classic "The Night of the Living Dead" at the New York's Museum of Modern Art early this month.
