As legendary director George A. Romero prepares to unveil a fully restored version of his 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead next month, he's been hitting the press with his thoughts on fellow undead blockbusters such as The Walking DeadandBrad Pitt'sWorld War Z. By Romero's estimates, those two properties are responsible for straight up squashing the excitement of the zombie genre.
"The Dead are everywhere these days," Romero told the Hollywood Reporter Monday. "I think really Brad Pitt killed it. The Walking Dead and Brad Pitt just sort of killed it all. The remake of Dawn of the Dead made money. I think pretty big money. Then Zombieland made money, and then all of a sudden, along comes Brad Pitt and he spends $400 million or whatever the hell to do World War Z."
Romero is so bummed about the current state of the genre, he's even willing to just hang out on the sidelines until the field of competition thins out a bit. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm content to wait until zombies sort of die off," Romero toldTHR. “My films, I've tried to put a message into them. It's not about the gore, it's not about the horror element that are in them. It's more about the message for me."
Romero, who's been vocally anti-TWD in the past, joins fellow legend of horror John Carpenter in the not-a-fan camp. Carpenter, speaking with Marc Maron in July, is convinced that the AMC series and others have been straight-up "milking" Romero's creation for decades. "Horror is due for a new beginning," Carpenter said at the time. "It's due for a resurgence. They have to change it. We have to change it up. We can't keep doing these cheap Poltergeist movies either. Paranormal? It's just a cheap movie!"
Despite these objections, The Walking Dead remains the biggest damn show on TV and has been contracted out for (at least!) one more year of brutality.
