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Living Dead is a blanket term for various films and series that all originated with the seminal 1968 zombie movie Night of the Living Dead created by George A. Romero and John A. Russo.
After the films initial success, the two creators split in disagreement regarding where the series should go and a contract was drawn up. Any future Romero films would lose the "Living" prefix and simply be referred to as Dead movies and Russo, who wanted to branch the series off into literary territory, would retain the rights to "Living Dead" (though fans nevertheless refer to Romero's as Living Dead films). Thus, both series would be considered canon and each would be able to do what they liked with the continuity of the projects.
Romero's Dead series
- Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968)
- Dawn of the Dead (Romero, 1978)
- Day of the Dead (Romero, 1985)
- Land of the Dead (Romero, 2005)
Labeled a trilogy until Land of the Dead, this is considered by most fans as the one true series. Each film is laden with social commentary ranging from racism to consumerism. The films are not produced as direct follow-ups from one another. The films' only continuation is the epidemic of the living dead, the situation advancing with each film, but with different characters and even moving the time ahead from the last to the time in which they were filmed despite the world's progression being the only interlocking aspect of the series. They are different stories telling how different people react to the same phenomonen ranging from citizens to cops to army officials and back again. There are no real happy endings to the films as each takes places in a world that has gotten worse since the last time we saw it, the number of zombies ever increasing and the fate of the small amount of the remaining living always in the balance.
Russo's Living Dead series
- Return of the Living Dead series
- Return of the Living Dead (O'Bannon, 1986)
- Return of the Living Dead Part II (Wiederhorn, 1988)
- Return of the Living Dead 3 (Yuzna, 1993)
- Necropolis (Elkayem, 2005)
- Rave from the Grave (Elkayem, 2005)
- Alternate Night of the Living Dead series
- Night of the Living Dead 30th Anniversary Edition (Russo, 1998)
- Children of the Living Dead (Russo, 2001)
Russo actually has two separate series that claim the Living Dead name. The first was Return of the Living Dead, which originated as a book writen by Russo. It was later adapted to a film by Dan O'Bannon, which spawned its own series of movies, with a total of four sequels. This could be seen more as a spin-off of Night of the Living Dead rather than sequels, as the first movie treats Night of the Living Dead as a movie that was based on real events in Return of the Living Dead
Then, in 1998, Russo went back to the original Night of the Living Dead to reshoot extra sequences into the film. This version, which was officially named Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition, added a subplot, alternate opening, as well as a completely new score. The result is a widely reviled version of the original. It is considered to be incredibly inferior, riddled with needless touch-ups. Children of the Living Dead was then produced as a direct sequel to Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition, as it followed up on scenes that were newly inserted. It was another widely panned effort on the behalf of Russo. Director Tor Ramsey made his frustration filming quite well known, even during post-production when his effort to fix the film was "corrected" by its writer Karen L. Wolf, whom he claims was tyranical over her script, despite little knowledge of the horror genre. It is these two efforts that leave many fans to criticize Russo with claims of ill-attempts to reclaim what he lost after the original Night of the Living Dead.
Dead series remakes
- Night of the Living Dead (Savini, 1990)
- Dawn of the Dead (Snyder, 2004)
- Day of the Dead (Miner, 2007)
- Night of the Living Dead 3-D (Broadstreet, 2006)
The films that originally made up Romero's trilogy have all have been remade in order, although the remake of Day of the Dead is still in production. However, these remakes do not follow on from each other. This is because they were all made by different people and have no real link between them but the stories match as much as Romero's originals do.
The Night of the Living Dead remake, released in 1990, was produced for two reasons. First, a rival company was planning a remake which Romero did not want to see happen without his involvement. Second, it was seen as an opportunity for a way of the original creators to finally get some money back from the name Night of the Living Dead. The film saw another team-up with Tom Savini and Romero, though not in the same roles, as Savini directed the film based on a script by Romero. Fans have mixed feelings of the remake, though most are fairly positive.
The Dawn of the Dead remake also received mixed criticims, though more being negative, especially over the altering of the "rules" by having the zombies running rather than the standard slow lumbering.
A remake of Day of the Dead is expected to be released in 2007 and directed by Steve Miner. Little is known about the remake, but many fans have expressed hope that the film is based on Romero's original script for his 1985 film.
An additional remake of Night of the Living Dead is also being made, this time without Romero's involvement. Night of the Living Dead 3-D will, as the name implies, be a 3-D film. It is being produced because Night of the Living Dead has fallen into public domain.
Unauthorized sequels
There are also some other films that have been released as sequels to various films in Romero's Living Dead series, most likely to ride on the name recognition that Romero's films enjoy. They have been produced because of various mix-ups with the copyright and ownership of the movies, Romero himself owns only Dawn of the Dead from his four films.
These include:
- Zombi 2 (known as Zombie in USA) (Fulci, 1979) was a film that was already in production when Dawn of the Dead was released, but was renamed to be a sequel upon its release (Dawn of the Dead was titled Zombi in Italy). This movie has a history of official and unofficial sequels itself. See Zombi series.
- Contagium (Clavell, 2005) though billed as a sequel, as Taurus Entertainment holds the original's copyright, the film has no actual ties to the film or the series (though the prologue is set in Pittsburgh, 1968)
Living Dead books/graphic novels
There have also been a number of publications, both authorized and unauthorized, that have appeared over the years. Some claim to take place in the universe that Romero established in his four Dead films; others don't make this claim but nevertheless follow his "rules" (dead eat living flesh, can only be destroyed if you stop their brain, etc.).
These include:
- Night of the Living Dead (1974) by John A. Russo
- Return of the Living Dead, by John Russo (1977). A stand-alone sequel to Night of the Living Dead, with few simularities to the eventual film of the same name.
- Book of the Dead, parts 1 and 2 (1992). Anthology books meant to take place in Romero's universe; not authorized by Romero himself.
- "The Death of Death", issues #1-6 of DC Comic's title Toe Tags (late 2004 to mid 2005). An authorized sequel to the Dead films, scripted by George A. Romero, drawn by Tommy Castillo and Rodney Ramos, with covers by Berni Wrightson. Romero's story is actually based on an unused script for a sequel to his Dead films; the miniseries therefore follows his similar tropes: Extreme gore, social commentary, evolving zombies, and the heroes riding off in the end into an unknown fate.
- The Walking Dead, debuting in 2003 for Image Comics. Created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moore. The ongoing adventures of a motely crew of humans struggling in a world overcome by the walking dead. Doesn't take place specifically in Romero's universe, but the established zombie rules are identical, and its creators cite Romero as their foremost influence.
In addition, there have been several comic book series released under the Night of the Living Dead name over the years.
Documentaries
- Document of the Dead, directed by Roy Frumkes (1985). A documentary about the making of Romero's Dawn of the Dead, featuring on-the-set interviews with Romero and various cast/crew. A cult-classic in its own right, particularly for Romero fans.
- The Dead Will Walk, directed by Perry Martin (2004). Documentary about the history and making of Dawn of the Dead, includes extensive interviews with George A. Romero, the main actors, memorable zombie actors and others from the filiming team.
- George Romero, directed by Roy Frumkes, released in 2005 on the Independent Film Channel. A 24-minute documentary about the making of Land of the Dead.
- Roadtrip of the Dead, currently filming and with a 2006 release date. Created by filmmakers Justin Ferrari, Shaggy Miller, and Michael Votto. The film is slated to follow the three filmmakers on a ten-day trip from Wisconsin to Pennsylvania to Fort Myers, all the while documenting the sites where Romero's Dead films were shot and how the films have affected these public places. The Wisconsin-based filmmakers intend on visiting Monroeville, Evans City, Fort Myers, and Sanibel Island in late May, 2006.
"Living Dead"