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.: OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 2004

Photo by Sean Plummer

His most famous movies feature gut-munching zombies taking over the world, but George Romero is no wild-eyed maniac. Indeed, the 64-year-old director of horror classics like Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985) comes across like the grandad you always wanted; funny, nice and totally cool.

Romero is in Toronto this late August weekend as the feature guest of Canadian horror mag Rue Morgue 's first annual Festival Of Fear convention. He's also been in the city recently scouting locations for his fourth zombie film, the provisionally titled Land of the Dead ( LOTD ), which is set to start shooting in and around Toronto this October for a 2005 release.

It's Romero's first film since 2000's Bruiser (also shot in Toronto), and marks the end of a tortuous period that saw any number of projects fall apart, including his script for video game company CapCom's Resident Evil movie, a film version of Rocky Horror Picture Show writer Richard Hartley's horror musical Diamond Dead , and a two-year struggle with Fox Searchlight to make LOTD (known at the time as Dead Reckoning ).

Ask Romero about what he's gone through to get this movie made and he shrugs it off as part of the Hollywood game. "I just think I've become inured to it," he admits. "You know, I expect the worst going in. And maybe that's wrong but often it's been right - the worst happens - and, you know, it's the way it is."

Romero's tenacity is paying off. Not only is Land about to start filming, but a number of other Romero-related projects have crept onto DVD, including Fox Home Entertainment's colourized re-issue of Night of the Living Dead ; Anchor Bay's recently released four-disc Dawn of the Dead 'ultimate edition'; and the upcoming release of Universal's recent successful Dawn remake. Romero appreciates DVD's ability to preserve film but urges buyers to beware.

"I love the fact that young people who weren't even alive when I made my first film ( Night ) are able to now see it and make their own judgement," he says. "What I don't like so much is... people spending 40 bucks every time... to get the 'new' edition with [new] footage. And I never shot any new footage! Somewhere in there is the film that I made, and that's great. I'm always a little disturbed by the sort of salesmanship [that says] 'hey, here's a new way to package the same old thing.'"

That Romero is wary of the Hollywood system is no surprise. From the beginning of his bloody career, the Pittsburgh native has used his films to both entertain and critique society, although, over time, he has grown uncertain of people's ability to effect real change.

"We thought that was... a real revolution," Romero says of the Sixties' activist culture that helped inspire Night of the Living Dead . "And how could anybody miss the point of it? How could anybody not hear the music? And in the end nothing changed. So that was like 'oh, I get it', and that really makes you jaded. You just say, 'Oh, okay. That s**t at the top is never going to change.' All you can do is sit here and try to criticize it in the strongest way that you can."

Like Dawn and Day , the upcoming Land of the Dead will balance satire with gore. "Basically about ignoring the problem," LOTD finds small human societies "stupidly" insulating themselves from the growing zombie menace in walled-off cities patrolled by militias. But the problem isn't going away, and Romero's zombies are beginning to evolve and organize against the living. Not surprisingly, LOTD 's gated communities will act as a metaphor for present-day America.

It's about "this whole idea of the Bush administration saying 'hey, we have this war on terror, we're beating them'," says Romero. "But basically people are terrified, I think, that 'my train station is going to be blown up, my airport is going to be blown up'. [We're] living with terrorism the way that people who live in an earthquake zone live with that fear and ignore it for the most part."

Which is not to say that George Romero has become Michael Moore. Look for the horror legend to bring as much blood to the screen as his contractually obligated R-rating will allow.

"Now you sit there and say, 'Well, s**t, should I show somebody's guts being ripped out or not? Do I need it?' I mean, all of a sudden I'm saying 'do I need it?' And I'm just relying on my old instinct of saying 'yeah, it puts a little tobasco on it', and I'm inclined to do it."

DEAD ON DVD

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

(20th Century Fox Home Entertainment)

Romero's public domain black & white horror classic gets colourized, but it does little to improve the film's wooden pacing. Mystery Science Theater 3000 co-host Mike Nelson offers a scathing commentary that punctures the film's classic status.

DAWN OF THE DEAD: ULTIMATE EDITION

(Anchor Bay)

No less than three versions of Romero's sequel to NOTLD are available on this four-disc set. The theatrical version contains a commentary featuring the director and make-up effects artist Tom Savini, while the cast talk up the European Version. Extras include the extensive new talking head doc "The Dead Will Walk" and Document of the Dead , Roy Frumkes' previously available making-of documentary.

DAWN OF THE DEAD: UNRATED DIRECTOR'S CUT

(Universal)

Universal's "zombie-driven action thriller" replaced Romero's social commentary with explosions and thrills, and knocked Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ off the box office heap in the process. The Unrated Director's Cut includes the zombie-making featurette "Raising The Dead" and "Splitting Headaches," an anatomy of exploding heads. Available October 26.

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