I can both recognize and respect the impact that George A. Romero has made on the world of horror through his various …of the Dead films, but his last two — Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead — nearly turned me away from the man’s work for good. However, despite me loudly exclaiming “I’m never watching one of his films again!” after Survival‘s conclusion, I’ll probably see more of what he has in store. I’m kind of a completest in that way.

With that in mind, it’s being reported by Zombie Research that the seemingly unstoppable filmmaker will next direct The Zombie Autopsies, based on a novel of the same name by Steven Schlozman, who Romero will develop the script with. If there’s anything of note in this news, it’s the fact that this will be his first zombie movie not based on one of his own stories, and it probably won’t be part of his Dead series.

That doesn’t mean it won’t be in line with what he’s made before, though. When talking to i09, Romero was asked about what other issues he would like to tackle with zombies in future movies. One topic he finds relevant is the economy — problem is, “zombies are not good mathematicians.” This is where Autopsies enters the picture.

The filmmaker explains how in the following quote, which contains spoilers:

“A friend of mine recently wrote a novel called The Zombie Autopsies, and it’s about an isolated group of people doing autopsies on zombies during the zombie apocalypse and trying to figure out what the hell caused this. They come upon this discovery.

The scientists discover that this is not a naturally occurring virus, they deduce that it must have been created by somebody. And they later discover that it was created by people who were trying to topple the economy. So that’s a unique way in to talk about the economy, but it’s not my story. Steven C. Schlozman is the guys name, he’s a Havard Psychologist who has somehow been swept into the zombie craze and is writing zombie novels.”

Most of all, I’m interested in how genre might play into its creation. Romero‘s films, in addition to commenting upon various negative aspects of society, sometimes take place in different genres or subgenres; Survival was basically a western. What he’d like to do next is noir, and when asked if Zombie Autopsies would take a spot in that category, Romero said that he “may decide to do it that way,” but it depends on what Schlozman wants. To him, it has more in common with The Andromeda Strain than anything else, as the story is “very tense and very medically correct.”

I should know better, but there is just the smallest inkling of interest on my part. Much like today’s revelation about the Wachowskis’ latest project, optimism manages to creep in when I know that this isn’t his own material; he’ll be bound down with certain limits. Look, zombies are so tired that I never want to see them again, but couldn’t it be fun? In all likelihood, that’s probably something I’ll regret saying in a couple of years.

Is a new George A. Romero film something that can still make you excited? Have you read the original book, and if so, did you like it?

Source: BleedingCool