'Survival of the Dead' and a Soapbox

So I guess ol' George Romero has given up trying to direct anything without "of the Dead" in the title, and Bloody Disgusting has some exclusive images from his latest, 'Survival of the Dead.'

I think Romero is a genius, but the prospect of another zombie pic from the master fills me with trepidation. Sure, 'Night' and 'Dawn' are, in my humble opinion, two of greatest zombie (not to mention horror) movies ever made, but, let’s be honest, 'Diary of the Dead' pretty much blew. Personally, I think Savini's work was sorely missed, as the effects looked amateurish (at best), and let's not even get into the annoying characters.

This, after 'Land of the Dead,' which I thought was good (even without Savini's work), but not anywhere close to the brilliance Romero showed in his earlier zombie flicks. It makes me think he needs to get away from the shambling dead for a bit and try something new. Sure, not everything he's done has been great, but 'The Crazies,' which was filmed between 'Night' and 'Dawn' is incredible --and remains underappreciated -- and 'Knightriders' and 'Creepshow' (both filmed between 'Dawn' and 'Day)' are excellent examples of non-zombie Romero awesomeness.

If you look at Romero's body of work (listed here), it's clear that he wants to do more than make films about hungry corpses, despite the fact that is all he's done for the bulk of the present decade. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Romero zombies, I just think that if the dude could explore other projects, he might come back and make better 'Of the Dead' pictures.

Regardless, I'm going to see the his latest the day it comes out (I was actually lucky enough to attend the L.A. premiere of 'Diary'). Despite my misgivings, I'm hoping for more excellent zombie goodness, and maybe this whole post was worthless, because the images coming out on 'Survival' look pretty damn great. I especially like the fat, puking zombie!