LIVING DEAD

'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 film's 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.

Contents

Romero's ''Dead'' series

''Dead'' series remakes

Russo's ''Living Dead'' series

Unauthorized sequels/remakes

''Flight of the living dead: Outbreak on a Plane

''Living Dead'' books/graphic novels

Documentaries

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)
#''Diary of the Dead'' (Romero, 2007)
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 on topics 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 remaining living always in the balance.
Official reports of the fifth film, which premiers on September 8 at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, is that it will not continue the depiction of the progress of the world; instead it will go back to the beginning of events from the first film, but will be nonetheless contemporary as the sequels are. Romero does not consider any of his ''Dead'' films sequels since none of the characters or story continue from one film to the next. Only the premise that there are zombies is the same.
Film critic (and avid Romero defender) Danél Griffin, who writes online for the University of Alaska Southeast, has speculated that Romero's segment of ''Two Evil Eyes'', an anthology film co-directed with Dario Argento, serves as a kind of prequel to the Dead series. The segment, based on Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", deals with metaphyisical experiments that cause the dead to return to life. Though Griffin admits that Romero probably did not intend the film to be seen as part of the series, he writes that like Romero's official series, the segment "concerns zombies and uses them to represent the rich class’s pathetic attempts to exploit the feeble and then turn on each other as they fight for the bones." Griffin further argues that Romero's segment "might explain the metaphysical events that ruptured the relationship between the living and the dead that would compel the latter rise in the first place."[1]

''Dead'' series remakes

#''Night of the Living Dead'' (Savini, 1990)
#''Dawn of the Dead'' (Snyder, 2004)
#''Day of the Dead'' (Miner, 2007)
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, with the exception of the Savini's ''Night'', these remakes do not follow on from each other and are entirely different films. This is because they were all made by different people and have no real link between.
The official ''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.
The ''Dawn of the Dead'' remake also received mixed feelings, with common criticisms such as the altering of the "rules" by having the zombies running rather than the standard slow lumbering. However, reviews were generally favorable, with Romero himself stating that it was "much better" than he had expected, but he considered it an action movie rather than a horror film.
A remake of ''Day of the Dead'' is expected to be released in 2007 and directed by Steve Miner.

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)

★ #'' (Elkayem, 2005)

★ #'' (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 written 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'''s universe. The first two films in this series differ from Romero's ''Living Dead'' films in that they are not serious and employ silly humour, as well as using different zombie "rules."
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, and new score. ''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.

Unauthorized sequels/remakes

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 due to 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) is 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.

★ '' (Clavell, 2005), while billed as a sequel as Taurus Entertainment holds the original's copyright, it has no actual ties to the original ''Day of the Dead'' or the series (although the prologue is set in Pittsburgh, 1968).

★ ''Night of the Living Dead 3D'' (Broadstreet, 2006) is a remake/reimagining of the original film made in a 3D format. The original's status as public domain made it possible to produce this film without the involvement of either Romero or Russo.

''Flight of the living dead: Outbreak on a Plane

A newer film, '' will be hitting DVD shelves October 2nd, 2007. It is directed by Scott Thomas. It contains ''Living Dead'' in the title so it could be classified as part of the Living Dead series, but does not have any direct correlation to any of the previous films other than zombies or undead. There is also a comic book series called Flight of the Living Dead by Scott Ewen and is currently disputing the rights to the title. The movie and comic contain similar plot lines, but were not created in conjunction to one another. [Scott Ewen's Myspace page]

''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 similarities 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 an interview, Kirkman explains: ''Originally I was going to use the name "Night of the Living Dead" for the sake of recognizability, since I had heard that movie had fallen into public domain. Jim Valentino, then publisher of Image, suggested I just make up my own name, so that I would own the whole thing. I then came up with the title, "The Walking Dead".'' [2]

★ ''Escape of the Living Dead'' (2005) Takes place between the events of ''Night'' and ''Dawn'', and it explains that the zombie hunters were able to kill most the zombies, but a few had been kept "alive" in a military base for study, but they inevitably escaped and started it all over again.

★ ''The Zombie Survival Guide'' (2003) by Max Brooks

★ ''World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War'' (2006) by Max Brooks

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.

★ '', 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.