Zombie Times

Considering that zombies have had quite a resurgence lately in horror films, you may wonder: why the undead, of all monstrous creatures? Why haven't werewolves made a comeback? Savini can't exactly put his finger on why they're enjoying renewed popularity, but he agrees that "we're certainly in zombie times now!"

Michael Gingold, the managing editor of Fangoria Magazine, has some ideas. "You had "28 Days Later" and the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" doing very well at the box-office. One was a very small film that didn't have a lot on the line, and the other was a dependable brand name, so there wasn't as much of a risk putting those movies out there. Of course when those became successful, the floodgates opened. Zombies are also an inexpensive monster - you don't need to build a whole creature, you can just put some kind of make-up on an actor."

View Slide Show

John Harrison, who composed the music for "Creepshow" and "Day of the Dead," says, "For me personally, the appeal of the zombie is that they're essentially us. George Romero's zombies have been particularly effective because he's always made sure that they're not simply extras with funny make up. He's given them characters, and you can identify them in all of his movies: the nurse zombie, the Hare Krishna zombie..."

As it turns out, Savini has already been approached to work on a zombie game. He was going to be the star of George Romero Presents: City of the Dead, which was being helmed by Canadian publisher Hip Interactive. City of the Dead was unveiled at E3 2005 and generated quite a bit of buzz, considering Romero and Savini's names, but the game may end up being dumped on the development hell scrap heap; Hip Interactive went out of business two months after the show, leaving the partially finished game in limbo. (For more on development hell, check out part 1 and part 2 of the Best Games Never Published).

Savini hasn't heard anything back from the game's developers, Kuju Entertainment, in about a year, but he was paid up front for his involvement and still has illustrations and video captures of what his character, Red McLean, was going to look like. In fact, as Savini recalls, "I asked these guys if this game had anything to do with the Romero films, and they said no. Then I asked them what the game was about, and they said, 'well, there's four people that escape from these zombies in a helicopter...' I said, 'That's Dawn of the Dead, isn't it?' 'No, no, no, no, no, we're gonna do something different.' Then they go to this island they think is deserted, but there's a military base there where they're experimenting on zombies. I go, 'That's Day of the Dead, isn't it?' 'No, no, no, no, no, we're gonna do something different...' "

Nevertheless, the game had Romero's name attached to it, and it was set in Romero's "living dead" universe, though it's still not clear how much involvement, if any, the director actually with City of the Dead. In the game, you could kill zombies, or become a zombie yourself and make everyone else zombies. The game bore more of a resemblance to "Day of the Dead," as the story featured four people who escape a zombie-infested city to a remote island with a mysterious government laboratory. One of the playable characters would be McLean, and Savini himself was excited about what the game might one day look like.

Savini continues: "Don't forget, you're talking to someone who had the first Space Invaders game that came out, and that was a miracle back then! Back when we were making "Knightriders" (Romero's 1981 film), we would sit in the hotel room and play Space Invaders and Pong for hours."