Night of the Living Dead
Summary
George A. Romero’sNight of the LivingDeadseries is a sprawling , multimedia franchise with numerous sequel , remaking , and off - shoots . The amount of projects to keep an eye on in the wake of Romero ’s originative 1968 film , Night of the Living Dead , is perhaps unrivaled . It did n’t just launch a dealership ; it launched an intact writing style . In fact , the franchise specific toNight of the Living Deadis so large , it could almost qualify as a genre on its own . Most people knowNight of the Living Dead , Dawn of the Dead , and peradventure evenDay of the Dead , but the serial publication proceed much , much deeper than that .
Trying to figure out how it all pieces together can be tricky , if not downright perplexing . Due to the complicated state of the right to each cinema combined with a leaning for people to attempt to cash in on the franchise ’s succeeder , there are technically different timelines and bomber - franchise within the series . That say , there ’s only onetruecontinuity that fit Romero ’s visual sensation . This guide helps solidify where each celluloid , telly series , book , comic , and even video secret plan stand . Perhaps more significantly : it also explain what is and is n’t canon in one of thebest repugnance moviefranchises ever crafted .
5George A. Romero’s Original Living Dead Trilogy
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Where it all start . Night of the Living Deadis both one of the most influential pieces of nontextual matter ever created and a masterpiece in its own right . The photographic film depict the initial outbreak of the dealership ’s central zombie pest .
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Dawn of the Deadis a continuation toNight of the Living Dead . Despite being go under in the ' 70s ( as opposed to the ' LX whenNight of the sustenance Deadwas made ) , the events canonically take place a matter of weeks after those see in the former film . This is because the enfranchisement exists on a skid timeline , alike to the pre - Daniel CraigJames Bondmovies or continuity onThe Simpsons , whereby eccentric do n’t really senesce and events in their past are retroactively update relative to the entry currently being watched . Many consider it to beGeorge A. Romero ’s best living dead picture .
Day of the Dead (1985)
4The Second Trilogy Of Romero’s Living Dead Sequels
Land of the Dead (2005)
Diary of the Dead (2007)
Diary of the Deadis the fifth film in George A. Romero ’s series . However , chronologically mouth , the events are coiffe at the same time withNight of the Living Dead .
Survival of the Dead (2009)
The last of George A. Romero’sDeadmovies , Survival of the Deadis unusual in that it focalize on a returning character fromDiary of the Dead . The film opens on a scene fromDiaryin which we ’re introduced to Sarge and other members of the National Guard who have run AWOL . He is the protagonist for the rest of the film , imply that the outcome are set shortly afterNight of the Living Dead , with some intersection withDiary . Taking the action to an island off the US mainland , the film was strangely positioned as awestern for people who hate movie western .
Twilight of the Dead (upcoming)
George A. Romero leave behind several projects when he died , including a fully - produce , unreleased feature film . One labor was the treatment for a 7th film in theDeadseries gear up at the very death of the timeline , afterLand of the Dead . Theupcoming filmTwilight of the Deadhas been raise by his widow woman , Suzanne Romero , and is currently in spot - production with a likely 2024 going .
3Official Living Dead Spinoffs & Remakes
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Producer , John A. Russo , was George A. Romero ’s filmmaking mate onNight of the Living Dead . The two amicably split ways following its production , agreeing that they would make their own sequels severally of one another . Romero check to use " of the Dead " for the rubric of his subsequence , with John A. Russo retaining " Of the Living Dead " for his .
The first of Russo ’s effort to capitalize onNight ’s success was a sequel novel he drop a line titledThe Return of the Living Dead , and the Word of God was slackly adapted into a film in 1985 . Taking a much more comedic approach , The Return of the Living DeadrepositionsNight of the Living Deadas being " based on real event , " with one of the hold zombies then break dance loose and starting the contagion all over again . To date , The Return of the Living Deadhas spawn four sequels of its own :
They all subsist within a unexampled continuity plant byThe Return of the Living Dead , into whichNight of the Living Deadsort of burst , but Romero ’s sequels are ignore . A reboot of the classic zombie comedy is currently in the works .
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
want to finally make some money from the film they ’d create after unfortunately forget to let in a copyright symbol inNight of the Living Dead ’s closing credits and thus allowing it to diminish immediately into the public domain , George A. Romero , John A. Russo , and Tom Savini decided to work together on an official remaking ofNight of the Living Deadwith Romero writing the screenplay and Savini making his directorial debut . The picture show establishes a disjoined continuity from Romero ’s other movies .
John A. Russo’s Other Films
In 1999 , John A. Russo further attempted to take restraint of the copyright overNight of the Living Deadby produce a30th Anniversary EditionofNight of the Living Dead . It boast the original cinema intercut with newly take fabric designed to flesh the pic out further . This mostly consisted of novel gore sequences showcasing zombies eating citizenry incut with the one-time ones , and a serial of scenery in which a Reverend explain the apocalypse as a punishment from God .
Notably , S. William Hinzman who portray the first living dead run across inNight of the Living Deadreprised the role for an unneeded sequence revealing the character to be the corpse of an executed criminal . The fact thatNight of the Living Dead : thirtieth Anniversary Editionmissed the movie ’s actual 30th anniversary by a yr should narrate the great unwashed everything they need to know about its calibre . The photographic film explicitly sets upChildren of the Living Dead(2001 ) .
It is a unbent - to - video recording moving picture produced by Russo , and star Tom Savini in the lead role . Children of the Living Dead followsthe new continuity found byNightof the Living Dead : thirtieth Anniversary Editionand is unconnected to Romero ’s other plastic film . It currently holds 2.4/10 on IMDb .
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
One of the picture show responsible for relaunching the zombie genre in the early noughties was the prescribed remaking ofDawn of the Dead , written by James Gunn and take by Zack Snyder . Thehorror picture remakeestablishes a new continuity , noticeably in which the zombi incline . A sequel titledArmy of the Deadwas in exploitation for years before finally being reworked into the unrelated zombie movie issue by Snyder in 2021 .
Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (2005)
In 2003 , Taurus Entertainment develop the right wing to Romero propertiesDay of the DeadandCreepshow , and set about exploiting name recognition to an almost admirable point . The first project was the utterly abysmalDay of the Dead 2 : Contagium , put itself as a direct continuation toDay of the Dead . While it ’s not canon as far as Romero and his serial are touch on , Day of the Dead 2 : Contagiumdoes technically meet the legal definition of a continuation .
Technically it establishes its continuity and canyon that goesNight of the Living Dead > Dawn of the Dead > Day of the Dead > Day of the deadened 2 : Contagium . However , the film induce no genuine effort to live within the world of Romero ’s film . As such , it is best viewed as a standalone given its legion persistence military issue .
Day of the Dead (2008)
Taurus Entertainment straightaway followedContagium(andCreepshow III ) with a remaking . The film shamelessly hired Ving Rhames , star of Zack Snyder’sDawn of the Deadremake , to appear in it with the explicit intent of tricking audience into consider the film was a sequel to theDawnremake . It is n’t .
Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2017)
After failed attempts to get a found - footageDay of the Dead 3off the dry land keep an eye on the release of Romero ’s found - footageDiary of the Dead , Taurus ultimately settled on just remakingDay of the Deadfor the 2nd time instead . They seek to make a 3D remaking as betimes as 2010 , but it took until 2017 for the picture to be loose ( in 2D ) . Although given asubtitle , Day of the Dead : Bloodlineisn’t a sequel to anything . In fact , as a remake , it ’s arguably closer to the original photographic film than the 2008 version .
Day of the Dead (2021)
Realizing they ’d let five years pass without remakingDay of the Dead , Taurus set about producing a third remaking of the film , this time as a SyFy television series . The series has probably the least to do with the original film of any of the remakes , following a mathematical group of type during the first 24 hours of a zombie pandemic . The show was not renewed for a second time of year .
2Unauthorized Living Dead Sequels & Remakes
The Italian Sequels
Italian revulsion legend , Dario Argento , worked with George A. Romero as a manufacturer on the originalDawn of the Dead , retaining controller over specifically the European cut of the film . His version was released asZombiand , as was the average in Italy at the time , a slew of unlicenced sequels follow . Italy ’s peculiarly slack copyright laws meant that it was commonplace .
The most famous exercise is probably the 1966 film , Django , which spawn at least 38 unofficial sequels . Another legendary Italian horror filmmaker , Lucio Fulci , took it upon himself to directZombi 2 , an unofficial 1979 sequel to the Italian cutting ofDawn of the Dead , which at least undertake to draw itself into the continuity via bookend chronological sequence supposed to excuse how zombies come to America at the kickoff ofDawn of the Dead .
Horror master George A. Romero ’s snake god Graeco-Roman Day of the Dead has received a terrible sequel and two direful remakes , and here ’s why they suck .
Fulci espouse the film withZombi 3 in 1988 , which did n’t even bother to watch the continuity set inZombi 2.Numerous unrelated Italian repugnance movies have since been repackaged asZombisequels in alien markets , with 1989’sAfter Deathbeing release asZombie 4 : After Death , and 1987’sKilling Birdsbeing marketed asZombie 5 : Killing Birdsin the USA . At least 20 further horror motion-picture show have been commercialize asZombisequels across alternative markets .
Numerous Night of the Living Dead Sequels & Remakes
Due to the picture show ’s lapsed copyright , it is perhaps the most exploit movie in film story . Once microbudget filmmaking became a world with the advent of forward-looking filming equipment , mass realized that anyone could make their ownNight of the Living Deadmovie and potentially make money off the back of its succeeder . Remakes include but are n’t limited to :
1Living Dead In Other Media
Living Dead Books
Living Dead Comics
Living Dead Video Games
Land of the stagnant : Road to Fiddler ’s Greenwas a 2005 first - someone gun for hire tie - in withLand of the Dead . It is a prequel to the flick , taking place concurrently withNight of the Living Deadand following a James Leonard Farmer named Jack during the initial zombie outbreak . Though technically canon in the dealership , George A. Romero was not involved in its production .
