George A. Romero, he of all the ‘Dead’ films, is set to make another zombie film for all horror fans to enjoy. Previously it was thought that there might be a sequel to Diary of the Dead. We also reported that it was to be a sequel, and that it was to be following some of the passing characters of Diary of the Dead. As it turns out, those stories were optimistic at best, and blatant lies at their worst. Luckily for us, we got our stories from other news agencies who tried to be more credible, and thus now get the blame for our missed reports. I only kid, at the time that seemed to be the correct story. Now, however, there is a new story being reported that George Romero is in fact going to start filming his next Dead film after the weekend. And the story, it seems, is not a sequel to his Diary of the Dead. It’s more of a remake of a different zombie film.

Now first of all I only found out in the course of writing this very article that the movie which I jokingly say this new film is remaking, is in fact an unofficial sequel to one of Romero’s own films. Lucio Fulci’s Zombie is considered to be an unofficial sequel to Dawn of the Dead. That film, made back in the late 70s, was set on a tropical island, complete with people buried in shallow graves, and a lovely tropical ocean on the sides, in which we’ve seen the legendary shark vs zombie fight. Fulci’s Zombie is a good classic masterpiece, and so anything that can replicate some if its success will do very well. And with the Godfather of Zombie films behind the camera, it has all the makings of a successful film.

So what can we expect? Why have I brought up Fulci’s Zombie when Romero is making his own film in Toronto? Well, it’s quite simple really. All the top stories are reporting that Romero is set to make a film about a group of people on a remote North American island, where suddenly the dead begin to rise (again?) and the typical Romero chaos ensues. One thing which Nicolas Charnier, who is involved in the project (and is President of Voltage Pictures), did reveal was this:

 ”We’re shooting underwater zombies,” Chartier said with a grin. “They’re swimming, grabbing people’s legs, pulling them down. It’s a lot of fun.”

Sure, Fulci may have had a zombie fighting a shark, but he didn’t have Zombies pulling their greatest ‘Jaws’ impersonations, dragging swimmers around the surface. It certainly has the makings of some epic imagery. Equally true, it sounds like people on a small island, living in a close and tight-knitted community, will have quite a moral conundrum when trying to deal with their relatives coming back to life. It has the makings of a superb story of intrigue which raises important questions about life and death, family and foe, and even wetness and dryness as a small North American island becomes the scene for the next Romero film, “Something of the Dead”

I use the title jokingly, because at the moment the project is set to shoot, and has a script, setting, and a lot of cast and crew assigned to it, but no title has been given. Only that it will be another ‘of the dead’ by the great Romero. Personally I think that considering the location and the little snippet of information that is being provided, Romero should be titling this puppy “Sea of the Dead” but that’s just me. There is a reason why Hollywood hasn’t knocked down my door to get me to title films.

For those interested in more production details, Paula Devonshire is producing. Romero is executive producer along with Peter Grunwald, D.J. Carson and Artfire Films’ Ara Katz, Art Spigel and Dan Fireman. Voltage Pictures is handling international sales, and Cinetic Media will sell domestic. The cast includes Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe, Devon Bostick, Richard Fitzpatrick, Stefano Colacitti and Athena Karkanis. Don’t worry if you don’t recognize too many names (if any at all), Romero tends to get quite a good performance even out of the lesser known actors and acresses. Hopefully that will continue.

 We can only continue to report how this news will break as we go along, but for now, “Something of the Dead” is set to start shooting after the weekend. And we can only feel happy that we are not involved in the making of this film, because I certainly don’t want to jump into the waters anywhere near Toronto in October!