Alright, now bear with us here. Aside from being known as every little Johnny Brain Biter’s grandpappy, Romero is also recognised for his films’ social commentary. Yeah, we just lost three quarters of our audience with that little sleep-inducing bombshell, didn’t we? Well, for the three of you still reading, the director’s work has always tried to say something more than “Holy shit my neighbour’s smoking hot wife is a zombie and now she’s chewing on my jugular.”
Above: Romero's films have more to say than hot zombie-on-zombie action
Night of the Living Dead is said to have been made as a reaction to turbulent 1960s society, while Day of the Day is arguably a study into the fractious relationship between science and the military. So you see, there’s actually a bit of brains to his films… eh, among all the brain-eating. Now picture this level of narrative subtext applied to the Resi universe. Surely that’s a better prospect than the idea of a ‘Jill sandwich’, no?
Above: Social commentary at its most subtle
Romero has quite a history with games. Aside from directing the Resi 2 advert we’ve shown you, he also penned a script for the first movie, which was ultimately overlooked in favour of Paul W.S. Anderson’s version (good call there, Hollywood).
Above: F*ck you Paul W.S. Anderson. F*ck you
On top of that, he’s been approached several times by game developers who just want to use his name to promote their digital wares. He was even attached to City of the Dead, a first-person zombie shooter that was heavily influenced by his work… well, before it got canned when the publisher went broke.
Above: City of the Dead, oh what could have been
More importantly, in a recent interview with Destructoid, he was quoted as saying: “I'd like to do a game. I'd like to work with a gamer on it. But everyone who has ever approached me, it's always been ... sell us your name and go home. I don't particularly want to do that." Now to us, that sounds like a man who wants to get blood-splattered knee-deep involved ina zombie game.
Oh, did we forget to mention Romero also made a film called Monkey Shines?
Add this to Resident Evil 6 and you’ve got the perfect baddie to replace Albert Wesker and Umbrella...
Above: The capuchin monkey = ultimate evil
May 7, 2010
