To think that George Romero, who brought us the greatest of zombie stories, was passed over when trying to bring a Goosebumps story to the big screen is amazing and kind hard to fathom, but when really thinking about it, one might realize that his style might not have been what was sought after back in the day. But the fact that his contributions have been brought to light at this time makes it clear that it might be time to think about putting his work on the screen at this time. There is a lot of talk among fans that zombie movies feel as though they’re stuck in a rut at the moment, no matter that they’re still immensely popular. There are those moments when they feel as though they’ve been played out a bit and aren’t really moving in the direction that they need to be. Army of the Dead, which was lauded partially because it was a decent action flick and because people have been Snyder-crazy since the Snyder Cut of the Justice League came out, is a good example of how the zombie genre is still a lot of fun but is starting to get a little worn out.
Seeing Romero’s work come to the screen with someone that could keep his vision intact and deliver it to the fans that know and love his style would be a great idea though, especially since the story that he was responsible for already sounds like an interesting take on the classic idea of zombie movies. As it’s been said via MovieWeb:
“Romero retains the basic scenario and all of the major character names but tweaks the story in revealing ways. In the Stine book, the zombification comes, a la Return of the Living Dead, because of a mysterious gas that escapes from a local factory. Romero makes the capitalistic origins more emphatic: the town patriarch, the wealthy Foster Devries, has in death possessed the town. The state of living death experienced by the residents stemmed from a supernatural power that Devries has now shared with/imposed on the town.”
This take on zombies would be a little bit refreshing since it would likely carry a rather decent explanation with it and would possibly be something new enough that could take zombies in a different direction, perhaps even closer to the idea of their origin since these creatures weren’t always flesh-eating monsters that were made to terrorize people. Bringing zombies back to the folklore that helped create them would be kind of awesome, and even just alluding to the supernatural would be interesting since it would take things in a direction that no one would see coming. Even if Romero’s story didn’t go back that far it might still be worth the effort to dig into the history of the word ‘zombie’ and see what it really means and where it came from. Haitian folklore would be a great place to start since, like many ideas in this world, this concept didn’t begin with what people currently recognize as the most popular version. To see such a thing come to life on the screen would be pretty cool. Also, thinking that a movie such as Weekend at Bernie’s 2 might be closer to the real definition of a zombie would be amusing.
Zombie movies come in a lot of different ways right now and everyone has their favorite flavor, so to speak. But allowing Romero’s vision to bring forth another manner by which to create an interesting and worthwhile story would be a great idea since even if it didn’t attract as much attention, it would still be another idea to stick in the heads of the fans in order to get them thinking about something else that might be worth considering. Telling a story the same way over and over has been proven to keep people happy and safe in their comfort zone as they come to know as much as they want to about a certain subject, but sometimes introducing something different and shocking them out of their cozy nook where they recognize what they’re looking at is necessary. This would be one of the best ways to do it since it wouldn’t be so much of a shock as an interesting revelation.
When it comes to horror movies, and zombie movies, there are so many different voices out there at this time that trying to sift through them all to figure out which ones need to be amplified and which ones are doing fine on their own is kind of tough. But the Goosebumps novels, which are childish at times and kind of juvenile, are still a great source to tap when another interesting and possibly great story is needed to amaze the audience. If nothing else, they offer another point of view.
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