George Romero Speaks His Mind At Haunt X

A young man with a mohawk animatedly tells him about how Romero’s business partner once gave him grief over requesting an autograph on his copy of "Night of the Living Dead." Turns out the video, which he received when he was just 8 years old, was a bootleg. Romero smiles and they all have a carefree laugh at the story.

Romero was the guest of honor at Haunt X this past weekend in Los Angeles, and one thing I noticed observing him at the party, the two Q&A panels and the autograph table, was how quickly and easily he smiled, showing off his dimples. He seemed a man at peace with his life. Maybe that’s because he’s going back to his filmmaking roots with his current project, "Diary of the Dead."

"It goes back to the first night when the dead arose," he told a room full of convention attendees. "It's very small and I have complete control over it."

The project is an effort to re-establish copyright over his work – "Night of the Living Dead" is now public domain due to a mistake made when the title was changed from its original "Night of the Flesh Eaters." His partner controls the rights to "Day of the Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead," and Universal Studios controls "Land of the Dead."

"It is very character driven," he said. "It is much more like the original film."

The story follows some film school kids working on a class project when the fateful night begins. "They are shooting film when it all happens." He likened it to "The Blair Witch Project," only more scripted. "It’s theatrically staged."

"Diary," which is now in the can with re-dubbing sound work in progress, is independently financed and already has European distribution deals in the works. However, Romero doesn’t know when it will be released in North America. They’re still working on getting a North American distributor.

Someone in the audience raises his hand. "What do you think about ‘Shawn of the Dead’?" Romero laughs as he points out the red "Shawn of the Dead" button on his olive-colored fishing vest. "I love it!"

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