Why ‘Night of the Living Dead’ is Coming Back to Life

Last week, Cameron Romero announced that he had launched an Indiegogo campaign for a prequel to his father, George A. Romero’s classic “Night of the Living Dead,” with Romero, Sr. signed on as executive producer.

Indiewire recently spoke to Cameron Romero about why he decided to resurrect the zombie classic and why he turned to crowdfunding. The campaign has passed the $25,000 mark, but still has a fair way to go before it hits its $150,000 goal when the campaign ends on November 15.

Since the original “Night of the Living Dead” in 1968, zombies continue to fascinate audiences. What do you think it is about zombies that is so appealing?

I think they scare us to the root. Even though they are made up movie monsters, they feel less made up than vampires and werewolves. They’re borne out of our neighbors, friends, and family and they turn into something very ugly. They’re a good metaphor for the world. This world isn’t a real easy time for a lot of people, and I think zombies speak to something that’s deep inside the people who love them. It’s the same thing with roller coasters because they scare you. You love to be scared of zombies because they’re familiar and they’re also terrifying.

Your father will be involved as an executive producer on “Origins.” Will he have any creative involvement?

Yeah absolutely, I’m sure. He and I are having all sorts of creative conversations about the project, but for the purposes of moving forward right now before we make all sorts of formal announcements about the project, he has come on as an executive producer. We’re sticking with that right now because we’re rolling out certain announcements over the course of the campaign. But yeah, he will be creatively involved with the project. I can confidently tell you that.

Why crowdfunding and Indiegogo, in particular?

Well, basically, I’m a huge fan of Indiegogo. I have been since they started and came on the radar. I’ve always loved their motto. It makes sense for something like the prequel to “The Night Of The Living Dead.” My dad’s fans and the fans of the Romero zombies, they’re one of the larger genre-based fans on the planet. They’re so loyal, and they’re purists, all of them. So Indiegogo seemed like the right forum for that. It’s a way for people to be passionate about what my dad created in 1968, they can get involved and let that passion come to the surface and be a part of actually helping get this off the ground.

So I really think it’s a way for my dad’s fans to feel in touch with everything. That’s one of the things about my dad, “The Night of the Living Dead” and zombies. His fans love him. He’s always made appearances and treated everybody like they’re just his buddies. I’ve seen it at conventions. Someone will come up to him and say, “I met you 20 years ago and we took this picture,” and he’ll say “Oh yes! Steve.” That level of commitment and love for the people who love what he did, it’s easy to convey on a forum like Indiegogo. It’s easy to give them a shot to be heard and be a piece of moving forward with something historic that my father did.

There are so many projects competing for funding. Aside from the name recognition of your film, which certainly helps, how else do you get the word out?

We’ve just been shouting it from the rooftops as loud as we can, using all sorts of media — Facebook, Twitter, the whole thing. If anybody will listen or look at us, we’ll yell about it to them. If there’s a guy across the street we go, “Hey! Hey, check out our Indiegogo!” [Laughs] It’s not too different than that. If you’ll listen to us, then we’ll yell about it. And I think that that’s the important thing. The passion for the project from myself, Indiegogo and from the people responding to the campaign is what’s really keeping it going.