Because They Can: A 'Living Dead' 3D CGI Origin Film

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but Hollywood tends to break things. If a formula worked once, it will invariably be remade, repackaged, and resold over and over again until the equation is no longer profitable. But occasionally the Hollywood hive mindset is not content with merely breaking something. Every now and then it has to rape and pillage, and thus we shall soon have Night of the Living Dead: Origins. Wallow in these few key bits from The Hollywood Reporter's news on the matter:

"Zombie movie "Night of the Living Dead" is coming back, this time in a 3D CGI format and without the involvement of George Romero." ... "On the story front, De Soto, who wrote the script with David R. Schwartz, wants to update the tale partially by bringing out the characters' backstories and make what he called "an American-style anime."" ... "The aim of the process is to make tennis balls on a stick representing real people or monsters a thing of the past by allowing actors interact with CG elements as if they are tangible." ... "De Soto was a fan of the original "Living Dead" and once the trio realized the rights were in the public domain, zeroed in on that project."

Are you wallowing yet? I sure am. There's a reason the THR article doesn't mention that there already is a remake of NOTLD in 3D, because that movie is all kinds of malignant awful. But at least it had the low-budget decency to be filmed, not rendered. I'm sorry if I'm supposed to be impressed that yet another batch of filmmakers have invented yet another means to remove people from the set, but I'm not. If James Cameron's milestones in that regard didn't knock me on my ass, there is no way the man who directed the When a Stranger Calls remake will.

Furthermore, it pains me that they feel 3D CGI is "American-style anime". I'm not a diehard fan of anime, but even I can see the unique heart that beats at its core. CGI has no such stylistic relevance to it, it's a broad medium that anyone with off-the-shelf software can work in. That's not to say all CGI animated films are bad, clearly they are not, but their comparison only shows how artistically ignorant Night of the Living Dead: Origins already sounds.

Making matters worse, the film's producer then confesses the only reason they're even doing the project is because the Night of the Living Dead brand name is public domain. He might as well have said, "We found George Romero's wallet on the street and now we're using his license as a fake ID. Score!"