Movies
George Romero’s Son Announces First Cast For ‘Rise of the Living Dead’
Back in 2014, Cameron Romero, son of the late George A. Romero, launched an Indiegogo campaign for a film then titled Origins, which was to be a prequel to his father’s Night of the Living Dead. The project has since come back to life.
Over on his Facebook page, Romero has revealed the first official casting for the newly-titled Rise of the Living Dead. Although details are still under wraps, Dimitri from the literal global phenomenon Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike has landed the first role.
“Many of you know that I have been working to tell a story for many years,” wrote Romero in a previous Facebook post. “My dad read the script and called it ‘genius.’ Many have approached me about making this film and I’ve said no to many because even though I’m not a ‘precious’ artist, this one is special… this one is mine… this one… is my love letter to my dad… to his work… to the fact that he was once called the most dangerous filmmaker alive… to the fact that society in 1968 wanted to shut him up as much as they wanted to celebrate him.”
He continued, “This one is the prelude to Night, the film that created the pop culture phenomenon that has inspired thousands of filmmakers from backyard auteurs to $180M features to the single longest running and most successful show in the history of television. This one has been a long time coming. And it is my absolute promise to you all that this film will be everything it needs to be.”
Here’s the plot for Rise, as outlined in the Origins campaign…
“Origins takes place in the Turmoil of the 1960’s just shortly before “Night of the Living Dead”, and explains how The ‘Original’ Romero Zombie was created. In 1962, Dr. Ryan Cartwright was on the scientific and altruistic path to find a way for humans to sustain life in the event of M.A.D (Mutual Assured Destruction), a huge topic brought on by the Cuban Missile Crisis. Little did he know that over the course of the next several years of his life, he would take a well-funded and military focused journey to the darkest corners of the world… as he creates the ultimate weapon for the government and a curse that will plague mankind for the rest of days.”
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
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