George Romero's Night of the Living Dead Heading to Drive-In Theaters

The drive-in will never die as Joe Bob Briggs says, and the world's foremost drive-in movie critic [...]

By Spencer Perry

The drive-in will never die as Joe Bob Briggs says, and the world's foremost drive-in movie critic continues to be right. Though many theaters are planning to re-open near the end of the month, many at the end of this week, the drive-in continues to thrive with catalog titles from distributors. A classic film of the drive-in era is returning too as Grindhouse Releasing and Janus Films will bring the 4K restoration of George A. Romero's classic horror film Night of the Living Dead on a nationwide tour to drive-ins throughout America. The film will also include a new introduction on its legacy from author Daniel Kraus, who co-wrote the epic novel The Living Dead with Romero himself.

As of this writing only three days and locations have been confirmed for the Night of the Living Dead drive-in tour including, Prides Corner Drive-In, Westbrook, Maine on August 22nd, Riverside Drive-In in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania on August 28-29th (paired with Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead!), and Midway Drive-In in Sterling, Illinois on September 19th.

"George was a fount of great ideas," Kraus told Polygon in an interview about The Living Dead. "But with me being maybe more of a seasoned novelist, I sometimes would shake up his format a little bit....My major concern was always staying true to Romero. I always tried to be sensitive to what I think he would've approved of. I literally had pieces of paper taped to my computer with reminders not to wander off into 'Daniel Kraus Land.' Romero had certain viewpoints, and I had to honor those as much as possible."

Released in 1968, Romero's film kickstarted the flesh-eating zombie subgenre in a big way and paved the road for modern hits like The Walking Dead while also giving independent filmmakers a proper blueprint to follow for making their little projects a hit. Romero would follow night of the Living Dead with five sequels including 1978's Dawn of the Dead, 1985's Day of the Dead, plus Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead.

As films from days gone by continue to dominate the box office, it would be pretty swell to see Night of the Living Dead make a blip on the radar over fifty years after its release. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back recently took the top spot, an achievement forty years after its initial release.

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