As most horror fans know, George A. Romero's 1968 classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is, due to the simple oversight of not including a copyright notice on the film, in the public domain. Anyone can do whatever they want with it, including remake and/or sequelize it, and many independent filmmakers have taken advantage of that. Usually I am very against anyone daring to touch NIGHT, but director Matt Cloude's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: GENESIS does earn some goodwill in a few ways.
For one thing, it's clear that this is a labor of love, because Cloude has been working on the project for years. Our first article on it was posted way back in April of 2011. Also stirring up positivity is the fact that Cloude has hired some Romero veterans to fill out the cast, including David Crawford, Jim Krut, Mike Christopher, and – this is the most intriguing aspect of GENESIS – original NIGHT star Judith O'Dea, somehow reprising the role of Barbra, despite the fact that she appeared to have died in the original film.
Written by Cloude and Wil Smith, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: GENESIS
pays homage to the timeless classic while expanding upon its storyline to explore more of the night when the dead began to rise by chronicling the events through the eyes of lead heroine Barbra. Every legend has a beginning.
There's no word on when GENESIS, which is expected to have a runtime of around 2 hours and 15 minutes, might be released, but now that there's a trailer the finished film will hopefully be following before much longer. Check out the trailer below and see what you think: