George Romero on making movies, monsters

George Romero, the filmmaker who re-created the modern horror film with his 1968 renegade black-and-white classic "Night of the Living Dead," has his fifth sequel, "Survival of the Dead," opening tonight at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago.

Illness prevented Romero, 70, from flying into Chicago. So, we played a round of Seven Questions on the phone:

Q. What's the best zombie movie you didn't make?A. Wow! This is out of the blue. I've never had the question before. Uh, the old, old ones. They're the only ones I really love. "I Walked With a Zombie." "White Zombie." Those were the funnest things. I don't know that anyone could do those movies again. They've become demystified.Q. Should zombies be able to move like Michael Jordan in his prime, as they do in Zack Snyder's remake of your sequel "Dawn of the Dead"?A. Absolutely not. They're dead! It's as simple as that! In the remake of "Dawn," I think he's a good director and he did a good job with the action parts of the film. It's not the kind of film I would have made. I thought it was more of a video game. No politics. No sort of social criticism or whatever. But, I mean what did they (zombies) do? Wake up and join a health club?Even in "28 Days Later" or in "Zombieland," they're not really dead. They've got some kind of virus or something. I can sort of forgive them there, but if they're dead, how can they run? I don't get it.Q. Why haven't you ever put sex into your undead films? Even the 2006 second remake of "Night of the Living Dead" has sex and a naked woman in it. Why not your films?A. I don't know. It just doesn't belong. People are too preoccupied with other things. People have told me that in a doomsday scenario, the first thing people will do is crawl into bed with each other. I don't know. In these films, it just doesn't seem to fit.Q. So far, your zombie movies have tackled terrorism, consumerism, racism and other isms. Your "Survival of the Dead" is a glorified Hatfields vs. the McCoys conflict set against the zombie holocaust. What are we to make of that?A. My stories have always been about the people, and how they respond to the situation, or fail to respond, or respond stupidly. ("Survival") is about war. It's about enemies who can't bury the hatchet, no matter what. Age-old conflicts that can't be resolved.Even though there's this game-changing thing has happened to the planet, people are still shooting at each other. We have all this anger today. It's almost allowed, you, know? Rage has been legitimatized not just for terrorism, but in the streets! In the Senate! On the tennis court! People can't disagree without being disagreeable.Q. What was your reaction when "Night of the Living Dead" was voted into the National Film Registry?A. I was blown away! What can I say? We made that film on a little more than $100,000. I'm not sure I want my movie to be elevated. I'd like it to be excoriated in some ways. Part of it was meant to be that. The reason to do a horror scenario is to upset the apple cart. In recent years, there's been this propensity to try to right the cart back up again. Somebody comes along with a radioactive isotope and kills the creature. I'd rather have the monster out there.Q. Why are horror films important?A. I don't know that they are. A lot of people would argue they're not. I think that at the beginning of time, when people were sitting around a camp fire and learned to speak, they told scary stories about what is God? What is that star? I think it's a way of opening the mind a little bit. I think (horror stories) should be used more as allegory. Nursery rhymes were allegories. "Ring Around the Rosey" is about the plague.The biggest disappointment to me is that people aren't using it that way. Horror films today are just sort of mean-spirited and vicious. They try to gross you out as much as they can. It's without telling a story that has any broader meaning. So, I think horror fantasy is important because it opens up your mind.Q. What scares George Romero?A. Oh, man, are you kidding me? Bombs! People shooting each other. Violence! People in the streets burning cars. They don't just do it against politicians. They do it when their team wins. It's nuts!False11981800George Romero has firm ideas about what the undead should, and shouldn't, do. False