George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead changed the horror game in many ways. First and foremost, it created the “slow zombie” or “Romero zombie” that can be found across pop culture; remember, up until this point the word “zombie” was used to describe a more mind-controlled or voodoo zombie. NOTLD also became known as a very political horror film–something genre directors had dabbled in before, but arguably influenced Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and John Carpenter who would all use horror to discuss American politics in the years to come.
While the film became a cultural icon, an infamous copyright issue placed the film into the public domain and left Romero entitled to very little profit once it was released. There are estimates that the movie made for a few thousand dollars eventually made $30+ million at the box office. Yikes!
But apparently a recent discovery may give cause for fans of the undead to rejoice: according to a user on a Blu-ray forum, Romero announced at Monster Mania, a yearly genre convention taking place in Maryland, that he’s found a 16mm print of the film and it has a nine minute scene that has never been seen by the public! There is also a claim that Romero and Martin Scorsese are collaborating on the restoration for a Blu-ray.
If this proves to be true, it’s a huge find for fans of film and the undead! Would you be excited for a new cut of Night of the Living Dead? Tell us in the comments!
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Clarke Wolfe writes Horror Happenings for Nerdist every Sunday. You can follow her on Twitter @clarkewolfe.
