By MICHAEL GINGOLD
The final chapter in the legendary filmmaker’s saga is finally stalking its way to the screen.
Multimedia company Roundtable Entertainment has announced that it has partnered with the estate of the late George A. Romero to produce TWILIGHT OF THE DEAD, based on a treatment by Romero and Paolo Zelati. Joe Knetter, Robert Lucas and Zelati wrote the final screenplay; story details aren’t being revealed at this point, but the movie will be set on a tropical island and filmed in Puerto Rico later this year. Suzanne Romero, Roundtable’s John Baldecchi, Sarah Donnelly, Zelati and Ardvella Entertainment’s Stephanie Caleb are producing; a director has yet to be named. TWILIGHT is intended to launch a new zombie franchise of its own. In RUE MORGUE #201, Lucas told this writer, “It definitely supports the whole evolution of zombies from LAND OF THE DEAD. It gets more extreme than before, in the sense of George having Big Daddy getting smarter, and trying to create clans and rebuild society with them. TWILIGHT kind of jumps into and elaborates on that, and there are some twists and turns that make you think it might be the end of mankind. It’s a little like PLANET OF THE APES in that sense. How humans can exist is definitely in question in this one, if they will exist at all.”
“I’m delighted to be joining forces with Roundtable to bring the eerie evolution of Romero’s universe to the screen,” Suzanne Romero says. “Roundtable impressed me with their long-term and deep love of George’s work. I believe they have the vision to produce the best version of this movie that honors the Romero legacy. I can’t wait to start filming!”
“We’re thrilled to be working alongside Suzanne, Paolo, and Stephanie to bring the final installment of this epic series,” says Baldecchi. “It is the perfect ending to one of the greatest horror legacies of all time, with a powerful and timely message about how humanity is the cause of its own destruction, over and over and over again. There is a lot of excitement in the creative community to be involved and we’ll be making decisions on that shortly.”
