Zombie Classic ‘Night of the Living Dead’ Gets Animated Adaptation

Night of the Living Dead is George A. Romero’s zombie horror classic that first came out in 1968. The film is the first in the Living Dead horror franchise that Romero directed and co-wrote with John A. Russo.

More than half a century ago, the film premiered on 1 October 1968 and is often considered a manifesto for modern horror films. And now the film is headed for an animation adaption under the title Night of the Animated Dead.

The Hollywood Reporter reported the news and also announced the voice cast. The animated film will star Josh Duhamel as Harry Cooper, Dulé Hill as Ben, Katharine Isabelle as Barbara, James Roday Rodriguez as Tom, Katee Sackhoff as Judy, Will Sasso as Sheriff McClelland, Jimmi Simpson as Johnny, and Nancy Travis as Helen Cooper.

Romero’s low-budget horror classic emerged in pop culture and marked the beginning of modern zombie films. He went on to direct five more zombie features in the franchise, including Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), and Survival of the Dead (2009). Although, he did not consider those as part of the same story that began with Night of the Living Dead.

Before Romero’s sad demise in 2017, he was developing Twilight of the Dead, a concluding chapter for the franchise. THR had previously reported that Romero’s wife, Suzanne Romero, has been developing the script. Suzanne said,

“This is the film he wanted to make. And while someone else will carry the torch as the director, it is very much a George A. Romero film.”

Suzanne Romero

The animated adaptation is being directed by Jason Axinn, who’s no stranger to the genre as he has previously worked on the 2019 animated horror film To Your Last Death. The adaptation is produced by Michael J Luisi, Ralph E. Portillo, Robert Feldman, and Kevin Kasha, with executive producers Richard Potter, Thomas DeFeo, and Jamie Elliott.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will be releasing Night of the Animated Dead this fall on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital.

Cast:

About Night of the Animated Dead

Night of the Animated Dead is an animated adaptation  of George A. Romero’s horror classic, Night of the Living Dead (1968). Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will release the film this fall.

The adaptation is directed by Jason Axinn (2019’s To Your Last Death). It stars Josh Duhamel as Harry Cooper, Dulé Hill as Ben, Katharine Isabelle as Barbara, James Roday Rodriguez as Tom, Katee Sackhoff as Judy, Will Sasso as Sheriff McClelland, Jimmi Simpson as Johnny, and Nancy Travis as Helen Cooper.

Romero’s original film’s plot revolves around a group of individuals who take refuge in an abandoned house when corpses begin to leave the graveyard. The radiation from a fallen satellite causes the recently deceased to rise from the grave and seek the living to use as food.