Edinburgh - Day Four

Chris Tilly meets a horror legend and sees the next big Korean thing.

Aug 24 2005

Day four proves to be a pretty magical day for Time Out as we get to meet horror genius George A Romero.

The grandaddy of modern horror, his 'Night of the Living Dead', 'Dawn of the Dead' and 'Day of the Dead' make up the most eloquent, satirical and downright entertaining trilogy in horror history.

In Edinburgh to promote 'Land of the Dead', the latest addition to the franchise, the writer-director has ten minutes to spare before his eagerly anticipated Q&A, and to TO's delight, he decides to spend them with us and a gin and tonic.

A giant of a man, who's as friendly as he is articulate, he lights up when talking about 'Land of the Dead', and although somewhat disappointed by its poor performance at the American box office, he waxes lyrical about Greg Nicotero's remarkable zombie make-up and Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo's somewhat unhinged performances.

Romero also says he'd like to screen the film at the White House, although while he thinks Dubya might like it, he doubts he'd understand much of the social and political satire.

We ask what he's up to next, and Romero reveals that although zombie rock 'n' roll flick 'Diamond Dead' is no nearer a greenlight, he is working on two Stephen King adaptations, 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' and 'From a Buick 8', one of which will probably be his next project.

With that he's whisked away for a Q&A with the festival's artistic director, Shane Danielson, in front of a cinema full of baying zombie nuts, including several that scared the bejesus out of this particular journalist (see pic above).

Romero proceeds to talk about his life in film, speaking at length about zombie classic 'Night of the Living Dead', David Lynch ('that pesky bastard') Dario Argento ('a kindred spirit') and his adaptations of 'The Stand' and 'Pet Cemetery' (both 'great frustrations' apparently).

He also talks openly about being fired from 'Resident Evil', failing to get intriguing projects like 'Before I Wake', 'The Mummy', 'Goosebumps' and 'The Assassination' off the ground, and even makes a plea for a missing three-hour print of 'Martin' that he's desperate to recover.

Having charmed the pants off the audience, George's attempts to leave are scuppered by a combination of zombies, zombie fans and determined autograph hounds who keep him chatting and signing memorabilia long after TO has left.

We have to head back to a darkened room however, for a screening of 'A Bittersweet Life', Kim Ji-Woon's first film since his well-received 2003 horror hit 'A Tale of Two Sisters'.

Yet another Korean feature with huge crossover potential, it's is an uncompromising thriller about a mob enforcer who signs his own death warrant when he takes pity on an adulteress couple.

Slow, deliberate and at times ultra-violent, the film is beautifully photographed by the director himself and features an outstanding central performance from 'Joint Security Area' star Lee Byung-Hun.

After that, it's off to the Mirrorball 10th anniversary bash, a dance-fest to celebrate a decade of Edinburgh's brilliant music video strand.

With actors, directors, journalists and other assorted media types taking over The Venue in town, DJ James Lavelle wows the crowds upstairs, while TO throws some serious shapes to the northern soul playing in the basement.

As dawn approaches however, your slightly confused correspondent suddenly remembers he's got a screening of Joss Whedon's 'Serenity' early in the morning, so we dutifully leave the best party in town and shuffle off to bed to become comatose, zombie-style.

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