George A. Romero talks about Road of the Dead

It was Matt Birman’s idea and it’s actually based on a sequence in SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD where there’s a zombie in a car, bumping bumpers. Matt’s done all my stuntwork ever since I’ve been in Canada, and he pitched me the concept right after we had finished that film; he said, ‘Why don’t we do a stunt movie where the zombies drive?’ He wrote the original draft, and then I stepped in and we wound up co-writing the rest.

It’s set in a sanctuary city where this fat cat runs a haven for rich folks, and one of the things that he does is stage drag races to entertain them. There’s a scientist there doing genetic experiments, trying to make the zombies stop eating us, and he has discovered that with a little tampering, they can recall certain memory skills that enable them to drive in these races. So it’s a demolition derby with zombies at the wheels, and of course the shit hits the fan in other ways. It’s really a romp; it’s great fun, with stunts galore.

I’ve always felt that even in LAND, it’s remembered behavior, you know? I don’t think of them as sentient. Big Daddy in LAND finally pulls the trigger on that gun after carrying it around for half the movie, and it’s learned—‘Oh, I remember this!’ It’s just recalled behavior, which is more dangerous, actually.

This one is really almost a comedy, though it’s got scares and spooky moments and all that. It’s more about suspense than blood. While there is gore, it’s not overt; there are no big, operatic sequences where people get torn apart. There’s slapstick in it, but it’s mostly stunts; it’s quite different. One character dies, for example, in a tragic way, but was once in NASCAR and is able to come back and drive. It’s that kind of looney-tunes. It’s really THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS with zombies.