John Carpenter says The Walking Dead just rips off George Romero

John Carpenter can probably cross himself off Robert Kirkman’s Christmas card list.

When you’re a horror maven like John Carpenter, you can throw shade at pretty much anyone you want. And apparently he likes throwing it at the number one brand in scares these days.

In other words, Carpenter is not too impressed with The Walking Dead. As a guest recently on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, the director discussed his feeling that in general, most horror is bad, some is average and a few works manage to rise above and are top shelf.

Don’t expect him to include The Walking Dead in that last category, though.

"That [The Walking Dead] was a movie that George Romero made back in 1968 [Night of the Living Dead], and they have milked that, and they are still milking it."

Let’s unpack that for just a second. Romero is undoubtedly the godfather of the zombie genre, and there’s no doubt that Night of the Living Dead was a game-changer, for lack of a less ubiquitous term.

Even The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman would no doubt acknowledge a debt to Romero’s work. But to call TWD a retread of the Living Dead movies when it encompasses a much broader story that includes over 100 issues of the hit comic book plus two different TV series seems like a step too far.

Built on the foundation that Romero laid, for sure. Yet most fans would probably respectfully disagree with Carpenter’s overall take, regardless of the fact that a legend is the one making it.

(h/t Inquisitr)

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