Original Night of the Living Dead returning to theaters in 3D

Night of the Living Dead is getting a unique dimensional twist that promises to pull viewers closer to the undead action. The team at Legend Films and PassmoreLab is bringing new life to the undead by converting the previously colorized genre-defining zombie film into 3D. The enhanced 1968 George A. Romero cult classic is slated for release on April 1, 2009.

This updated 3D version of Night of the Living Dead will preserve the original vision of the film and its memorable story and characters while going several steps further and brings new meaning to the memorable line, “They’re coming to get you!” The audience will no longer feel safely isolated from the undead; they’ll feel as though they actually are part of the experience and are trapped by protagonists, Ben and Barbara, in the farm house as the zombies close in for the kill.

While Night of the Living Dead wasn’t the first zombie film ever made, it’s certainly the film that introduced the zombie archetype to the horror genre. The independent movie defied the odds when it was released in black and white, grossing over $30 million internationally. Four decades later the film is going strong as a popular cult classic and a staple of any scary movie marathon. Night of the Living Dead has a huge fan base and has inspired a number of sequels and spin-offs of the original film.

The 3D film will be released by Legend in Europe theatrically and in the United States in a limited theatrical release. It will also be released on DVD and as a downloadable version available on Rifftrax.com. The downloadable version will include hilarious RiffTrax commentary by former Mystery Science Theater 3000 stars Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy.

Legend Films was founded in August 2001 in San Diego. The studio specializes in restoring and colorizing classic films for DVD, HD and theatrical release as well as performing color effects work for major studios and film makers. With a design studio in San Diego and production studio in India, Legend Films has restored and colorized over 120 feature films in the past five years and has now adapted their time and quality proven colorization masking process for full feature film 3D conversion.

PassmoreLab started in San Diego, California, in 2003. The company’s staff is composed of programmers and scientific engineers, and also includes graphic artists, stereographers, videographers, a musical composer and even a biologist. Their facilities include a full live action studio, video/film post-production, an optical development lab, and a software development environment. PassmoreLab is a firm with staff around the world, offices in San Diego, Russia and the Philippines and is now focused on producing the most advanced 3D conversion technology in the industry.

Below is a trailer from Night of the Living Dead.