August 10, 2004

Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis

There is a new Zombie movie being filmed. CNN/Entertainment has the details including one very interesting aspect -- read on: bq. You might have thought that Chernobyl was off-limits, closed to the outside world behind a rigidly patrolled exclusion zone since reactor No. 4 went into catastrophic meltdown April 26, 1986, spewing radiation to the four winds. bq. Not a bit of it. The reactor's deadly core was buried in a concrete and steel sarcophagus, but the adjoining reactors carried on producing electricity until they were finally decommissioned a couple of years ago. bq. A rotating staff of some 6,000 specialists and technicians still work at Chernobyl's scientific center. Hundreds of journalists, diplomats and tourists have been here in the past six years since the place was opened up to paying visitors, once safe areas away from the isolated and still highly radioactive "hot" zones were identified But wait - there's more: bq. Now, for the first time, a Hollywood feature film -- the zombie movie "Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis" -- has gained access to the infamous site. bq. Ukrainian-born producer Anatoly Fradis is proud -- despite the obstacles and the cost. "Up to a couple of days before we began shooting, it was touch-and-go whether they would let us in, and I had to pay more than I had budgeted to secure the permission," Fradis says, standing inside Chernobyl's first checkpoint inside the zone. And more: bq. "Chernobyl is very spooky and serves our purpose -- we are shooting in all these abandoned towns and villages, with rusting equipment lying around everywhere," Fradis says. Might be a movie to see just for the location shots... I bought Robert Polidori's book of photographs and was very disappointed with it. The few images I saw before buying it were the best and the remainder are just one abandoned building after another. Same, same, same, saw that one already, next, etc... Posted by DaveH at August 10, 2004 12:28 PM