This Friday, director George Romero unleashes Survival of the Dead (Ritz Bourse), his fifth zombie picture since 1968′s genre-defining Night of the Living Dead. I caught up with the 70-year old horror honcho to see what’s on his mind.

Alright, so first thing’s first. What do you make of all this Sex and the City nonsense?
I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t keep track. I’ve seen billboards, but that’s about it.

You’ve made six zombie movies in 42 years. What have you been doing the rest of the time?
We’re either – my partner and I – developing new ideas, or I’m just sitting at home playing Scrabble with my girlfriend and playing with the cat.

What’s your average Scrabble score?
Well, see, we got rid of the Scrabble and got this Super Scrabble game, so the high score is – which is something my girlfriend has – is something over 1,100. It’s a double sized game. Two Q’s, two Z’s… there’s a quadruple letter, quadruple word…. I have terrible karma. I don’t pull good letters. And I insist that if you could take the luck out of the game, somehow it would be great.

What is your favorite non-George Romero zombie movie?
Shaun of the Dead. I’m not a big fan of the new stuff, particularly the fast moving zombies.

Like 28 Days Later?
Yeah, even the remake of my Dawn [of the Dead]. I think video games are responsible for the zombies being so hot right now. And I think that it’s in the video games that they have to move quickly because it’s all about how many you can kill, hand eye coordination. And the films followed suit. But when you make them run, it’s a different kind of monster. So my guys will always just sort of shamble along. My stories are about the humans and how they deal with the zombies and how they don’t deal with them, deal with them stupidly. And hopefully I’ll survive after this fad is over.

When the zombies in your movies are reanimated, what is the reanimating force?
Beats me. I’ve never wanted to define it. When we made the first film, I never thought of them as zombies. I just called them flesh eaters…. Somebody changed the rules. God or the devil. Someone changed the rules on us, and I’ve never wanted to explore the reason for it. The dead are getting back up. Something in the brain is continuing to work and sending signals to the hands and feet and teeth.

And so are the zombies soulless?
Wow, man. I haven’t gotten that far.

Your movies follow the same formula, just applying it to different scenarios -
Yeah, it’s amazing I’ve been able to get away with it for so long.

So how do you stay excited about it, if you are still excited about it?
Oh, man. I’m having a ball. I grew up on old EC comic books. They were always lots of fun, full of bad puns and humor. They were mean spirited, even in terms of the violence and the gore. I can’t imagine having more fun than getting out there with people willing to put this goop on their face.

And how do you keep the movies fresh?
Well, the first four were ten years apart, and then I had this idea to do Diary of the Dead, because I wanted to do something quick about emerging media and citizen journalism and so forth. And it made a lot of bread, and so that’s why this one happened. And now as filmmakers we’re trying to entertain ourselves. We modeled this one after an old Western. And if there’s another one, maybe we’ll go noir or something.

Do you anticipate getting on the digital 3D bandwagon?
Oh, boy, I don’t know. There’s a rumor out there that I’m remaking Dario Argento’s Deep Red in 3D, but there’s no contract, no deal. I remember the first wave. I was the first guy in the theater when Bwana Devil came out. I think it may die. I hate to say this for all these TV guys developing 3D, but I don’t know if it’s gonna last.

Considering that you deal so much with death in your movies, what are your own thoughts about death and the afterlife?
I am hoping for the best. As a lapsed Catholic, I mean, what can I say? I don’t expect much.

Fair enough. I’m going to run a couple of questions from Facebook fans by you.
I don’t Facebook. I’m not a techno guy at all. I don’t even carry a cell phone.

First, have you ever considered a Broadway musical about zombies?
I’ve been approached by people that want to do it. There’s a pitch that’s coming at us right now. It’s basically Night of the Living Dead. Almost an opera.

How do you feel about other filmmakers remaking your movies?
Well, I think sometimes there’s no reason to do it. I thought the remake of Dawn… the first ten minutes were really hot but it had lost its reason. When I did Dawn, it was inspired. I went to visit this shopping mall that was being built around Pittsburgh. It was the first one I had ever seen. The first one anyone in that area had ever seen. It seemed like this temple to consumers, and so that’s where the idea came from. Now, when they remade Dawn, there are now malls on every corner. It had lost its reason for being.

And, finally, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, what three items would you buy from a Lowe’s home improvement store?
I don’t know. Max Brooks wrote this Zombie Survival Guide, and I think Max takes it a little too seriously. I keep telling Max that it’s not gonna happen. But I suppose if my neighbor came and said that there is a zombie apocalypse happening right now, I wouldn’t believe it. I’d just go out and buy three jugs of Scotch.