John Penney is an American film producer, screenwriter and director who has been working in the horror genre for over thirty years.
He has created material for, and been involved in, a range of subgenres, including zombie movies (Return of the Living Dead III), classic Creature Features (Amphibious), and supernatural thrillers (Hellgate).
The independent filmmaker Brian Yuzna was in the process of developing a sequel to The Return of the Living Dead and Penney pitched and idea which he describes as "Romeo and Juliet on the run".
The central theme of zombie as main character was new at the time, and has since been utilized by such contemporary films as Warm Bodies (2013) and Life After Beth (2014).
In addition to his screenplays, Penney has written short stories that have won him an award from the Adelphi Academy in New York, and have been published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.