thePULSEThe Father of American Horror ~ From 1968’s Night
of the Living Dead to 2005’s Land of the Dead, He’s Given
us the Stuff that Nightmares are Made of …and Now He’s Coming
to Worcester…
September 2005 –
The Night it All Started
Horror film auteur George A. Romero didn’t plan on becoming Hollywood’s
Spawn of Satan. He just thought movies were cool. Born in 1940 in New
York City, a teenage Romero developed a love for films and innocently
began playing around with an 8 mm camera. Later, after studying at Carnegie
Mellon University, he would begin to shoot short films, promotional films
and television commercials. But it wasn’t until the 1960s were on
their way out that Romero formed Image Ten Productions. Now with a production
company and a serious jonesing for making films, Romero, together with
friend John Russo, raised $10,000 and launched his career, the career
of a man who would change the face of American horror films forever.
In 1968, with a tight script co-written by Russo and filmed in black
and white on a paltry budget of $100,000, Romero’s vision became
THE film to which all other zombie flicks are compared, THE film that
inspired and continues to inspire legions of filmmakers, fans, and actors
alike. In 1968, Night of the Living Dead came to life.
At its core, NoTLD, the film that started it all, was really a zombie-rich,
highly stylized character study propelled by its guttural depiction of
the un-dead devouring human flesh. The film would offend many critics
for its scenes of cannibalism and gore while simultaneously winning over
legions of fans for the very same reasons.
Following its initial release, the film almost didn’t make enough
money to cover the expenses incurred in its creation. However, as is often
believed in the worlds of politics and entertainment, the only bad press
is no press. Reader’s Digest published a scathing review that ~
along with a hinted boycott of the film ~ ultimately led to the horror
masterpiece becoming more popular than had the critics completely ignored
it.
Almost overnight, the face of horror had changed. The genre no longer
consisted of the typical Saturday afternoon matinees that were campy vampire-slasher-alien
flicks with little or no shown gore and violence. And Romero had made
another completely revolutionary move, too ~ He had chosen to keep his
characters trapped, literally. They were boarded up inside a desolate
farmhouse, making their last stand against a mass of zombies and attempting
not to kill each other in the process. With its grim, foreboding black
and white and its creative cinematography the film is very real looking
and the feeling of dread is truly unsettling. Arguably, Romero’s
signature was, and remains to this day, how he masterfully creates situations
that force his characters to lie helplessly in wait; it is that feeling
that truly scares the viewers and holds their attention captive.
More
Than Gore
And it is only the truly small-minded who can write Romero off as simply
a gore-peddler. The filmmaker himself once commented that “My zombie
films have been so far apart that I’ve been able to reflect the
socio-political climates of the different decades. I have this conceit
that they’re a little bit of a chronicle, a cinematic diary of what’s
going on.” The decision to cast African-American actor Duane Jones
as the protagonist in Night of the Living Dead (ironically not because
of his race, since as was the case in each of his other scripts Romero
created roles that were race non-specific), but because Jones –
like all the other Night of the Living Deadactors – would work for virtually
nil, was inadvertently a very important one. Casting Jones as the lead
character of the film made a very significant statement during this time
when America was tearing at its own insides in the grip of the Civil Rights
Movement, the war in Vietnam, and the assassinations of Martin Luther
King, President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy.
Now, A New Land
With Night of the Living Dead as its flagship and never far from its consciousness,
the production of modern horror films has undergone an interesting genesis
from America’s underground pastime to a mainstream art form and
lucrative business. And forever inseparable from the horror genre he invented,
beginning with the seminal Night of the Living Dead and continuing with
Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, Romero now brings fans old and new
a harrowing vision of a modern-day world where the walking dead roam an
uninhabited wasteland and the living try to lead normal lives behind the
walls of a fortified city. Released in August 2005 and now showing in
theatres, Land of the Dead, set many years after Day of the Dead, tells
the tale of a new society tooled by a handful of enterprising, ruthless
opportunists sequestered in a skyscraper high above the dog-eatdog existence
that defines the streets below. In true Romero fashion, with inescapable
scenes of gore, dread, and isolation, an army of the dead outside the
skyscraper walls is evolving from brainless, slow-moving slugs into more
highly advanced, thinking creatures while anarchy is evolving inside the
fortress. For more details, check out www.landofthedeadmovie.net
Meet
the Master
So whether you are a long-time fan of Romero’s work (in which case
you are in good company, joining a list that includes John Carpenter,
Wes Craven, and Rob Zombie) or have never even heard of The Dead Trilogy
or Creepshow (in other words, if you’ve lived under a rock for the
past 30 years), you will not want to miss this year’s Rock and Shock
Festival when it takes over the Palladium and the DCU Convention Center
on October 8 and 9. A one-of-a-kind event that transcends all other horror
conventions and music fests, Rock and Shock interweaves two art forms,
blood and guts in-your-face rock music and celluloid depictions of mayhem
and horror, and gives us the chance to meet – up close and personal
– the geniuses and legends behind it all. With a celebrity guest
list that is a veritable Who’s Who of all aspects of the horror
industry – from actors to make-up artists to directors to musicians
to special effects wizards – there is no doubt that one special guest,
one man, will be presiding over it all, over the genre for which he and
his zombies laid the bloodsoaked, flesh-eating foundation: Mr. George
Romero, the Father of American Horror. For more information on what the
festival holds in store and on meeting Mr. Romero, visit www.rockandshock.com/home.htm.
The Romero Filmography
As Actor
The American Nightmare (2000)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
As Cinematographer
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
As Director
George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead (2005)
Bruiser (2001)
The Dark Half (1993)
Two Evil Eyes (1990)
Monkey Shines (1988)
Day of the Dead (1985)
Creepshow (1982)
Knightriders (1981)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Martin (1978)
Season of the Witch (1976)
The Crazies (1973)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
As Editor
Season of the Witch (1976)
The Crazies (1973)
There’s Always Vanilla (1971)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
As Executive Producer
The Dark Half (1993)
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
As Producer
George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead (2005)
As Screenwriter
George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead (2005)
Bruiser (2001)
Two Evil Eyes (1990)
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Creepshow 2 (1987)
Day of the Dead (1985)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Season of the Witch (1976)
The Crazies (1973)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
…and as Source Writer
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
So what’s coming up for die-hard Romero Fans?
Diamond Dead – in production for 2007
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – in pre-production for 2005
The Ill – in production for later in 2005
Masters of Horrors – TV series filming for debut in 2006
AND…
Hip Games has signed horror icon Tom Savini to appear in the previously
unnamed City of the Dead video game. Developed by Kuju Entertainment and
set in the Romero universe , City of the Dead will be released on the
PlayStation2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox video game and entertainment
system from Microsoft and on PC CD-ROM in spring 2006.
