The King Of The Dead

In just ONE weekend (July 15th and July 16th, 2017) we lost two pop culture icons! I have already written a tribute to the first, Martin Landau, and now, sadly, I write of the death of George Romero.

George Andrew Romero was born on February 4th, 1940 in the Bronx in New York. Romero's love of films started at an early age. He would constantly ride the subway from the Bronx to Manhattan in order to rent various film reels to watch at home. Romero attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Romero graduated college in 1960.

In the beginning of his career, Romero shot short films and commercials. Romero even shot a segment for Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood in which Mr. Rogers underwent a tonsillectomy. Romero formed (with nine friends) Image Ten Productions in the late 1960's. In 1968, this group produced the landmark film "The Night Of The Living Dead"! Romero co-wrote the film (with John A. Russo) as well as directed it. Romero, at his then young age of only 28, created a horror film masterpiece. It is a film which has enjoyed popularity for almost fifty years and that shows absolutely no sign of changing!

Romero had many inspirations for his film making. In an interview with Robert K. Elder for his show, "The Film That Changed My Life", Romero said that one of his inspirations was the 1951 film "The Tales Of Hoffman": "It was the filmmaking, the fantasy, the fact that it was a fantasy and it had a few frightening, sort of bizarre things in it. It was everything. It was really a movie for me, and it gave me an early appreciation for the power of visual media—the fact that you could experiment with it. He was doing all his tricks in-camera, and they were sort of obvious. That made me feel that, gee, maybe I could figure this medium out. It was transparent, but it worked." Romero said in the interview.

The next three movies made by Romero were not as popular as "Night Of The Living Dead". They were "There's Always Vanilla" in 1971, "Jack's Wife" or "Season Of The Witch" in 1972 and "The Crazies" in 1973. So , with a budget of $1,500,000, Romero returned to what had proved popular before. In 1978 , Romero filmed "The Dawn Of The Dead". The film was a tremendous success. pulling in $55,000,000 internationally! The movie was also listed as one of the top cult films in 2003 by Entertainment Weekly. In 1985, Romero made his third zombie film. It was called "Day Of The Dead".

In between those two films, Romero was busy. In 1981, Romero shot the film "Knightriders". The movie was a story of modern day jousters who fought on motorcycles. It became a cult favorite. In 1982, Romero worked with Horror Icon Stephen King on the hit movie "Creepshow". "Creepshow" is a series of anthology tales modeled after the old horror comics (especially EC Comics books) of the early 1950's! The success of "Creepshow" led to Romero producing the TV Series "Tales From The Dark Side". The show aired from 1983-1988. Also in 1988, Romero produced "Monkey Shines", a film about a killer helper monkey.

As the 1990's began, Romero released several more films-- "Two Evil Eyes" in 1990, "The Dark Half" in 1993 (that was also written by Stephen King) and 2000's "Bruiser", about a man whose face turns into a blank mask. Romero also remade his 1968 hit "Night Of The Living Dead" in 1990. Despite Romero's updating and the great Tom Savini as director, the film was not liked by the critics (it has been more appreciated in recent years, however). Roger Ebert for instance, gave the film only one out of four stars.

Romero had a cameo role in the Jonathan Demme film blockbuster "Silence Of The Lambs" (Romero played the role of one of Hannibal Lecter's jailers). In 2005, Romero, by then living in Toronto, Ontario, directed a 4th "Dead" movie in that city. The film was "Land Of The Dead". This time, the critics were more positive in their reviews. Many people find social commentary in Romero's "Dead" Movies. They felt that the original "Night Of The Living Dead" from 1968 was/is a reaction to the turbulent 1960s, "Dawn Of The Dead" as a satire on consumerism, "Day Of The Dead" as a commentary on science versus the military and "Land Of The Dead" as a commentary on class conflict.

In June of 2006, Romero announced his next project: "Zombiesodes", a combination of "Making Of" and expanding the story found in "George A. Romero's "Diary Of The Dead". Filming began in Toronto in 2006. Romero then began to branch out into other fields. He did some voice over work for video games and wrote a fifteen part comic book series for Marvel Comics called: "Empire Of The Dead. The story is broken down into three original five part acts featuring vampires as well as zombies. This was released in 2014. In May of 2017, Romero announced plans for "George A. Romero's Road Of The Dead". Romero co-wrote the film with Matt Birman, who was also to direct the film. It would be the first time that Romero did not direct a "Dead" Movie. The status of the film is now unknown in light of Romero's death.

On June 16th, 2017, George A. Romero died in his sleep from lung cancer with Romero's wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero and their daughter, Tina Romero, by his side. He was 77 years old. Rest In Peace, George A. Romero.