Editors' Picks: Our Favorite Things From the Week of July 161 of 12
Remembrance of the Week
According to British horror author and critic Kim Newman, "It is impossible to overestimate the impact George A. Romero had on the horror film."
Romero made Night of the Living Dead on a shoestring budget in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1968. The movie became a cult hit and took the world by storm. "It gave hope to those of us in film school that it was possible to make a low-budget movie and get it on the big screen," said John Carpenter, director of such films as Halloween and The Thing.
It’s hard to quantify the impact Romero had on the genre. He not only redefined zombies for a modern age; he gave birth to a subculture, from movies and TV shows, to bars, to shambling "zombie walks" that take place all over the world.
He also reinforced the role of social subtext in the genre that began when he cast Duane Jones, a black man, as the hero in Night of the Living Dead. As Jordan Peele, writer and director of the critically acclaimed movie Get Out, put it, "Romero started it."
Tributes continued to flow throughout Comic-Con weekend as fans remembered the man they call King of the Zombies.
Romero died Sunday, July 16, of lung cancer.
Explore the evolution of zombies in movies and TV
According to British horror author and critic Kim Newman, "It is impossible to overestimate the impact George A. Romero had on the horror film."
Romero made Night of the Living Dead on a shoestring budget in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1968. The movie became a cult hit and took the world by storm. "It gave hope to those of us in film school that it was possible to make a low-budget movie and get it on the big screen," said John Carpenter, director of such films as Halloween and The Thing.
It’s hard to quantify the impact Romero had on the genre. He not only redefined zombies for a modern age; he gave birth to a subculture, from movies and TV shows, to bars, to shambling "zombie walks" that take place all over the world.
He also reinforced the role of social subtext in the genre that began when he cast Duane Jones, a black man, as the hero in Night of the Living Dead. As Jordan Peele, writer and director of the critically acclaimed movie Get Out, put it, "Romero started it."
Tributes continued to flow throughout Comic-Con weekend as fans remembered the man they call King of the Zombies.
Romero died Sunday, July 16, of lung cancer.
Explore the evolution of zombies in movies and TV
PeopleGeorge A. Romero
Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images - © 2009 Franco Origlia - Image courtesy gettyimages.com