Sad to hear this news... Took zombies and made them legendary , especially in Night of the Living Dead & Dawn of the Dead ...
So many milestones made with his first two zombie films, Night and Dawn. One of my favorite facts of NOTLD is that chocolate syrup was used for blood on camera. Stroke of genius for black and white film. Definitely a creative mind that will dearly be missed in my world!
The undisputed king of the romantic comedy... The planet is that much poorer now, sincerely. Would that he could rise again!
I stumbled upon 'Night of the Living Dead' when I came home from school when I was 11 and it was on public television no less (I was a latch key from the time I was 8 hence why I'm always annoyed how we pamper and baby kids these days but I digress). Absolutely terrified me for years, so much so I would tell my parents I could not attend funerals. I love Romero's work but I must admit I'm only familiar with his zombie films. Have to remedy that. Dawn of the Dead (original) along with the forementioned Night of the Living Dead are two of my faves though. He will be sadly missed. RIP.
If you can get your hands on it, watch Martin, a really fantastic "vampire," film. I haven't seen it in probably 25 years, but it left a big impression on me. Hopefully it will get a decent Blu Ray release now.
Right on, Mark! Martin is my long-time favorite of his films - every couple of years I get the chance to show it to someone who's never seen it (often having never heard of it!) and it always goes over well. I doubt that a month of my life has passed since first popping it into my top-loading VCR that I haven't thought about, at least in passing, some little visual fragment or snatch of dialog from it. I must have read Danny Perry's write up on it a couple of dozen times, too. Big impression? Yep! Thanks, George.
Ha! I've read that write-up many a time myself. I've definitely read it way more times than I've seen the movie, that's for sure. Not sure why this one is so hard to get a a hold of. But, if anything good comes of his passing, it could be the release of some of his other "gems."
Out of all the Romero films we're graced with, I'd have to say Creepshow impacted me the most. It was the first of its kind for me, being the anthology, short story type it was, and setting it up in the style of flicking through a comic book of the same name was brilliant. The Box is my favorite short, but Something to Tide You Over brings a close second. The overall style, practical effects, cinematography and lighting were all so, so new to me. Everything about Creepshow absolutely captivated me, and terrified me at the same time. I don't think I'll ever quite feel that with another horror director again.
Sad to learn of his passing. Although fully respected within the horror genre, I would say he deserves recognition within the genre of film in general. So much of what he put to screen was groundbreaking and unique at the time, and you can almost not even measure the cultural impact his many films - both knowingly and unknowingly - have had on the general zeitgeist. As so many know, it was his work that brought zombies, from being basically folkloric sidenote, to the 'awareness' and style of what nearly everyone knows them as today. The fact that he was still producing so many films up to this day speaks to his love and dedication as a filmmaker. Thank you for all of the nightmares George, if you come back, may you roam free forever. RIP.
Breaking my rule here of discouraging people on learning too much about a film before they've had a chance to actually see it for themselves... not that I'm presuming that only myself and Mark have had the pleasure! An excellent chat about an excellent picture: It also serves as a nice tribute to and appreciation of the man and his movies.
R.I.P George. My first introduction to Romero was the book version of Dawn of the Dead he published with the help of Susanna Sparrow, which I read in my early teens. I read that book multiple times, years before actually seeing the film. It was the same for Creepshow, i had read the comic book adaptation many times before seeing the film. Its an excellent comic book/graphic novel, well worth tracking down BTW . . . His films were always a major part of my horror fandom and always will be. I also really like 'Martin' and 'The Crazies', which I'm embarrassed to admit I only saw when they were released on DVD. His Zombie flicks were always my main preoccupation, I'd never bothered to delve deeper into his body of work. Romero's films also lead me to discover the genius of Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, which I will always be grateful for . . .
