RIP George A Romero

Liam McPoyle

Worthy of his own thread, news is just breaking that legendary director George A Romero has passed away aged 77.

Single handedly responsible for the birth of the zombie movie the man long ago cemented his place in horror folklore.

He defined the genre with the seminal Night of the Living Dead and later raised them to the nth degree with two sequels, Dawn and Day of the Dead.

Playing on the public's fear of communism and with a keen eye for social commentary, his Dead trilogy easily stand out today as pieces of must see horror cinema for fans of the genre.

He was also the man behind Martin, The Crazies and other anthologies.

Although his more recent output in the genre were not great, he will always be remembered as a bona fide horror icon.

Sad news indeed.

shazzerman

Yes, a great director. His output is severely underrated and overlooked, mainly because he worked in a genre that we are somehow supposed to grow out of. One of my all-time favourite directors, and Day of the Dead is still the greatest horror film of the last 30 years.

He better come back as Patient Zero.

Decuc500

I've just watched the Arrow blu ray of his film Knightriders and seen this news. Very sad indeed. Knightriders was such an odd film and showed there was more than zombies to Romero's work.

AllGunsBlazing

I remember 'Dawn of the Dead' and 'Day of the Dead' were both a must see back when video players were starting to become commonplace here in the mid 80's. All these decades later and his influence on popular culture is evident in movies, tv, and even video games. A legend.

Liam McPoyle

Day is my favourite zombie movie.

It was poorly received at the time and I believe his career suffered because of it.

Looking at it even now, the special effects are still absolutely mind blowing and not a single piece of CGI to be seen.

My first proper zombie movie was Dawn, I remember it being on one Sunday night in the mid 90s on BBC2 and staying up to tape and watch it. I must have burned a hole in the tape with the amount of times I watched it.

It's about time the trilogy got a proper blu ray release.

There have been various restorations done of each but I'd love to see Arrow do a pimped out boxset like The Scarlet Box for the 3 of them.

Pelvis

Dawn is one of those movies I'll always remember the first time watching it. As a kid just digging through some old VHS tapes to see if there were any movies recorded. Stuck one tape in and pressed play, and up comes the beginning of Dawn, no idea what it was or what I was in for. It was terrifyingly awesome!!

Tony EH

RIP to the man that gave me my favorite horror film of all time and who has been in my film watching life for as long as I can remember.

'Day of the Dead' has been a staple of my repeat watching since I first saw it as a kid in 1986. It shot to the top of the list and has stayed there ever since. It's the zenith of an entire sub genre and I'd go so far as to say it's possibly the greatest horror film of all time. It still has the power to give me chills, even though I've seen it a silly amount of times.

Dave..M

Infectious diseases, space pathogens, shuffling zombies with some thickly spread satire all used to great effect, they don't make 'em like that anymore. He's coming to get you Barbara! Truly a legend; RIP

neirbloom

One of his best and most underrated is Martin from 1978 if anyone hasn't seen it. Really low budget but well worth the watch if your a horror fan. Truly ahead of its time.

reni10

Sad to see this visionary movie man pass away...

"Dawn of the Dead" is one of my fav films and always gets a repeat viewing every few years, looks like I will be breaking it out again soon... RIP

Liam McPoyle

Lovely tribute from Tom Savini.

When I did a special effect on a George Romero set....I would make a chirping cricket noise. If George made the same cricket noise back, i knew he loved it, it worked and we could move on, after laughing our asses off. That's how we communicated...with lots of laughing. When we first met i was auditioning for him and made him laugh. That laugh....that laugh came from the center of the earth. We laughed through almost fifty years and nine movies. I will miss that laugh, and my friend. More than that he was a big teddy bear. You loved hugging him cause he made a noise, a happy loving noise, as he squeezed the breath out of you. I will miss that hug. I will miss everything about him. There is a light in the galaxy that has gone out and can't be replaced. Normally you would say "Ah but we have sweet memories"....in this case those that knew him have a lot more...it's molecular...it's a part of us...he is in us...he made so much of what we are.

patrickSTARR

Ive never seen his best work, but my friend is a huge fan and will be devastated.

Liam McPoyle

patrickSTARR wrote: »

Ive never seen his best work, but my friend is a huge fan and will be devastated.

I'd highly recommend his trilogy of the Dead as a starting point.

Zombies are very much in vogue at the moment with the likes of the walking dead being massively popular.

Without Romero we wouldn't have any of that.

I'm hard pressed to think of anyone else that has been as influential when it comes to an entire genre between celluloid, print and television.

JP Liz V1

RIP

northgirl

I've never seen his movies but loved 'Tales from the Darkside'. RIP.