Greetings, Horrorthonners. For weeks I've been meaning to throw something down here as a beginning to a pre-Horrorthon ramp-up, probably something quick with a promise of more action later. I still haven't seen Get Out, so I still haven't chimed in on Crystal's review. I think the break has been a good thing, and one of my favorite Lego blogs just emerged from a similar hiatus and it's going strong, so I'm excited to restart the engines for October.
BUT, here we are on a bummer day, and I figured George Romero's passing demanded some immediate attention. Not the reintroduction I would hope for, but that's death (or undeath) for you.
Here's some official words from Tre'vell Anderson at the LA Times:
"Legendary filmmaker George A. Romero, father of the modern movie zombie and creator of the groundbreaking “Night of the Living Dead” franchise, has died at 77, his family said.
Romero died Sunday in his sleep following a “brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer,” according to a statement to The Times provided by his longtime producing partner, Peter Grunwald. Romero died while listening to the score of one his favorite films, 1952’s “The Quiet Man,” with his wife, Suzanne Desrocher Romero, and daughter, Tina Romero, at his side, the family said.
Romero jump-started the zombie genre as the co-writer (with John A. Russo) and director of the 1968 movie “Night of the Living Dead,” which went to show future generations of filmmakers such as Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter that generating big scares didn’t require big budgets. “Living Dead” spawned an entire school of zombie knockoffs, and Romero’s sequels included 1978’s “Dawn of the Dead,” 1985’s “Day of the Dead,” 1990’s “Land of the Dead,” 2007’s “Diary of the Dead” and 2009’s “George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead.”
The original film, since colorized, has become a Halloween TV staple. It also has earned socio-political points for the casting of a black actor in the lead role.
Romero wrote or directed projects outside of the “Living Dead” franchise too, including 1973’s “The Crazies,” 1981’s “Knightriders” and episodes of the 1970s TV documentary “The Winners.” His last credit as a writer was for his characters’ appearance in 2017’s “Day of the Dead” from director Hèctor Hernández Vicens."
So how about it folks? What's your favorite Romero moment? Pay tribute in the comments, I've missed you guys.
4 comments:
for a chilling turn of events, it's hard to top barbara running face-to-face with zombie johnny. she's been barely (not really at all, actually) holding it together for the entire run-time of the movie (even before anything actually happens), and suddenly, johnny's at the door and the bottom falls out of her sanity.
Ha! That is a pretty good one. "They're coming to get you, Barbara."
I'm pretty sure Dawn was the first one I saw. It was probably with JPX and we probably rented a VHS tape from Video Connection, my first ever and worst ever movie store. Out on Route 6!
The moment that always sticks with me is that one zombie getting the top of his head lopped off by the helicopter rotors. I think Siskel and Ebert had commented on that when they reviewed it (probably years before I saw it) and I was looking out for it.
Great to see a post, sad about the reason. Can't remember having seen the classic Romero films, but am a fan of Creepshow... hard to pick a favorite moment but the end of the crate segment is up there. Damn that scared me as a teenager. Miss you guys!
Yeas great to see a post no matter how sad the reason is. Miss you guys.
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