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Horror Legends: George A. Romero Profile

In 1968, George A. Romero let loose on the public one of the most important movies ever made, regardless of genre. 'Night of the Living Dead' shaped the way zombies would be portrayed on screen for the rest of time. Steering away from the clasc zombie formula that incorporated voodoo into the equation, Romero's zombies exist for unknown reasons (although several reasons have been suggested in his movies). Romero's zombies are hyper-violent creatures that only want to dismember and eat the living to satiate their appetites.

The landmark zombie film, 'Night of the Living Dead', features a group of strangers who must survive a zombie invaon in an abandoned farmhouse. Not only do they have to fend off the zombies, they have to fend off each other. The constant sense of dread and claustrophobia is enough to make anyone go mad, but when you throw in the incessant bickering going on in the house, primarily between Ben and Harry Cooper, it makes for an even more chaotic scene with zombies right outde the door.

After a couple of flops ('There's Always Vanilla', 'Season of the Witch'), Romero released 'The Crazies', a sci-fi/horror hybrid. With war so prevalent in today's society, 'The Crazies' will always be relevant because the movie's plot can be applied to any decade. 'The Crazies' is about the army quarantining a small town after a deadly virus contaminates its inhabitants, caung mass hysteria and death. Shot on a miniscule budget ($270,000), 'The Crazies' is an effective movie that still resonates with the viewer today.

Four years later in 1977, Romero decided to tackle the vampire sub-genre with the innovative 'Martin'. 'Martin' features a seemingly young man who claims that he is an 84 year old vampire. Martin does not go about obtaining his blood supply with a customary bite to the neck. Instead, he injects his victims with a sleeping agent and uses a razor blade to drink the blood of his mark. The ending is left purposely ambiguous for the viewer to decide for themselves whether or not Martin is actually a vampire. Romero has stated that he feels that 'Martin' is one of his best movies.

Romero's next movie is condered by many people to be the greatest zombie movie of all time. 'Dawn of the Dead' is a graphic, darkly humorous EC comics style zombie movie that really hit home with the public, partly due to the social commentary about consumerism in society. Four survivors of the zombie apocalypse hole up in a mall while fighting off the walking dead. Once things seem under control (despite one casualty), a gang of looting bikers arrives and messes everything up. They break into the mall, allowing all of the zombies in with them. Once this happens, absolute mayhem ensues pitting man vs. zombie and man vs. man, a milar theme Romero tackled in 'Night of the Living Dead'. 'Dawn' has some of the most sympathetic characters in horror movie history and you can't help but to hope they survive in the end.

In 1982, Romero and Stephen King collaborated on one of the best horror anthologies ever created, 'Creepshow'. With stars such as Hal Holbrook, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Adrienne Barbeau, and E.G. Marshall, 'Creepshow' provided entertaining segments, culminating with the disturbing finale, "They're Creeping Up On You!", in which tons of cockroaches infest a bunessman's apartment.



Three years later, despite budgetary restraints, Romero released his third zombie epic, 'Day of the Dead'. In the film, scientists and soldiers must co-exist in an underground bunker during the zombie invaon. Following his usual formula, Romero's characters constantly fight amongst each other, primarily the soldiers vs. the scientists. The soldiers are long patience as the scientists search for a cure to the zombie epidemic. Once the soldiers find out about the grotesque experiments of Dr. Frankenstein, all hell breaks loose. Romero's goriest zombie movie to date, 'Day of the Dead' was not highly acclaimed upon its initial release but has nce found a cult fan base and is condered to be one of Romero's best films.

After the solid, although box-office flop that was 'Monkey Shines', Romero teamed up with fellow legendary director Dario Argento to make 'Two Evil Eyes' in 1990. Romero and Argento each directed a one hour segment based on an Edgar Allan Poe work. Much in the vein of a 'Tales from the Crypt' episode, Romero's "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar" segment is a decent installment in the director's canon, though inferior to Argento's segment, "The Black Cat".

After only being in the director's chair two more times over the next fifteen years ('The Dark Half' and 'Bruiser'), Romero made his much anticipated return to the zombie sub-genre with 'Land of the Dead' in 2005. Although highly criticized at the time, 'Land', much like 'Day of the Dead' has won over a lot of critics and fans that initially panned it. Romero's scathing commentary on George Bush's predency is blatantly apparent. As usual, the zombies continue to get smarter, learning to use weapons and even communicate with each other while the in-fighting between humans persts.

Two years later, 'Diary of the Dead', the fifth entry in the series received a limited theatrical release. Ung a hand-held camera and focung on the effects (mostly negative) of social media, Romero's film is comparable to 'The Blair Witch Project' in the way that it is shot. Gritty with some legitimately creepy scenes and bleak atmosphere, 'Diary' is a welcome addition to Romero's "Dead" series.

Unfortunately in 2009, the dreadful 'Survival of the Dead' was unleashed on the public. A boring, lly, borderline comedy, 'Survival of the Dead' proves to be a rough viewing experience. However, due to the staggering amount of great movies that he's directed, Romero deserves a pass on this one. Let's hope that Romero can return to form in his next film and give us yet another clasc that shows these new directors how it's really done.
MichaelMyersBrother Wednesday 6/01/2011 at 11:46 PM | 77037