Many things have been influenced by Romero’s original idea. But Romero has stated that he was inspired to make horror movies by a couple of things: the novel I Am Legend, which he used as a basis for his plots, and when he was making a short film called Mister Rogers’ Gets a Tonsillectomy. Romero has said it is “Possibly the scariest film I ever made” (Zinoman). He didn’t know the effect that his cheaply made independent movies would have on film or society. His movies are constantly being copied in one way or another, even in many films that are not horror. The horror film wouldn’t be where it is today if it was without Romero’s contributions, and the many others that try to reinvent the zombie every year.

I hope that this brief blog gives a better look into the effect George A. Romero had on society, and a brief look into his life. Not many people can change things like Romero did, and as horror fanatics we must pay homage. He gave us the modern zombie, the most unlikely(but entertaining) apocalypse that we most likely cannot survive, and the ability for anything to come back to life after death. Our nightmares can thank Romero, for helping scare us at night.

Works Cited
Zinoman, Jason. "Killer Instincts." Vanity Fair (Vol. 50, No. 3). March 2008: 304+. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 9 May 2011.

Zombies Are Everywhere!!

In spite of the early popularity of zombie movies, they seem to have played themselves out by the mid-1980s. Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video in 1983, tried to be eerie and frightening, but when the dead started to dance, “zombies became nothing more than a joke” (Bishop). Historically, zombie cinema had always represented a stylized reaction to cultural consciousness, and the US in the 1990s had too much stability for zombie movies to fit the national mood. Virtually no new or original stories were produced in the decade at all.

Even though zombies were no longer on the silver screen, people found renewed interest in zombies through violent video games. The first true zombie video game was in 1996, Capcom's Biohazard (renamed Resident Evil). This game takes its central story line directly from Romero's movies. Video games helped zombie’s make a slow transition back to theater in the new millennium.

Since the beginning of the war on terror, American popular culture has been colored by the fear of possible terrorist attacks and the realization that people are not as safe as they might have once thought. “This shift in cultural consciousness can be most readily seen in narrative fiction, particularly through zombie cinema” (Bishop). Since 2002, the number of both studio and independent zombie movies has been on a steady rise.

Movies such as 28 Days Later, and the Resident Evil series have helped bring the zombie back to its original excellence. And now zombies all around us, “in films, books and video games, the undead are once again on the march, elbowing past werewolves, vampires, swamp things and mummies to become the postmillennial ghoul of the moment” (Bishop). All this evidence points to one fact: zombies are back… and better then EVER!

Works Cited

Bishop, Kyle. Journal of Popular Film & Television. Washington: Spring 2009. Vol. 37, Iss. 1; pg. 16, 10 pgs. Periodical.

Picture Sources
http://smalltownhero.deviantart.com/art/Michael-Jackson-s-Thriller-127778669

http://www.loftcinema.com/node/702

After the Apocalypse

Romero’s sequel to Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, received almost the same criticism as the first but “this kind of publicity proved to be more boon than bane” (George A(ndrew) Romero). It gained popularity due to the outrage it caused. The movie was a certified hit and many agree that it is a brilliant sequel.

Romero’s first two films cost an estimated $700,000 to make, a very low budget, and grossed about $97,000,000 worldwide. He had no idea the impact they would make, especially with the amount of money he and his friends saved up to make the first film. Dawn of the Dead further contributed to the zombie phenomenon, “He has redefined the genre film like nobody could. After DAWN OF THE DEAD, the horror film will never be the same” (Yakir).

And when society goes bad, horror films start getting good, and the 1970s marked a return to the big budget, respectable horror film, addressing genuine psychological fears of that time. They replaced the old Gothic style(Dracula and Frankenstein) in horror films with a huge increase in the production of gory, graphic horror films. They were about paranoia, and the fear that the morality change of the 1960s had created a culture of monsters, the successors of the shuffling zombies in Night of The Living Dead.

Works Cited
"George A(ndrew) Romero." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.

Yakir, Dan. "Morning Becomes Romero." Film Comment. May/June 1979: 60-65. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 29 Apr 2011.

The Zombie Evolution

In the middle of the 20^th century, “horror had been stuck in a musty, cobwebbed past …that didn't frighten a generation of young people” (Zinoman). The horror genre had lost its frightening ways. And as I said before, the earlier zombie movies were people that were alive but just being controlled by voodoo. So they were basically brainwashed voodoo slaves.

Not until George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead did the horror genre become increasingly popular, “the phenomenon it kicked off has spread like a full-on zombie apocalypse” (Truitt). It was the first movie to portray zombies as living corpses. They had an insatiable lust for the living‘s flesh. Its graphic nature “shocked unsuspecting audiences,” and appalled some of its critics (Truitt).

It was Romero’s first feature film, he had only worked on a few short films and commercials. So he was taking major risks making a movie such as this during that time, but it eventually paid off. It is “one of the major achievements of American cinema, an extraordinary feat of imagination and audacity carried through with exemplary courage and conviction” (George A. Romero). It was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry and is seen as a defining moment for modern horror cinema.

Works Cited

"George A. Romero." Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television. Vol. 80. Gale, 2008. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.

Truitt, Brian. "George A. Romero's legacy refuses to die." USA Today 7 June 2010: 02D. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.

Zinoman, Jason. "Killer Instincts." Vanity Fair (Vol. 50, No. 3). March 2008: 304+. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 21 Apr 2011.

Picture Source
http://www.moviepostershop.com/night-of-the-living-dead-movie-poster-1968/

A Zombie Revolution

George A. Romero, often referred to as the "Grandfather of the Zombie," revolutionized the horror industry with his very first feature film, Night of the Living Dead. Its impact on our culture is felt even to this day. When it was first released in theaters in 1968, many criticized its explicit content and wouldn’t even give it a chance. Yet it eventually received critical acclaim and changed the way we make horror films. Before Romero, there were films that portrayed zombies as regular people being mind controlled by Voodoo. But ever since, there hasn’t been a time when a "Romero zombie" flick wasn’t being made.

I was a very young when I first saw it (I think I was about 7 years old), so I was pretty terrified but also very intrigued, I had never seen a movie like it before. I think I was falling in love…and from that moment I had become a lover of zombie films, my older brother helped “fuel the fire,” being a fan of horror flicks before I was. I'd like this blog to help give more insight on Romero's life before and after his successes, and how he changed American culture, not just in the film industry.