Remembering George Romero’s Legacy

It’s hard to imagine what the world of horror would look like without George Romero.

That’s not me being reflective on the sudden passing of Romero, it’s a fact.

Given the insane amount of mainstream stamina that zombie films have had since Night of the Living Dead started playing in double features across America it’s bizarre to think that without Romero the Zombie would have been a forgotten monster from the past like a Golem.

There are three distinct types of zombies in horror. There’s the pre-Romero Voodoo Zombie. There’s Romero’s zombie (which drew more inspiration from the vampires of I Am Legend than anything else). Finally there’s the 2000’s version of a Zombie (aka fast zombies).

If you’ve ever watched any “zombie” film before 1968 you are well aware that they are … for lack of a better phrase … boring as all hell. The Zombie is reduced from a creature of terror into a stiff, emotionless and slow moving singular creature controlled by the actual film villain. The zombie was nothing more than a mindless voodoo minion and it had no place in modern horror.

This all changed when a college film student out of Pittsburgh decided to make an unofficial adaptation of I Am Legend. Using the book as a starting point he began to build a new story around the concept of isolation and undead bodies coming to life. People love to focus on the fact that the world Zombie is rarely/never said in any of the Romero movies. That’s because at the time he created Night of the Living Dead, Zombie would not be an appropriate term based on everything we knew Zombies to be.

In a singular film Romero created a new creature, a new genre and with it a continuously profitable enterprise. The world got zombie fever and it never stopped.

However Romero was more than Zombies. In fact it’s a tragedy that (as I’m sure we all knew) in his recent death the focus would be on Zombies. It’s understandable. The original trilogy of Night, dawn and Day of the dead is arguably the best horror trilogy out there. Unfortunately the later part of his career was spent doing more zombie films that didn’t hold a candle to these films.

People forget about the other films that Romero brought into the world. While I’m not a fan of it, The Crazies is considered a classic and has many fans. It’s also one of the films that was remade recently and one of the few in which the remake greatly improved on the original source material. Romero made us question reality vs. myth with Martin.

Martin is one of Romero’s most critically praised films and while it certainly has a fan base, it is among the least discussed of his filmography. It tells the story of Martin, a self proclaimed vampire. Except he doesn’t have fangs, and sunlight merely bothers him. He frequently calls into a radio show explaining that there is no “Magic stuff” in vampirism. As the film continues we’re forced to question if Martin is a vampire or just a crazy person. Romero has stated it’s his personal favorite of his films and it truly is a masterpiece of low-budget horror. If you’re looking for something to watch in his honor today, I recommend this one.

It’s impossible not to focus on a few of the other iconic horror films that Romero had his hand in. He worked on films like 2000’s Bruiser, the killer monkey film (and Horror movie night favorite) Monkey Shines, his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Half is among one of the absolutely best adaptations of King’s work. Every one of those films are worth your time but the crown jewel of his career, the film that is easy to forget he had anything to do with is 1982’s Creepshow.

Just as he did with zombies, Romero did something magical with Creepshow. He gave us an entirely new way to present an Anthology film. Before Creepshow many horror anthologies were a similar premise… a group of strangers listen to different tales and almost all of them either ended with it being a dream or that they were all dead the whole time. Most of these movies also had one truly iconic story and 2-3 forgettable stories. Creepshow was different.

Creepshow utilized Stephen King’s writings and a nostalgia for the 50’s EC comics (specifically Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt) to craft a live-action comic book. We were taken into the various dark and disturbing tales, none of them having any connection to each other. The stories were gory, funny and really really dark. It was a perfect combination that completely changed the way that we make anthology films.

If you don’t believe me watch Dead of Night, House that Dripped Blood and From a Whisper to a Scream … then watch Creepshow … then watch Tales from the Hood and Tales from the Darkside: The Movie and tell me if you don’t see the clear influence.

Romero was innovative, funny and from all the stories I’ve heard from friends who have met him … overwhelmingly kind. He will be missed but his legacy will live on forever.`