George Romero - Zombie Movie Maestro

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

When they say “Romero films” they mean zombies, when you hear the word “zombies”, you always think of Romero films. For more than 40 years, these two concepts have coexisted in such an inextricable link.

The Horror Revolution

George Romero became interested in filmmaking as a teenager. At the age of 14, he created author's projects. But the first significant author's work of the future maestro of the horror genre is the full-length film Night of the Living Dead. The film made a real revolution in the horror genre, defining a kind of subgenre - a movie about zombies. Despite the fact that the picture was shot in black and white, it became one of the most quoted and blatantly robbed by plagiarists of all stripes, a cult classic of the genre.

Zombie movie with fantastic background

28-year-old George Romero appeared in his debut feature in four roles: co-writer, director-producer, cameo actor (Washington Reporter) and cinematographer. This at first glance unpretentious, almost amateurish in terms of shooting technique, as if accidentally appeared on the screens, the tape of a novice filmmaker has everythingthe main signs of a true cinematic style. The project was seen by some film critics as a cautionary dystopia, akin to Don Siegel's low-budget horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. But George Romero himself considers the absurdist-mystical film of Hurk Harvey's "Carnival of Souls" to be the source of his inspiration at the time of creating "Night …".

Filmography before Breaking Dawn…

For some time, the director was unable to break into the industry of high-budget films. After the global success of "Night of the Living Dead" and thanks to the impressive amount of box office receipts, he directed the dramatic film "Like Flies to Honey" (1971). Two years later, two horror films are released one after the other: "Hungry Wives" and "Crazy". Then there is a movie about a maniac who seriously considers himself a vampire - "Martin" (1977).

1978 was marked by the release of a new horror film about zombies under the eloquent title "Dawn of the Dead", which, like "Night …", is a huge success. George Romero owes the success of this project to Tom Savini - an actor, make-up artist, stuntman and director. The budget of the tape at the time of completion of filming was $1,500,000, and the box office receipts exceeded $55,000,000. Among other things, Savini's make-up was awarded the prestigious Saturn Film Award. Breaking Dawn opened the way for the director to big-budget film projects.

Important horror director George Romero

Films that followed the second picture about zombies, one way or another belonged to the horror genre: "Knights on Wheels", three parts"Kaleidoscope of Horrors", "Killer Monkey", "Two Evil Eyes". In addition to these films, the director shot in 1985 the third film about zombies - "Day of the Dead" (in the domestic box office "Day of the Dead"). Unlike previous works, George Romero made a movie that most closely matches the vague definition of "art house". The third project about the walking dead also did not have an impressive budget ($ 3,500,000), so the script had to be changed several times. After this picture, interest in the work of the living legend of the film industry noticeably subsided, and it was revived by Zack Snyder, who shot a remake of Dawn of the Dead.

Rise like a zombie

The new movie "Land of the Dead" (2005, domestic release "Land of the Dead") was touted as the triumphant return to the film industry of George Romero, a director who has enjoyed cult status since his acclaimed debut. This picture was supposed to be the final tetralogy about zombies. The horror was filmed in an extremely short time, but George Romero lived up to the expectations of thousands of fans of his work. It was truly a triumphant return of the director's genius to the mainstream scene. The film was a resounding success, and in 2007, another work by Romero, Diaries of the Dead, was released, which cannot be called the fifth episode of the franchise. The director who gave the world zombies begins a new cycle.

One of the great living directors of horror films, instead of an immense disaster film, presents a real social study to the viewer, but zombies, of course, are attached. ATIn 2009, the director's next project, Survival of the Dead, was released. It looks quite dignified, the only thing that upsets is the hopelessness and sadness with which the atmosphere of the film is oversaturated. I would like Romeo's next works to show what will be the result after all the "after".