George A. Romero Dies: ‘Night Of The Living Dead’ Director Was 77
by Greg Evans
George A. Romero, the director who all but invented the modern zombie genre with his 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead, has died at 77 of lung cancer.
Infused with social commentary and a realistic, midnight-movie terror, Romero’s brazenly stark thriller, and the sequels that followed, made as large an impact on the genre and a culture’s nightmares as any horror film since the Universal Studios monster chillers of the 1930s.
The Pittsburgh native’s low-budget, black and white film went from cult favorite to blockbuster franchise with Romero’s 1978 sequel Dawn of the Dead, 1985’s Day of the Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007) and finally 2009’s Survival of the Dead. His take on the vampire genre, Martin, was released in 1978, and he wrote the 1990 Night remake, directed by Tom Savini.
As a producer, Romero delivered TV’s seminal 1980s horror anthology Tales From the Dark Side.
“Hard to quantify how much he inspired me & what he did for cinema,” tweeted Hostel director Eli Roth. (See other Hollywood reactions here.)