George Romero, who many feel was the “father” of the modern zombie phenomenon, has passed away. He and John Russo created the modern zombie genre with their collaborative work Night of the Living Dead released in 1968. It was a movie that shocked critics and audiences at the time of its release. It did so in a number of ways (be warned there are some spoilers ahead)
1) it cast the main protagonist as an African-American male Ben, played by Duane Jones
2) in that same light it showed Ben in a positive and assertive role throughout the movie
3) from a “gore” perspective, it showed more blood and guts than most horror movies of the time (more on this later), and
4) not a single member of the group at the farmhouse survives to the end.

As for the special effects mentioned above, those initially were supposed to be supervised by special effect guru Tom Savini. Savini himself could not participate in the film because he was sent to Vietnam. However, fate would help both Romero and Savini. Romero and Savini would reunite for Romero’s second zombie film, Dawn of the Dead (1978). In this movie, a group of survivors flee the city and escape to a large shopping mall. Savini would supervise special effects throughout the movie, play a rather colorful biker, and perform his own stunts. The movie, according to many, including Romero, was a commentary on American consumer culture turning people into consuming “zombies.” Those zombies in the movie attempt to enter the mall not only because the humans are present, but “they’re after the place…this was an important place to them in life.” Eventually two surviving members of the group escape, but their ultimate fate is unknown to the audience.

Romero’s next zombie movie is Day of the Dead (1985). This movie picks up sometime after events of Dawn of the Dead. Its characters include a mixture of scientists and the soldiers who were assigned to protect them in an underground complex. The situation in this movie is even more bleak than the previous installments: the United States and, more importantly, humanity, is on the verge of extinction. The zombie apocalypse is at its end-stage: few survivors, dwindling supplies, depression and nihilism rampant, tensions between all characters ready to explode, and that’s not even mentioning the millions of zombies waiting above the surface. Again, part of the group escapes, but what will be the ultimate fate of humanity in a world overrun by the dead?

Romero would next film Land of the Dead (2005) set even further into the future. This film revolved around an entire community of survivors struggling to stay alive. The survivors are again divided against each other: the rich vs the poor. The exploitation of poor by the rich in this movie revolves around the high-rise tower that dominates the human community. Those with money and influence live in “Fiddler’s Green” and everyone living outside the tower are there to serve them. The poor are turned against each other, and the zombies as well, in a dystopian world. We see another aspect emerge during this movie: sympathetic, semi-intelligent zombies. During a raid on an outlying town, a number of the zombies “living” there are destroyed. The leader zombie gathers the remainder to attack the living. Now the zombies don’t talk, or anything of that sort, but their intelligence and emotions are displayed visually. In the end, the humans turn on each other and the zombies end up occupying Fiddler’s Green and allowing some of the surviving humans to continue living.

The next movie that Romero filmed in the zombie genre was Diary of the Dead (2007). Here the movie is shot as though the audience is seeing the events of a zombie apocalypse through an amateur video camera. The characters are shooting a final college film class project, not surprisingly a horror movie, when they begin to hear reports about attacks throughout the area. They decide to get back to the college and from there head to their respective homes. Things go south immediately and the group is faced with life altering decisions. The film ends as the last of the survivors hide in a panic room and upload the video footage they’ve amassed to the world.

The last zombie movie that Romero shot himself was Survival of the Dead (2009). This movie revolves around a group of characters last seen in Diary of the Dead, not our original protagonists rather a group of soldiers who robbed them. The soldiers are on the hunt for a safe haven from the Dead and come upon an island where the dead don’t reign. Again, human is set against human and the dead serve as backdrop danger that shows up occasionally.

Beyond Romero’s own movies, he had a major impact on the world by giving his zombie expertise to various films such as Resident Evil (2002). He also gave some very talented people their start in the film. A perfect example is Tom Savini mentioned above. Savini gained notoriety and chance to show off his acting skills, special effects talent, and eventually his directing skills thanks to Romero. Savini would get permission from Romero to create his own remake of Night of the Living Dead released in 1990. This film was a more hard-edged version of Romero’s original.

Dawn of the Dead was remade in 2004. Again a group of survivors managed to make it into a mall and then must decide which is worse: escaping the mall for a better place, or stay in the mall and die slowly. This film was not as well received as it was hoped, but was still a success.

Day of the Dead was also remade in 2008. This particular film was not received well and did not make as much money as was hoped.

John Russo, Romero’s partner for Night of the Living Dead, created his own zombie universe with the Return of the Living Dead franchise (five films in all). Romero and Russo ended their professional relationship over copyright issues and they split the Living Dead and Night, Day, and Dawn from each other.

Russo’ Return of the Living Dead (1985) is another cult classic. Return of the Living Dead presented the world to an intelligent, fast-moving, and indestructible version of zombies. This was released close to Romero’s own Day of the Dead; both would overshadowed at the box office, The Road Warrior (reintroducing the world to Mel Gibson’s Mad Max). Return of the Living Dead was directed by another film legend (in my own opinion and that of others) Dan O’Bannon (writer of Alien (1979)). The characters in Return of the Living Dead included punk rockers, medicinal supply warehouse workers, straight-laced girlfriend and boyfriend, a possible Nazi war criminal funeral home owner, and a stressed-out army colonel fighting each other and a wave of unstoppable zombies.

Italian horror movies would also emulate, and steal from, Romero’s zombie genre. Lucio Fulci invited Romero and his wife to live with him while writing Dawn of the Dead (released in 1978). Fulci created his version of a prequel to Dawn of the Dead, and possibly Night of the Living Dead, where a tropical island is used to combine voodoo and science but ends in a zombie apocalypse. The film was quickly followed by several “sequels” that strayed away from Romero’s universe.

The zombie apocalypse created by George Romero comes down to the modern day, omg the 2000s, in the forms of The Walking Dead and Z-Nation, to name just two of the most popular television shows, as well as Max Books’ World War Z. Though they share no real connection with Romero’s universe, their creations are still an apocalyptic world where humanity is on the run from itself and the zombies ready to come around the corner to eat them.

Thank you George Romero, you’ve made an impact on the world that still resonates today and into the future. Even today, as my family members can attest, I look at every building I encounter, give a quick once over, and announce “this place would be too hard to defend against zombies.”

Your ever-loving zombie fan,

Jason