Film-maker, George A. Romero, died on July 16th, 2017, after a losing a brief aggressive battle with lung cancer. His name is synonymous with the zombie movie, a genre he almost singlehandedly created. His 1968 film ‘Night of the Living Dead’ is rightly hailed as a groundbreaking classic in horror movie history.
He made further zombie movies, such as ‘Day of the Dead’ and ‘Dawn of the Dead’ that were gruesome but rich in black humour and satire, and his other non-zombie films include 1982’s ‘Creepshow’ (a tongue in cheek anthology movie written by Stephen King, that paid homage to horror comics of his youth), and cult films ‘The Crazies’ and ‘Knightriders’.
He was working on a new ‘Dead’ movie (‘Road of the Dead’) when he died, it’s future release now uncertain.
The slew of current zombie films and TV shows surely owe a huge debt to him, despite often lacking the subtle edge of Romero’s work. In 2013, he said “I always used the zombie as a character for satire or a political criticism, and I find that missing in what’s happening now.”
He leaves behind a wife and daughter.
