The dead walk. Putrid corpses claw their way out of earthy graves and stumble towards civilization. They are bloody, rotting, and hungry for human flesh—and it’s all George Romero’s fault.
With 1968’s Night of the Living Dead Romero unleashed the modern zombie onto cinemas, annihilating their voodoo roots and resurrecting them as passed away friends and dead loved ones.
Its sequel, the zombies in a mall masterpiece Dawn of the Dead, took Romero’s apocalyptic nightmare further. Its frank depiction of bloodshed changed horror cinema forever and paved
the way for such recent offerings as Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later. But there is more to Romero than just the living dead. He reinvented the vampire in Martin, took
on the American military in The Crazies, and has collaborated with horror legend Stephen King on both Creepshow and The Dark Half. Even today films like Land of the
Dead have proven Romero to be a fearless anti-establishment filmmaker. He’s a maverick—a man who frequently directs outside of the Hollywood mainstream, allowing his films to work as both
chilling frightfests and impassioned comments on the American psyche.