George A. Romero: Beyond The Living Dead Films

Celebrate the work of a titan of horror with some thoughts and musings on several of Romero’s films beyond his Living Dead series.

Documentary ‘Birth Of The Living Dead’ Gets a Trailer Release

Here’s an exciting one for all of you George A. Romero and zombie fans alike; coming this fall is your chance to see Birth of the Living Dead, an exciting new documentary exploring how Romero brought his classic Night of the Living Dead to the screen. The trailer has also recently been released for you to cast your undead loving eyes on!

Birth of the Living Dead is an in-depth documentary written, directed and edited by Rob Kuhns and produced by Esther Cassidy. It details how Romero gathered an unlikely team of Pittsburgh citizens — policemen, iron workers, teachers, ad-men, housewives and a roller-rink owner — to shoot, with a revolutionary guerrilla, run-and-gun style, his seminal film, Night of the Living Dead. During that process, Romero and his team created an entirely new and horribly chilling monster – one that was undead and feasted upon human flesh.

Shot in New York City, Toronto and Los Angeles between the end of 2006 and the Summer of 2011, Birth of the Living Dead immerses audiences into the singular time in which “Night” was shot and studies how Romero created a world-renowned horror film that was also a profound insight into how our society really works.

For the film, Kuhns carried out extensive interviews with George A. Romero in Toronto. Kuhns’ previous experience working as an editor for “Bill Moyers Journal” and later on “Moyers and Company,” gave him the opportunity to explore the powerful archival images of American history in the 1960s. Kuhns surveyed television news stories of the racial violence exploding across the country and horrific combat footage of the Vietnam War. He also saw the U.S. government responses to both. Kuhns realized that Romero and his collaborators created “Night of the Living Dead,” a film about the world coming to an end, at a historic time of enormous American upheaval. “Night” was revealing itself as a living document of the time in which it was made.

The Zombie craze is currently at its peak and it is great to see such a talented team put so much effort and love into documenting how it all began. Without Romero and Night of the Living Dead, the horror movie scene would not be the industry it is today. Romero opened the door to independent movie makers to get out there and do their own thing, even with the tiniest of budgets. A tradition that the likes of Jason Blum and Blumhouse productions still carry on today. By the looks of it, Kuhn’s documentary will be the quintessential visual guide to Romero and his creations.

Birth of the Living Dead will be screening across the US throughout October. Head over to the official website for details of when they will be at a screen near you.

Countdown to Halloween #4: The Romero Zombies

Zombies seem to be everywhere recently don’t they? It’s okay, I did not mean it literally, you can remove the locks of the door now! No, what I meant was that in the last few years the zombie mythology has become firmly embedded in pop culture. With The Walking Dead bringing in huge ratings numbers and zombie films with a heart like Shaun of the Dead, it seems you cannot walk down the street without some form of zombie merchandise in your way. Now zombies have been in cinema for a long time now. Their origins lie in Haitian folklore and they were originally slaves to their voodoo masters.

GB’s VHS Vault: Attack of the Beast Creatures

The VHS Vault opens to deliver a bizarre tale of tiny terrors on an island of death!

Graphic Novel Review – A God Somewhere

Ever wonder what it would be like to be a God? A God Somewhere takes an interesting look into that very subject.

#21b – Countdown to Halloween: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

We already saw Doc Kronner’s take on this classic, so here is another opinion from TheBustedBoxes…

This is simply the classic Halloween horror flick in my mind. It has influenced everything from video games to music videos – ala Thriller….

#21 – Countdown to Halloween: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

Shot by a group of college friends who made commercials, Night of the Living Dead has endured for over 40 years as the gold standard of zombie films. Released in 1968, on a shoe-string budget, and with little to no experience for most of the cast and crew, this film continues to influence pop culture still today.

#30 – Countdown to Halloween: DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)

I love Halloween. Everything about it. The costumes, the candy, the parties. But most importantly? It’s the one time of the year where you get to watch as many horror movies as you want without people judging or thinking you’re a closet serial killer who’s studying the fine art of murder. But not all horror is about slow-walking, mask-wearing, virgin-hunting unkillable killers. Sometimes we get a look at the less structured side of horror.

Call of Duty: Escalation (Starring Trejo, Rooker, George A. Romero, Freddy Kruger, & Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Call of Duty – Three words almost universally despised by wives and girlfriends everywhere. Well ladies, things are about to get worse. If it seems your man has been picking the controller up less frequently as of late, I hope you enjoy it while it lasts. Coming May 3rd is the newest expansion for the latest Call of Duty game, Black Ops. This is the second such expansion released for the game, as First Strike is almost 3 months old already. I know a few people I play online with still haven’t bought the First Strike expansion, but personally I’m happy I did, as ‘Discovery’ has become my favorite map in the game. The new add-on is called Escalation.

Here is a quick synopsis:

As indicated by the retailer leak, the DLC will include four multiplayer maps: Hotel, set “on the roof of a Cuban luxury hotel and casino against the vivid backdrop of old Havana”; Convoy, which offers up “intense, close-quarters combat at the scene of an ambushed US military convoy”; Zoo, set in a derelict Soviet-era animal park; and Stockpile, which is set in a small Russian town that contains secret facilities housing weapons of mass destruction.

Also included in the Escalation pack is a new level for Black Ops’ zombie mode. Today’s announcement gave no details on the mode, other than that it will provide a “unique Zombies experience.” However, the previous retailer leak referred to the level as “Call of the Dead.”

Ok, so new maps are always nice, but what’s really grabbing me here is the “Call of the Dead” aspect of the game. Long has the Zombie section of the game been a favorite of mine, and it is in fact the reason I bought both Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops. And while it was fun, it was obviously never a real focus for the designers. That’s about to change. Here is the trailer for the ‘Call of the Dead’ section of the expansion…

As our esteemed Technical Editor likes to say: Holy crap.

Not bad at all. Here are 4 luminaries in the Horror/Sci-Fi genre, brought together to voice characters not for a full game, but just a downloadable expansion to the game. That is throwing your budget around. Just look at this cast:

– Michael Rooker made his name with a lot of geeks in Mallrats, however was already established in the horror community for a decade prior with the title role in Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. And for the Zombie connection – he was in the first season of AMC’s The Walking Dead.

– Danny Trejo is one Mexican you don’t want to f–k with, or so he told us in Machete. Machete was of course a spin-off of Grindhouse, and Trejo has been in such classics as Maniac Cop 2, the From Dusk Till Dawn trilogy, and Rob Zombie remake of Halloween.

– Sarah Michelle Gellar is of course best known as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but has also appeared in horror movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Grudge and Scream 2.

– Robert Englund has played Freddy Kruger over 50 times between the Nightmare on Elm Street movies and the TV show they inspired. Plus he has been in other movies like Wishmaster, Urban Legend, 2001 Maniacs, and Zombie Strippers! He is a horror icon.

And all of them helmed by the man most synonymous with Zombies – George A. Romero. If you somehow don’t know who Romero is…well, you’re just not a zombie fan. He is responsible for Night of the Living Dead and all of it’s seemingly thousands of sequels.

I’ll admit, on the last map pack download, I didn’t spend a ton of time on the Zombie stage, but this time around…I plan to.

Random-Ass Movie Reviews: Creepshow

So for the first installment of Grizzly Bomb’s “Random-Ass Movie Reviews” we look to the early 1980’s. Stephen King, George A. Romero, and old school comic books bring us the camp classic Creepshow. Creepshow was a camp filled horror movie compiled of 5 short segments written mostly by Stephen King, and directed by Night of the Living Dead creator George A Romero.