It’s hard to overstate what George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead did for horror. He was ahead of his time. The films helped set a style, tone, and visual language for what we imagine when we think of zombies, and he also used the films to talk about social issues.
George A. Romero
In 1968, director George A. Romero, the “Godfather of Zombies”, brought a new kind of monster to the realm of horror. The zombies, or ghouls, in Night of the Living Dead, were fresh–or as fresh as dead bodies can get–and his film helped spawn a whole new genre of horror; the splatter film.
New this week on home video: Timothy Olyphant tries to survive a town of infected killers in The Crazies; John Cusack goes on a wild ride through the eighties in Hot Tub Time Machine; Paul Bettany plays Charles Darwin in the drama, Creation; and a look at Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.
This is pretty much it. Take a deep breath and dive in, because for the next ten days the city of Toronto is going to be filled with wonderful mayhem.
If you’re not tripping over red carpets, or lineups for some of the 273 feature-length films, you’ll probably see a crazy festival-goer running from one event to another, or perhaps even an international celebrity on their way to one of said events.
American history gets the adventure treatments once again in the often dizzyingly surreal National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets launches Ben Gates into another search for lost treasure as he also tries to clear his ancestor’s name from the plot to kill President Lincoln. Also arriving this week is the zombie-driven horror Diary of the Dead, futuristic anime in Vexille, the 80s hit comedy Short Circuit, and the first season of 24.
Definitely, Maybe What do zombies, dancers, magical children, a teleporting man, and a romantic comedy all have in common? Absolutely nothing, but all of them make an appearance at the…
Mr. Horror himself, Chris Alexander, interviewed Diary of the Dead star Amy Lalonde about her role in George A. Romero‘s film for Fangoria, and I had to pass it along.…