George Romero documentary to debut Thursday
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Zombies are as much a part of Pittsburgh’s cultural cachet as the Steelers and Primanti’s sandwiches.
And we have George Romero to thank for that.
The father of the modern zombie film, who began creating his horror classics in the Steel City in the late 1960s, is the subject of a University of Pittsburgh student-produced documentary, “George Romero & Pittsburgh: The Early Years.” It debuts as part of a virtual event at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 4, which was Romero’s birthday. He died of cancer in 2017 at the age of 77.
The documentary explores Romero’s early period as a filmmaker. For the project, the students had access to the George A. Romero Archival Collection in the University Library system.
Romero’s early years include his groundbreaking low-budget 1968 thriller “Night of the Living Dead,” which featured iconic local figures such as horror host “Chilly” Billy Cardille in the cast.
“We hope this is the beginning of a reappreciation of George Romero beyond just being a zombie filmmaker. He was so much more than that,” said Carl Kurlander, a senior lecturer in film and media studies at Pitt. “People are now seeing horror as an expression of social meaning and social genre.”
Kurlander also praised the students involved in making the film as part of a class, including junior Nate Kohler and sophomore Owen Gambill.
“During the pandemic, these students were amazing showing their creative work,” said Kurlander. “Like George, they realized they had to pivot and make the (documentary) in innovative ways with little resources.”
Gambill said that coming into the class, he really didn’t know who George Romero was.
“I think a lot of people need to appreciate George for being more than just the zombie guy,” said Gambill. “That’s something that this documentary shows — that he was an artist, a visionary.”
The documentary points out that Romero followed up “Night of the Living Dead” with a romantic comedy called “There’s Always Vanilla” before delving back into horror with the movies “Season of the Witch” and “The Crazies.” All of these movies were filmed in the Pittsburgh area because Romero wanted to avoid becoming a mainstream Hollywood director.
A panel discussion follows the screening. Anyone interested in attending can register here.