Zombie genius

George Romero created a genre

George Romero’s 1968 cinematic debut, “Night of the Living Dead,” scared people. It frightened most audiences and split film critics down the middle with its depiction of the resurrection of the recent dead in Western Pennsylvania.

For Mr. Romero, a Pittsburgher for much of his life who died Sunday in Toronto at age 77 after a battle with lung cancer, “Night of the Living Dead” wasn’t supposed to be a metaphor about American race relations, a critique of runaway consumerism or a protest of the Vietnam War.

When he filmed it a half-century ago, partially with money he made doing short features for “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” he was a struggling young filmmaker trying to make the scariest movie he could on a shoestring budget. “Night of the Living Dead” was essentially an art film about cannibals that overperformed to everyone’s amazement and delight.

Blessed with quick-witted actors who ad-libbed much of the script and resourceful partners who helped him raise the film’s $114,000 operating budget, Mr. Romero hit a home run his first time at bat. “Night of the Living Dead” was such a success it spawned a cinematic genre that established zombies as credible antagonists in the modern world. It also inspired an army of imitators and influenced creative people across many fronts, including writer and future collaborator Stephen King.

Unfortunately for Mr. Romero, who was always searching for investors for his later films, he failed to secure a copyright for “Night of the Living Dead,” so when it fell into the public domain, other filmmakers and studios pounced and exploited its popularity.

A New York native, Mr. Romero came to Pittsburgh to attend Carnegie Mellon University and ended up staying for many years, raising his family and changing cinematic history both locally and nationally. He collaborated with local talents like director/special effects wizard/makeup artist Tom Savini and helped build Pittsburgh’s filmmaking community.

Mr. Romero was much revered in Western Pennsylvania and filmed sequels to “Night of the Living Dead” here. One film in that series, “Land of the Dead” (2005), was filmed mostly in Canada, though it was supposed to depict a post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh.

Hit television series like “The Walking Dead” and “Fear the Walking Dead” wouldn’t exist if not for Mr. Romero’s dark vision of a world fallen into anarchy in which the dead exact revenge on the living. It feels a little weird to thank someone for scaring the world silly, but there’s no other appropriate response to the macabre genius of George Romero.