Horror-fi lm director reinvented zombies
GEORGE ROMERO
NEW YORK — George Romero, whose classic “Night of the Living Dead” and other horror films turned zombie movies into social commentaries and who saw his flesh-devouring undead spawn countless imitators, remakes and homages, has died. He was 77.
Romero died Sunday of lung cancer, his family said in a statement provided by his manager, Chris Roe.
Romero is credited with reinventing the movie zombie with his directorial debut, the 1968 cult classic “Night of the Living Dead.” The movie set the rules that imitators lived by: Zombies move slowly, lust for human flesh and can be killed only by being shot in the head. If a zombie bites a human, the person dies and returns as a zombie.
Romero’s zombies, however, were always more than cannibals; they were metaphors for conformity, racism, mall culture, militarism, class differences and other social ills.
Ten years after “Night of the Living Dead,” Romero made “Dawn of the Dead,” in which human survivors take refuge from the undead in a mall and then turn on each other as the zombies stumble around the shopping complex.
Film critic Roger Ebert called it “one of the best horror films ever made — and, as an inescapable result, one of the most horrifying.” Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Final domestic figures will be released today. $56.5 million. $45.2 million. $18.9 million. $8.8 million. $7.6 million. $6.9 million. $5.6 million. $3.2 million. $2.8 million.