After a “brief but aggressive battle with lung cancer,” 77-year-old filmmaker George A. Romero has died this Monday morning.
According to a family statement to the Los Angeles Times, he passed away in his sleep with his wife and daughter by his side while listening to the score of one of his favorite films The Quiet Man.
The iconic Night of the Living Dead creator is known for modernizing the zombie movie genre. His earlier zombie films inspired knockoffs and sequels, influenced movies like The Purge, TV shows as The Walking Dead, as well as directors like John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper.
“He took the image of the zombie, which up to that point was rooted in the Caribbean and part of a black Caribbean culture, and turned it into a metaphor for all sorts of things in American culture,” said Leo Braudy, a USC professor who last year published Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds. His Night of the Living Dead film was shot on a budget of just over a $100,000, which then grossed $50 million.
The film had five sequels including Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead which strengthened Night’s position as a cult classic.
Fellow filmmakers and colleagues in film industry paid tribute to Romero like Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn who worked for the screenplay of Dawn of the Dead (2004), horror film director Hostel Eli Roth, and author Stephen King, among others.
I just wrote this on Facebook concerning the passing of George Romero, but I thought I’d share it here as well. 💔 pic.twitter.com/r1qKM6GSka
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 16, 2017
Just heard the news about George Romero. Hard to quantify how much he inspired me & what he did for cinema. Condolences to his family. ❤️
— Eli Roth (@eliroth) July 16, 2017
Romero used genre to confront racism 50 years ago. He always had diverse casts, with Duane Jones as the heroic star of NOTLD.
— Eli Roth (@eliroth) July 16, 2017
Very few others in cinema were taking such risks. He was both ahead of his time and exactly what cinema needed at that time.
— Eli Roth (@eliroth) July 16, 2017
Sad to hear my favorite collaborator–and good old friend–George Romero has died. George, there will never be another like you.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) July 16, 2017
Header image by Agence France Presse
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