Originally published July 20, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
Movie legend John Carpenter remembers the “profound impact” of George A. Romeo.
With the recent passing of iconic director George A. Romero, many a star has come out with praise for the godfather of the zombie movie.
It’s clear that Romero touched a lot people during his time on earth, and influenced untold numbers of filmmakers over the course of his career. This holds true with horror filmmaking maestro John Carpenter, who in the July 19 issue of Variety spoke about Romero’s impact.
“I first saw Night of the Living Dead when it came out in 1968,” said Carpenter. “It gave hope to those of us in film school that it was possible to make a low-budget movie and get it on the big screen.”
That now hallmark movie was “the beginning of modern horror,” according to Carpenter. “It was a little influenced by Vietnam, and it had a black hero. That was totally new; it just wasn’t done then. Now it doesn’t seem so shocking.”
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Carpenter, who has directed such seminal horror movies as The Thing and Halloween, also loved the sequel to Romero’s zombie movie, Dawn of the Dead and finally met up with the director after The Thing was released.
“He was extremely gracious,” Carpenter said, with the two soon becoming friends. “Each of his Dead movies was about more than just horror. There was always something under the surface. He was always trying to deal with certain themes and deepen them. His characters were really edgy. I cannot tell you the profound impact that movie had. Not just on me but on everyone.”
Carpenter will hardly be the only high profile director to be looking back on the life and career of George A. Romero with great fondness.
