The Films Of George A. Romero

20 years after "Day of the Dead", George A. Romero finally returned to his highly revered series of classic zombie films with this enjoyable and respectable horror / action film. In a world where zombies are higher in number than ever, some folks (basically, the have nots) are forced to fend for themselves, while the others live in relative safety inside a fortified city. Meanwhile, the zombies themselves are evolving, learning how to use tools and weapons and becoming capable of creative thinking, and end up being mobilized by a hulking zombie named "Big Daddy" (Eugene Clark).

Our main plot has Riley (Simon Baker) forced to go after former comrade Cholo (John Leguizamo) after the latter embarks on a vendetta against arrogant fat cat Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), stealing an awesome-looking truck named "Dead Reckoning" and intending to obtain payment from the rich jerk by threatening to destroy his stronghold. With sidekick Charlie (Robert Joy) in tow, Riley picks up other cohorts along the way, including Slack (Asia Argento).

Although the very slickness and Hollywood feel of this project go against the appeal of Romeros' earlier entries, there's no denying that this serves a fair dose of rousing entertainment. The unrated version on DVD delivers a marvelously outrageous amount of gore and violence, the kind guaranteed to leave some viewers quite satisfied. The moody photography, excellent sets, and great locations add to the overall impressive look of the film. Romero gets solid performances out of his cast, all of them low-key (even Hoppers') but effective. Best of all, the director hasn't lost his touch at injecting his material with intelligent commentary on various social issues.

While not as memorable or as potent as Romeros' earlier works, "Land of the Dead" is, I think, worthy of some respect, and is pretty fun to watch. I consider it a treat to see the man get back to doing what he does best, and his love and dedication to this particular niche is always welcome.

If you haven't seen it, be sure to look out for the cameos from Tom Savini and "Shaun of the Dead" boys Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg

George Romero has been responsible for some of the greatest horror films of all time (Night of the Living Dead among others), and some that are more misunderstood (Season of the Witch, Monkey shines). "Bruiser", clearly falls in the latter category, which is not to say its a bad movie, but that the "theme" of the film is what to watch for, not necessarily the film itself.

"Bruiser" isn't a who-dunnit horror film where the audience has to guess the serial killer, or said killer's reasons for murder, nor is it a suspense thriller with the police on the hunt of an elusive genius who happens to be a murderous psychopath. "Bruiser" makes its plot and killer clear from the beginning: Henry is a man who is unable to stand up for himself, and is taken advantage of and ignored by everyone he knows, from his wife having an affair with his boss, to his best friend, who he finds out is stealing thousands from him. He entertains thoughts of murderous revenge and even suicide, but realizes he can never act upon them. One day, he wakes up to discover that his identity has literally disappeared, his face replaced with a pale, blank white mask. He uses his new identity (or more accurately, lack thereof) to take the vengeance he has always dreamed of on all those who have hurt him.

The reason the film works so well is because Henry's situation is one we can all understand. Whether at work, school, or otherwise, there is always someone like Henry, someone who works hard and tries his hardest to be kind and polite to everyone, but is totally ignored and passed up for promotions, invitations to parties, etc. Instead of taking the time to properly recognize that kindness, it is simply exploited, and this exploitation of the kind is unofficially encouraged in modern corporate America. Henry's loss of identity and kind soul to backstabbing family and friends is a true occurrence experienced by many everyday, and its a gratifying feeling to see Henry, unlike the rest of them, get a chance to finally assert himself through his apparent invisibility, even if it is through murder. He is the ultimate antihero, a murderer whose actions are arguably justified, violently poetic in response to constant suffocation; there are some who would repeat such actions if given the chance (are you one of them?).

The fact that it isn't a straight horror or thriller film, along with its less-than-subtle commentary on American society, may turn off a lot of people, but it is well directed and competently acted (it doesn't feature any stand-out portrayals; maybe Henry's Euro-Trash boss is a little too annoying), although the finale is so silly that it almost ruins the whole ordeal. The haunting beauty of Henry waking to see his new face for the first time is enough to show that, though he has evolved past some fans' tastes, Romero still has it in him.

As a young boy (Patrick Brannan), Thad Beaumont is been hiring or smelling things are not supposed to be there. One day before he goes to school, Thad falls down and it seems like he had a panic attack. Doctors discover on the back on Thad's skull, he has a still living fetus in the back of his head. The fetus have a eye, nostril's and a small cavity. The Doctors have destroyed the living fetus. Years later... Thad (Oscar-Winner:Timothy Hutton) has become a writer but not as successful as he should have been. Thad has a wife (Amy Madigan) and two baby twins (Sarah & Elizabeth Parker). One day going to work, a sleazy con-man (Robert Joy) discovers his alter ego in writing trash novels by the name of George Stark. When the con-man wants money, Thad decides to kill off his alter ego. When Thad kills his alter ego, it was a success. But one dark night, his alter ego George Stark turns to life and killing the ones, who helped Thad to kill Stark. Stark is slowly stalking Thad and his family until Thad will write another novel for Stark to stay alive.

Directed by George A. Romero (Bruiser, Land of the Dead, Two Evil Eyes) has made an effected supernatural thriller. This is one of Romero's best work as a filmmaker. Hutton is extraordinary good in his dual roles. Micheal Rooker as the dedicated cop-Alan Pangborn gives a solid performance. The film was filmed in 1991 and released in 1993, due of Orion Pictures is now a deceased distributor. This film is based on a novel by Stephen King. King did write in another name for several years as Richard Bachman. This is a very good film that is sadly underrated. Don't miss this one.

The third chapter of George A. Romero's zombie saga, has always been considered as an example of how low budget can hurt a great script, as what Romero conceived as the ultimate zombie epic received a modest budget that forced major changes that resulted in a less ambitious, almost low profile movie.

Despite the monetary problems, Romero's "Day" went to become a cult classic among fans, as he managed to put as much of his vision as the budget allowed him. With the aid of make-up master Tom Savini, Romero crafted some of the most haunting images of gore and violence of its time. "Day of the Dead" is not a perfect movie, and suffers the low budget as very few do; however, it is an enjoyable movie that every horror fan must see, specially in it's complete unrated version.

The events of "Day of the Dead" happen after the zombie epidemic has become uncontrollable, and humans are forced to live underground. Inside of a military bunker, the remaining survivors of a military unit try to survive. Under the regime of psychotic Capt. Rhodes (Joseph Pilato), a group of scientists lead by Dr. Logan (Richard Liberty) try to find a cure for the epidemic. The conflicts between Rhodes's army and Logan's scientists are frequent, and the sexual tension between the men and the only female member of the team, Sarah (Lori Cardille), just complicate the situation. They will face their worst enemy: themselves.

Romero's take on the army is a strong cometary about the use of military force; however, the scientists doesn't get any better as Dr. Logan seems to be more focused on his own purposes than in aiding humanity. In the middle of the chaos only Sarah seems to remain sane as she is the voice of reason most of the time. Apparently, for Romero, society is doomed to be destroyed by itself.

"Day of the Dead" is a powerful movie, the social cometary that Romero always puts in his movies doesn't feel forced or out of place; this time it is really the backbone of the movie and the center of the character's problems. As his other zombie movies, the stories are not about zombies, but about the people trapped in a claustrophobic scenario trying to work together but failing because of greed, selfishness or any other human trait.

And there is the flaw of the movie; while everything is set for a horror epic, something just doesn't work completely. The movie feels too short and the production values are indeed lower than what we saw in "Dawn of the Dead". The movie had the potential of becoming the best movie of its type but the budget just could not allow that to happen. However, a lot of credit must go to Romero for making the most with very few resources.

The acting is not outstanding, but solid. On the other hand, the make-up effects are extraordinary and a step forward in Savini's career. Here he took to the limit all he learned in the past and created memorable gory scenes.

Although flawed, it still is miles ahead most movies of its kind. "Day of the Dead" truly deserves its cult status as it is a classic of the horror genre and an inspirational movie for many filmmakers.

When Pittsburgh-based auteur George Romero teamed up with Italian giallo genius Dario Argento to bring us the sequel to the seminal drive-in favorite 'Night of the Living Dead', a genre-defining classic was created which was to influence horror-movie makers for decades to come. 'Dawn of the Dead' is a deservedly revered masterpiece which intelligently mixes social commentary with nerve-jangling terror, black humour and buckets of gore; not many film-makers manage to do that!

Since the first movie, the phenomenon that caused the dead to rise has continued unabated and zombies now threaten to outnumber the living. Panic is starting to set in amongst the survivors and the fabric of society is falling apart.

The film opens in a TV station where a crew desperately put together reports on the situation, and interviews with experts are broadcast on emergency channels. The feeling of hopelessness is immediately apparent. We then cut to a tenement building which is under siege. A SWAT team breaks in to discover that the inhabitants haven't been handing their dead over to the authorities for disposal, and the place is swarming with zombies. At this point the blood really hits the fan and we are introduced to Tom Savini's inventive comic-book gore which is very gruesome and brilliantly shocking, with exploding heads, limb chewing and gut-munching aplenty.

Two members of the SWAT-team decide that the time has come to head for safer ground, and together with a helicopter pilot and his pregnant girlfriend, they set off to find somewhere free of shuffling reanimated corpses.

They eventually land their chopper on the roof of a huge mall to search for supplies, but soon realise that it might make sense to make the shopping centre home for a while, until they have a chance to make better plans. They set about blocking the entrances and clearing the mall of zombies, and for a while they live a carefree life with everything they need at their fingertips. It is in this setting that Romero makes his sly comments on consumerism (comparing shoppers to zombies) and the materialistic mentality of the average person.

But all good things come to an end, and disaster eventually arrives in the form of an army of bikers who break down the mall doors, intent on laying their hands on some of the goodies within. The barriers broken, the undead also swarm in and all hell breaks loose.

Despite a massive 139 minutes running time, Romero's 'Director's Cut' is pure horror heaven from start to finish. Considering the relatively low budget, the movie delivers on every level. The acting is, for the most part, very good, with only the odd bit-part zombie hamming it up. The story is well written with great dialogue and the characters behave believably given their extreme circumstances (with the only exception being the ludicrous biker, who insists on checking his blood-pressure before being ripped apart!!). The blood letting is extremely well done with some wonderful gore set pieces that, despite their cartoonish appearance, still manage to disgust.

'Dawn of the Dead' is one of the landmark movies in the history of horror film that should be seen by every fan of the genre.

Originally a box-office disappointment at the time of its release, The Crazies in recent years finally began to get some of the respect it deserves. A violent, emotional, deeply personal outcry against the senselessness of the Vietnam War and other atrocities, it deals with horrors that seem all too possible.

The setting is Evans City, Pennsylvania, where a governmentally-developed chemical known as "Trixie" has contaminated the water supply and turned citizens into unbalanced nuts. Soon the military invades the town and declares martial law, turning out to be an even bigger threat than the "crazies" of the title. Confused and defensive, some of the Evans City residents rebel and are often shot to death for their trouble. Five people steal a van and attempt escape. But it's never quite as simple as you'd think, with fully-rounded characters and such a sense of and panicked immediacy that all you can do is watch as the situation becomes more dire with every passing minute.

George Romero delivers a turbulent, unpolished piece of cinema that proves both entertaining and highly thought-provoking in its downbeat societal critique. It's a cautionary tale that warns us that we'd better get it together soon, before this hell becomes our reality. We are asked, Why does it have to be this way? Are we so screwed up as a society that it has to come to this? The sad, haunting theme song, "Heaven Help Us," written by Melissa Manchester and Carole Bayer Sager and sung by Beverly Bremers, rams home the concept, begging us to consider what we're doing to each other.

The acting is terrific, particularly Lynn Lowry as a repressed teenage girl who finally lashes out. The characters are given depth and believability, and you can't help but feel sad and helpless in the face of the unfolding events. Very well paced, with lots of startling, sometimes gory, visuals, all presented in a cinema verite manner that makes them even more bleak and unsettling. An enthralling study of panic and authoritarian domination, I have no doubt that The Crazies is a very important film. This is our society. Heaven help us.

This is a film almost everyone knows about even if you haven't seen it. Night Of The Living Dead is the story of, well, basically life on Earth as we know it coming to an end; the title says it all. The dead are "living", or at least roaming about devouring any human (that isn't dead) that they come in to contact with. We see this story through a group of random people gathered together in an empty farm house fighting for their lives.

The opening scene of this movie, you have a brother and sister visiting their fathers grave site. The brother continually teases his sister who is obviously disturbed by this. "They're coming to get you Babara. Look There is one now." He says this pointing to an elderly man walking in their direction. Some of the last words he will ever speak. The elderly man approaching them (of course they don't know he is a zombie) attacks the Barbara. Her brother tries to fight him off, but is killed in the struggle. And so begins one of the best and most influential horror films ever made.

The tension is gradually raised through out the film as peoples personalities, and ideas on how to combat the gathering mob of living dead outside of their temporary hideaway, begin to conflict with one another. The acting is not top notch I will admit. There are so many other pluses that this matters little if at all, in fact it may add something for some viewers. The story is original in it's telling, and one of the earliest movies of this type before ten low budget copies came out every year.

This is not a gore fest, if you want that check out Dawn Of The Dead, instead more of a psychological thriller with some gore scenes here and there.

This, along with films like Psycho, The Exorcist, Halloween and The Omen, changed the way horror movies are made, and viewed. It was a influence on many directors such as John Carpenter. Though horror films are generally looked down upon, films like these allow us to not feel guilty for admiring the genre