Dead On: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero

Last updated
Dead On: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero
Directed by Rusty Nails
Produced by Rusty Nails
Starring George A. Romero
Dario Argento
Quentin Tarantino
Robert Rodriguez
Stephen King
John Landis
Ed Harris
Dennis Hopper
Richard Linklater
Roger Ebert
John Carpenter
Rob Zombie
Penn Jillette
Tom Savini
CinematographyJonathan Buchanan
Eric Burton
Timothy Cerjan
Matt Thiesen
Edited byDebbie Brockman
Release date
  • July 2008 (2008-07)(Melbourne)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Dead On: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero is a 2008 documentary film directed by the filmmaker Rusty Nails. [1] The film is about the life and career of the horror film director George A. Romero. Clips from his films are combined with interviews with Romero, his collaborators, and his admirers to show the whole story of his life. The film premiered at the 2008 Melbourne International Film Festival. [2] [3]

Contents

Synopsis

Nails' documentary, Dead On: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero will go over Romero's body of film work as it stands to date. The film will also examine a number of aspects of George's work, working method, and association with the independent and Hollywood film communities. Among the interviewees are Dennis Hopper, Ed Harris, Stephen King, John Carpenter, Dario Argento, Danny Boyle, John Waters, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, Penn Jillette, Roger Ebert and Tom Savini. Dead On will investigate Romero's lifelong fascination with making films. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Night of the Living Dead</i> 1968 American horror film

Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, written by Romero and John Russo, produced by Russell Streiner and Karl Hardman, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven people trapped in a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania, under assault by reanimated corpses. Although the flesh-eating monsters that appear in the film are referred to as "ghouls", they are credited with popularizing the modern portrayal of zombies in popular culture.

<i>Day of the Dead</i> (1985 film) 1985 American post-apocalyptic zombie horror film by George A. Romero

Day of the Dead is a 1985 American post-apocalyptic zombie horror film written and directed by George A. Romero, and produced by Richard P. Rubinstein. The third film in Romero's Night of the Living Dead series, it stars Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Jarlath Conroy and Richard Liberty as members of a group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse sheltering in an underground bunker in Florida, where they must determine the outcome of humanity's conflict with the undead horde. Romero described the film as a "tragedy about how a lack of human communication causes chaos and collapse even in this small little pie slice of society".

<i>Dawn of the Dead</i> (1978 film) 1978 zombie horror film by George A. Romero

Dawn of the Dead  is a 1978 zombie horror film written, directed, and edited by George A. Romero, and produced by Richard P. Rubinstein. An American-Italian international co-production, it is the second film in Romero's series of zombie films, and though it contains no characters or settings from the preceding film Night of the Living Dead (1968), it shows the larger-scale effects of a zombie apocalypse on society. In the film, a phenomenon of unidentified origin has caused the reanimation of the dead, who prey on human flesh. David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, and Gaylen Ross star as survivors of the outbreak who barricade themselves inside a suburban shopping mall amid mass hysteria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Takashi Miike</span> Japanese filmmaker (born 1960)

Takashi Miike is a Japanese film director, film producer and screenwriter. He has directed over 100 feature film, video, and television productions since his debut in 1991. His films span a variety of different genres, ranging from violent and bizarre to dramatic and family-friendly movies. He is a controversial figure in the contemporary Japanese cinema industry, with several of his films being criticised for their extreme graphic violence. Some of his best known films are Audition, Ichi the Killer, Visitor Q, Dead or Alive, and various remakes: 13 Assassins, Hara-kiri, and Graveyard of Honor. He has also acted in more than 20 films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George A. Romero</span> American filmmaker (1940–2017)

George Andrew Romero Jr. was an American-Canadian film director, writer, editor and actor. His Night of the Living Dead series of films about a zombie apocalypse began with the original Night of the Living Dead (1968) and is considered a major contributor to the image of the zombie in modern culture. Other films in the series include Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Splatter film</span> Horror genre

A splatter film is a subgenre of horror films that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. These films, usually through the use of special effects, display a fascination with the vulnerability of the human body and the theatricality of its mutilation. The term "splatter cinema" was coined by George A. Romero to describe his film Dawn of the Dead, though Dawn of the Dead is generally considered by critics to have higher aspirations, such as social commentary, than to be simply exploitative for its own sake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaylen Ross</span> American actress

Gaylen Ross is an American director, writer, producer and actress, best known for playing Francine Parker in the 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead and also noted for directing the 2008 documentary Killing Kasztner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Savini</span> American actor, stuntman, director and makeup artist

Thomas Vincent Savini is an American prosthetic makeup artist, actor, stunt performer and film director. He is known for his makeup and special effects work on many films directed by George A. Romero, including Martin, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Creepshow, and Monkey Shines; he also created the special effects and makeup for many cult classics like Friday the 13th, Maniac, The Burning, The Prowler, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.

<i>Martin</i> (1977 film) 1977 American film

Martin is a 1977 American horror film written and directed by George A. Romero, and starring John Amplas. Its plot follows a troubled young man who believes himself to be a vampire with ambiguous legitimacy. Shot in 1976, Martin was Romero's fifth feature film and followed The Crazies (1973).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Pulido</span> American film producer

Brian Pulido is a creator, writer and producer of comic books and films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John A. Russo</span> American film director

John A. Russo, sometimes credited as Jack Russo or John Russo, is an American screenwriter and film director most commonly associated with the 1968 horror classic film Night of the Living Dead, which he co-wrote with director George Romero. As a screenwriter, his credits include Night of the Living Dead, The Majorettes, Midnight, and Santa Claws. The latter two, he also directed. He has performed small roles as an actor, most notably the first ghoul who is stabbed in the head in Night of the Living Dead, as well as cameos in There's Always Vanilla and House of Frankenstein 1997. He was the publisher and managing editor of the magazine Scream Queens Illustrated, which featured popular stars of horror films and other genres.

<i>Diary of the Dead</i> 2007 American horror film by George A. Romero

Diary of the Dead is a 2007 found footage horror film written and directed by George A. Romero. Although independently produced, it was distributed theatrically by The Weinstein Company and was released in cinemas on February 15, 2008 and on DVD by Dimension Extreme and Genius Products on May 20, 2008.

John S. Harrison Jr. is an American television and film director, screenwriter, musician, composer and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with filmmaker George A. Romero, and for writing-directing the 2000 television miniseries adaptation of Dune.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zombie apocalypse</span> Subgenre of apocalyptic fiction

Zombie apocalypse is a subgenre of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies. Typically only a few individuals or small bands of survivors are left living. In some versions, the reason the dead rise and attack humans is unknown, in others, a parasite or infection is the cause, framing events much like a plague. Some stories have every corpse rise, regardless of the cause of death, whereas others require exposure to the infection.

Rusty Nails is an American director, writer, producer, and actor. He is best known for his feature-length B-movie Acne. Nails has also made several short films, including God is Dad, The Ramones and I, Grethel and Hansel, Animated Corpse, and Santiago vs. Wigface, which won a special recognition award.

<i>Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!</i> 2008 documentary film directed by Mark Hartley

Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! is a 2008 documentary film about the Australian New Wave of 1970s and 1980s low-budget cinema. The film was written and directed by Mark Hartley, who interviewed over eighty Australian, American and British actors, directors, screenwriters and producers, including Quentin Tarantino, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dennis Hopper, George Lazenby, George Miller, Barry Humphries, Stacy Keach, John Seale and Roger Ward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George A. Romero filmography</span> List of films involving American-Canadian director George A. Romero

George A. Romero (1940–2017) was an American-Canadian film director, writer, editor and cinematographer. He contributed to many projects as either the writer, director, editor, cinematographer or a combination of the four.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Filippella</span> Italian film director

Christian Filippella is an Emmy Award Nominated and winning producer, cinematographer and director, current active member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS/NATAS).

Night of the Living Dead is a zombie horror media franchise created by George A. Romero beginning with the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead, directed by Romero and cowritten with John A. Russo. The franchise predominantly centers on different groups of people attempting to survive during the outbreak and evolution of a zombie apocalypse. The latest installment of the series, Survival of the Dead, was released in 2009, with a sequel, Twilight of the Dead, in development. This would be the first film in the series not directed by George Romero, who died on July 16, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George A. Romero's unrealized projects</span> Unrealized projects by American filmmaker

During a career that spanned several decades, the American film director George A. Romero worked on a number of projects which never progressed beyond pre-production under him. Some fell into development hell or were produced after he left production.

References

  1. Ruth L Ratny presents REEL CHICAGO | Welcome Archived November 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. "MIFF 2008 Film Archive". Melbourne International Film Festival. Retrieved October 14, 2021.
  3. ESplatter - Horror Movie News
  4. DEAD ON: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero - George Romero Documentary Archived February 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine