John A. Russo (born September 2, 1939), 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 A. Romero.[1] 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.
Russo attended West Virginia University while his friend Rudy Ricci attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.[4] Ricci met George A. Romero at Carnegie Mellon and introduced Russo to Romero on Russo's Christmas vacation.[5] After college, Russo was drafted into the army and served a two-year stint.[6] Meanwhile, Romero with Russell Streiner formed The Latent Image to produce commercial films with the aim of eventually making a full-length feature film.[6] When Russo got out of the army, he joined his friends in The Latent Image and soon plans were made for a feature film. Russo crafted a rough idea about a young man stumbling upon a host of ghouls feeding off human corpses.[7] Romero loved the idea and a few days later he presented Russo with forty pages of a story based on the idea.[7] The film ultimately became Night of the Living Dead which led to Romero's Dead series and the Living Dead series, with the latter based on a story by Russo.[8]
Russo went on to author many novels[9] and, like his friend Romero, began making films of his own. The Booby Hatch is a sex comedy released in 1976.[9]Midnight is an adaptation of Russo's novel of the same name and released in 1982.[9] His novel The Majorettes was adapted by Russo himself and directed by Bill Hinzman[10] who played the Cemetery Zombie in Night of the Living Dead. Russo's next film was Heartstopper which features "name" actors Michael J. Pollard and Moon Unit Zappa.[11] Russo considers it his favorite of the films he has directed.[11]
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