New Documentary “Birth Of The Living Dead”

George A. Romero may not have created the zombie per se but it is safe to say that he is the creator of the modern zombie lore. Zombies have been around in man’s world probably since our own first steps out of the primordial ooze and they have existed in our stories for as long as we have gathered around the fires to tell such elaborate stories born of myth and legend. The first ever recorded mention of the “undead” came in the Epic Of Gilgamesh. “I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld, I will smash the door posts, and leave the doors flat down, and will let the dead go up to eat the living!And the dead will outnumber the living!”  This is closer to Romero’s concept than what zombie traditionally encompasses. Romero was not the first to bring the undead and zombie together in pop culture literature or cinema but his has been-by far-the most influential figure in the genre.

Now there is a new documentary that hopes to shed more light into George A. Romero’s world of the undead. “Birth Of The Living Dead” shows how Romero gathered an unlikely team of Pittsburghers — policemen, iron workers, teachers, ad-men, housewives and a roller-rink owner — to shoot, with a revolutionary guerrilla, run-and-gun style, his seminal film. During that process Romero and his team created an entirely new and horribly chilling monster – one that was undead and feasted upon human flesh. The “zombie” became its own genre worth billions of dollars that continues to this day. This new documentary also immerses audiences into the singular time in which “Night” was shot. Archival footage of the horrors of Vietnam and racial violence at home combined with iconic music from the 60s invites viewers to experience how Romero’s tumultuous film reflected this period in American history. “Year of the Living Dead” shows us how this young filmmaker created a world-renowned horror film that was also a profound insight into how our society really works.

In 1968 a young college drop-out named George A. Romero directed a low budget horror film that shocked the world and became an icon of the counterculture – “Night of the Living Dead.”