It's impossible to measure the impact this man had on pop culture and culture in general. Legendary director and inventor of the modern zombie genre, George Romero, has passed.
We'll miss you, George.
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I went to see an Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow years back where they were showing Night of the Living Dead out in an empty field next to an abandoned farmhouse and barn in Pflugerville. Mr. Romero was there signing autographs and giving a short talk. The line to meet him was incredibly long, so I didn't get in it until halfway through the movie. Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling well (he did some good-natured complaining about how old and feeble he was getting) and got up to leave before I got an autograph, but he walked down the line and apologized to each of the people still in line, told us to enjoy the movie, and have a good night. He seemed like a really cool guy. I remember he talked about how you can, weirdly, end up doing things that become important to people if you don't take yourself too seriously while you're doing them. The weather was great, Romero was tickled by the whole event and the enthusiasm of the audience, and everyone had a blast. One of my fondest memories of all time in terms of movie experiences.
I don't want to derail a convo about how amazing Mr. Romero was, but that's one of the things I think the Alamo does that works so well. Yeah, there are horror conventions and whatnot, but it's hard to miss the clear love of the work that gets shared at their screenings when they bring in the creators. I've seen it with Mark Lester when he came in for a "Commando" screening, I saw it with Elvira/ Cassandra Peterson when she came in. The cast and crew of "Monster Squad". In a Hollywood that won't give you another picture or moves on to the next thing, I hope that these directors - Romero included, he's been snubbed by Hollywood off and on his whole career - get to see the love folks have for their work. But it's even more gratifying with Mr. Romero to hear he was so gracious, because that dude headlined a lot of horror cons and met a lot of fans over the years. And still he appreciated everyone! That's really amazing.
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