Introduction: Romero University

When "Land of the Dead" was released by Universal in 2005, the marketing for the film focused on George A. Romero making his triumphant return to the big screen. It hadn't been easy in recent years for an independent maverick like Romero to get a major feature made, but when zombies suddenly became hot again with flicks like "28 Days Later" and "Dawn of the Dead" (a remake of Romero's 1978 film), he was in the right place at the right time.

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Because of the genre they work in, horror film directors aren't mentioned in the same breath as filmmakers like Coppola or Scorsese, but Romero certainly has the same independent spirit, and his work broke a lot of ground. Nearly 40 years after its release, "Night of the Living Dead" still remains a strong and scary piece of work. It's also a classic. Along with its sequel, "Dawn of the Dead," both were made completely independent of the major studio system and made big money. "Night of the Living Dead" was made with a budget of about $120,000 and has made more than $30 million since its debut in 1968, while "Dawn" made $55 million worldwide.

George A. Romero

Romero also ventured away from zombies in such films as the under-rated gem "Martin," about a troubled young man who may or may not be a vampire, and "Knightriders," which like "Martin" was a very personal project that couldn't find an audience in spite of rave reviews and Ed Harris' first starring role. When he finally made a film for a major studio, "Creepshow," it was still pure Romero, a tribute to the EC horror comics that inspired him, with a screenplay by Stephen King, and plenty of Tom Savini-created monsters and gore.

While making "Night of the Living Dead," George Romero and company were living in the broken down farmhouse where most of the movie takes place, a fortress against the zombie plague that takes over the outside world. The primary goal with the film? As Romero recalled, "We're gonna push the envelope, and it's gonna be a horror movie beyond all horror movies. Period." Certainly no one working on the film ever thought it would be hailed as a classic and wind up in the Museum of Modern Art. "We didn't set out to make an Ingmar Bergman film," Romero says. "We set out to make a horror movie, and we wanted to sell tickets, but we tried not to sell our souls. None of us had any idea it was gonna go out and be this huge thing. Who knew?"

Romero's certainly flattered that "Night" is still remembered and revered after all these years, especially considering he built his career around it, yet looking back he also feels some conflict. "It doesn't quite deserve all that credit. When I look at that movie, all I see are the flaws in it," Romero said. "I wish I had a better control of the medium when I made the movie. But

there's something under there, some emotional thread that people latch on to, and I'm happy for that."

Before making "Night," Romero ran Latent Image, a production company that made commercials and industrial films. For aspiring young filmmakers in Pittsburgh, working with Romero was as close as you could get to a film school. "Every single person that we worked with at Latent Image could shoot, could record sound, they knew lighting, everybody could do it all."

The fact that "Night of the Living Dead" is not a slick Hollywood production works in the movie's favor. A raw, unpolished feel can add to a horror film's realism and tension (it certainly doesn't hurt "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" for one). The Village Voice once observed that Night of the Living Dead "appears to have been made in a state of frenzy."

The process of making Night of the Living Dead was much more innocent and free of the meddling that can come with making a major studio film.

"Way back then, we had our own equipment, and we were beholden to nobody but us," the director said. "Later on, you've got 50 people nibbling on you, saying, 'You know, this is costing $20 G's a minute, we gotta get the shot done.' It's not like Night, where we were living in the farmhouse saying, 'What are we gonna shoot tomorrow?'"