Diary Of The Dead: The Movies of George A Romero – by Christopher Koetting

Don’t miss out on ordering this fascinating book from Ghoulish Publishing, in which Christopher Koetting, author of In the Mouth of Madness: The Movies of John Carpenter, covers the life and films of the great George Andrew Romero, widely regarded as an influential pioneer of the horror film genre, and zombie movies in particular. George has been called an “icon” and the “Father of the Zombie Film,” though his ground-breaking classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) did not actually use the word zombies. It was, however, the first film to depict cannibalistic reanimated corpses. Noted for shooting in and around his favourite city of Pittsburgh, as well as his frequent use of social commentary, Romero went on to create further zombie movie classics in Dawn of the Dead (1978), and Day of the Dead (1985). And his final three films, Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009), formed the second half of what has been termed his Night of the Living Dead hexalogy. George also had a prolific career outside of zombie films, albeit mostly still within the horror genre – with the likes of The Crazies (1973), The Amusement Park (1975), Martin (1977), Creepshow (1982) and Monkey Shines (1988) which are regarded as minor cult works, as is Romero’s anthology television series Tales from the Darkside (1983-1988). The author also looks at Romero’s ventures outside horror, including the love story There’s Always Vanilla (1971), the feminist drama Season of the Witch (1972) and the medieval biker film Knightriders (1981), where he first worked with an up-and-coming Ed Harris. Lavishly illustrated throughout with rarely seen photographs from the films under discussion, this exhaustively researched volume charts Romero’s career movie by movie, and reveals the trials and tribulations he often encountered getting his films financed – and in some cases even getting them released! And as well as looking at every one of Romero’s films in detail, the text is also packed with interesting interview quotes from George himself, and his many famous collaborators such as gore effects genius Tom Savini and George’s good friend Stephen King, with whom he almost got to make movies of The Stand and Salem’s Lot. So if you’re a Romero fan (and what genre buff isn’t?) then, by George, this seminal limited edition work is sure to take pride of place in your library. It will be published in May, but in a limited edition print run, so please come and get it now!