Remembering George A. Romero by Patrick Lussier
Steve Barton
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I never met George Romero. But his films, his art, have been a big part of my personal journey to do whatever it is I do. I saw his Dawn of the Dead on Easter Sunday in 1982. Midnight show. And then saw it again a couple months later as a double feature with his masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead.
The homage to I Am Legend, Matheson’s classic, has never been done better than when Romero created his undead world in ’68. “They’re coming to get you, Barbara” will live forever as a classic taunt that promises dread.
Horror that was about something, not just scaring you, but making you think about what it is to be human. And the cost of losing humanity, demonstrated so beautifully in Romero’s Day of the Dead in the manifestation of “Bub.”
For me, “Bub” is Romero’s greatest gift. A zombie that reclaims more humanity then those still living around him, who finds himself even in death. Since my son’s birth, I nicknamed him “Bub”. And when he was 12 (he’s now 28), he discovered why when we sat down to watch Day of the Dead together and loved it.
Thank-you, Mr. Romero, for Bub and for creating beautifully haunting stories who were horrifically subversive in ways that still make us ponder what it is to be alive.
– Patrick Lussier 7-16-2017 Los Angeles, California
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