The Pocket Essential: George A Romero

• 1st Apr 2011

Authors: Tom Fallows and Curtis Owen

Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Martin – and even all but forgotten film such as Two Evil Eyes, The Dark Half, Bruiser, Knightriders… George A Romero has had quite the output in the world of film. He may be remembered for his zombie films (now at a head count of 6!), but there are so many other workds worth checking out and this Pocket Essential lists them all!

Like the best of the Pocket Essentials collection the book follows the work in chronological order. Each film lists the main cast/crew, titles and gives a brief story synopsis.  The work is then dissected by looking at various themes that run throughout Romero’s work.  Making a Monster (Pretty much talks about the film’s production background), splatter factor (the FX used in the film), digging up the dead 9Any zombies?), American nightmare(the George A Romero social commentary used in the film) are among a few of the headlines within each film.

As per usually the films are rated out of 5 and there are dates, cast and crew info for completist satisfaction. There is also a cool section at the back that look at a few of the films that were influenced by Romero’s work – from Fulchi to retreads to Shaun of the Dead.

There is also a very nice chapter at the back that gives you details of projects the director almost made!  Some are quite fascinating prospects – although sadly we are not likely to see any of them anytime soon.

http://www.pocketessentials.com/

Steven Hurst