How The Mike Met Horror, Volume 3 - The Movies

How The Mike Met Horror, Volume 1 - The Books

How The Mike Met Horror, Volume 2 - The Television

While the first two parts of this series may have been familiar to most horror folks of my generation, the movies that sent me to where I am as a horror fan will be more familiar to the kind folks that read this here blog.  Most of the movies I'm about to talk about have been covered here numerous times, so coming up with something relevant and useful to say in what follows has been a strong challenge for me.  But as I look at this list of horror movies that inspired me in my path toward horror, I am taken aback by how totally random these movies seem to be. 

I've covered some of the movies that inspired me in my currently running Top 50 Horror Movies Countdown - and I've chosen not to repeat my position on many of the films on that list.  I'd be completely wrong to negate the impact films like The Shining, Fright Night, Happy Birthday to Me, and others had on me, but there's something about each of the movies I'm about to mention that just feels incredibly special to me.  I know I'm not the only person that likes them, but it's kind of like these movies just happened to be in the right place at the right time for me.  And that time and place was, for lack of a more intellectual word, awesome.

(If you missed the explanation behind this series, you should know that all credit for this idea belongs to the wonderful Mrs. Christine Hadden over at Fascination With Fear, who does lists better than anyone in the Western Hemisphere. For that, I salute her.)

The Mike's Horror Trinity

In January of 2009, From Midnight, With Love was born. And when I started putting this little blog together, dreaming that someday someone might read the ramblings I had to offer and maybe even consider an opinion of mine as a reason to check out a genre film, I put together a simple bio for the sidebar of the site that explained what I stood for as a genre fan.  That same bio still sits in the right hand column of this site - and you can still see these three films listed there as the movies that awakened the monster that I now am.

I can't remember all the details, but I'm pretty sure Phantom of the Opera came to me first.  I remember being told about silent movies and realizing that this was kind of like reading a book with pictures, and I don't know if I had the attention span to finish the whole movie, but I do remember getting to the part where the unmasking happens and I remember being really freakin' excited.  Whenever people ask me about my first horror movie, I mention this one.

Creature from the Black Lagoon came next, I think.  I remember being in awe of the green dude on the cover when I first had the VHS tape brought to me, and I remember taking it to a friend's house when I was in second grade to watch during a sleepover. It didn't go as well as I wanted it to - I'm pretty sure I watched the whole thing alone - but at least I was in love with it.  Was this the first time I tried to push someone I know to watch a horror movie against their will? It may very well have been.

Considering that it's the one of these three that I mention the most, it's slightly funny to me that I don't have any vivid memories of my childhood encounter with The Blob outside of the question mark that pops on screen at the ending.  I didn't fall as in love with The Blob as I am now until a little later in my life - but I do remember thinking it was a ton of fun and talking about The Blob all the time whenever I had a reason to make a reference to it. (And sometimes when I didn't.)

As I look at these three VHS tapes now - and that's them, in their original glory, as they look tonight - I am completely in awe of how much what these three movies meant to me before I was even 10 years old. Maybe it was a brilliant design by my parents, or maybe it was just dumb luck - but whatever the reason, I can't help feeling that they gave me the three perfect films to push me to the love of horror I have today.

The Monster Squad

Remember that time in part one of this series when I talked about "those orange back monster books from the library?  (If not, you should go read it and stuff.) Well, The Monster Squad was the film adaptation of those books - and the library had it too.  Again, this was one of those things that kind of got lost in my memory except for parts - "Wolfman's got gnards!" is part of my philosophy on life, obviously - but it was my gateway to the monsters that I hadn't really seen outside of those books.  Fred Dekker got me in the door with his monsters-for-kids film, which is probably exactly what he wanted to do - and I applaud him for that.

Pumpkinhead

There's a very simple and not very exciting reason that Pumpkinhead is on this list.  When I was 8 or 9, I was ready for all the "scary" movies I could get.  I'd seen the trinity, I'd seen the Monster Squad, I'd seen Dracula, and I wanted more. And I thought a monster with a pumpkin for a head sounded like a creepy idea, for reasons that I will elaborate on next week.  Well.....

It was NOT a good idea for little me.  I have a vivid memory of about 12 seconds of Pumpkinhead carnage when I was a kid.  And I remember being instantly shocked and terrified and completely uninterested in seeing any more of that. Did I act cool? Yeah, I was a cool little pimp. But I was terrified. I went away from the screen and I did not come back.  I wasn't completely ready to go where I wanted to go, but I learned from the experience.

Clownhouse

There it sits, alongside the plastic protector from Freedom Video Superstore in Marshalltown, Iowa that protected it (poorly, as you can see) for over 10 years in store and over 10 years in my hands.  On sentimental value alone, this would be the absolute first thing that I would grab and run to safety if my lair was on fire. 

I've long ago written a detailed rant about how much Clownhouse meant to my sister and I as we became old enough to watch horror movies.  But I couldn't talk about movies that contributed to my horror love without Clownhouse. I must have watched it 50 times between the ages of 10 and 15, and I always knew it wasn't a good movie.  But I loved it.  And it led to every bad horror movie I've loved, and every horror movie I've watched and shouted at with friends, and every stupid grin I've ever given during a stupid movie.  All of that can be traced back to how much fun I my family had with Clownhouse.

When that Freedom Video store went out of business, my mother rushed to town and ran through the store to grab it before anyone else even had a chance.  You know how that watch was Bruce Willis' birthright in Pulp Fiction? Clownhouse is like that to my sister and I.

Dr. Giggles

Speaking of stupid and bad, there's Dr. Giggles.  I have to list Dr. Giggles here, for similar reasons to Clownhouse.  We didn't watch this movie religiously, nor did we necessarily like the movie, but Dr. Giggles became a cult figure in our house very quickly when we first encountered him.

And so it came to pass that my father would torture my sister by cackling like Dr. Giggles. And it's still funny.  Heck, I'm pretty sure he somehow mentioned Dr. Giggles while she was in the hospital after giving birth a couple of weeks ago.  Dr. Giggles was our home's Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees or Cropsey, and that still makes me smile. 

Night of the Living Dead

The VHS Tape shown above demands your attention.  First of all, anyone who's worth their weight in horror immediately realizes that the image that has been chosen - completely spoils the final moments of the movie.  Then they might notice that they even spelled Duane Jones' name wrong on the cover.  I'm laughing about that little yellow spot that denotes the guarantee on the 1986 VHS release of Romero's film, and the back of the box promises a "lifetime commitment" that you can call 1-800-VHS-Tape for details of.  Oh, and the blurb on the back of the box reads EXACTLY as follows:

"Possibly the greatest low-budget film of all time filled with non-stop action. From the opening sequence, in which Judith O'Dea is terrorized by the first living corpse in the twilight cemetery, to the last slow dissolves and pans of still pictures, depicting the hero's death, the film is filled with ghoulish undertow that pauses only now and then on the thread-line to reality."

I'm sorry you guys, but I just got really distracted by that blurb. It's....so bad.  Does that make sense to anyone else?

OK, back on topic.  This VHS tape.  This VHS tape may have been in my parents' VHS cabinet as long as the rest of the trinity.  Yet I was strictly told that I COULD NOT watch it. So I didn't. I told you guys I was a good kid. Now do you believe me?  I'd like to say that I didn't watch it because I was that respectful of my parents - never mind the fact that I snuck several viewings of my dad's copy of Brian De Palma's Body Double as soon as I realized what boobs were - but honestly I was kind of terrified of this movie. If they were that adamant that I couldn't watch it - it must be the scariest thing ever, right?

I'm pretty sure I saw the remake on Monstervision before I finally got the guts to put this VHS tape in the player. The spoiler on the video cover wasn't a big deal, because my dad had already explained the differences in the endings when we watched the remake with Joe Bob Briggs.  Heck, when I finally did put in the VHS, I'm pretty sure I was like 16 and my parents came home with groceries with like 6 minutes left in the movie and started yelling for help and I had to pause right when it was about to blow up.  Night of the Living Dead and I were just not meant to have a perfect meeting.

Did I love the movie anyway? Of course I did! It's bloody brilliant, and the hype and the distractions and the stupid VHS package only make me love it more.  The anticipation was worth everything that followed, and watching Night of the Living Dead for the first time was a key moment in my life as a horror fan no matter how it happened.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Did I got long winded there? Man, I got long winded there.  Apologies to those who don't like rambling incoherence, but these are the memories of horror that give me goosebumps.  It wasn't the introduction to horror films that most had, and it wasn't always the best way to meet horror.  In fact, those last three experiences would almost push most people to avoid horror movies.  But these movies got to me at the right moment and it all just came together perfectly for me.

And now it's your turn - what movies got you in to horror?  How did you learn to love cheesy goodness or overwhelming zombies or big green gill-men?  Hit up the comments below, and then comeback next week for a the How The Mike Met Horror finale, in which i will present a "grab bag" selection of the other stuff that helped me fall in love with horror films.  

Until then, keep watching horror movies and having an awesome October!

The Mike's Top 50 Horror Movies Countdown: #6 - Night of the Living Dead

Previously on the Countdown: Number 50 - Happy Birthday to Me  Number 49 - Prince of Darkness  Number 48 - House on Haunted Hill  Number 47 - The Monster Squad  Number 46 - Hellraiser  Number 45 - The Fog  Number 44 - Creature From the Black Lagoon  Number 43 - Zombie  Number 42 - Tales from the Crypt  Number 41 - Bubba Ho-Tep  Number 40 - Phantom of the Paradise  Number 39 - Dog Soldiers Number 38 - Pontypool  Number 37 - Dark Water  Number 36 - Army of Darkness Number 35 - The Legend of Hell House  Number 34 - Poltergeist  Number 33 - The Abominable Dr. Phibes  Number 32 - The Phantom of the Opera  Number 31 - The House of the Devil   Number 30 - Evil Dead II  Number 29 - Dead of Night  Number 28 - Carnival of Souls  Number 27 - Nosferatu  Number 26 - Candyman  Number 25 - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre  Number 24 - Horror of Dracula  Number 23 - The Wicker Man  Number 22 - Suspiria  Number 21 - The Omen  Number 20 - Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told  Number 19 - Rosemary's Baby  Number 18 - The Devil Rides Out  Number 17 - The Blob  Number 16 - Gremlins  Number 15 - Targets  Number 14 - Fright Night   Number 13 - Frankenstein  Number 12 - Alien  Number 11 - The Shining  Number 10 - An American Werewolf in London  Number 9 - The Thing  Number 8 - Dawn of the Dead  Number 7 - The Evil Dead

Night of the Living Dead

(1968, Dir. by George A. Romero.)

 Why It's Here:

George Romero, for all intents and purposes, invented zombies in 1968.  Yeah, I know zombies were already a thing, but the common perception of zombies can be tied directly to the release of this film.  Some may say that it's dated at this point - I'd agree in regard to its perception of trauma, but not in regard to its plot and pacing - but it still strikes me as one of the most visceral and harrowing horror films out there.  George A. Romero didn't have his characters completely down yet - that would improve in Dawn of the Dead, which already made this here list - but the chaos that he unleashes fits perfectly with the simple characters here.

The Moment That Changes Everything:
"They're coming to get you, Barbara."

Like, seriously. Can you get a better moment in horror than "They're coming to get you, Barbara"?  This is exactly what horror is.  You introduce a threat, you build the threat, and then you bring in the threat.  But Romero and company pull the introduction and the build off in like 5 minutes with a simple exchange between a brother and sister and the random introduction of a zombie.  And that's it. Romero looked at the film and said "Alright - here's five minutes to make people think something might happen - and now it happened.  Just run with it."  Freaking brilliant.

 It Makes a Great Double Feature With:
I've used up almost all of the zombie movies I like on this list.  Dawn of the Dead, Zombie, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, Last Man on Earth (technically vampires, but you could argue they fit Romero's mold) - all mentioned already.  There's a decent enough remake that came out in 1990 that you could pair with this one, or you could just do the cool kids thing and pair it with Shaun of the Dead.  Whatever you do, the zombies you see will fit with this one's.  Because they're all the children of Night of the Living Dead.

What It Means To Me:
I'm actually going to talk a little more about my personal experiences with Night of the Living Dead later this week, so I'm gonna go with a simple/vague answer here.  Night of the Living Dead represents the unpredictable nature of horror.  Sure, people look at it now and know exactly what's going on because of Shaun and remakes and The Walking Dead and the fact that zombies are suddenly hip.  But I think they're all wrong if they dismiss the relevance and power that the original Night of the Living Dead has, because I truly think this is one of the most game-changing films ever made.

The Mike's Top 50 Horror Movies Countdown: #8 - Dawn of the Dead

Previously on the Countdown: Number 50 - Happy Birthday to Me  Number 49 - Prince of Darkness  Number 48 - House on Haunted Hill  Number 47 - The Monster Squad  Number 46 - Hellraiser  Number 45 - The Fog  Number 44 - Creature From the Black Lagoon  Number 43 - Zombie  Number 42 - Tales from the Crypt  Number 41 - Bubba Ho-Tep  Number 40 - Phantom of the Paradise  Number 39 - Dog Soldiers Number 38 - Pontypool  Number 37 - Dark Water  Number 36 - Army of Darkness Number 35 - The Legend of Hell House  Number 34 - Poltergeist  Number 33 - The Abominable Dr. Phibes  Number 32 - The Phantom of the Opera  Number 31 - The House of the Devil   Number 30 - Evil Dead II  Number 29 - Dead of Night  Number 28 - Carnival of Souls  Number 27 - Nosferatu  Number 26 - Candyman  Number 25 - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre  Number 24 - Horror of Dracula  Number 23 - The Wicker Man  Number 22 - Suspiria  Number 21 - The Omen  Number 20 - Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told  Number 19 - Rosemary's Baby  Number 18 - The Devil Rides Out  Number 17 - The Blob  Number 16 - Gremlins  Number 15 - Targets  Number 14 - Fright Night   Number 13 - Frankenstein  Number 12 - Alien  Number 11 - The Shining  Number 10 - An American Werewolf in London  Number 9 - The Thing

Dawn of the Dead

(1978, Dir. by George A. Romero.)

Why It's Here:

I could sit here and argue that Dawn of the Dead is one of the least horror movie horror movies out there.  We're talking about a movie that runs about 50 minutes longer than the average film of the genre and might not feature a single "jump scare" that would send a teenage girl soaring through the air.  But it also has to be the bleakest vision of our world ever filmed.  Four people, one mall that represents our old behaviors, and the kind of shambling terrors that modern TV shows wish they could create.  With top notch special effects and biting social commentary, it's pretty much a perfect film - that just happens to have zombies in it.

The Moment That Changes Everything:

The opening scenes in Dawn of the Dead are a lot different than what you see in most horror movies. A normal life? A simple life? A false sense of hope? Nope, you won't find any of those things here.  Instead, we walk into a chaotic news room where people seem to have written off any hope for society and a run down tenement in which dead bodies and undead bodies are everywhere. Within the first five minutes, we know for a fact that we've walked into a situation where there is no happy ending.

It Makes a Great Double Feature With:

I'm gonna tell you a secret. I don't really like Day of the Dead. Yes, Romero's third Dead film continues the complete dread that we get in this one, but all the cinematic aspects - from the acting to the direction to the script - feel wrong to me. A lot of people disagree with me, so maybe you want to put that one next to this one. Me, I'd probably say you could watch the 2004 remake alongside it. It loses some of the pathos of the original, but is a fast-paced blast with strong characters and plenty of gore.

What It Means To Me:

Dawn of the Dead has always been one of my favorite films of any genre, because it packs an apocalyptic edge that is unmatched in most of cinema.  It's fascinating in its bleakness, but it's also thoroughly entertaining and a bit humorous and there's even that Goblin musical score. Oh! That Goblin musical score. Man, I love that Goblin musical score. So good.

The Lists Are In! 42 True Heroes of Horror Later....

I never like to have an idea without getting input from others.  And when I decided to share my True Heroes of Horror throughout the month of October, I knew I couldn't possibly honor everyone.  Thankfully, there are always Midnight Warriors out there to join the FMWL party.  A half dozen of my favorite folks on the interwebs offered up their own lists of their Top 10 Heroes of Horror...and the resulting mega list has me doing my patented fistpumpdance of joy.

First, let's recognize the awesome Midnight Warriors who added to this megalist....

• Morgan from the tubular The Kid in the Hall
• Marvin the Macabre from The Montana Mancave Massacre
• Christine M. from Paracinema Magazine
• Nicki from Hey! Look Behind You (See her full list here!)
• Christine H. from Fascination with Fear (See her full list here!)
• Andreas from Pussy Goes Grrr

I gotta say, these fine folks brought their best to the table, and are a testament to horror fans everywhere.  The names listed vary across hundreds of years, cover both genders, and are varied from authors to actors to TV hosts to directors.  Heck, they even named some folks I'd never even heard of.  Really.  I feel like a proper tool.

Between the six of them and the one of me, we listed 42 names.  And I'm going to share them all with you now. Names will be listed in alphabetical order, and the name of each voter will be shared in parentheses.

The following True Heroes of Horror received one vote each....

Clockwise from Top: Atkins, Lewton, Wood, Peterson, Pitt, Perkins.

Tom Atkins (Morgan), Clive Barker (Marvin), Joe Bob Briggs (The Mike), Poppy Z. Brite (Nicki), Lon Chaney Sr. (The Mike), Roger Corman (Andreas) (Note from The Mike: Corman was officially the last cut from my list; my #11.  Kills me to have left him off!), David Cronenberg (Andreas), Fred Dekker (Morgan), Guillermo del Toro (Marvin), Johnny Depp (Christine H.), Robert Englund (Morgan), Adam Green (Nicki), Herschell Gordon Lewis (Nicki), Val Lewton (Andreas), Takashi Miike (Nicki), Morgus the Magnificent (Nicki), Kim Newman (Andreas), Anthony Perkins (Christine H.), Cassandra Peterson (Nicki), Ingrid Pitt (Marvin), Roman Polanski (Andreas), Anne Rice (Christine H.), Susan Hill (Christine H.), Mary Shelley (Christine M.), Bram Stoker (Christine M.), James Whale (Andreas), Edward D. Wood, Jr. (Christine M.), Mary Woronov (Andreas).

That's 28 of our 42 right there, which means 14 folks received more than one vote.  Also, the fact that Mary Woronov got on to this list MAKES MY DAY.  I <3 Mary Woronov.

The following True Heroes of Horror received two votes each....

From Left to Right: Lugosi, Craven, Hitchcock, Argento

Dario Argento (Morgan, Christine H.), Bruce Campbell (The Mike, Morgan), Wes Craven (Morgan, Christine M.), Jamie Lee Curtis (The Mike, Morgan), Alfred Hitchcock (Christine H., Nicki), Boris Karloff (The Mike, Marvin), Christopher Lee (The Mike, Marvin), Bela Lugosi (Christine M., Andreas).

There go 8 more, leaving us with only 6 folks who received votes from three or more of our 7 voters.  A lot of my favorites are in here, and I expected many to do better. The Hitchcock thing makes me think too, because I argued with myself for days about whether he should be on my list.  Love the guy more than any filmmaker ever, but in the end I didn't feel his impact was specifically "horror".  Semantics can trip me up.  Anyway, glad to see others voting for him!

The following True Heroes of Horror received three votes each....

H.P. Lovecraft (Marvin, Christine M., Andreas), Tom Savini (Morgan, Marvin, Nicki.)

An interesting combination if I've ever seen one.  And I didn't vote for either of these guys, which makes them the top folks on the list who didn't make my ten.  And now, we've got just Four of our 42 folks left to name!

The following True Hero of Horror received 4 votes....

Vincent Price (The Mike, Marvin, Christine M., Christine H.)

I don't know why, but sometimes I get the feeling horror fans don't like Vincent Price any more.  Clearly that was not the case among our small sample of voters, as he gets the fourth most mentions of anyone.  I'm quite OK with that.

The following True Heroes of Horror received five votes each....

Stephen King (The Mike, Morgan, Marvin, Christine M., Christine H.), George A. Romero (The Mike, Morgan, Christine M., Christine H., Nicki)

For a while, it looked like Stephen King was gonna run away with this thing.  The first four lists I received had him on them, as did mine.  Then he dropped off to land in this tie for second.  It's also worth noting that it's me and the ladies of the internet who love Romero. Why's that worth noting? Because if you read the word "ladies" like Isaac Hayes would say it, then it makes The Mike sound cool.

And then....there was a True Hero of Horror who received six of a possible seven votes....

John Carpenter (The Mike, Marvin, Christine M., Christine H., Nicki, Andreas).

Like I said at the beginning...these results make me FISTPUMPDANCE.  John Carpenter might not have been #1 on my list (he might have been too, I was too scaredy-pants to pick a #1) but I have no problem with him winning the vote here.  It brings me happy.

As do all the Midnight Warriors out there!  I want to thank these fine folks for joining in the October fun, and I sincerely want to thank everyone who's watched the True Heroes of Horror train pass through FMWL this month! I've been truly humbled by all the comments and kind words about the posts, even if I haven't always been the best host and responded to them.  Y'all have helped remind me what I love about horror this month, and that's exactly why I keep writing this stuff.  Seriously, thank you all so much.

With that, the True Heroes of Horror experiment at FMWL has passed.  But for how long? I've had a blast putting my posts together, and it's quite possible I'll bring them back in the future for all the people I left off my list.  Ten is such a small number anyway, isn't it?  

Until next time, I'm The Mike, and you're all awesome.  Don't forget it, because Halloween is only 364 days away!

The Mike's True Heroes of Horror (3/10) - George A. Romero

As I continued my personal journey to determine the True Heroes of Horror, I pushed myself to focus on folks whose achievements in horror outweigh some of the lower points of their careers.  Sometimes, it's not the most consistent performers that really make things happen, it's the people who put everything on the line and manage to make a couple of ground-shaking changes in their field.  With that in mind, I'm happy to present....

George A. Romero.

Who is George A. Romero?

Born in New York City in 1940, George Andrew Romero is most known for the time he spent in the Pittsburgh, PA area after attending college at Carnegie Mellon University.  It was after his graduation that Romero began making short films and - in a twist of strange fate - became inspired to make horror movies after directing a segment about a tonsillectomy for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.  Near the end of the 1960s, Romero made his first movie - and the rest is history.

George is most known for....

Inventing zombies.  Yeah, I know the dude didn't exactly INVENT zombies...but if you ask most people that's the general idea they have.  The point is that those zed-words have become the horror fans' favorite monsters over the past fortyish years, and that craze began when Romero and his friends made a cheap black-and-white horror film in 1968.

His first three zombie films (and it STILL feels weird to realize the man now has six zombie films under his belt these days) have served as the template for dozens of horror stars, directors, and fans that would follow them.  Night of the Living Dead set the tone, Dawn of the Dead showed off the power of social commentary in horror, and Day of the Dead reminded us that people aren't always the good guys.  They're three wildly different films in plot and execution, which is a testament to the director's willingness to adapt over time.  But the message is the same - George A. Romero is the King of the Zombies.

Other Horror Hits....

Romero hasn't been as active as some horror directors throughout his career - he's only directed 16 features to this point - and his biggest hits are primarily those Dead films we already talked about.  But Romero's had some other winners to his name, primarily his vampire drama Martin - which is his personal favorite of his films - and the Stephen King collaboration Creepshow, which perfected the horror anthology formula.  His other horror films have had mixed results, and his last three zombie films have inspired plenty of mixed reviews among horror buffs.

So, why's George A. Romero here?

Despite what I mentioned earlier about George being known as the king of the zombies, that isn't why I have him as one of my heroes of horror.  Sure, I respect the heck out of the man's role in basically creating a staple of the horror genre but that's not why I love his movies, particularly Night and Dawn. 

If there's one thing we've learned in horror recently, it's that any jackass can make a zombie movie.  If I were to list the worst horror movies I've seen in the last decade, at least 3 of the bottom 10 would have zombies in 'em.  I'm sure that number would go up if I was interested enough to hunt down most of the zillion independent and DTV zombie productions that have come out in the past ten years, but thankfully I'm not a glutton for punishment.  Zombies have become a walking cliche to the point of being spoofed lovingly in the widely worshipped Shaun of the Dead and the point of becoming the thing people add to video games when they get bored.

There's even a video game zombie version of George A. Romero.

What's this got to do with George A Romero, who some might claim has become one of those people who just do zombie stuff to get a rise out of people?  Let's go back to the two movies I mentioned two paragraphs ago, Romero's Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead.  There is zero doubt it in my mind - none, nilch, nunca, nada - that they are the two greatest zombie films in existence.  And I'm struggling to say anything else is close.  Sure, I love Zombi 2 and yes I Walked With a Zombie is a classic and yes, some people do consider the Evil Dead films to be zombie films. I will not be swayed on this matter. For me, zombies start and stop with Night and Dawn.

But the zombies - while iconic in their own ways - aren't the things that matter to me about these two masterpieces.  Dawn of the Dead, on one hand, is a rare horror epic that's all about the characters and how they react to the apocalyptic events around them. Dawn's about an hour longer than most zombie movies, but there's little to no filler as we follow four folks who have to fight to survive despite the knowledge that the world around them has gone mad.  It's one of the most thought provoking films in horror, and the creatures that eventually fill the fated Monroeville Mall are simply tools that push these characters' stories forward.

In the meantime, Night of the Living Dead is what I consider to be the prototype for a perfect horror movie.  Romero's original classic is filmed effectively in black-and-white and written with plenty of sharp jabs at human relations, as the director creates simple, but realistic characters to fill different roles in the film's dramatic arc.  The characters would become a template for future horrors - including the slasher genre and plenty of movies that didn't include zombies - and Romero's simple approach to telling his horror tale (he keeps the film free of unnecessary explanation or Hollywood heroism) has become a standard outline for screenwriters.  I'm not trying to say it's the best horror movie ever made - it does have some problems, like how poorly the catatonic Barbara character has aged - but if someone comes to me who's never seen a horror movie and asks for an example, I'm saying Night of the Living Dead.  It feels exactly like the movie you'd want to throw on at midnight when the witching hour calls.

Romero is known for his zombies, but it is his vision of horror and how it fits into the human world that I will remember.  These two films - supported strongly by Creepshow and Martin, which I could ramble about if I wanted to make this the longest thing I've ever written - show off what George A. Romero is all about.  These days he's widely (and correctly) recognized as one of the most iconic figures in horror, but it's important to remember that his stamp on the genre spreads far beyond a few shambling corpses that hopped out of their graves.  George A. Romero knew what horror meant to the people in his films, and it's his attention to these details that has made me forever grateful for his work.  As those jackasses I previously mentioned have proven, zombies are cheap.  Great horror films like George A. Romero's best works, on the other hand, are truly treasures of the horror genre.