The man who gave us the modern zombie apocalypse genre passed away. Thankfully not the horrible means his numerous characters succumbed to!
I’ve never finished his first film, Night of the Living Dead, it was actually too slow and dull for my tastes. Besides, I grew up in awe of his 1978 sequel Dawn of the Dead. Back then, it was an X-rated movie so it had this odd mystique. I finally saw Dawn as an adult and laughed at the MPAA giving it such a rating. I guess cannibalism was a criteria. I have never seen his other zombie flicks. I did enjoy Creepshow.
Beyond the raw horror and grossness to his movies, there was an allegorical message. If I remember, Night is about racism even though a black guy in the lead was just coincidence and Dawn, I think, is mocking consumerism. No clue on the rest.
Although Romero’s movies are not exactly top notch, he pioneered all the much better stuff that came along: Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland and (usually) The Walking Dead. I’ll give a nod to 28 Days Later even though the victims are technically not dead.
Thanks George for finding a way to make the shambling, easy-to-defeat automatons of D&D into something to worry about.