"The Dead Don't Die" Jarmusch's critique of civilization and respect for George A. Romero

George A. Romero and the Midnight Movie

Regarding his motivation for making this film, the director himself says: "I've never had a Being There to bring elements of George A. Romero into my own work, but I've always been a big fan of his films." (From Criterion.com)

Romero was the first director to bring Dawn of the Dead films to the world, and his ` `Night of the Living Dead' ' (1968) shocked the nation as a groundbreaking low-budget film. After it was made as an independent 16mm film, it was first approached by Columbia Pictures, but they refused to distribute it.

After that, I went to AIP, which is known for B-movies produced by Roger Corman, and they asked me to change the ending and include sex scenes, but this time Romero refused. The film was eventually purchased by Walter Reed and released in 1968, but its initial run was a failure. However, it soon gained cult popularity as a "midnight movie."

According to Stuart Samuel's book ``Midnight Movies'' (published by Macmillan), ``In 1971, people went to see ``Night of the Living Dead'' every Friday and Saturday at the Waverly Theater in New York. People come to the theater...Many of them are repeat visitors, and they flock to the theater every week to scream and cheer for what one critic called ``the best horror movie.'' Enjoy 90 minutes.”

Works that were called "midnight movies" at the time included Alejandro Jodorowsky's " El Topo " (1970), the rock musical " The Rocky Horror Picture Show " (1975), and John Waters' Films included `` Pink Flamingos '' (1972) and Hal Ashby's `` The Boy Who Crossed the Rainbow '' (1971). "These movies were both a show and a party. It was akin to going to church every week. The midnight movie gathering became a unique phenomenon in American youth culture." Samuels wrote in the aforementioned book.

George A. Romero is the “godmother of independent films”