Top 5: George A. Romero Moments

Yesterday the film mourned the loss of George A. Romero, the father of modern zombie fare, and to many including John Carpenter, the father of modern horror film. It's easy to see why. Romero turned zombies from a creepy concept to an existential cannibalistic plague, revived horror anthology filmmaking with Creepshow, and demonstrated that horror was fully capable of delivering social commentary and deeper meaning beyond surface level scares. He was also, by countless accounts, one of the sweetest and good-natured men in the business with enough good humor about his films to give Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright Land of the Dead cameos after Shaun of the Dead came out. So in his honor, we're picking five of his best movie moments. And because some of his movies have more punch than others some movies may appear more than once. *Spoilers Ahead*

#5 "They're Coming to Get You Barbara!" from Night of the Living Dead

The cold open to Night of the Living Dead is one of the most copied and iconic scenes of all time as a brother and sister visit their father's grave. Teasing his sister's fear, Johnny utters the line above like Vincent Price before being set upon by a strange man and unceremoniously killed. It's a bleak opening that sets the stage for what's to come and sets up a pay off during the film's finale when Johnny returns.

#4 Call In from Martin

Primarily known as a zombie movie man, this gritty and depressing vampire movie is one of the best deconstructions of cinemas most romanticized movie monsters and the call in scene is the film's thematic core in a nutshell. After we've watched him struggle with his vampirism through dark and violent means for over half the film, the titular Martin calls in to a radio show to set the record straight. Amused by his admission, the host calls Martin "The Count" and suggests that Martin leans-in to our cultural image of vampires (the "sexy stuff"), despite Martin's persistence that there's no magic of mysticism to his condition. It's a great dialogue about the conflict between sensationalized suffering that ultimately sets Martin down a terrifying road.

#3 Bub from Day of the Dead

While Dawn of the Dead hinted at subconscious desires beneath the zombie exterior, Day of the Dead took things twenty steps further with the development of Bub, an imprisoned zombie. Trained by the compound's lead scientist Dr. Logan, Bub slowly but surely reclaims some of his human abilities like aiming a gun, saluting, and even empathy. Not only is this development terrifying in its own right, but it also presents a blatant juxtaposition with many of the base's soldiers who have descended into animalistic behavior and mindless violence. All of it leads to a final showdown between the human and zombie where the audience is rooting for the zombie.

#2 "What Have We Done To Ourselves?" from Dawn of the Dead

What would you do if the world was ending or if you became a zombie? While I believe most would either look for survivors or retain our humanity, Dawn posits that perhaps we'd lean into our consumer culture instincts. After noting the zombies odd affinity for the local shopping mall, our team of survivors live like kings and make no plans to leave. That is until the emergency broadcasts cease and the chance of discovery appears to have dwindled. Now realizing the folly in their wasteful tendencies the pregnant Francine looks around the lavish living space with despair and wonders what's become of them. All the while zombies are all the door and society has crumbled...

#1 Ben's Fate from Night of the Living Dead

While Romero always described it as a no-brainer, making your horror movie hero a black man in 1968 took guts, as did his portrayal as a hyper-competent and intelligent leader bracing against ignorance. Throughout the film we watch Ben try time and again to speak reasonably to unreasonable people and do his best to save lives until eventually it seems like he's only saved his own. And then a team of armed white men, in southern accents no less, come upon the house...and shoot Ben through the window and celebrate that they "got another one" The aftermath in still images remains one of the most haunting and nihilistic endings in horror history and remains relevant to this day.