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What George A. Romero Meant to Horror and His Fans

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Just when you thought 2017 couldn’t suck any harder than it already does, we lose another massive legend. We lost George A. Romero today and I still haven’t processed it. I knew I wanted to write something for him but I found myself just staring at the screen wondering where to even start.

It’s easy for people to say, “He just made movies, why are you so upset?” We’re upset because he didn’t JUST make movies and his movies weren’t JUST movies. This man created a genre, a movement.  He made a community and a fandom. Whether you loved his movies or hated them, his legacy is undeniable.

The reason you think of flesh-eater when you think of a zombie is because of George A. Romero. Before him, zombies were the product of voodoo and magic. A stolen soul used to be a slave. He single handedly changed an entire genre. He’s the reason we have The Walking Dead. He’s the reason for any zombie walk you’ve ever been to and any zombie video games you’ve played. The father of flesh-eaters. He made the brain-eating, shambling, decomposing hordes that we know of as zombies today.

George A. Romero

Georgeo A. Romero and Stephen King. Image courtesy of Pinterest

I first encountered his work when I saw his collaboration with Stephen King for Creepshow as a child. It was one of the reasons I love horror so much. It was scary, goofy and gorgeous. It still gives me the creeps to this day. I then fell in love with Night of the Living Dead. I had old copies, new copies, copies with Elvira commentary. The combination of that movie and Resident Evil made me the zombie fanatic I am today. And the reason Resident Evil has flesh eaters is due to his creation of the entire genre!

I had the pleasure of meeting him almost a decade ago. I traveled to Texas just for the five minute interaction I would get with him. He was one of the nicest people you’d ever meet and always made time for fans. He never hurried them; never made them feel like just a number in line and always had some conversation and a smile when it was their turn to step up.

Many of you have read from us that he was making a new movie called Road of the Dead and the artwork was released less than two weeks ago. The fate of the movie is unknown at this time but I can only hope that Matt Birman continues what he and Romero started and was excited about. Part of me thinks that he knew this would be his last movie and wanted to go out doing what he loved and what he was known for.

George A. Romero

George with his daughter on the set of “Day of the Dead” with Howard Sherman. Image courtesy of OldPicturesArchive

When it was announced that he was making a new movie, so many people (myself included) were so damn excited. It has been so long since Survival of the Dead. Along with the excitement came the people who complained about how “his movies sucked” or how “he should have quit after Day of the Dead.” But if George A. Romero gave the naysayers anything, it was the opportunity to bitch about something at least, and it never bothered him in the slightest.

George A. Romero

Image by Anne Cusack /Los Angeles Times

His movies were important. Night of the Living Dead had a black lead in 1968! I remember listening to him talk about it. He said that he had the finally finished reel of film being transported in the trunk of his car when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot.

He used Dawn of the Dead to mirror the rise of commercialism in society and used The Crazies to talk about the Vietnam War and the distrust of the military during that time. Diary of the Dead zoned in on our dependency on technology. The list goes on…

I can’t even begin to describe how much this man will be missed by so many. He brought us together: to think, to dress up, to debate, to make friends, to be scared and to laugh. He touched so many lives not just as a filmmaker but as a person. From all of us here at iHorror and around the world…we’re going to miss you George A. Romero, so much.

George A. Romero

Image courtesy of Cinema Blend

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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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