WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
Much like Wes Craven, to most people Romero is well known for the Night of the Living Dead franchise which is currently 6 films (with a potential 7th and final in the works) – so once again I wanted to focus on his directorials outside of this. I mentioned before about this month accidentally being in honour of horror directors that have featured more than once on the “video-nasties” lists and Romero is no exception – only you wouldn’t be prosecuted at all if caught with his films.
The Dark Half
This film is based on the book of the same name by Stephen King, which I have actually read so I was really looking forward to watching this. Both the book and the film start in the same place, and the moment the eye opens in Thad’s tumour, I found it about as disturbing as when I read the prologue! Now, there’s no mention in the book of the fact that Thad is a teacher or anything like that but I guess you do need to add little bits here and there when turning it into a film. The thing that Romero did leave out however is the death of the graveyard caretaker when Stark first emerges from his grave. Now, I think a lot of people would probably see this as more of a thriller than a horror but the fact that the murders are being committed by a man that never existed before a fake burial that for me falls into the realms of the occult – making this a horror film. Even the introduction of the sparrows at the beginning is a little disturbing and reminds me a little of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.
Monkey Shines
I have a question for Mr Romero – was there any need for the naked workout scene at the beginning of the film? Anyway, I wanted to cover this film for a previous article, Pithecophobia, as I wanted to focus on a monkey that killed for good but I wasn’t able to get hold of it at the time. Wait, I realise that depends on your definition of good. Ella does what she believes is good in the beginning as, from what she understands, Allan wants these people out of his life entirely. It annoyed me a little bit that it was made obvious Allan’s girlfriend, Linda, and his surgeon are having an affair from the very beginning. The crazy part is that it’s hard to be angry at Ella for what she does to people, especially as I slightly feel like the first lot deserve what happens to them. Later, she starts to kill for love, taking out those that she feels are in the way of her and Allan – sounds like your typical bunny-boiler story, right? Unfortunately, you can’t help but feel sorry for her because she only is the way she is – overly aggressive and capable of telepathy with Allan, because of the experiments performed on her by Geoffery.
Creepshow
I have to admit that this is the only anthology film, as far as I’m aware, I have watched where all the stories are directed by the same person. Normally you see the word “segment” next to someone’s name because they only directed part of it. I mentioned Stephen King before didn’t I? Well, he actually wrote this with Romero and, along with his son Joe, starred in the film as well. A couple of these tales are also based on King’s short stories, The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill is taken from Weeds which appears in King’s Night Shift and The Crate is taken from the short story of the same name. At first I thought, like many other anthology horrors, this film won’t have any connecting themes but then I noticed the first two stories, Father’s Day and The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, made reference to a character’s father, almost linking it back to wraparound story with Billy, played by Joe King, and his abusive father. I guess the following two stories, Something to Tide You Over and The Crate, are also connected by dysfunctional marital relationships but at no point did I notice a connection between all five. One of the things I do love about this is, and I guess it’s more credit to Tom Savini than to Romero himself but the special effects make-up is amazing! Especially in the Father’s Day segment with Sylvia’s head on the platter. This film also shows a very different side to Leslie Nielsen than people may be used to.
Martin
The use of this film is actually as a replacement for the film Two Evil Eyes, as it is a joint directorial with Dario Argento, so I have disregarded it for both of them. This is one of Romero’s three films to feature of the video nasties list but the only one to feature in this article. Interestingly no cuts were made to the film for its release but was edited for European audiences by Dario Argento and released under the name Wampyre. If that doesn’t give you some idea of the plot I’m not sure what would. On first meeting, you wouldn’t think anything was off about Martin apart from the fact that he may be some sort of rapist. Especially with the drugging and then undressing of the female passenger. This scene is already pretty weird already, even before Martin drinks her blood. I got a little confused as to whose belief it is that Martin is a vampire – his own or his cousin’s! Because if he believed it, I’m sure he would have presented with more “symptoms” than just the blood drinking but then again, as it is a family belief – maybe Martin knows something is wrong with him and the first thought is that it has to be vampirism as he knows no different. The fact that there is nothing occult about Martin, this is more of a serial killer thriller than an out-and-out horror film.
The Amusement Park
I was honestly really surprised when I saw that this film was only 54 minutes long, not even an hour! With that being said, I assumed this was one of his first directorials, however he had already made Night of the Living Dead and The Crazies by this point. The choice for his lead actor to be introduce the film with a prologue about the mistreatment of elder people was interesting me as it felt for a moment as if the film I watched was more of a documentary than anything else. I noticed that there was very little dialogue throughout, focusing more on our main character’s reactions to what is happening around him and the rides he experienced. I feel the amusement park is supposed to represent everyday life for the elderly – for example, the eye test before getting on to the bumper cars and the attitude towards the 68 year old woman when she collides with someone younger.
