George A. Romero turns 77 this Saturday.
Born on February 4th, 1940, George Romero was just 28 years old when he released his first film. That movie, of course, was Night of the Living Dead, one of the single most important and influential movies ever made. Made on a budget of just over $100,000, Romero’s debut feature forever changed the landscape of the horror genre, single-handedly creating the modern zombie as we know it today. Sure, zombies may have existed on the screen before Romero came along, but without Romero, it’s impossible to know if they’d be the movie monsters they are today.
This Saturday, Syfy is celebrating Romero’s birthday with a 12-hour marathon of the original Night of the Living Dead, which will be streaming live all day on the Syfy Facebook page. The marathon kicks off at 11:30am EST and runs straight through 11:40pm EST. Following the Facebook marathon, Night of the Living Dead will air on Syfy beginning at 11:42pm EST.
In the seminal 1968 classic:
Radiation from a fallen satellite causes the recently deceased to rise from the grave and seek the living to use as food. Several people barricade themselves inside a rural house in an attempt to survive the night and discover that these hordes of relentless, shambling zombies can only be killed by a blow to the head.
You can join the social media conversation using #LivingDeadMarathon.
