Quotes from George A. Romero

When I was old enough to go to movies alone, I got to see 'Frankenstein' and 'Dracula' on the big screen. I just fell in love with them.

I really liked the helicopter pilot in 'Dawn of the Dead', when he gets bitten and comes out of the elevator. That guy was amazing. He did this incredible walk that we didn't even know about until we started shooting.

When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.

A zombie film is not fun without a bunch of stupid people running around and observing how they fail to handle the situation.

The neighbors are scary enough when they're not dead.

I didn't play practical jokes at home. I had a strict upbringing, which is part of my rebellion. I was raised Catholic and went to parochial school, which is why priests and nuns appear in my movies a lot, and I don't have very much nice to say about them.

My stories are about humans and how they react, or fail to react, or react stupidly. I'm pointing the finger at us, not at the zombies. I try to respect and sympathize with the zombies as much as possible.

In the dark days to come, some former Congress members would wonder, if they'd only listened closer, if they might have heard America's tendons pinging apart like snapped piano wire and been able to do something to heal the wounds before the whole body politic had been ripped apart.

Tragicomic absurdity from Disney World, as the pack of Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan fell upon children, each red bite a boutonniere.

The men crashed back through the store and Peter moved right to the racks of weapons. He pulled down a gorgeous high-powered rifle that was equipped with a sophisticated scope for sighting. "Ain't it a crime!" he ejaculated. "What?" Steve asked, confused by the man's sudden outburst. "The only person who could ever miss with this gun," Peter said, looking through the telescope, "is the sucker with bread enough to buy it.

Oh," Peter cut in, "you got the papers for this limousine?" "I got WGON ID," Steve shouted angrily, "and so does Fran." "Right," Peter said venomously, "and we're out here doin' traffic reports? Wake up, sucker. We're thieves and bad guys is what we are. And we gotta find our own way!

Philadelphia, the city of Brotherly Love, was littered with the bodies of its citizens. Moonlight loomed over the embattled city, illuminating the destruction. In the early morning hours, the few lights remaining on were reflected in the waters of the Delaware. The quiet was interrupted only by the sounds of the lapping water and the occasional creak of wooden floating docks as they strained against one another.

All of a sudden, a great crash sounded, and even the calm, collected Peter flinched at the noise. The closet door flew open and two small children, a girl and boy, burst out into the room. They were a ghastly sight, even to Peter's cynical eyes: the little girl had no left arm, the boy had been bleeding from a great wound in his side. Peter felt a touch of sympathy for the pathetic creatures, but then he reminded himself—they were dead!

I don't want to do 'Beyond the Planet of the Apes.' I don't want a zombie society. I don't want to go that far.

I expect a zombie to show up on 'Sesame Street' soon, teaching kids to count.

People called '28 Days' and '28 Weeks' zombie movies, and they're not! It's some sort of virus; they're not dead.

The zombie was just an intriguing character; it is a sympathetic character.

'Day of the Dead' remains my favourite zombie film of mine.

I go to conventions and universities and talk to young filmmakers and everybody's making a zombie movie! It's because it's easy to get the neighbors to come out, put some ketchup on them.

My zombie films were all sort of satirical, with political messages. So I was doing them inexpensively and quietly off in left field somewhere.

There is something about the sameness people like. And what I've tried to do with all the zombie films is purposely make them different. That may be part of why it takes so long for people to see what it's intended to be.

I used to be able to pitch them on the basis of the zombie action, and I could hide the message inside that. Now, you can't. The moment you mention the word 'zombie,' it's got to be, 'Hey, Brad Pitt paid $400 million to do that.'

I did 'Land of the Dead,' which was the biggest zombie film I had ever made. I don't think it needed to be that big. That money went largely to the cast. They were great, but I don't think that money needed to be spent.

Because of 'World War Z' and 'The Walking Dead,' I can't pitch a modest little zombie film which is meant to be sociopolitical.