Season of the Witch (1972)

Among other things it's capable of, art can do two things: it can be a statement by the artist about the world, and it can be a revealing look about the artist themselves. Season of the Witch, written and directed by George A. Romero, does both.

Season of the Witch is about Joan Mitchell (Jan White), a housewife approaching middle age. Her 19-year-old daughter is on the verge of moving out, and her husband Jack all but ignores her. When she learns a new neighbor is a practicing witch, Joan is intrigued and seeks to learn more about witchcraft and magic. She casts a spell to seduce her daughter's boyfriend, but as the line between fantasy and reality blurs, she becomes plagued by nightmares of a dark figure attacking her in her home.

A lighter, darker side of George Romero in 'Moonshadows'

George Romero grew up on E.C. Comics, and the influences of those horror comics is evident throughout his work, most notably Creepshow, which is presented as an anthology of tales within a comic book. A certain gleeful ghoulishness underlies much of Romero's filmography, suggesting if nothing else, he always remained a kid at heart who giggled at the grossout.

In the 90s and early 2000s, Romero attempted but failed to make horror movies for children, hoping to broaden his appeal beyond the ultra-gory. Despite a few attempts - most notably Goosebumps and (I would argue) The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - he was unable to make that leap.

Goosebumps understandably has received the most coverage as far as aborted Romero projects for children goes, and indeed, with its critiques of capitalism and living dead threat, it's easy to see why. However, I want to talk about Moonshadows, a fantasy horror script he wrote multiple drafts for, and unlike Goosebumps, it's an original story, not an adaptation of someone else's book.

When Romero portrayed a real-life monster in 'The Assassination'

Before I Wake was the unproduced George Romero script I was most interested in reading when I visited the George A. Romero Archival Collection in October 2024 (click here for more about that), but I read two other scripts, including The Assassination.

Like Before I Wake, The Assassination also came close to production before falling apart. In fact, it actually got as far as casting. Ed Harris and James Coburn had signed on for prominent roles, pop singer Ricky Martin was in talks for a part, and Anthony Quinn was set to play the story's central figure, Rafael Trujillo, the longtime dictator of the Dominican Republic.

Unlike Before I Wake, it's easy to figure out why The Assassination wasn't filmed: Anthony Quinn died. Around the time the film was to begin shooting, the 86-year-old Quinn passed away of respiratory failure, and he was pretty much irreplaceable to the project. 

Hollywood lays Romero to rest with 'Before I Wake'

George Romero was incredibly prolific in the 1970s and '80s, but in the '90s, he hit a rut. Despite being attached to many high-profile projects - including Resident Evil, The Mummy, and Goosebumps - and cranking out a large number of scripts, he only produced one feature film, The Dark Half, which finished filming in 1991 but wasn't released until 1993. He didn't complete another full-length movie until Bruiser in 2000.

One project that came close to being filmed was Before I Wake (This has no connection with the 2016 film of the same name directed by Mike Flanagan). This version was a haunted house movie Romero spent years developing, writing multiple drafts and getting as far as having shooting schedules written, locations picked out, and a budget lined up. So why didn't it happen?

The Crazies (1973)

A virus, codenamed Trixie, leaks into the water supply of the small Pennsylvania town of Evans City. The virus leaves its victims dead or incurably mad. The military swoops in to quarantine the area, but the local citizenry resists. As chaos and panic ensue, a small group of survivors tries to escape a town that's become a war zone.

The Crazies, directed by George Romero, asks who are the crazy people. Obviously, there are those infected by the virus, but what about the other townspeople, the ones who aren't infected but who succumb to hysteria, resulting in behavior just as irrational and violent as the infected? 

How about the soldiers who gun down unarmed civilians, rob homes of the people they round up for quarantine, and blindly follow stupid, ill-informed orders? What about the scientists who created such a virus in the first place? Meanwhile, the Washington bureaucrats are more concerned with cover ups and willing to drop a nuclear bomb on one of their own towns.

Two Evil Eyes

Conceived as anthology in tribute of Edgar Allan Poe, Two Evil Eyes features two one-hour stories: "The Facts of the Case of Mr. Valdemar" adapted by George Romero and "The Black Cat" adapted by Dario Argento. Reportedly, John Carpenter and Stephen King were originally supposed to have their own segments, but scheduling and budget concerns put the kibosh on that arrangement (What would that movie have been called? Four Lethal Limbs?)

In Romero's tale, a dying millionaire (Bingo O'Malley) is hypnotized by his wife (Adrienne Barbeau) and her doctor lover (Ramy Zada) into signing away his fortune, but he dies before everything falls into place. However, his spirit remains trapped in his corpse. 

The original Poe story is a neat little piece but doesn't offer much beyond a man kept alive beyond death under hypnosis, a scientific experiment that turns terrifying for a quick shock ending. Romero expands the tale with its adultery and embezzlement subplot, and he hits on a few of his favorite themes, namely the corrupting power of materialism and capitalism. 

More than zombies: 'Raising the Dead' by Adam Charles Hart

George Romero remains one of my favorite filmmakers. The director of Night of the Living Dead, which created the modern zombie movie, he created a lasting filmography of genuine horror classics that the blended scares with intelligent social commentary and satire.

But following his career was always frustrating. Fiercely independent and deeply uncomfortable with Hollywood, he often struggled to raise financing for the movies he wanted to make. Despite announcements for a number of different projects - both horror and non-horror - by the end of his career, he was more or less consigned to zombie movies, and his final three movies -Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead - divided fans, to say the least.

I've long been disappointed by this turn of events, feeling Romero didn't have the career he deserved and that the world missed out on some genuine classics from a deserving artist.