David Vining

Charleston

Husband, father, author, future emperor of Macedonia, Greece, and if I get around to it, Troy. Corstae! Available now! Buy now! https://t.co/gjqcsbn4Yj

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Articles

George A. Romero’s Movies Ranked: #1 ‘The Amusement Park’ (1975)

Mar 6, 2025 | bleedingfool.com | David Vining

#1 in my ranking of George A. Romero’s filmography. Presumed lost for decades, this informational film from George Romero, commissioned by the Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania, is nominally a plea for help in tending to the elderly, the added bookends of the film making it explicit.
George A. Romero’s Movies Ranked: #2 ‘Knightriders’ (1981)

Mar 5, 2025 | bleedingfool.com | David Vining

#2 in my ranking of George A. Romero’s filmography. There’s something key in understanding an artist when they take up a project after a big success. Dawn of the Dead was the film that finally got George Romero out of debt and the ability to command decent budgets, and what did he do with that success first? He made a kind of goofy retelling of the Arthurian legend with knights on motorcycles that’s still deeply earnest in its depiction of its characters.
George A. Romero’s Movies Ranked: #3 ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (1978)

Mar 4, 2025 | bleedingfool.com | David Vining

#3 in my ranking of George A. Romero’s filmography. Probably George Romero’s best regarded and most well-known film, Dawn of the Dead is the movie that got him out of heavy debt and brought his first real success that he could actually participate in (his previous successes, namely Night of the Living Dead, being marred by distribution deals that got him nothing).
George A. Romero’s Movies Ranked: #4 ‘Night of the Living Dead’ (1968)

Mar 3, 2025 | bleedingfool.com | David Vining

#4 in my ranking of George A. Romero’s filmography. George A. Romero, partner in the company The Latent Image, a filmmaking firm that specialized in commercials and industrial films, pulled together the minimal funds for a horror film, something purely marketable, and worked over nine months to film the script he cowrote with John Russo.
George A. Romero’s Movies Ranked: #5 'Martin' (1977)

Mar 2, 2025 | bleedingfool.com | David Vining

#5 in my ranking of George A. Romero’s filmography. Reportedly George Romero’s favorite of his own films, Martin is more Season of the Witch and less Dawn of the Dead. It’s obvious that Romero’s heart was in character-based dramas that blended the worlds of the real and horror. He also said that his early films, in particular, were more products of their times than efforts at social commentary, despite his reputation.
George A. Romero’s Movies Ranked: #6 'The Dark Half‘ (1993)

Mar 1, 2025 | bleedingfool.com | David Vining

#6 in my ranking of George A. Romero’s filmography. George Romero finally got a chance to direct a Stephen King adaptation, and it’s one of his least well known. Still, the deep misunderstandings of his raw materials in Monkey Shines get pushed aside with a much more competently assembled sense of horror and mystery in The Dark Half.
George A. Romero’s Movies Ranked: #7 'Season of the Witch' (1972)

Feb 28, 2025 | bleedingfool.com | David Vining

#7 in my ranking of George A. Romero’s filmography. This seems to be largely forgotten and ignored, but I think it’s something of a gem from George A. Romero’s early career. The marketing had no idea how to sell it, though, leaning heavily into horror elements that are barely there. The film isn’t a horror exercise in any meaningful sense.
George A. Romero’s Movies Ranked: #8 ‘Creepshow' (1982)

Feb 27, 2025 | bleedingfool.com | David Vining

#8 in my ranking of George A. Romero’s filmography. George Romero and Stephen King were good friends and found a way to work together beyond King making an obnoxious cameo in Knightriders. They also have a shared love for the EC series Tales from the Crypt. So, without actually paying for the rights, the two came up with an imitation anthology series.
George A. Romero’s Movies Ranked: #9 ‘The Crazies' (1973)

Feb 26, 2025 | bleedingfool.com | David Vining

#9 in my ranking of George A. Romero’s filmography. There’s something about how George Romero can build tension through montage that I really gravitate towards, and the first half of The Crazies is this manic escalation of tension through editing that creates this incredible sense of immediacy. It’s really unfortunate that the second half is so wane in comparison, meandering around looking for the story that it lost.
George A. Romero’s Movies Ranked: #10 ‘Survival of the Dead' (2009)

Feb 25, 2025 | bleedingfool.com | David Vining

#10 in my ranking of George A. Romero’s filmography. Well, it’s not nearly as bad as Diary of the Dead. In fact, I’d call this George Romero’s best zombie movie since Dawn of the Dead. That’s honestly sad.