Before I hit my teen years, my family moved to the Pittsburgh area.  At the time of this move, I had only a budding interest in horror films.  After just a few months of living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I caught the filmmaking bug - a unique strain of it, influenced heavily by the films of George Romero, who turns 70 today.

As most of you know, Romero's early films were shot in and around Pittsburgh, and the city seemed to be extremely proud of this fact.  I did not know who Mr. Romero was when I moved to town at the age of 11, but I figured it out fast. 

The way the city embraced his carnage-soaked zombie films definitely caught my attention and inspired me.  That level of loving acceptance and enthusiastic support from a city to a filmmaker is rare, and even as a young kid I perceived that it was special.  I was impressed by it.

When the Halloween season rolled around each Autumn, Romero's Night Of The Living Dead aired a lot on local television.  If you missed it Friday night, chances are you could catch it on another channel that Sunday afternoon. 

I remember one evening, two Pittsburgh channels were broadcasting the film at the same time.  You could flip back and forth between the two stations and see Night Of The Living Dead on both, at points about 30 minutes apart in the movie.  Maybe to normal kids this would not have seemed like a big deal, but I was struck by it.  Night Of The Living Dead was not just another horror flick 'round here.  And George A. Romero was not just another movie director.

When I was 13 years old, give or take, I had quite a momentous experience for a young horror fan:  I attended a triple feature of Romero's original Dead trilogy at Pittsburgh's beautiful Fulton Theater - the very theater where Night Of The Living Dead had its world premiere.  I was - for the first time in my life - in a large crowd that had collected solely because we shared a passion for horror films.

This triple feature of Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, and Day Of The Dead remains the only time I've seen projected 35mm film prints of these incredible movies.  The fact that I saw them all in one night makes the experience even more special.  I'm 38 years old now, and I still have the ticket stubs.

Soon I was making my own amateur backyard movies (on the old double-8mm film format) and soaking up everything I could concerning horror films.  I devoured issues of Fangoria, and almost every weekend I'd rent three or four horror movies and watch 'em all in one night.  Throughout these formative years, Mr. Romero was always a bright spot on my radar.  For one of my birthdays all I asked for was a trip to Monroeville Mall where Dawn Of The Dead had been shot.

Today I look back fondly on the years I spent growing up in Pittsburgh.  It was as if the city took me by the hand and introduced me to a genre I still love and a film director who I admire greatly to this day.

I don't know Mr. Romero personally.  However, in absorbing and learning all I can about this craft, I've become aware of what this director is like via interviews with him and the people who he has collaborated with.  Not only are Romero's films an influence on me, but the way he conducts himself is too.  Mr. Romero most definitely deserves to be so embraced by his home city.

I've learned a lot by observing George Romero and his films.  I can safely say I would be a different filmmaker - for the worse - if Mr. Romero had gone into a different line of work, and not educated me by way of example.  Also, I'm proud that for a large part of my youth, we shared the same stomping grounds.

Happy 70th birthday, George.

- Eric Stanze