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Baylor Horror Film Expert Comments on Passing of "Night of the Living Dead" Director George A. Romero

Jul 17, 2017

1 min

James Kendrick, Ph.D.

James Kendrick, Ph.D., associate professor in Baylor's Film and Digital Media department, is a nationally known expert on horror films.


He is available to speak to media about the contributions and legacy of legendary director George A. Romero, who died on Sunday.


Kendrick said:


"Although he will forever be remembered as the chief architect the modern zombie film with his groundbreaking, low-budget black-and-white thriller 'Night of the Living Dead,' George A. Romero’s impact on both the horror genre and filmmaking in general reached much farther than the lumbering undead. He was an artist with a genuine social conscience, dark sense of humor, and clear understanding of how the current zeitgeist can make horror both more unsettling and socially relevant, which was key to the genre’s reinvention in the late 1960s and early ’70s. He was also a pioneer of American independent cinema, creating some of his most important films—including 'Night of the Living Dead,' the offbeat vampire film 'Martin,' and the shopping-mall-set 'Dawn of the Dead' — largely on his own terms outside the Hollywood studio system."


Kendrick teaches classes on film theory/aesthetics, the history of motion pictures, media and society, the films of Steven Spielberg, violence in the media, and horror film. His primary research interests are post-Classical Hollywood film history, violence in the media, cult and horror films, media censorship and regulation, the films of Steven Spielberg, action films, and cinema and new technologies.


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James Kendrick, Ph.D.

James Kendrick, Ph.D.

Professor, Film & Digital Media, Undergraduate Program Director

Expert on Spielberg films, cult & horror films, post-Classical Hollywood film history & new cinema technologies

Violence in filmsCinema and new technologiesMedia censorship and regulation

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