10/01/2026
𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘, 𝙉𝑰𝙂𝑯𝙏 𝙊𝑭 𝑻𝙃𝑬 𝑳𝙄𝑽𝙄𝑵𝙂 𝘿𝑬𝘼𝑫 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗜𝗘𝗥𝗘𝗗 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘
The modern zombie genre was born on October 1,1968 at the Fulton Theater (now the Byham) on Sixth Street downtown Pittsburgh. That’s the night that 𝑁𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑 premiered. It was made by a local company called Latent Image, which had its offices on the fifth floor of 247 Fort Pitt Boulevard downtown. Latent Image made industrial films and local television commercials for companies like Iron City B**r, Duke B**r, and Calgon. It was run by wannabe filmmakers George Romero, the great Russ Streiner, and the wonderful John Russo who decided to use their skills to make a real movie.
“Night of the Living Dead” was produced on a shoestring budget, but the finished product raised "gruesome" to a stark, brutal art form and became one of the most influential horror films ever produced. Fans of “The Walking Dead” and every other zombie incarnation owe the Latent Image boys a debt of gratitude.
Everyone knows that the iconic opening graveyard scene was shot at the Evans City Cemetery. But the scenes set in the basement of the farmhouse that was overrun by zombies--including the grotesque moment when a little girl zombie devoured her father--were shot in the basement of 247 Fort Pitt Boulevard, in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh. Who’d have thought it?
Romero, of course, became an iconic director in the horror genre. Sadly, he died in July of 2017 (as he passed away, he was listening to the soundtrack of one of his favorite films, John Ford's beloved "The Quiet Man"--about as far removed from NOTLD as you can get).
But Streiner (the film's producer and "Johnny," the film's first victim) and Russo (co-writer) are still going strong. In the decades following 𝑁𝑂𝑇𝐿𝐷, Streiner played a critical role in making Pittsburgh a bona fide destination for filmmakers, something unimaginable before 𝑁𝑂𝑇𝐿𝐷.
As for Russo--it needs to be noted that the modern zombie that we all know was his brainchild. He, too, has remained active, spreading the gospel of the living dead in books and films.
The day after 𝑁𝑂𝑇𝐿𝐷 premiered, the Pittsburgh Press, the city's leading newspaper back then, said it was “so grisly” that “it even shook up the hardiest of chiller-thriller fans.” The paper hailed it as "a rouser for the strong-stomached, horror film addict." A chorus of critics agreed: "...one of the best horror films ever made." (Andrew Sarris, The Village Voice) "One of the most gruesomely terrifying movies ever made . . . ." (Pauline Kael) "If you do like horror films, this may well be the most horrifying ever made." (Elliott Stein, Sight and Sound).
But, of course, some critics just didn't get it. Irritable Vincent Canby of the New York Times wrote: "Night of the Living Dead is a grainy little movie acted by what appear to be nonprofessional actors, who are besieged in a farm house by some other nonprofessional actors who stagger around, stiff-legged, pretending to be flesh-eating ghouls." Canby couldn't even bring himself to mention the Latent Image boys by name, saying only that the film "was made by some people in Pittsburgh." Read it again: “some people in Pittsburgh.” History proved Canby's churlish remarks a notable misfire.
The Latent Image boys made commercials for a living and knew something about marketing. A newspaper ad announced that anyone frightened to death by the film would be insured for $50,000, a la shock-meister William Castle (John Goodman's character in the film "Matinee" was based on Castle).
Aside from Romero, Streiner, and Russo, there was also Karl Hardman, co-producer who played angry “Harry Cooper” (he was the one who got eaten by his daughter). Hardman was an alumnus of Cordic & Company, Pittsburgh's most-popular-ever radio show. And there was Charles Craig, the chillingly realistic newscaster. And dignified Judith O'Dea coming unglued while the film's star, Duane Jones—a fine actor—tried to inject rationality into madness. And there was Bill Hinzman, who killed "Johnny" in the opening scene and is still the best zombie ever to stagger through a cemetery.
And we can't forget everyone's favorite snippet of dialogue--between the field reporter, played by late Pittsburgh broadcasting icon “Chilly” Billy Cardille, and the sheriff, played by the late, great George Kosana (also the film's production manager):
CARDILLE: Are they slow-moving, chief?
KOSANA: Yeah, they're dead. They're all messed up.
Kosana also delivered the film’s greatest line, at the end of the film: “That’s another one for the fire.” (In context, it packs a wallop—we won’t give it away here for anyone who hasn’t seen it.)
The film should have made everyone who owned a piece of it rich, but it didn't--the distributor forgot to put the copyright notice on the theatrical prints, and the film ended up in the public domain.
One time, I took a group to the Evans City Cemetery and showed them the spots where the action occurred in the film’s memorable first scene. Despite some notable changes, overall, the grand old burying ground looks a lot like it did on that day in 1967 when Pittsburgh’s first-ever film crew arrived and, in his best Boris Karloff, Russ Streiner snarled, "They're coming to get you, Barbara!" On our visit, I explained to our group that 𝑁𝑂𝑇𝐿𝐷's devotees from around the world make pilgrimages to the beloved cemetery. Then, as if on cue, a car pulled up and a man from the Philippines got out. He told me that he, too, had come to traverse hallowed horror film ground, though his journey was a lot longer than ours.
On that October evening when 𝑁𝑂𝑇𝐿𝐷premiered at the Fulton way back in turbulent 1968, a few blocks away, the mammoth Warner Theater on Fifth Avenue was showing Stanley Kubrick's landmark “2001: A Space Odyssey” on its 70 mm screen. Oakland’s King’s Court Theater had Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in Mel Brooks’ original “The Producers.” And, of course, there were far more serious things going on, too. Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey were in a heated battle for the presidency, and the question of whether to halt the bombing in North Vietnam had become a campaign issue--proving that real life can be more frightening than anything conjured up by either Hollywood or “Hollywood on the Mon.”
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𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐬𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐡!
𝙊𝙉 𝙎𝙏𝘼𝙂𝙀: The Haunted Pittsburgh Players reenact Pittsburgh’s greatest tales of the unexplained in a spooky, hilarious Halloween mash-up—it’s 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙖𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙋𝙞𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙞 at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater. Pittsburgh has a North Side and a South Side--but on October 17, we’ll take you to 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒. We know where all the bodies are buried!
𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑯𝑨𝑼𝑵𝑻𝑬𝑫 𝑷𝑰𝑬𝑹𝑶𝑮𝑰
𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟕 -- 𝐊𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫,
5941 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206
𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐄: https://kelly-strayhorn.org/events/the-haunted-pierogi/
