This Pittsburgh-based independent filmmaker was a pivotal figure in the development of the contemporary horror film. Beginning with his first feature, "Night of the Living Dead" (1968), Romero not only upped the ante on explicit screen violence and gore but also offered an often satirical critique of American society that reflected the cultural upheavals of the late 1960s and early 70s. Ethnically and sexually integrated, pro-feminist, gay-friendly, anti-macho and skeptical about capitalism, his work represents the progressive wing of a sometimes reactionary genre. In Romero's films, the