The Patio Theater will screen "Night of the Living Dead" and "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" on Friday, and "Jaws" and "Jurassic Park" on Saturday, all for free. View Full Caption Facebook

CHICAGO — The Patio Theater, 6008 W. Irving Park Road, will show a free zombie movie double feature on Friday to commemorate horror visionary George A. Romero, who died Sunday at age 77.

The landmark 1968 "Night of the Living Dead," written and directed by Romero and often credited with inventing the "modern zombie," will show at 7:30 p.m., followed by the 1972 horror flick "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" at 9:30 p.m.

The theater will follow up with another free double feature on Saturday, showing back-to-back action classics with "Jaws" at 7 p.m. and "Jurassic Park" at 9:30 p.m.

About 1½ years after the historic theater changed hands, it's ramped up operations in recent months, having secured a liquor license and finished a renovation of its bar last month.

The theater plans to "have free movie events consistently for the remainder of the year," interspersed with "independent and locally-made movie premieres and screenings," according to its programming director.

The staff is "working on having programming scheduled so we can be open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday permanently," he added.