Movie zombies are dead-alive and well in cinema, video, books and games, and they can all trace their roots back, in one form or another, to the works of George A. Romero.

It was Romero that pulled the zombie from Voodoo mythology and put it back into the ground, and although he initially never used the term “zombie,” it is the creatures we are introduced to in his 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead that set the stage for all of the undead frivolity that was to follow.

So almost 50 years after the release of that film, George Romero is finally getting some of the due he deserves. The Hollywood Walk of Fame committee has just announced the inductees for 2017, and among them, for motion pictures, is George!

ZRS took it upon ourselves back in 2012 to try and convince the committee to consider George for a star on the Walk of Fame, but were unsuccessful.

Matt Mogk, the founder of ZRS put it best:

Our mission for Zombie Research Society is to advance the respect and knowledge of zombies and one of the things that really fits in that mission is getting George Romero a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame because he really deserves it. Without Night of the Living Dead from 1968 there would be no The Walking Dead, there would be no Zombieland, there would potentially be no 28 Days Later. It really kicked off this whole notion of this cannibalistic raving maniac. It created a whole monster, his movie has a wide spread of influences not just on zombies, but on the whole horror genre.

Well it’s finally happening!

Congratulations George!

George Romero is a member of the Advisory Board of the Zombie Research Society.