The Living Dead Return... For a Festival! This Halloween!
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Halloween weekend of 2009, Evans City, PA will be crawling with the undead. And we have Gary Streiner to thank for it. One of the original ten investors in George Romero’s masterpiece Night of the Living Dead, and also its recording and sound guy, Gary has forsaken life in advertising to bring his passion back home, as he unveils the 2nd annual Living Dead Festival. Last year’s event featured some of the film’s participants who are veterans to the convention circuit, such as Russ Streiner and John Russo, as well as a few new entrants to the scene. Gary headlined the convention with an outdoor screening of the movie itself, to the joy of over three hundred fans.
This time around, his efforts are sure to top last year’s inaugural show. Again, Night of the Living Dead will play on the big screen, accompanied by new faces that fans have never before been able to meet. Judith Ridley, one of the seven who fought to survive in that well-worn farm house, headlines a group that also includes well-dressed zombie Terry Gindele and Dave James, infamously the last zombie the posse shot in the film. And it’s all taking place in Evans City, not only Gary’s hometown but the very town in which NOTLD was shot. For the legions of Romero fans out there, this is the equivalent of a Catholic seeing Jesus in the Sistine Chapel.
I met Gary back in April at the Chiller Theatre convention. From that brief meeting, it was easy to surmise that Gary is a genuinely kind man who loves the fans and believes in his cause, the Living Dead Festival. Only someone so dedicated would go the extra mile to give the fanatics an unparalleled guest list and an actual screening of the film itself, on its own home turf. All the NOTLD worshippers, myself included, should go however many extra miles, and make the trip to Evans City, where Gary will greet you with a warm smile... and several walking corpses.
If this event sounds like undead Heaven to you, go check out www.thelivingdeadfest.com, the convention’s official site. And feel free to make friends with Gary on Facebook, which has an official Living Dead Fest group.
--Phil Fasso
This time around, his efforts are sure to top last year’s inaugural show. Again, Night of the Living Dead will play on the big screen, accompanied by new faces that fans have never before been able to meet. Judith Ridley, one of the seven who fought to survive in that well-worn farm house, headlines a group that also includes well-dressed zombie Terry Gindele and Dave James, infamously the last zombie the posse shot in the film. And it’s all taking place in Evans City, not only Gary’s hometown but the very town in which NOTLD was shot. For the legions of Romero fans out there, this is the equivalent of a Catholic seeing Jesus in the Sistine Chapel.
I met Gary back in April at the Chiller Theatre convention. From that brief meeting, it was easy to surmise that Gary is a genuinely kind man who loves the fans and believes in his cause, the Living Dead Festival. Only someone so dedicated would go the extra mile to give the fanatics an unparalleled guest list and an actual screening of the film itself, on its own home turf. All the NOTLD worshippers, myself included, should go however many extra miles, and make the trip to Evans City, where Gary will greet you with a warm smile... and several walking corpses.
If this event sounds like undead Heaven to you, go check out www.thelivingdeadfest.com, the convention’s official site. And feel free to make friends with Gary on Facebook, which has an official Living Dead Fest group.
--Phil Fasso
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