“The Romeroesque” – Playing with Ethics & Ideology in Zombie Games, from Indie to Mainstream and Around Again

The videogame zombie has its origins with one man – the independent film maker George A. Romero. In 1968 Romero, a college dropout who made commercials and industrial films in downtown Pittsburgh, decided to seek investment to make a low budget horror movie. After securing a modest investment from local businesses Romero and friends raised the meagre budget of $114,000 (Russo 2012). Lacking the cinematographic skills of Hollywood filmmakers but influenced since childhood by Powell & Pressburger’s The Tales of Hoffman (1951), EC horror comics, and science fiction cinema Romero began creating a movie.