STAY SCARED!™ is a multimedia exhibition about the life and work of GEORGE A. ROMERO, the young Bronx native who would grow up to be known around the world as the “Father of the Zombies” and create a new genre in the horror space.
ONE LEGEND. THREE VENUES.
Ephemera. Screenings. Panels. Readings. On display through June 2026.
ZOMBIES—the flesh-eating undead, slow-moving andlacking full consciousness but unstoppable in their apocalyptic shuffle towards human destruction—have captivated the pop culture imagination for decades.Whether with recent blockbuster films like 28 Years Later (2025), long-standing multi-media franchises like The Walking Dead, popular children’s shows like The Last Kids on Earth (2019–) and Disney’s Zombies(2018–), or annual zombie crawls, zombies are as relevant today as ever. Yet fans may not realize that the zombie in its pop-culture form—distinct from the zombie of Haitian folklore—stems from a Cuban-American from The Bronx, GEORGE A. ROMERO, creator of the Night of the Living Dead franchise.
Through rare personal and behind-the-scenes photographs, yearbooks, comic books, movie posters, props and other memorabilia, scripts and production materials, and interactive multimedia displays, George A. Romero: Stay Scared!™ sheds light on Romero’s early life in The Bronx and pays homage to his trailblazing career with installations at the Museum of Bronx History, Edgar Allan Poe Cottage, and Bronx Music Hall.
The Museum of Bronx History installation situates Romero in Parkchester of the 1940s and 1950s while highlighting his development as a filmmaker in New York and Pittsburgh, leading to the production and release of Night of the Living Dead (1968), one of the most successful independent films of all time and the origin of the modern zombie flick.
Poe Cottage features Romero’s best-known horror works, like the Night of the Living Dead franchise and Creepshow (1982),while emphasizing lesser-known aspects of his expansive artistic vision, such as innovative interpretations of pieces byPoe and other literary greats and his wide-ranging interests beyond horror.
The Bronx Music Hall (BMH) installation offers a glimpse of the creative ways in which Romero approached sound effects and scoresfor his films. BMH will also be the host site for the exhibit’s film screenings and panels.
Parkchester CHILDHOOD
George Andrew Romero was born on February 4, 1940 to Anne Romero (Dvorsky), a Bronx native of Lithuanian background, and George Romero, a Cuban Spaniard who came to the U.S. with his family in 1922. Young George spent his childhood years in the new Parkchester development, a project of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. The Romero family were among the first to move into the development in 1940. READ MORE
The Teenage "GEO"
“Geo,” as he was known as a kid, attended K–12 at St. Helena’s, attached to the Catholic church of the same name in Parkchester. As a high school student, he participated in the art, drama, and religious clubs as well as choir. In St. Helena’s senior yearbook, Geo claimed he wanted “to be a dentist by studying at Villanova.” Later in life, he reflected that parochial school had been a stifling environment, and his yearbook statement that he was “naturally loaded with school spirit” should probably be read with sarcasm. READ MORE
Becoming GEORGE
A lover of movies from an early age, George often went to the Loew’s American, located at 1450 East Avenue in Parkchester, but there were many other theatres to choose from in The Bronx and Manhattan. The Thing From Another World (1951) and The Man From Planet X (1951), both horror movies, impressed young George, but he also enjoyed classics like The Quiet Man (1952), On the Waterfront (1954), and The Ten Commandments (1956). By far the most important movie for him was Tales of Hoffmann (1951), a British technicolor comic opera. READ MORE
Making a MONSTER FLICK
George A. Romero arrived in Pittsburgh from The Bronx to attend Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1957. He soon met a group of like-minded individuals through his art classes and the community theater scene. In 1960–1961, he borrowed money from his uncle and convinced some of his new friends to make a comedy with him, Expostulations. Although they completed filming, they never released the movie. In 1961–1962, George and Russ Streiner formed The Latent Image, Inc. to make TV commercials and documentaries. READ MORE
Father of the ZOMBIES
Although Romero is known today as “father of the zombies,” he initially had no intention of making zombie movies. The only occurrence of the word in the script of Night of the Living Dead (NOTLD) is of a “zombie-like thing.” These slow-moving, undead “ghouls,” as they were known, savored the taste of human flesh and subdued the living by their sheer numbers. By the release of Dawn of The Dead (1978) and Day of The Dead (1985), Romero had embraced zombie terminology without hesitation and further developed the lore. Romero’s undead began to show signs of consciousness, with further and unique features of the zombie psyche emerging in Land of The Dead (2005), Diary of The Dead (2007), and Survival of The Dead (2009). READ MORE
Romero MEETS POE
Romero, a lifelong admirer of Poe, worked on multiple projects inspired by the author. The only work to make it to screen, Two Evil Eyes (1990), includes Romero’s take on “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” (1845). In Poe’s story, a dying Valdemar agrees to be experimented on with hypnosis. Valdemar ends up in a mostly-dead trance for months before waking up and suddenly decomposing. In Romero’s version, Jessica Valdemar and her lover Dr. Hoffman conspire to inherit the estate of her dying husband, Ernest Valdemar. Dr. Hoffman places Mr. Valdemar under hypnosis to get his legal assent, accidentally killing him. The conspirators try to cover up the murder by placing the body in a freezer. An undead Valdemar awakens and takes vengeance. READ MORE
Horror and BEYOND
Romero’s most popular films like the NOTLD franchise and Creepshow will forever remain horror classics. Deeper cuts illustrate the breadth of his artistry, beyond horror. Martin (1976), for instance, remains one of the most unconventional adaptations of the vampire myth to date, and Knightriders (1981) transposes Arthurian legend to a modern motorcycle renaissance fair troupe. Among the trove of Romero’s unproduced scripts are innovative adaptations of The War of the Worlds (1898), Native Tongue (1984), and Pet Sematary (1983); “Micky B.,” a futuristic android version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth; scripts for superhero and western movies; and much more. READ MORE
