George A. Romero’s Living Dead franchise gave audiences some of the best horror movies of all time and helped revolutionize the zombie film genre. Romero, who passed away in July 2017, with his knack for storytelling, increasing levels of tension, a love of gore, and a biting satire that was unmatched during his day, ushered in a new era of horror movies, films that weren’t afraid to take chances and give underrepresented voices and characters a place to shine.
Just like how the “Godfather of Zombies” wrote some truly badass female characters for his various horror films, Romero’s iconic films also featured some all-time great Black heroes of not only the horror world, but of cinema in general. Here’s a history of those unforgettable characters (both living and undead) who helped turn Romero’s socially-conscious series into one of the best horror franchises of all time.
Ben (Night Of The Living Dead)
Back in 1968, a Black hero in a movie with a predominantly white cast was rare outside of those played by the legendary Sidney Poitier, especially in horror movies. However, that all changed when George A. Romero cast Duane Jones to play Ben, one of the leads in his landmark zombie film, Night of the Living Dead.
Throughout the movie, Ben is an incredibly resourceful character who keeps his head together and wants to come up with a plan to survive the night and the scores of undead corpses pounding on the doors, windows, and walls of the crudely fortified farmhouse. But it isn’t just the zombies that Ben fights over the course of the night, as he also has to combat the anger and prejudice of Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman), one of the most hostile characters in the franchise.
Though Romero would later reveal in a Telegraph interview that Ben was originally written as white in the original script and that Jones was simply the best actor to play the role (the late filmmaker also revealed that the film’s wild and iconic ending wasn’t a response to the MLK Jr. assassination), strong Black characters would become a critical part of all his zombie movies that followed.
Peter Washington (Dawn Of The Dead)
Dawn of the Dead has long been considered the best entry in the franchise for a myriad of reasons, one of those being Peter Washington. Portrayed by the legendary Ken Foree, who would go on to play Kenan Thompson’s on-screen dad on Kenan & Kel two decades later, this Philadelphia SWAT officer has a certain presence and energy about him that makes him not only the best character in the 1978 zombie movie but also one of the most beloved in the genre’s history.
One thing I love about revisiting this influential horror movie is watching Peter’s character develop as the story progresses. He starts as this physically imposing, no-nonsense cop focused on surviving the zombie apocalypse as well as the more reckless members of his group (especially David Emge’s Stephen “Flyboy” Andrews) but then transforms into a warm, open, and knowledgeable friend who cares deeply about those trapped in the mall with him.
Peter is the backbone of the group of survivors and helps put plans in motion to ensure their survival in the massive mall, first by getting rid of all the zombies walking through its stores and then later by constructing a hidden entrance to their hideout. And then when the gang of bikers comes in and destroys the paradise he and the other characters worked so hard to create, Peter rises to the occasion and takes care of the marauders and the legions of undead storming through the now-open doors.
On top of all of that, he also utters one of the most iconic horror movie quotes with his “No more room in Hell” line.
John (Day Of The Dead)
Day of the Dead is one of the more complicated films in Romero’s Living Dead franchise, considering that so much of the scope and scale of the movie was changed in the development phase and its tumultuous production. However, it’s still one of the highest-rated zombie movies ever made, and it features some of Romero’s best social commentary with its story focused on the fight between scientists and soldiers living in an underground storage facility and mine.
Do you know what else is great about this 1985 horror flick? Well, that would be John (Terry Alexander), perhaps the most reluctant hero of the whole saga. At the beginning of the movie, he appears to be nothing more than a nihilistic and pragmatic helicopter pilot who sees no cure for the zombie plague on the surface, going so far as to call it a form of divine retribution and punishment for humanity’s sins.
He does make plans for escape before the already ill-tempered soldiers finally turn against the scientists (which they do), but John makes it so that Dr. Sarah Bowman (Lori Cardille) and Bill McDermott (Jarlath Conroy) don’t end up as zombie food.
John, along with McDermott, was a continuation of Romero’s trend of having unlikely heroes be the ones who save the day, or at least offer a hand to those in need. Is he a little self-serving? Yes. Is he a little self-righteous? Yes. But his outlook on life is honestly one of the most realistic in the movie, and his actions go beyond survival and instead are heroic.
Big Daddy (Land Of The Dead)
I know, Big Daddy (Eugene Clarke) is a zombie and spends all of Land of the Dead trying to eat flesh, but he’s honestly the hero of Romero’s 2005 horror film. One of the most iconic zombies of all time, this former gas station attendant becomes the leader of the undead army marching toward Pittsburgh and the Fiddler’s Green luxury high-rise where society’s elite live under the facade of safety and security while the underprivileged of society live in a constant state of fear.
Sure, there are non-zombie heroes featured throughout this movie, but Big Daddy is different in the sense that he is incorruptible and never loses focus of his mission: usher in a new era, one in which the patriarchy and corrupt 1% of society finally face consequences for their actions. The determined zombie and leader of the rebellion also shows signs of increased intellect, which essentially makes him the first in a line of smarter, more thoughtful ghouls.
All of these Black heroes in George A. Romero’s Living Dead movies were great in one way or another, even if one was a flesh-eating zombie. While the famed director has since passed away, there’s still the long-in-the-works Twilight of the Dead project to look forward to down the road.