Godfather of the Dead. After graduating from college, Romero began shooting short films and TV commercials. In the late 1960s, he formed “Image Ten Productions” with nine friends, and they produced Night of the Living Dead(1968). The film became a cult classic and a defining moment for modern horror cinema. With his “Dead” series, including Dawn of the Dead(1978) Day of the Dead(1985), he became a progenitor of the modern Zombie genre. Romero died in 2017, at age 77.