George Romero and Pittsburgh: The Early Years

The Horror Studies Working Group (HSWG) focuses on structuring as many opportunities as we can for academic, student, and fan work in horror because it is difficult to predict where the next great thing will come from. In our effort to help bring awareness to academic and student work in horror, the HSWG was thrilled to help premiere three student-produced documentaries on George Romero’s birthday (February 4th 2021).  The event was realized through the cooperation of Carl Kurlander’s Making the Documentary course and the George A. Romero Foundation in a private University of Pittsburgh event hosted by Pitt’s University Library System (ULS). The film received essential funding and practical support from ULS, the University Honors College (UHC), the Office of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, the Center for Creativity, the Department of English, and the Film and Media Studies Program. The HSWG, through the generous participation of the UHC, provided some further funding aid to help students finish two short documentaries, on Night of the Living Dead leading-man legend and Pitt alumnus Duane Jones and another on making a documentary during a pandemic. These films served as informative introductions to the night’s main feature: George Romero and Pittsburgh: The Early Years. The film runs almost an hour, boasts dozens of interviews with prominent figures in the Romero universe, has thoroughly excavated archival material, and according to the students who made it, represents just the tip of the iceberg in terms of material that they found. The impressive array of documentaries were made by Carl Kurlander’s Making the Documentary course (ENGFILM 1671/FMST 1740), where students are mentored by film professionals and given access to archival materials as well as interview subjects. I was able to sit down with Kurlander to discuss the course, its history, and the journey to the Romero-based documentaries. Carl Kurlander is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh in English and Film & Media. Kurlander is the faculty adviser of Pitt in Hollywood, a student group which led to the creation of the Steeltown Entertainment Project, a non-profit which has helped Pittsburgh become a leading regional production center.  In June 2019, Kurlander helped launch the Pitt in LA film program, taught at Lionsgate Studios.  ​

Sonia Lupher has been a member of the Horror Studies Working Group since the very beginning and is intimidatingly adept at programming amazing events. Her work focuses particularly on women in horror and as a result her impressive list of contacts and interests allow her to access compelling, edgy, and extremely talented horror filmmakers and artists. Most recently, Sonia hosted an event with director Lesley Manning discussing the impact of her film Ghostwatch (1992). See my own interview with Sonia about the Horror Studies Working Group and her work. Like any good horror interview we span such topics as cookbooks and cannibal horror to teaching Psycho and Funny Games​.

A History Told in Infinite Parts: Part I

Though we would like to say the Group started one all-hallowed October 31st, the reality is that seeds of the Horror Studies Working Group (HSWG) started sprouting on an otherwise unassuming Thursday in 2016. It was at this point that Adam Lowenstein, Pitt Professor of English and Film/Media Studies, began to work on an event to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) in Pittsburgh. This event would grow to be the annual Romero Lives Festival and in turn flourish into the realization that maybe the University of Pittsburgh could be the perfect site for a Horror Studies Center. The connection came from seeing that the 50th anniversary event for Night of the Living Dead would be an opportunity for Pittsburgh to fully recognize the great influence of Romero on the city and the many ways in which he had promoted it throughout his life. This strong connection indelibly links Pittsburgh to modern horror and there’s no reason why this is something that Pittsburgh can’t embrace more fully. The HSWG, then, ultimately flowered from the desire to provide a structure for horror scholarship and appreciation centered in Pittsburgh and available to the world—thus it all started with a little 50th anniversary event that pre-dated it all