Stephen King and George A. Romero discuss their biggest influences
George A. Romero and Stephen King remain absolute titans of the horror genre. Romero is often referred to as ‘The Father of the Zombie Film’ because he co-wrote, directed and edited the 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead, often considered one of the seminal works in the horror genre and, more specifically, the first modern zombie film.
As for King, well, where do you begin? If Romero is ‘The Father of the Zombie Film’, King is simply the aptly named ‘King of Horror’. His books have gone on to sell over 350million copies worldwide, and several have been made into highly significant works of cinema, including The Shining, Misery, Salem’s Lot and The Green Mile.
Back in 1980, both King and Romero sat down with two other acclaimed horror figures, Ira Levin (author of Rosemary’s Baby) and Peter Straub (Ghost Story), in a conversation with Dick Cavett. During the discussion, both Romero and King noted a number of their biggest horror influences. Discussing the work of H.P. Lovecraft, the legendary (albeit racist) author of The Call of Cthulhu and The Shadow over Innsmouth, Romero admitted that his work requires a certain diligence in order to get the most out of it. “You have to really be ready for that too; you have to be ready to sit down with that,” he said, “And sort of take that experience from those kinds [of stories].” King then chimed in agreement and said: “You have to take as much to Lovecraft as Lovecraft will bring to you, and then, if you can do that, you’re pretty successful”.
King also noted his admiration for Richard Matheson, who wrote the novel I Am Legend. He said: “He was the first guy that I ever read as a teenager who seemed to be doing something that Lovecraft wasn’t doing. It wasn’t Eastern Europe; it was like the horror could be in the 7-Eleven store down the block. It could be just up the street”.
That close-to-homeness was pivotal in King’s love for the genre as a teenager. “He was putting the horror in places that I could relate to,” he added. Romero then said, “In that time, in the early 1950s, particularly in American [horror], that was when we as Americans started to sort of blame ourselves for things. And that was when horror came home. It was no longer from Transylvania”.
As for King’s inspiration for his own works, he admitted that The Shining was borne from “half an idea” from reading Ray Bradbury’s story ‘The Veldt’ in which he tells of a mother and father struggling to deal with their technologically advanced house and where, according to King, “There’s a nursery where your mind projects movies on the walls.” In light of Danny Torrance, King admitted: “Let’s have a kid who can make things real; that was half the idea.”
Romero suggested that one cannot help but be influenced by the things that one has seen and read when it comes to creating one’s own work. “Sometimes I think you don’t quite realise how parasitic it is to work particularly in a genre like this because the things that made impressions on you are very are impressions that are really deeply in there somewhere.” So when watching Romero’s films, be sure to look out for the likes of Lovecraft and Matheson buried like parasites.
