Cinema Shock

EFFECTS: Guerrilla Filmmaking and Practical Gore

This week, we're embarking on a bit of a side quest. EFFECTS isn’t a George Romero film, but it comes straight out of the Pittsburgh horror scene he helped shape. Directed by Dusty Nelson and made on a shoestring budget in the late ’70s, EFFECTS was the brainchild of a group of Romero collaborators honing their craft between bigger projects.
Among those involved: longtime Romero editor Pasquale Buba, composer and actor John Harrison, and, of course, makeup effects legend Tom Savini—who not only provided the gore but also starred in the film.
Long considered a lost film and a whispered legend among horror fans, EFFECTS was rediscovered decades later and restored for modern audiences thanks to Synapse Films and AGFA. In this episode, we dig into how the film came together, what makes it such a unique piece of regional horror, and how it fits into the broader legacy of Romero’s creative circle.
 
Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.
This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne & Justin Bishop, with special thanks to Todd Davis.
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DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978): Consumerism, Tom Savini, and the Mall at the End of the World

After years of working in television and experimenting with smaller projects like MARTIN and SEASON OF THE WITCH, George Romero returned to the world of the undead with 1978’s DAWN OF THE DEAD—a bold, bloody, and darkly satirical follow-up to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD that would change the zombie genre forever.
This time, Romero wasn’t working alone. DAWN OF THE DEAD marked his first official feature-length collaboration with Tom Savini, who brought his Vietnam-era trauma and stage makeup training to bear with some of the most iconic gore effects in horror history.
In this episode, we dive into the story behind DAWN OF THE DEAD—from Romero’s partnership with Italian horror legend Dario Argento, to the challenges of filming in an operational shopping mall, to Savini’s pioneering work in practical effects. We also explore the film’s sharp social commentary, its various international cuts, and the legacy that continues to influence zombie media to this day.
 
Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.
 
This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne & Justin Bishop, with special thanks to Todd Davis.
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MARTIN: Vampires, Ambiguity, and 70s Horror

Last week, we covered NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the film that launched George Romero’s career and first brought him into contact with a young aspiring makeup artist named Tom Savini.
Savini’s deployment to Vietnam kept them from working together on that film, but nearly a decade later, the two would finally collaborate—this time on a very different kind of horror movie.
Released in 1977, MARTIN is Romero’s haunting and deeply personal take on the vampire myth, a low-budget psychological horror film that trades fangs and folklore for razors and alienation. In this episode, we explore the making of MARTIN, how Savini’s contributions behind and in front of the camera helped shape the film, and why it remains one of Romero’s most unique and underrated works.
Theme Song: "There's Still a Little Bit of Time, If We Hurry and I Mean Hurry" by Slasher Film Festival Strategy.
 
This episode was written, produced and edited by Gary Horne & Justin Bishop, with special thanks to Todd Davis.
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NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968): George Romero & The Birth of Modern Horror

For our inaugural series on Cinema Shock, we're digging into the legendary collaboration between George Romero and special effects icon Tom Savini.
While Savini didn’t work on NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the story of their partnership begins here—however indirectly. And really, there’s no better place to start when looking at Romero’s career than with the film that launched it all.
Released in 1968, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD didn’t just kick off Romero’s career—it helped create the modern zombie genre. In this episode, we uncover the film’s unlikely origins, how it was made on a shoestring budget, and why it continues to influence horror over half a century later.