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"You can be the boss down there, but I'm boss up here! "

Like most good 12 year olds, my nephew, AJ, has a healthy appreciation for every flavor of zombie whether they be in video games, comic books, t-shirts, toys, or movies. However, when it comes to zombie entertainment, I'm a little bit country and my nephew is a little bit rock 'n' roll.
My nephew tends to turn a blind eye to the established zombie books and movies I have recommended to him in the past, so you can imagine my surprise when he came up to me and asked, "Uncle Rod, have you seen 'Night of the Living Dead'?"
I took a deep breath and answered with a sense of pride, "Why, yes, AJ, I have."
"Is it scary?" he asked.
After thinking for a second, I answered, "I think it is."
"When did it come out?"
"1968"
"Are you sure it's scary?" he asked with a challenging eye.
"Yep, I can lend you my copy of the movie and then you can tell me what you think."
Later that afternoon, I asked my nephew what he thought about the movie.
"It had a downer ending" he answered.
"Really, why is that?"
"Because that guy died at the end."
"You mean, Ben?"
"Well, if you are going to continue watching Romero films, you'd better get used to it."
"Things tend not to end well for the characters in his movies." I added.
"As a matter of fact, George Romero consistently uses the theme of humanity being unable to cooperate in a time of crisis..."
Before I could finish my line of thought, I could see that I lost my nephew to his millennial blipvert attention span.
"Maybe, I can turn him on to Matheson's 'I Am Legend'?" I thought.
"Baby steps" I reasoned, "Baby Steps."

Austin Film Society @ Mendez Middle School - Zombie Invasion