Film students look back at George A. Romero’s Washington County-shot film ‘The Dark Half’
Students and alumni from the George A. Romero Filmmaking Program at Douglas Education Center film an interview with Andy Sands at Old Main at Washington & Jefferson College on Aug. 17.
Andy Sands, right, is interviewed by Jason Baker, left, in front of Old Main at Washington & Jefferson College on Aug. 17 for an upcoming documentary about George A. Romero.
It is nearly impossible to discuss filmmaking history in the Pittsburgh area without bringing up George A. Romero.
After making his feature-film debut with the iconic horror film “Night of the Living Dead,” Romero and a tight-knit team of locals continued to produce several films in the region that gained international acclaim and left a legacy of Pittsburgh-based horror when Romero died last year.
Now, a new generation of filmmakers is retracing the steps of Romero’s career with a documentary film in which the crew members share their fond memories of the famed director while being interviewed at the locations from the films – including locations in Washington County.
The documentary is being produced in part with the George A. Romero Filmmaking Program at Douglas Education Center in Monessen and is giving current students the chance to work with a successful alumnus. Jason Baker, a DEC graduate who previously directed a documentary on Romero’s longtime special effects artist Tom Savini, is directing the film, with students such as Monongahela native Mike Urvina working as the crew for their final project.
Baker says he wanted to make the film in a different style than other documentaries focused on Romero’s career and speak with friends and collaborators who had not previously been interviewed.
“Our goal is to show how great it was working with George,” Baker says. “I want to get across that there was this group of guys who didn’t have to go to Hollywood to break into the industry.”
One such person is Squirrel Hill native Andy Sands, who worked on Romero’s 1993 film “The Dark Half,” which was primarily shot in Washington County locations. For the film, Baker interviewed Sands outside of Old Main at Washington & Jefferson College. The college is featured prominently in the film.
Sands recalled that a major reason Washington County was chosen for the production was that Romero’s crew found the area very welcoming when filming the 1990 remake of “Night of the Living Dead.” The remake, directed by Savini and written by Romero, was filmed entirely in Washington County, including the opening scenes at West Middletown Cemetery and the bulk of the film at a farmhouse in Hopewell Township.
Justin Channell
Students and alumni from the George A. Romero Filmmaking Program at Douglas Education Center film an interview with Andy Sands at Old Main at Washington & Jefferson College on Aug. 17.
“They shot here, they liked it and they wanted to come back,” Sands says.
Sands says he can remember being on the set of the remake and hearing the rest of the crew discussing that “the big one” – meaning Romero’s first film financed by a major studio instead of his usual independent productions – might be happening, until Romero himself confirmed that Orion Pictures had greenlit “The Dark Half” during a set visit.
Sands knew he would find work on “The Dark Half” as well, because, “If George liked you, he kept you around.”
Film historian Mark Clark is interviewed for the documentary at a Mt. Washington overlook.
Sands had been around Romero since he was teenager working at the science fiction magazine Questar in an office building on Fort Pitt Boulevard. Romero’s office was also in the building and Sands got to know him and Michael Gornick, Romero’s frequent cinematographer.
When Romero and Gornick were editing the 1981 action-drama “Knightriders,” Gornick took the teenaged Sands under his wing to observe and learn about the editing process of a feature film. Gornick then invited Sands onto the set of Romero’s next film, “Creepshow,” where Sands recalls that Romero was surprised to see “the kid from the magazine” on set.
“Our paths would cross often, because it’s Pittsburgh,” Sands says.
Sands worked on every Romero film shot in Pittsburgh after that, though he didn’t make it to the end of production on the next project, “Monkey Shines,” a horror film about a quadriplegic man whose trained helper monkey turns evil.
“I got let go when the monkeys came in,” Sands says with a laugh.
But he found the next film, “Two Evil Eyes,” to be “one of the most fortuitous events” of his career. A collaboration between Romero and Italian horror auteur Dario Argento, the film featured two segments inspired by Edgar Allen Poe shorts and was Argento’s first film shot entirely in the United States.
The job led to Sands being hired on the future Academy Award-winning film “The Silence of the Lambs,” Argento’s next U.S.-lensed film, “Trauma,” and then back to Romero and into Washington County for the “Night” remake and “The Dark Half.”
Sands began working in the accounting department for “The Dark Half” and was later promoted to art department coordinator. He remembers it being a very long shoot because of the difficulty creating the film’s elaborate special effects – including using an intricate computer-controlled camera setup to allow star Timothy Hutton to appear as both the main character and his evil doppleganger in the same shot – in a time when computer-generated imagery was in its infancy.
“A few years later, it would have been CGI, but they had to do everything manually,” Sands says.
During the interview for the documentary, Sands spoke at length about the Romero films he worked on, but also discussed a plethora of unproduced screenplays the director wrote after “The Dark Half.”
Shooting the documentary in front of a house in Braddock from Romero’s 1977 film “Martin.” Star and frequent Romero collaborator John Amplas is being interviewed there.
Sands says he lived near Romero’s home in Shadyside at the time and they became close friends in the ’90s, with Romero calling him for anything from an answer to a trivia question to pitching ideas for scripts he was working on – including asking Sands if he thought audiences would believe Ed Harris as an Italian mobster for one unrealized project.
While Sands described Romero’s screenwriting during this period as “prolific,” none of the scripts made it to the screen. Romero wouldn’t return to the director’s chair until 2000’s “Bruiser,” which marked his move to creating films in Canada instead of the Pittsburgh area because of budget constraints.
However, Romero’s legacy remains in Pittsburgh. Earlier this year, a memorial bust of Romero was unveiled at the Monroeville Mall, the primary location of his 1977 film “Dawn of the Dead” and another famous location where Baker plans to interview Romero’s crew members.
“It’s a labor of love,” Baker says. “Our goal is to show how great it was working with George and highlight this band of misfits that created a film industry in Pittsburgh.”