Long before George A. Romero changed horror movies forever with Night of the Living Dead, he was experimenting with filmmaking on the streets of Pittsburgh. One of those early projects was believed lost for decades, but audiences will finally get to see it on the big screen next year.
Expostulations, Romero’s long-lost debut film, will receive its world premiere on March 26, 2027, at Pittsburgh’s historic Byham Theater. The screening will be part of George A. Romero’s A Night at the Symphony, a special event celebrating the filmmaker’s career with a live 30-piece orchestra, newly commissioned music and previously unseen material from Romero’s early years.
The venue couldn’t be more appropriate. The Byham Theater was known as the Fulton Theater when Night of the Living Dead premiered there in 1968. Nearly six decades later, the same building will host the premiere of a project Romero created before his landmark zombie movie.
Filmed on location in Pittsburgh in 1963, Expostulations was an ambitious experimental anthology created by Romero and collaborators Richard Ricci, Rudy Ricci and Ray Laine. The project was shot on 16mm film without synchronized sound, with plans to add music, dialogue and poetic narration during post-production.
Although the footage was edited into a visual assembly, the soundtrack was never completed. Much of the original material was subsequently believed destroyed in a basement flood, leaving one of Romero’s earliest filmmaking efforts largely unseen.
The complete anthology reportedly ran approximately two and a half hours and included several experimental stories exploring science fiction, social observation and surrealism. Among them were The Rocket Ship, a comic story involving extraterrestrials, and A Door Against the Rain, which followed a young boy and his grandfather. Another segment, The Framistan, featured an elaborate machine and a world where nearly everyone mysteriously disappears.
Only about 21 minutes of the original footage are known to survive.
The George A. Romero Foundation has spent years working to preserve and restore that material, with help from people closely connected to Romero’s career, including Gary Streiner and filmmaker John Harrison. The surviving film was previously presented during the restoration process under the titles The Man with the Revolver and Romero’s Elegy before the Foundation restored its original title, Expostulations.
The restoration also incorporates poetry written by Richard Ricci, whose contributions were central to the original project. A public fundraising campaign launched by the Foundation in 2022 helped support the preservation work and preparation of the surviving footage for audiences.
The March 2027 premiere will feature narration by Day of the Dead actor Terry Alexander and a newly commissioned orchestral score performed live alongside the film.
Composer Christian Kriegeskotte has created A Night at the Symphony as a celebration of Romero’s work and the music that influenced him throughout his career. The program will also explore a surprising piece of the director’s history: an opera helped inspire Romero to pursue filmmaking in the first place.
The evening’s musical selections will include John Harrison’s iconic Day of the Dead score, with portions performed using Harrison’s original Prophet V synthesizer. Donald Rubinstein’s music from Martin and Knightriders will also be featured, along with selections from Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and other Romero films, expanded and reimagined for a full symphony orchestra.
The program will feature special surprise guests and previously unheard material before arriving at the restored Expostulations as the evening’s centerpiece.
Romero himself considered the project an important turning point in his career. During a 2015 appearance on the documentary series Reelside, he revisited the early film and described it as his first professional filmmaking effort and the real beginning of his career.
The rediscovered footage offers a rare opportunity to see Romero developing his filmmaking style years before he became one of horror’s most influential directors. His interest in independent production, unusual storytelling and social commentary was already taking shape in Pittsburgh, long before audiences encountered the living dead.
George A. Romero’s A Night at the Symphony takes place Friday, March 26, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. at Pittsburgh’s historic Byham Theater. Tickets are available now through the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
