Trivia / There's Always Vanilla

• Creator Backlash: Romero thought this was his worst film.
• Creator's Oddball: George A. Romero's only comedy, and along with Knightriders his only non-horror/supernatural film (though Knightriders did have a slight fantasy element).
• Follow-Up Failure: This was George A. Romero's follow-up to Night of the Living Dead (1968). Romero regarded it as his worst film and it has fallen into obscurity.
• No Budget: Made for $70,000 (about $500,000 in today's money), about a third less than Night of the Living Dead's budget.
• Production Posse: Made by the same team that made Night of the Living Dead. Also, several familiar faces from that film show up here: Judith Ridley Streiner (Judy) as Lynn, Russell Streiner (Johnny) as the assistant director for the commercial shoot, Bill Hinzman (the ghoul at the cemetery) as a drunk at the bar where Chris meets his dad, and George Kosana (Sheriff McClelland) as the front man for the Back-Alley Doctor. Several of the zombies from that film also have roles here.
• Troubled Production: This began as a short film made by Rudy Ricci, who'd helped out with Night of the Living Dead. Romero was impressed and urged Ricci to turn it into a full-length screenplay. Romero and his partners weren't too thrilled with the final screenplay but were already committed to filming it. Ricci and Romero clashed and Ricci basically quit midway through production. Add to that the usual strains from having No Budget and the shoot proved stressful for all involved.
• Write What You Know: Romero and his production company The Latent Image did lots of work making television commercials at the time, so the scenes showing commercials being filmed and the scenes at the ad agency have a very authentic feel.

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