Pat Scott, of Evans City, left, gets some coaching to be a zombie on Sept. 6, 2008, at an open casting call for ghouls to appear in that year's The Living Dead Fest, organized to celebrate the 40th anniversary of George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," which was filmed in Evans City. Butler Eagle file photo

About 20 people signed up within the first hour of a 2008 open casting call for zombies to wander in The Living Dead Fest, coinciding with Evans City's Oktoberfest in September 2008, commemorating the 40th anniversary of “Night of the Living Dead.”

Borough residents Rick Reifenstein and Gary Streiner organized the festival to celebrate the 40th anniversary of what became George Romero's horror classic, which introduced zombies to the U.S.

Streiner had hoped for a larger turnout, but was pleased by the enthusiasm would-be ghouls showed for the film.

"Obviously, there are fans, they're our hardcore fans," he said. "It's an Evans City film. The basis of this whole thing has to be the fans."