Gary Streiner of Evans City hopes to raise enough money with Saturday's screening of the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead to save a cemetery chapel that appears in the opening scene in the film.

Why is it important to save the Evans City Cemetery Chapel?

The house where the bulk of the movie was shot was torn down shortly after filming, leaving the chapel as the only lasting monument that appeared in the film. It’s something to preserve for the fans, and for a film that shaped the modern horror genre, Streiner said.

The screening will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Hollywood Theater in Dormont at 1449 Potomac Avenue. Doors open at 2:30 p.m.

Admission is $6, and all proceeds benefit Fix The Chapel. A silent auction and appearances by Streiner, original cast member Ella Mae Smith and others will be part of the event. T-shirts and other items will be sold.

“Right now, we still have (director) George Romero around. We still have a lot of the original cast and crew around to do signings, so hard-core fans can still meet them, but we’re all getting up in age a bit, and there’s going to be a time when we’re not around anymore,” Streiner said.

Friends of the Hollywood Theater President Scott Jackson said the event was right up the Hollywood’s alley.

“We don’t necessarily want to be known as a horror-only theater, but it’s something we do a lot, and people really take to it,” he said. “It’s part of the overall mix of what we do here.”

The event also coincides with director George Romero’s birthday and an effort to get 1 million fans to watch the movie as part of his birthday celebration.

The movie is especially dear to Streiner. In 1967, he was working in Pittsburgh at The Latent Image with his brother, Russell Streiner, when production began on Night of the Living Dead. Streiner was one of the original 10 investors and owners.

His efforts to save the chapel include donations and merchandise sales through his Fix the Chapel website and online auctions. He also raises awareness at horror conventions and through social networking sites. In the past four months, $14,000 of the needed $50,000 to save the chapel was raised, he said.

“The movie was major change, culturally, in how people perceive horror,” Streiner said. “The fans respect that, and they’re stepping up and showing that.”

There are no better fans than horror fans — especially the ones who love Night of the Living Dead, Streiner said. He loves the horror fans because they see the humor in what they love. They dress up for movie events, and they enthusiastically fight to save film relics like the chapel.

While Streiner said individual fans nationwide have donated as much as $2,000 to the Fix the Chapel project, it was a $3.57 donation that really struck a chord with him. 

“That, to me, is so amazingly heartfelt and so amazingly what this whole project is about. Somebody emptied his pocket to donate that,” he said. “I don’t think this is like any typical fundraiser that’s ever happened.”

Streiner has other Fix the Chapel events scheduled, including the Eat Your Heart Out Zombie Valentine’s Day Dance at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Oakmont Tavern, 814 Allegheny Ave.

For more information, visit www.fixthechapel.com.

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