Christian Stavrakis

In the winter of 1977, Christian's family was preparing to move from Pittsburgh to suburban Maryland as his father – Rev. Nicholas T. Stavrakis, a priest in the Greek Orthodox Church – had been reassigned to a large parish in Washington, D.C. That same winter, Christian's older brother Taso began working late nights at Monroeville Mall, performing stunts on Romero's Dawn of the Dead.

Taso was studying Drama at Carnegie-Mellon University under a Fine Arts scholarship when he met Tom Savini, who was earning his own degree by teaching the makeup course in a fellowship arrangement. [2] Savini, who had worked previously with George Romero on Martin, was approached by the director to create special makeup effects for his long-awaited sequel to Night of the Living Dead. Savini accepted the assignment with relish and invited Taso along to help with stunts and zombie makeup, which led to their working together again on Friday the 13th, Knightriders, and Day of the Dead. [3]

Between Taso's tales from the trenches, the excellent TV "making of" documentaries of Robert Guenette, and magazines such as Fangoria, Cinefex, Cinefantastique, and Fantastic Films, Christian became enthralled with film production and special effects. He began practicing with clay and makeup materials and took a keen interest in all aspects of filmmaking, including stop-motion animation. His boyhood production company S/A Films (shared with cousins in Ohio) boasted an elaborate, ambitious slate of features in various stages of pre-production. Two 8mm shorts were eventually completed: Twilight of the Dead, a special-effects laden zombie extravaganza in 1985, and a second, untitled 1986 film featuring a hallucinatory nightmare sequence. Both of these early films are believed to be lost. [1]

During his sophomore year at Wheaton High School he befriended Eduardo Sánchez in TV Production class and impressed his older classmate enough to be offered a role in Falling Down a Mountain, a post-graduate film project. Meanwhile, Christian met his longtime friend and collaborator Mark Ricche in a 1987 geometry class and cast him as "Dr. Albert East" in Biohazard, a monster movie shot on VHS and heavily influenced by the H. P. Lovecraft films of director Stuart Gordon. Mark and Chris would go on to work together for years on short films like Ondina and Stroke of Fortune.

Having studied Drama at Point Park College and Film Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, Christian worked on numerous films shot in and around Pittsburgh during the 1990s, including Dogma, The Mothman Prophecies, Sudden Death, Wonder Boys, Kingpin, and Night of the Living Dead (1990). In 1998 he was given the opportunity to assistant direct a short film with George A. Romero himself: Iron City Asskickers, a proof-of-concept for a proposed reality TV series revolving around an eccentric group of wrestlers and their rabid, rowdy fans (including cameos by Romero and Stavrakis) watching from the local dive bar.

One year later, Eduardo Sánchez and his partners made cinematic history with The Blair Witch Project. In the aftermath of that film's success, Eduardo and Christian reunited and worked together on several Haxan Films projects including Altered and Lovely Molly, for which Christian sculpted a haunting horse-head relief featured prominently in the film and its poster art.

The success of The Blair Witch Project inspired Christian and Mark to start filming once more,[4] and their feature film debut was the 2013 underground cult hit Mortal Remains, for which the two men share directing credit. Written as a screenplay in 2004, the film was eventually produced by their company Cryptic Pictures and released on DVD and streaming services in October 2013 to critical acclaim. A sequel entitled Mortal Remains 2: Cult Movie is currently in production.

As a writer, Christian has contributed commentary, articles, and reviews to numerous websites and publications. He has also appeared on several DVD commentary tracks as a moderator, including the 1997 British BMG release of Dawn of the Dead with Tom Savini and various releases of Knightriders. More recently, he appears in the extras of the Second Sight 4K Dawn of the Dead box set, speaking about the inception of his "Monroeville or Bust" memorial project. [5]

Christian is serving as Artistic Director of the George A. Romero Foundation in Pittsburgh. [6]

• Mortal Remains (2013)
• Mortal Remains 2: Cult Movie (2022)

• New York Times article on Romero-themed destinations
• George Romero Statue at the Mall - SyFy
• Fan-Funded Romero Bust Unveiled at Monroeville Mall - Bloody Disgusting
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Article on Romero Bust
• Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article on Romero Bust
• Dread Central article on Mortal Remains
• Christian Stavrakis at IMDb
• Cryptic Pictures official website