First Brittany Murphy and now this.

Dan O’Bannon, director of Return of the Living Dead, screenwriter of Alien, has died at sixty three after an extended bout with Crohn’s Disease.  He’d lived with the gastrointestinal disease for fully thirty years.

This is a downright tragedy as far as horror and science fiction circles go, and should be regarded as a downright catastrophe.  Not that Brittany Murphy’s entirely too premature death isn’t tragic also, but for horror movie buffs, many of whom grew up on O’Bannon’s work, this hits especially close to home.

Not only did he handle the two movies mentioned above, but he has numerous other credits to his name going back decades.

I’m personally very struck by this one.  I still count Night of the Living Dead as one of my personal favorite movies, and anyone who’s connected with that is somewhat special to me, much like, say, a cousin I never see.  And the loss of a great figure like this is a loss no matter how personally you’re affected.