Latest / Have You Seen?! The Movie Podcast / Night of the Living Dead

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Night of the Living Dead · Have You Seen?! The Movie Podcast

0:37
Joe: Welcome to Have You Seen the Movie Podcast, where every movie is a premiere.
0:43
Dylan: Spooky season continues, and this week we're going all the way back to 1968 for a movie that helped create the rules horror movies are still following today.
0:53
Joe: No fancy effects, no massive budget, no color, and technically they don't even call them zombies.
0:59
Dylan: It's George Romero's Knight of the Living Dead.
1:03
Joe: If you're enjoying the show, make sure to follow us on your favorite podcast app and leave us a five-star rating.
1:09
Joe: It really helps us grow.
1:10
Dylan: And send us your name and a movie suggestion using the link in the description.
1:15
Joe: Knight of the Living Dead is unrated, but it contains graphic horror imagery, violence, and disturbing themes that may not be suitable for younger listeners.
1:27
Dylan: They're coming to get you, Barbara.
1:32
Dylan: Alright.
1:33
Dylan: So before we jump into the movie, let's talk about how we watched it.
1:38
Joe: Yeah, so we watched the 4K Criterion release.
1:43
Joe: Night of the Living Dead is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.371.
1:50
Joe: This restoration by the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Foundation, with funding provided by the George Lucas Family Foundation and the Celeste Bartost Fund for Film Preservation, was undertaken from a digital transfer created in 4K resolution, primarily from the 35mm original camera negative.
2:15
Joe: For the few sections that proved impossible to scan from that element, approximately 1% of the feature film, a 35mm fine grain from 1968 was used.
2:28
Joe: The transfer was supervised by a director George A.
2:31
Joe: Romero, co-screener John A.
2:34
Joe: Russo, sound engineer Gary R.
2:36
Joe: Steiner, and producer Russell W.
2:39
Joe: Steiner.
2:40
Joe: After the evaluation of 18 separate source elements, the original Monaro soundtrack was remastered under the supervision of Romero and Gary Striner from the original quarter inch mix masters and sixteen millimeter magnet mix units.
3:00
Joe: The final composite 16 millimeter magnetic track and the 16 millimeter magnetic mix units.
3:07
Joe: The restoration was performed at Audio Mechanics led by John Polito.
3:13
Joe: Um that is probably one of the most technical uh we can get on a movie, which is a pretty joke.
3:22
Dylan: Okay, so can you kind of boil some of that down for me?
3:27
Joe: Yeah, so um usually when they restore uh a movie, um well, one they need the funding to do it, right?
3:39
Joe: Because they didn't start with an original distributor or like a Sony or uh Universal, um they had to get funding.
3:51
Joe: And then from that process, they rescanned um 35 millimeter, and then you go in and digitally restore it, uh, because there's you know, uh there might be a frame ahead of another one that's kind of blank or messed up, and then you you kind of uh throw it in the computer and uh use the frame ahead and the frame behind to restore the missing frame.
4:18
Dylan: Interesting, yeah.
4:20
Dylan: And they used it from like the actual like film reality.
4:26
Joe: The original film reel, yeah.
4:29
Joe: And where they couldn't, they used the backups um and inserted that that 35 millimeter in where they couldn't restore.
4:42
Dylan: So since we watched a like 4K version of it, yeah, you know, you kind of have to picture kind of back in the day that it you know, originally watching it like in the theater when it first came out, yeah.
5:02
Dylan: Um how like kind of gritty grainy it would be from using that projection.
5:13
Dylan: And I wonder like how much that alters the you know, the look where we see everything in sharp detail versus not, you know, um, you know, spoilers, but like when there's the corpse laying on top of the you know, stairs uh and they kind of show it for a brief moment, yeah.
5:40
Dylan: Like that sticks out to me of like how would that look, you know, originally.
5:46
Dylan: Yeah.
5:47
Dylan: Like would would it look more gruesome?
5:49
Dylan: Would it look less because you don't have the detail for it?
5:54
Joe: Yeah, it's kind of like over time, if you're not careful, uh the film will deteriorate as you go from house to house, you know, film house to film house, and you know, well, and just by them like running it through, that wears it down too, right?
6:10
Joe: Right, yeah.
6:11
Joe: It just kind of continues to wear it down.
6:13
Joe: So there are a lot of terrible copies of the movie.
6:16
Joe: Um, and there was a point where there was no copyright on the film.
6:21
Dylan: Oh, really?
6:22
Joe: And so it blew up because anyone could make copies and sell them.
6:27
Joe: Oh and so George Romero's uh final title of the movie, the original title was Knight of Inubis, which is the Egyptian god that raises the dead.
6:39
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
6:40
Joe: And so that's originally what they called it, but they thought it was too heady and just like not marketable.
6:47
Dylan: If you know, you know.
6:49
Joe: Yeah, yeah.
6:50
Joe: And so they called it Knight of the Flesh Eaters.
6:53
Joe: And when the film was delivered to Walter Reed, their people discovered that there was an earlier film called The Flesh Eaters in 1964.
7:03
Joe: Oh.
7:04
Joe: So then uh the people at Walter Reed decided to change the title of Knight of the Living Dead.
7:11
Joe: Uh, when the new title was prepared for the film itself, they failed to realize that the copyright notice appeared on the screen under the original title.
7:21
Joe: As a result, um release prints of Knight of the Living Dead were made without a copyright notice.
7:28
Joe: Oh, and at that time in 68, this meant that this film by default fell into public domain.
7:34
Joe: Really?
7:36
Joe: So the the filmmakers lost untold millions of dollars when unauthorized 35 millimeter and 16 millimeter prints were made.
7:45
Joe: Wow.
7:46
Joe: And it wasn't, you know, technically it wasn't even the black market because they could do it.
7:50
Dylan: Right.
7:50
Dylan: It was just the market.
7:52
Joe: Yeah.
7:52
Joe: So um in the home video era, you know, when you could start making video copies, they they were widely distributed everywhere.
8:01
Joe: Huh.
8:02
Joe: Um and so yeah, it just kind of circulated for decades.
8:08
Joe: And so you can actually get multiple different copies of different versions, and and some are worse than others because you know, they were just handed down, and some could be a copy of a copy.
8:23
Joe: Um, I actually had um or still have this like uh horror movie set that you get with like you know, the DVD has like five movies on it or something, and so I originally had that um uploaded to my server, and then uh when I got this version, I replaced it because I was like, I want a better duplex.
8:46
Joe: Yeah, but that's probably the quality of that movie was probably what I saw for the first time, yeah.
8:55
Joe: Yeah, and and I probably I think I might have seen it on uh Turner Classic Movies or something like that.
9:02
Dylan: So would you say like with something that old then, like does the version that you watch actually affect whether you think it's a good movie or not?
9:12
Joe: I don't I don't think that it has a huge play on it.
9:18
Joe: Okay.
9:18
Joe: It I think it adds to the effect if you get a you know janky copy, but I think for me what's up with that, yeah, right.
9:26
Joe: Um I think for me, um watching it in 4K, um, you know, I told you I watched it a couple of times.
9:34
Joe: Yeah.
9:34
Joe: I was just like, oh man, such a classic.
9:37
Joe: You know, like it didn't really even bother me, you know, what the because there's still scenes in there that are are gritty and and greeny on purpose, yeah.
9:46
Joe: You know, so it gives it that, you know, from the hip effect.
9:53
Dylan: All right.
9:53
Dylan: So let's talk Knight of the Living Dead.
9:57
Dylan: So as previously stated, came out in 1968, directed by George Romero and Black and White.
10:07
Joe: Yeah, yeah.
10:10
Joe: So after making a few shorts, Romero joined with friends in 1962 to form the Latent Image, a production house of industrial films and commercials.
10:22
Joe: Oh.
10:23
Joe: And the company shot ads for Westinghouse, uh, Heinz, uh, beer commercials, uh, political campaigns.
10:33
Joe: Um, and they spent about three years trying to raise funds for a feature film, thinking all along they would they would be doing a serious piece.
10:47
Joe: As Romero later recalled, frustrated they finally resolved to make something marketable, a horror movie.
10:55
Joe: Using their own money, they recruited other investors, especially ones who would put in sweat equity, such as Carl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman of the commercial film House Hardman Associates, who would play key roles in Knight of the Living Dead along with Hardman's daughter Kyra.
11:15
Joe: Okay.
11:16
Joe: With John A.
11:17
Joe: Russo, a Leighton partner, Romero wrote part of a screenplay, and with these meager resources in hand, the group started production.
11:26
Dylan: Very cool.
11:29
Dylan: I mean, because they definitely don't have like big set pieces.
11:33
Dylan: Right.
11:33
Dylan: It's just a house.
11:34
Joe: Yeah, it's basically just a house.
11:37
Joe: Yeah.
11:37
Joe: And, you know, so I don't forget that house that they found, you know, they location scouted, and and they, you know, it was not like an official location scout or whatever, but they were like ran across this house and they were gonna demolish it anyway.
11:54
Dylan: Oh, really?
11:55
Joe: So they actually had to clean up light us up with that.
11:58
Joe: Yeah, they actually had to clean up the house in order to make it filmable.
12:03
Joe: Oh so that was like part of their production is cleaning a house.
12:09
Joe: Uh, and they cleaned the kitchen first because one, they could use it as a kitchen because they all stood there.
12:14
Joe: Yeah, and then and then they could use it for filming because it was the cleanest to start with.
12:20
Dylan: I wonder whose bedroom the body got put in then.
12:23
Dylan: Oh okay, who left the body here?
12:29
Dylan: Joke's over, guys.
12:30
Dylan: Yeah.
12:33
Joe: But uh yeah, at the end of production it was demolished, and that was it.
12:38
Joe: Wow.
12:39
Joe: And they regretted it.
12:40
Joe: The people who owned the movie because they didn't know, or people who own the house regretted it because after the movie came out, they're like, oh we could have had something from that.
12:54
Dylan: Yeah, man.
12:55
Dylan: I thought it was so interesting too, because with how like influential this movie is on um, you know, modern horror movies and like our modern zombies, yeah, yeah.
13:13
Dylan: And then in the movie, they're not even called zombies.
13:17
Joe: Exactly.
13:18
Dylan: Yeah, I kept like kind of waiting as they kind of filtered through, you know, different words, and then they just like landed on ghouls and stuck with it.
13:27
Joe: It was all ghouls, yeah.
13:28
Dylan: I was like, whoa, like totally like so unexpected.
13:34
Dylan: Uh-huh.
13:35
Dylan: And you know, I'm gonna keep going back to it, but like with how our modern interpretation is like so much coming from this movie, yeah.
13:44
Dylan: They're like, oh, ghouls.
13:45
Dylan: And I was like, oh, yeah, yeah.
13:47
Joe: Okay, yeah.
13:48
Joe: It's you know, there's not a TV show called The Walking Ghouls or anything.
13:54
Joe: Right.
13:56
Joe: Our uh Ghoul Land and Ghoul Land 2.
14:02
Joe: Yeah, it's it's interesting.
14:04
Joe: Like you would think that that you know, somebody would have dropped that and you know, in at some point in the film, and people would attach to that word instead, but it was not dropped at all.
14:17
Dylan: At all.
14:18
Dylan: Yeah.
14:20
Joe: So before watching this, uh, what did you assume an old black and white zombie movie from 1968 was actually gonna be like?
14:31
Dylan: So, like when we were talking about what we wanted to do for this month, um I was the one who suggested to watch this movie.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:44
Dylan: Because I thought it would be so interesting to just go back and you know, kind of see where it all started, if you will.
14:53
Dylan: I had never seen like clips of it, anything like that.
14:58
Dylan: Okay.
14:59
Dylan: The only thing I really knew of it was that it was in black and white.
15:04
Dylan: As you know, yeah.
15:06
Dylan: And so just going in like with an kind of open mind, yeah.
15:16
Dylan: Just to take it in, how it was like presented, yeah, was so interesting to be able to like sit there and like piece out where we get our modern zombie from, and how like you can just see exactly where that was pulled from it.
15:36
Dylan: Yeah.
15:37
Dylan: Um I was surprised at how smart the ghouls were.
15:44
Dylan: Yeah.
15:44
Dylan: Yeah.
15:45
Dylan: Because they would like you know, spoilers if you haven't seen the movie, it's only what 60, 70, 80, 90, almost 60 years old.
15:57
Dylan: Yeah.
15:59
Dylan: Um, how they would like pick up, you know, a rock to smash the window.
16:07
Dylan: Exactly.
16:08
Dylan: Or going for the door handle on the car.
16:11
Dylan: Yep.
16:12
Dylan: Stuff like that.
16:13
Dylan: And I'm like, what?
16:15
Joe: Picking up the the uh table leg, yeah, you know, that was used as a torch, and then they pick it up and they go after the house with it.
16:24
Joe: Yeah, you know, yeah, yeah.
16:26
Joe: I mean the only thing they really didn't have that like modern zombies is the ability of speed.
16:33
Joe: Yeah.
16:34
Joe: You know.
16:35
Joe: If you haven't seen it, here's the quick setup.
16:38
Joe: After visiting their father's grave, siblings Barbara and Johnny are suddenly attacked by a strange man in a cemetery.
16:46
Joe: Barbara sc escapes to an isolated farmhouse where she meets Ben and eventually discovers several other survivors hiding inside.
16:55
Joe: Outside, the number of seemingly dead people gathering around the house continues to grow.
17:01
Joe: Inside, fear and disagreement begin tearing tearing the survivors apart.
17:08
Joe: And before long, the danger inside the farmhouse may be nearly as serious as what's waiting outside.
17:15
Dylan: Yeah, that was something too that I really thought was interesting was how it wasn't just zombie apocalypse, or excuse me, ghoul apocalypse.
17:27
Dylan: It was like just about all of like the tension between the people and you know, whether they should be upstairs or in the cellar.
17:39
Joe: Yeah, yeah, that whole debate of that created that tension.
17:43
Joe: Yeah, you know.
17:45
Joe: We will, you know, we'll get to 12 Angry Men, but it reminded me of that movie a lot.
17:50
Joe: Oh yeah.
17:51
Joe: Yeah, because you're you're isolated in one room for a long time, and that tension just builds and builds and builds, and there's like almost nowhere for it to get it.
18:01
Joe: Right.
18:03
Joe: I was like, you you almost would have gone stir crazy if they hadn't gone out to get try to get the gas and everything.
18:10
Joe: Yeah.
18:11
Dylan: Cause that I mean, that was definitely where it was all leading.
18:14
Joe: Yeah.
18:14
Joe: And that other family was already down in the cellar for who knows how long.
18:19
Joe: Right.
18:19
Joe: You know, so not helping.
18:21
Joe: Yeah, yeah.
18:23
Joe: Who really didn't help was Barbara.
18:25
Joe: Oh my gosh.
18:30
Dylan: Okay, Joe.
18:31
Dylan: So what was your first time watching Night of the Living Dead like?
18:37
Joe: You know, like I said, it I know it was alone and it was just one of those, hey, this movie's on.
18:44
Joe: I think I'll watch it because I've never seen it, you know.
18:47
Joe: Oh, and like I said, it might have been TCM that that I seen it on, but uh it was just like, oh, oh, you know, and once I turned it on recently, and the whole like they're coming to get you, Barbara, that would that just like core memoried me.
19:04
Joe: Yeah.
19:05
Joe: Yeah.
19:07
Joe: And I can't remember, I think it was a teenager when I saw it, so I wasn't like scared, scared.
19:12
Joe: Back when it originally came out, yeah, yeah, exactly.
19:16
Joe: Actually, a year after.
19:20
Dylan: Joe, you look remarkably well for your age.
19:26
Joe: They're coming to get you, Dylan.
19:30
Joe: There there was definitely uh for me, you know, seeing it the first time, there was some drama there.
19:38
Joe: There was some like, where's this going?
19:40
Joe: You know?
19:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
19:41
Joe: And um, and then just kind of like the way the way it picks up at the end, especially.
19:49
Joe: Right.
19:49
Joe: And then everything just hits the fan.
19:54
Dylan: Yeah, because there were definitely parts at the beginning of it that it felt slow.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:00
Dylan: You're kind of or you know, maybe just me, but like I was still picturing our current zombie interpretation.
20:10
Joe: Uh-huh.
20:11
Dylan: And for them to just kind of like hang out outside of the house, uh-huh, knowing the survivors were in there, yeah.
20:22
Dylan: Was like an interesting take.
20:28
Joe: Yeah.
20:29
Joe: You know, you know, realizing, you know, re-watching it, I I remember how it started, but it just kind of stuck this time of they jump right into it, but it it's almost like you know, uh deceptive because at first the you know, they're like, oh, there's a random guy.
20:49
Joe: Right.
20:50
Dylan: There's a guy walking across the background.
20:52
Dylan: Yeah, yeah.
20:53
Dylan: Yeah, because like a lot of you know, zombie horror, whatever takes the approach of news broadcast or radio, something along those lines to tell you, hey, something's coming.
21:12
Joe: Yeah, moving along the story, right?
21:14
Dylan: Yeah, like setting up your introduction for you know getting you into the zombies.
21:20
Dylan: Where this one is like, we'll just have somebody walking across the background.
21:23
Joe: Yeah.
21:24
unknown: Yeah.
21:26
Joe: Which I I think just adds to it because it it just, you know, it's just such a surprise because at first it's a joke, and then she, you know, later explains that she went over to the guy to apologize for Johnny, and then it's like, ah, you know.
21:45
Dylan: So like with this kind of being the father of the modern zombies, they had zombie movies like before this, correct?
21:58
Joe: Um there was Very few.
22:02
Joe: Okay.
22:03
Joe: Um yeah, and he said he kind of drew upon the um so yeah, uh George Romero um really drew some inspiration from The Last Man on Earth, which is a Vincent Price movie.
22:20
Joe: Okay, and it's based on I Am Legend.
22:23
Joe: Um and and so with that one with Will Smith?
22:27
Joe: Well, yeah, the book I Am Legend um goes through a lot more.
22:33
Dylan: I would like acknowledgement that I made a movie reference.
22:37
Joe: Didn't say it was a good one, but yeah, he he knew what a movie was, and uh so that is basically last man on earth is basically the the Will Smith story, but you know um just adapted differently from from the book.
22:59
Joe: But basically, he's the last human being amongst vampires, and rather than this story being vampires, he thought, what if it was ghouls or you know, the undead?
23:14
Joe: And so kind of like the move the show The Walking Dead, he wanted to show how this person ended up in this situation kind of thing.
23:24
Joe: Okay, and so like what if you seen how this all went down and the society ended up taking over of you know creatures or ghouls or you know, so that was kind of the rough idea of you know how this would go along.
23:42
Dylan: Yeah, and like kind of all of the rules, if you will, of like our modern, you know, flesh-eating undead.
23:51
Dylan: Yeah, yeah.
23:52
Dylan: You know, you have like the recent dead returning to life, instantaneously, eating the human flesh, just how you know the large groups like overwhelmed to the survivors, uh-huh.
24:10
Dylan: Um, you know, destroying the brain is what did it, yeah.
24:14
Dylan: Um, you know, because that's huge in like the walking dead.
24:18
Joe: Um yeah, it it's funny because they mention it a couple different times via radio or TV, but they don't actually pick up on that.
24:31
Joe: And whereas like nowadays you be like, oh yeah, just shoot them in the head.
24:34
Joe: Obviously now, obviously, which who knows, you shoot them in the head, you know, in real life, they might still stay alive, you know.
24:43
Joe: Right.
24:44
Joe: Like it just so yeah, I mean it took uh took uh Ben a couple of shots each time to really get, you know, to where and like I mean there's this one shot where he's uh the guy is getting really close, he shoots him, and he starts to fall back from only from the pressure of the bullet hitting him, yeah, but he stays upright and then gets shot again and still keeps coming.
25:16
Dylan: Right, like the headshots that happen just seem like they're more out of happenstance than actual like planning.
25:24
Joe: Yeah, calculated sh you know shooting, but yeah, it establishes all those, you know different elements that wouldn't go on to all these other movies.
25:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
25:37
Joe: Let's talk about who's trapped in this house.
25:43
Dylan: So you have been kind of the main protagonist.
25:48
Dylan: Yeah.
25:49
Dylan: Um he's definitely the calm, level-headed, you know, practical type.
25:57
Joe: Yeah, yeah, he is.
25:59
Joe: Which I think makes him the leader because he's not you know the biggest thing about him is he's driven more out of logic than emotion.
26:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
26:12
Joe: And yeah, there are some emotional points, but overall, he's trying to decide based on you know factual things that are going on and strategy, and well, if we try this, then you know we can get here, or you know, and people who are emotional, like the whole the whole gas run goes out of whack because uh the girlfriend runs out and decides she's gonna be a part of the whole thing, and that just kind of changes.
26:49
Dylan: Yes, through through a wrench in the plan, if yeah.
26:51
Joe: Yeah, yeah.
26:52
Joe: And then you have, you know, um not to jump ahead, but Harry Cooper, who's illogical and temperamental.
27:01
Joe: Yeah.
27:02
Dylan: So so who played um Ben?
27:06
Joe: Dwayne Jones.
27:07
Dylan: Okay.
27:08
Joe: I was gonna ask if there's anything else that we've seen him in, but no, there's nothing that comes close to that.
27:14
Joe: He really just did theater after this.
27:16
Joe: Really?
27:16
Dylan: Yeah.
27:17
Dylan: It was like that was enough excitement.
27:19
Dylan: Yeah, that was not his calling.
27:23
Dylan: Um you also have Barbara.
27:29
Dylan: Barbara man, she was she was damsel in distress to the extreme.
27:39
Dylan: Yeah.
27:39
Dylan: And like I understand how movies back in the day you don't had the damsel in distress.
27:46
Dylan: Right.
27:46
Dylan: Like that was, you know, that was just a part of it.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:50
Dylan: Let me just say, I'm so glad that we've moved away from that.
27:54
Joe: Yeah.
27:55
Joe: Yeah.
27:56
Joe: Um, just how can a catatonic she becomes.
28:01
Joe: And you know, he's just so frustrated.
28:04
Joe: Like, there's that part where he just starts like wanting to yell at her and stops himself, and then, you know, because he doesn't want to lose his cool, and and she's just continually not helping the situation.
28:17
Dylan: Well, and like I thought she was like kind of getting kicked out of that with when they were talking about kind of their first experiences with the ghouls.
28:29
Dylan: Yeah, you know, he talks about his story with their truck, and then she was like, Oh, yeah, you know, my brother and Johnny and I were at the cemetery, you know, whatever.
28:38
Dylan: Yeah, and so like she kind of had a good dialogue going, yeah, and I was like, perfect.
28:44
Dylan: She's like kind of kicking out of the ear, you know, out of this mode, yeah.
28:51
Dylan: Right, you know, uh-huh.
28:53
Dylan: Um and then like right after that, she's like becomes hysterical, yeah, and ends up passing out.
29:02
Dylan: And I just I just rolled my eyes.
29:04
Dylan: Yeah.
29:07
Joe: Well, I mean, that that's the thing too, we'll talk about later, is that that fight was controversial in itself.
29:15
Joe: Yeah.
29:16
Joe: Um, you know, it in 1968, that situation, like people frowned upon.
29:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
29:24
Joe: Um, yeah, and we'll talk more about that.
29:28
Joe: Um, so one of the funny things is um, have you watched Mr.
29:34
Joe: Rogers very much?
29:36
Dylan: Mr.
29:36
Dylan: Rogers Neighborhood?
29:38
Joe: Yeah.
29:38
Dylan: Yeah.
29:39
Joe: Okay.
29:39
Joe: So George Romero, you know, had this uh, you know, film company group and did a bunch of commercials.
29:48
Joe: Uh he did a commercial um with Betty uh Aberlin, who uh eventually played Lady Aberlin on um Mr.
29:59
Joe: Rogers Neighborhood.
30:01
Joe: So um she was the original choice for Barbara, and Fred Rogers, Mr.
30:09
Joe: Rogers, would not let her do it.
30:11
Joe: Yeah.
30:15
Joe: Um, I watched the commercial and I was like, hey, you know, so I started going down this rabbit trail and found out that she was the original gonna be the original Barbara, but they didn't let her because she had already had contractual obligations.
30:29
Dylan: Yeah.
30:29
Dylan: So definitely a conflicting.
30:33
unknown: Yeah.
30:33
Dylan: Yeah.
30:35
Dylan: Yeah.
30:37
Dylan: So also in the house, you have Helen Cooper.
30:43
Dylan: She was an interesting character.
30:46
Dylan: Like she wasn't the the helpless type.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:51
Dylan: But there I still felt like there was still still some like questionable decisions that were made.
30:57
Dylan: And I was trying to kind of like figure out like, is it just how the character was written?
31:04
Dylan: Is it how do she was trying to portray that character?
31:08
Joe: Yeah.
31:10
Joe: Um yeah, it was interesting.
31:14
Joe: Uh because there was this sense of her.
31:34
Joe: That that you know, that you're right and everybody else is wrong.
31:39
Joe: And it was like, oh, you know, and then and then he kind of snaps back at her, and then she just kind of calms down, you know.
31:47
Joe: It's like, oh, what's going on in this relationship, you know?
31:51
Joe: Yeah.
31:52
Joe: So for being uh to me, for being such a like you know, low budget production, the actors were really good.
32:00
Dylan: Yeah, you know.
32:01
Dylan: You also have Tom and Judy from the basement.
32:05
Joe: Yeah.
32:06
Joe: The couple from the basement.
32:09
Dylan: At first you don't quite follow like what their relationship is to um the Coopers.
32:19
Dylan: Yeah.
32:19
Dylan: You know, like were they all dig together?
32:22
Dylan: Like kind of quite how that was.
32:24
Dylan: So for them to just be like, yeah, we just came up here to go, you know, to the swimming hole.
32:30
Joe: Yeah, and they were after us, so we jumped out of this house and they were here.
32:35
Joe: Right.
32:35
Joe: Yeah.
32:37
Joe: Yeah.
32:37
Joe: I thought maybe they were related at first, but then I was like, no, that's you know, they all kind of just ended up there.
32:44
Dylan: Yeah.
32:45
Dylan: Man, Judy was she like really kind of played the dumb blonde.
32:52
Joe: Yeah.
32:53
Dylan: Not to not just stereotype blondes or anything.
32:56
Dylan: Yeah.
32:56
Joe: You know, but I thought she was gonna, you know, I really thought she was gonna help out, you know.
33:02
Dylan: Yeah, I did too.
33:03
Dylan: I thought she was gonna like, you know, be hesitant and then jump in and kind of you know save the day or something along those lines.
33:11
Dylan: And then for her to be like, oh my jacket's caught.
33:17
Dylan: Take a jacket off, first off.
33:19
Joe: Yeah.
33:20
Dylan: And then, you know, causing both of them to meet a fiery demise.
33:24
Joe: Right.
33:25
Joe: And then being eaten.
33:27
Joe: Right.
33:30
Joe: I mean, the ghouls basically turned around and said, barbecue.
33:35
Joe: Yeah, seriously.
33:38
Dylan: This one's smoked.
33:40
Joe: Yeah.
33:41
Dylan: Propane?
33:42
Dylan: No, gasoline.
33:43
Dylan: Yeah.
33:46
Dylan: The age old question propane or gasoline.
33:49
Dylan: Yeah.
33:51
Joe: Either.
33:52
Joe: Um, so Harry Cooper, Carl Hardman, and Johnny Russell Striner were both producers on the film.
34:03
Dylan: Oh, really?
34:04
Joe: Yeah.
34:05
Dylan: Okay.
34:06
Dylan: Yeah.
34:07
Dylan: They were like, you know what?
34:09
Dylan: I know who would be a good fit for this part.
34:11
Dylan: Yeah.
34:13
Joe: One of the guys paying for it.
34:16
Dylan: Right.
34:17
Dylan: You get you get the say.
34:20
Dylan: With Tom, too.
34:23
Dylan: It was hard to figure out his age.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:28
Dylan: Maybe to me.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
34:29
Dylan: But like Judy, you could kind of tell she was on the younger side.
34:34
Dylan: But then him, I was like, I was like, how old is this person supposed to be?
34:40
Joe: Well, it's the 60s.
34:41
Joe: Everybody looked older than him.
34:43
Joe: Right.
34:43
Joe: Seriously, though.
34:46
Dylan: So then we also have Johnny, as you said, Russell Streiner.
34:55
Dylan: The line of the movie, they're coming to get you, Barbara.
35:01
Dylan: So funny how that line was like him just like messing around.
35:07
Dylan: Yeah.
35:08
Dylan: Like, you remember when I used to, you know, mess with you as kids?
35:11
Joe: Yeah.
35:11
Dylan: And then like, oh no, they're coming to get you, Barbara.
35:15
Dylan: Yeah.
35:16
Joe: Yeah.
35:18
Joe: No, really.
35:20
Joe: Yeah.
35:22
Joe: Um, yeah, it's funny because in order to set him up, they had those driving gloves.
35:29
Joe: And you know, uh George Romero said, you know, he wasn't any Marlon Brando or people didn't know him.
35:37
Joe: So when he showed up later, seeing the gloves gave it kind of more of a an effect.
35:44
Joe: That context.
35:45
Joe: Yeah.
35:45
Joe: Yeah.
35:48
Dylan: Yeah.
35:48
Dylan: I kept I kept waiting to see, you know, Johnny come back.
35:53
Dylan: Yeah.
35:53
Dylan: Yeah.
35:54
Dylan: Exactly.
35:55
Dylan: So it was it was a good payoff.
35:57
Dylan: Yeah.
35:58
Dylan: Even if they did take out Barbara.
36:00
Joe: Yeah.
36:01
Joe: Especially for Ben because you know, he wasn't convinced that they needed to go find him.
36:07
Joe: She was like, we need to go get him.
36:09
Dylan: Yeah.
36:10
Joe: No.
36:11
Joe: He's already dead.
36:12
Joe: He's already dead.
36:13
Joe: Yeah.
36:15
Joe: Karen Karen Cooper was the little girl played by Kyra Shone.
36:20
Dylan: That was such an interesting take to know how she was sick, and then you find out that she was bitten or clawed, or you know, however that was.
36:31
Joe: And Ben's like, oh man.
36:32
Joe: Like I think in his mind he wanted to just go shoot her right then and there because Yeah.
36:38
Dylan: I was totally waiting for him to be like, okay, well, let's go take care of her.
36:43
Joe: Yeah.
36:43
Joe: Um in any other zombie movie, they would have done that.
36:47
Joe: Right.
36:49
Joe: And the thing with her character is she's also an established, like um uh kind of trope of of other horror movies where you have the little girl that's possessed, and yeah, you know, all that kind of like it she even reminds me of the ring, you know, the that movie The Ring, where like the weird little girl with the long hair steps out with the TV and all that kind of stuff.
37:23
Joe: Okay.
37:23
Joe: And so there's that imagery that they establish with her that goes on to other movies where it's just you know well, and like that goes back to like the ghouls being like smart killing her mother with the garden trowel.
37:46
Dylan: Uh-huh.
37:47
Dylan: And I was I was like, what?
37:50
Dylan: Yeah.
37:50
Dylan: Like, yeah.
37:51
Joe: She just oh, and and just how um when who is it her?
37:59
Joe: Is it is it the wife who goes down to the basement and and she's you know eating her dad, basically.
38:06
Joe: Like, oh it's just such a that that shot, you know, of her like like raising her head with the you know, yep, yep, bits and pieces in her mouth.
38:16
Joe: It's just like wow.
38:19
Joe: For 68, 1968.
38:22
Joe: This is uh crazy.
38:26
Dylan: I wonder what it would be rated now.
38:30
Joe: Man, I don't know.
38:32
Dylan: Cause like some of the stuff in it like is nothing.
38:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
38:37
Dylan: You know, and then there's other stuff like that that you're like, oh, uh okay.
38:43
Dylan: Yeah, yeah.
38:44
Dylan: Like, wow, that would be taken back a little bit.
38:47
Joe: Pushing the envelope there.
38:48
Joe: Yeah.
38:49
Joe: Yeah.
38:49
Joe: I mean, now I like today's standards, it would not even yeah, touch, you know, like anything that's out right now.
38:58
Joe: I mean so many things go overboard, you know.
39:03
Joe: But I think that's what I kind of like about the old movies where you had limitations and therefore you had to be more creative in order to get, you know, either because they like in the newsreels and in the radio, they give more imagery than what they show uh in real life.
39:25
Joe: And so they talk about oh, this happened and the other thing happened, and it's like very descriptive and very like, wow, that's crazy.
39:32
Joe: Yeah.
39:34
Joe: So they use the create the creative part, and also because they were on a budget and they couldn't film everything, right?
39:42
Dylan: You know, so Joe, this one handles the music a little differently.
39:48
Joe: It does.
39:50
Dylan: And that's what we have to say about that movie.
39:53
Dylan: Yeah, yeah.
39:55
Joe: If I didn't do my research, all I would say is it was canned music, and we move on.
40:04
Joe: So the score is considered library music that is made to be able to pick off the shelf.
40:12
Joe: And so really you have these folders and these albums of of different music, and so it's the Getty's image of music, yeah, yeah, basically.
40:25
Joe: Um, and so you have this, you know, it says stock music, and and you just pick it out.
40:31
Joe: Um, and then all the music that they used was already 10 years old.
40:37
Dylan: Oh, really?
40:38
Dylan: Yeah.
40:39
Joe: So when we were talking about, oh, that sounds so classic, that's because it's already 10 years old.
40:45
Dylan: Funny.
40:46
Joe: Um most everyone on the film had like multiple jobs that they did, you know?
40:50
Joe: Yeah.
40:51
Joe: And so no one, but out of all of them, no one could actually write or perform music.
40:57
Joe: Okay.
40:58
Joe: Um, and so going back to the Coopers, the main couple in the family, Hardman and Eastman, had a company that worked in stock music.
41:09
Joe: So those two again come up, um, and uh and they picked the music.
41:17
Joe: So they're actually listed as like kind of the composers because they chose all this music.
41:24
Joe: Um and all of it was like license-free music and stuff, kind of like now where you have to find that for your YouTube videos or whatever.
41:32
Joe: It was like this was just this library, and so they went um, they went by they had all the labels for all the music, so you can find music that was romantic or music, you know, and so they gravitated towards like eerie music, yeah.
41:50
Joe: And so you had like eerie music, eerie legato, eerie tension, um, eerie heavy echo, and eerie heavy echo is more of like a sci-fi track, yeah.
42:03
Joe: And that's used at the opening and close of the movie to give it like an otherworldly effect.
42:12
Joe: Okay, yeah, okay.
42:13
Joe: And uh it kind of really reminds me, and because I watched it growing up, but the Twilight Zone, the original Twilight Zone, had that kind of eerie music.
42:23
Joe: Um, and so Romero took the the playing scenes that he had and used the heavy echo music to create this isolation.
42:32
Joe: Um and you know, you see the first wide shot of the ghouls, and he uses that to kind of create that tension.
42:42
Joe: Um and like so the music cues use when Ben is preparing the house is really like this these sci-fi sounds from the 1950s, huh?
42:55
Joe: So yeah, and they you know they really use that to their advantage, and again, they're being creative and having a low budget all kind of goes into that, right?
43:08
Dylan: So would you say like a polished, you know, modern horror score would make it less or more scary?
43:19
Joe: I mean, it probably would make it more scary because you would have a composer specifically composing for this movie.
43:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
43:28
Joe: But I feel like again, with the with the uh we'll just call them the Coopers, uh being creative and using uh these the I mean some of these reels were only like a minute and 30 seconds long.
43:41
Joe: Yeah, and so they had to figure out like um there's a point where when he's getting the gun and he and he looks over to see that there's a gun in the closet, there's just kind of like this like um kind of a wispy sound that really just goes along with.
44:00
Joe: And and it just kind of fell all fell into place.
44:03
Joe: Nice.
44:03
Joe: And so they kind of really did compose it with what they had.
44:08
Joe: Yeah.
44:09
Joe: You know, so I think for me, again, with that the eerie sounds of the 50s, it really gives it that that horror genre, you know, feel, you know.
44:23
Dylan: Yeah, because you kind of feel like you're pulling out of the you know times capsule.
44:28
Dylan: Yeah.
44:28
Dylan: With those.
44:30
Joe: And it's not like just with the music going, I mean, you can have a panning shot and know that there's something weird going there.
44:40
Dylan: Right, right.
44:40
Dylan: You're waiting for it.
44:42
Joe: Yeah, yeah.
44:43
Joe: It's just oh, this tension that's created.
44:47
Dylan: With being kind of a lower budget, like it's so interesting watching this movie because it has basically like, you know, none of the resources that we associate with like a big feature film or yeah.
45:06
Joe: Um so the black and white thing, some of it was a creative choice.
45:12
Joe: Uh they said that they they started that and then they thought about doing it in color because it started to seem like this was gonna be something good, and they could have easily pivoted, but they um he George Romero had kind of uh thought of I think it's on the waterfront with Marlon Brando, and in that movie he gets beat up, and the the the way he looks and the bloodiness kind of gave it a better effect than to see it in color, yeah.
45:46
Joe: And so it it you know it gives you more of an imagination and it gives it this different tone, yeah.
45:54
Joe: And so he decided to stay with black and white because of that.
45:58
Joe: Um, but because it was black and white, it was automatically assumed that it would be taken as a B movie, yeah, because most movies at that time in 1968 were all in color.
46:09
Joe: Um so you know, but they added like the news footage and different um different ways of showing uh what was going on to give it more of a realism, and that kind of brought it together, uh whether it was like you know, the news reels of you know the uh government people talking and the scientists and you know, or showing people out, you know, and the mobs with guns and stuff.
46:41
Joe: Um so then the limitations that they had with equipment, um they had to hide the camera inside a cover because it was back then it was cameras were so loud.
46:58
Joe: Yeah, there was a cover and they called it a blimp, and that muffled the sound so they can get live sound on the set.
47:06
Joe: So the it made the camera heavy and bulky, yeah.
47:12
Joe: And so you had to do static shots whenever you use that to get the dialogue.
47:18
Joe: And so the scenes where there's more movement in action, uh like when Barbara's running and and running away and getting in the car and all that stuff, that was shot without the blimp, and it was more kind of handheld, and they were kind of running along.
47:36
Joe: But uh if you go back and notice, um, so there was no there was no sound, and so this they kind of use the silence to give it more drama.
47:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
47:47
Joe: Because she's she you could see her kind of almost saying something, and but she you can't hear it, and so you get this like silent film feel out of it, yeah.
47:58
Joe: But it's mainly because anytime there were action shots, um they used the handheld, and that handheld was so loud that they couldn't get the dialogue, yeah.
48:09
Joe: And so there's only really in post like some grunting and some other things, but they didn't do actual dialogue, and they let the music kind of drive those scenes, yeah.
48:23
Joe: Um and they decided that you know it would give it more of an ominous feel anyway.
48:30
Joe: Do you have some favorite scenes from this movie then?
48:34
Joe: Do I ever?
48:37
Joe: Uh well, like I said, the scene where the Coopers are fighting and she's just like calls them out on the carpet.
48:44
Joe: Uh, and then how that progresses into oh, there's a radio upstairs?
48:49
Joe: Like, what are you thinking?
48:51
Joe: Right, right.
48:55
Joe: It's just uh and then just the continual tension between him and Ben and and you know each person trying to fight to be the leader in the situation, yeah, you know.
49:07
Dylan: Yeah, because Ben is definitely kind of the resourceful one boarding up the house and and you know, finding the radio, yeah, finding the TV up on the second floor, stuff like that.
49:23
Joe: Yeah, it's just yeah, and he's such a good character too.
49:27
Joe: Ben is just so cold and calculated on every everything he does.
49:32
Joe: He's like, you know, he it's almost like it's like chess.
49:35
Joe: He doesn't want to make a move until he, you know, it's figured out and then he goes, whereas like the contrast of um uh you know Mr.
49:45
Joe: Cooper um is he creates the tension, he has this illogical emotional drive to him, yeah, you know, and so those scenes were oh the fact that you know he didn't want to let Ben back in.
50:05
Joe: Yeah, and Ben takes him to town, yes.
50:09
Dylan: Oh, it was that was a great scene, it was so well deserved, yeah.
50:14
Dylan: Because what do you mean you're just gonna leave him outside?
50:17
Dylan: Yeah, like just because you don't like slash agree with you know a person, right?
50:23
Dylan: And then you're like, oh, I'll just leave them for dead.
50:27
Joe: What?
50:28
Joe: Yeah, yeah.
50:30
Joe: And then uh, you know, when he goes to get the gun and they fight over it, and Ben just like, okay, I'm done with you, man.
50:37
Joe: Yeah.
50:41
Dylan: Yeah.
50:42
Dylan: Um I really liked the opening.
50:46
Dylan: Yeah, The Cemetery.
50:47
Dylan: Yeah.
50:48
Dylan: Because knowing it's a zombie movie, yeah, you're waiting for it.
50:55
Dylan: And they drag it out so much.
50:57
Dylan: Yeah.
50:59
Dylan: They drag it out so much.
51:01
Dylan: Uh-huh.
51:01
Dylan: And then like when you get your first glimpse, yeah, it is just that person walking in the background.
51:07
Joe: Yeah.
51:08
Dylan: And you're like, wait, is that or is it just a person?
51:13
Dylan: It's so ambiguous.
51:14
Joe: Yeah.
51:16
Joe: Yeah.
51:16
Joe: You're like, is that, you know, just some drunk dude hanging in?
51:21
Joe: Like the way they're walking, and it's like, is this kind of to throw us off, you know?
51:28
Joe: In reality, it's not.
51:29
Joe: It's clear, plain as day.
51:33
Dylan: I like how they how they use the television broadcasts to like kind of explain how slash why the zombies are coming back.
51:44
Joe: Yes, yes.
51:45
Dylan: So like super interesting how they took the approach of like space radiation.
51:53
Joe: Yeah.
51:54
Dylan: Brought back from you know another planet.
51:58
Joe: Yeah, that that was uh interesting take.
52:01
Joe: It's funny because it almost takes a turn from horror to sci-fi because of that.
52:06
Joe: Yeah.
52:08
Joe: And then all the music makes sense.
52:14
Dylan: Yeah, and we touched on like the the truck, you know, slash fire sequence of you know, they run out and get the truck.
52:26
Dylan: And man, when he sprayed the gasoline all over the side of the truck, oh yeah.
52:30
Dylan: I'm like, dude, what are you doing?
52:35
Dylan: Yeah.
52:36
Dylan: And I'm like, you moron.
52:39
Dylan: Yeah.
52:40
Dylan: Yeah.
52:41
Joe: Just like, yeah, and I I just that whole that whole plan just goes.
52:48
Dylan: You could say it goes up in smoke.
52:50
Joe: Yeah.
52:51
Dylan: Just putting that out there.
52:52
Dylan: In a handbasket.
52:56
Dylan: Um, but that's kind of the first scene though that we get of the zombies like actually eating the flesh.
53:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:06
Dylan: And how you know the zombies kind of made that conscious decision, if you will, of turning to the barbecue and like, you know, ripping them.
53:18
Dylan: Yeah.
53:19
Dylan: And super interesting how they kind of like, you know, claim their peace and then they go over and eat it.
53:28
Joe: Yeah.
53:28
Dylan: And all of like the people like inside, like looking through the window, they're like, oh my gosh.
53:37
Joe: Yeah.
53:38
Joe: Just craziness.
53:42
Dylan: When they when he's when Ben is going through the house and like brushes the door to reveal the basement door, yeah.
53:52
Dylan: I was totally expecting there to like just eventually be like a flood of zombies coming up.
53:59
Dylan: Totally what I was waiting for.
54:01
Dylan: Yeah.
54:01
Dylan: So then when um when Barbara like screams when that door opens, but they don't show it right away, yeah.
54:10
Dylan: I was like, oh, she gone.
54:11
Dylan: Yeah.
54:12
SPEAKER_01: She she did.
54:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
54:14
Dylan: And then, you know, for it to be more survivors.
54:17
Dylan: Yeah.
54:17
Dylan: And then Ben was like, You didn't help us?
54:21
Dylan: Right.
54:21
Dylan: Yeah.
54:22
Joe: He's like, and then like and then he starts coming up with excuses.
54:27
Joe: And he's like, ah.
54:31
Dylan: And there's such bad excuses.
54:33
Dylan: Right.
54:34
Dylan: Well, it sounded like somebody was tearing the house apart.
54:36
Dylan: Yes, because he was barricading the windows.
54:39
Joe: So he's like, so at first you said you couldn't hear us, but then you said it sounded like that the you know, tearing the house apart.
54:46
Joe: So get your story straight, man.
54:48
Joe: Yes.
54:52
Dylan: Joe?
54:53
Dylan: Yes.
54:54
Dylan: The ending?
54:56
Dylan: Yeah.
54:57
Dylan: What?
54:59
Dylan: Yeah.
55:00
Dylan: Yeah.
55:01
Dylan: Like you're like, oh, like the dogs are barking.
55:05
Dylan: You can hear the chopper.
55:07
Dylan: Ben's gonna get saved.
55:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
55:10
Dylan: Comes up from the basement.
55:12
Dylan: You know, they already took care of all the zombies.
55:15
Joe: Yeah.
55:16
Dylan: Shot through the window.
55:18
Joe: Right.
55:19
Joe: Yeah.
55:19
Joe: It's so messed up.
55:21
Dylan: Dude, I was floored.
55:25
Joe: Yeah.
55:26
Dylan: And then for them to just roll right into the credits.
55:29
Dylan: Yeah.
55:30
Dylan: I'm just sitting there and I'm like, what?
55:35
Joe: Yeah.
55:35
Joe: I mean, going through all that.
55:38
Dylan: Yeah.
55:39
Dylan: All just to get shot by the other survivors.
55:42
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
55:43
Dylan: Oh man.
55:44
Dylan: Well, and like the fact that they're like, oh, I saw movement through the window.
55:49
Dylan: Uh-huh.
55:50
Dylan: I'm just gonna shoot.
55:51
Joe: Yeah, I'm just gonna shoot.
55:52
Joe: Yeah.
55:53
Joe: You know, let's not think about the fact that there might be some survivors around here.
55:59
Dylan: Right.
55:59
Dylan: At least wait to, you know, have the zombie like crawl outside.
56:04
Joe: And he had the gun in his hand.
56:05
Joe: Like, yeah.
56:06
Joe: The only justifiable reason to shoot him at that point was that he did have a gun in his hand, but you wouldn't shoot a zombie with a gun in there, you know.
56:14
Joe: Right.
56:16
Dylan: I think in a you know, zombie apocalypse, though, I think you should have a gun in your hand.
56:21
Dylan: Yeah.
56:22
Dylan: Just saying.
56:22
Dylan: Yeah.
56:23
Dylan: Just saying.
56:25
Dylan: But yeah, I was just, I couldn't believe it.
56:28
Joe: I know.
56:30
Joe: Yeah.
56:30
Joe: After all those times, I mean, from going outside and you know, literally fighting zombies, yeah, you know, getting back to the house, almost getting killed at that point, and then you know, uh just so many situations, being grabbed from you know, outside and just all of that.
56:52
Joe: And and even um even when the the daughter comes up and goes after him, you know, he's like, you know, gets away from that without being bit, you know, and she's like going after him trying to bite him and stuff, and it's like, nah, I'm not having it.
57:11
Dylan: All right, let's roll into some more behind-the-scenes nuggets.
57:15
Joe: Okay.
57:16
Joe: During the filming of the movie, Dwayne Jones said that him and some other actors were actually threatened with a tire iron and followed across state lines.
57:29
Dylan: What?
57:30
Joe: He said it was so surreal because all day had he had had this tire iron in his hand, you know, acting like he was killing zombies and stuff, ghouls.
57:40
Joe: Um, and these, you know, guys come out of nowhere and they're, you know, threatening them.
57:47
Joe: So they had to get in the car, take off, get past state lines, and he he was kind of familiar with the area, so they just drove to the nearest police station.
57:58
Joe: Yeah, and they drove off as soon as they got there.
58:01
Joe: Yeah.
58:02
Joe: Um, under the name Hardman Associates, actor co-producer Carl Hart Hardman, Harry Cooper, the father from the basement, along with Marilyn Eastman, the mother, also served as makeup artists, sound effects engineers, which I said with the sound and and the music, and Hardman took the still photos used for the closing credits.
58:29
Joe: So uh, and Marilyn uh Eastman actually appeared as a zombie um in there.
58:37
Joe: Oh yeah.
58:39
Joe: So there uh the zombie that kind of comes across the tree and eats a piece of it.
58:46
Joe: Uh-huh.
58:46
Joe: That's her.
58:48
Dylan: Oh, that eats the bug off the tree.
58:50
Dylan: Yeah, yeah.
58:51
Dylan: Oh, yeah.
58:52
Joe: They used uh, I think it was like over 200 extras, but they also kind of repeated some people in there.
58:58
Joe: Yeah.
58:59
Joe: Um, you could actually see the back of uh the guy who plays Tom in one of the one of the shots.
59:04
Joe: It kind of threw me off because it was after the barbecue.
59:08
Joe: And so I'm like, did he come back?
59:10
Joe: Like how you know I do not want to see the front half of that guy.
59:15
Joe: Yeah.
59:17
Joe: Uh when applying makeup for the actors playing zombies, Marilyn, Eastman focused less on a rotting appearance for most of them, instead, concentrating on a prominent face facial feature that each actor or actress had and making it appear more prominent for an unsettling image.
59:37
Dylan: Oh, interesting.
59:39
Joe: And like I said, she also played the uh zombie that eats the bug off a tree.
59:44
Joe: Yeah.
59:45
Joe: Um and George Romero said that no one can point her out underneath all that makeup.
59:54
Joe: Um so the car, Russell Striner's mother, owned Barbara and Johnny's car.
1:00:00
Dylan: Oh yeah.
1:00:01
Dylan: And then they crashed it into a tree.
1:00:03
Joe: Right.
1:00:04
Joe: Yeah, exactly.
1:00:05
Joe: Well, the cemetery scene um scenes were shot over two days.
1:00:12
Joe: Uh, and while that was happening, somebody ran into the car during a break.
1:00:17
Joe: Oh yeah.
1:00:19
Joe: And so uh it left that dent in there.
1:00:22
Joe: So then they basically just rewrote the scene so that she would hit the tree and it would look like oh, okay.
1:00:31
Joe: Yeah, it's so like you know, you could have shot from the other angle or something, but they're like, let's use it.
1:00:37
Joe: Embrace it.
1:00:38
Joe: Yeah, yeah.
1:00:40
Joe: Uh as we said, the the word zombie is never used.
1:00:43
Joe: Um, and the most common euphemism used to describe the living dead is those things, mostly by Cooper.
1:00:51
Joe: Other characters refer to the creatures as ghouls and flesh eaters.
1:00:55
Joe: I heard that mostly in the television, you know, the broadcast of ghouls and flesh eaters.
1:01:01
Joe: Uh, however, the film codified many tropes about zombies that have been used in many movies uh since, including zombies eating human flesh and zombies can only be killed by shooting them in the head.
1:01:18
Joe: Um Dwayne Dwayne Jones wasn't originally written as a black character.
1:01:26
Joe: Um Romero repeatedly said Jones was cast because he was the best actor available for the role.
1:01:34
Joe: So the the film was discovered by French cinema, and it actually had like a resurgence a year after it was put out because it made it to France, and they noted the just the social kind of story of it.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:01:54
Joe: And you know, the fact that the the hero was a black man, um, and being that it was in 1968, it was during the civil rights era.
1:02:06
Joe: Um and like I said, Romero said Ben was not originally written specifically as a black man.
1:02:16
Joe: Um the part was written for, in their mind, a white person, and the original character was a truck driver, so he talked tough and cussed and and all that.
1:02:28
Joe: Yeah, and so it was actually Dwayne Jones who who wanted the character to be more refined and different than that, yeah.
1:02:37
Joe: Uh, and the only time he's kind of out of character is when he slaps um Barbara, yeah.
1:02:45
Joe: And even then that was controversial because you had a black man slapping a white woman, right?
1:02:53
Joe: You know, uh, and so that that kind of gave a lot of um put a lot of weight onto the movie as well.
1:03:04
Joe: Yeah.
1:03:05
Joe: Um they said that they were done with the film, they had it in their truck driving or trunk driving, and on the radio they had heard that more uh Martin Luther King had been shot.
1:03:21
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
1:03:22
Joe: Yeah.
1:03:22
Joe: So it's like they have this movie where the main protagonist is black and he's the hero, and the way he dies was just like, oh that just hit.
1:03:38
Joe: And at that time, you never you didn't think that was gonna happen, you know?
1:03:42
Joe: Right.
1:03:43
Joe: Um so that pushed the film into another place, and uh there were movie houses and theaters that didn't want to book the movie because it had a black hero in it.
1:03:55
Joe: Really?
1:03:56
Joe: Yeah.
1:03:59
Dylan: I wonder how much of like if somebody watching it could like pull from it that oh, you know, he gets shot at the end because he's black.
1:04:20
Dylan: Like they see him through the window and they're like, oh well, we'll need this.
1:04:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:04:25
SPEAKER_01: Done.
1:04:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:04:26
Dylan: You know, versus you know, kind of what we talked about of they just thought he was a zombie and didn't even think twice about it.
1:04:36
Joe: Right.
1:04:36
Joe: It was more showing kind of their stupidity than their angst against a certain race.
1:04:45
Joe: Right.
1:04:45
Joe: Yeah.
1:04:46
Joe: Um yeah, it's like there's this, you know, again reading into it, but the imagery of an armed posse outside and you know, all that kind of coming together.
1:05:01
Joe: And you know, there were people like that in the South and posse and everything.
1:05:07
Joe: And so it just and again with George Romero, his vision was just that they were gonna show the society breaking down, and how even though there was this thing coming to all get them, they still all couldn't come together to be a team, and you know, they were fighting inside this house while there was this chaos going outside.
1:05:33
Joe: Right.
1:05:33
Joe: And that's all he wanted to show, but it kind of took on a whole different another kind of level to it.
1:05:40
Joe: Yeah.
1:05:41
Joe: And, you know, ultimately he said that um he was cast because he was the best of the actors that he worked with.
1:05:50
Joe: Yeah.
1:05:51
Joe: You know, and it he came in and did the part, and that was it.
1:05:55
Dylan: He did a phenomenal job.
1:05:56
Dylan: Yeah, and I really enjoyed how.
1:06:00
Joe: they portrayed Ben's character as more of a um what's the word I'm looking for refined logical yeah thank you like you know well put together and yeah yeah I mean he he seems educated you know it wasn't and and that was kind of one of the things that I'm not sure if that's why uh Dwayne Jones wanted it but you know not every b black person in movies was depicted as educated right you know and so he had an opportunity to show a different light yeah because a lot of those movies you know tried to really draw on the stereotype and you know to make fun of versus you know Ben I could totally see him being like a university you know professor or something like that.
1:07:02
Joe: Which he he actually was but yeah I mean you can't hide it but um you know he he ended up doing like performing arts and stuff like that but but yeah I um yeah his idea of just saying I want this character to be re f refined because had he played the stereotype stereotype truck driver you know they were thinking like kind of white trash right yeah uh yeah just wouldn't wouldn't have worked yeah well and like how much it changes the movie to have you know the refined type versus the you know stereotypical truck driver type yeah and like he carries so much of the movie because of it yeah I I mean I think he kind of gave a lot of um I was gonna say defining but that's not quite what I want to say like he just carries so much of the movie yeah because he acts you know the way that he did yeah yeah and the only time he's out of character um is when he kind of loses his temper uh to be fair yeah would have lost mine alone before that oh yeah yeah and and that's the thing too is that even though he does there's a point where he shows him pulling back yeah you know like it just and yeah so he just I feel I felt like he was pretty well rounded yeah yeah yeah so yeah I think it's pretty ominous at the end too where the way they ended it with the stills you know uh because they you know they show them carrying carrying his body with these like um meat hooks yeah that's just and and to be in that in the middle of all that was going on in 1968 and not read into it is like I mean that that's like huge yeah uh because I I I couldn't do anything but read into it.
1:09:35
Joe: Like now it's it's easy to not see it but when you're in that time of you know things so yeah it does it just shows how you know how better educated we have become as a society and we're better for it.
1:09:54
Dylan: Yeah yeah all right so where are we with our spooky season?
1:10:02
Dylan: So last week we just did the Lost Boys our cool vampire yeah so this week we did Night of the Living Dead which is our you know zombie survival horror ghouls so would you say which would you say is kind of the more scarier type?
1:10:25
Joe: Of the two?
1:10:26
Joe: Yeah I don't know um I'd say living dead for me because I mean at least at least the vampires are are living dead with uh with flair mullet said the same thing just different ways with attitude and cautionable fashion choices leather jackets yeah yeah it's more romantic it's more inviting so which of those would you say feels more like Halloween to you hmm vampires I would have to agree yeah I just felt like the Lost Boys like is such kind of a Halloween time yeah versus Night of Living Dead like I feel like I could realistically like watch that any time of the year uh and be totally satisfied with it.
1:11:26
Dylan: Yeah yeah yeah at the beginning I asked what you expected from a black and white zombie movie made in 1968 was this the movie you thought you were about to watch no and I say that in the best way yeah because it's so much more than kind of the two-toned like just zombie apocalypse survival there's just so many layers that they were able to wrap into it that there were definitely times where you know the zombie oh excuse me ghouls took such a background yeah to what was happening fantastic yeah I was quite impressed yeah I mean even showing kind of the instability of the government in that situation and like how there was like no really no communication about it and when they showed you know the government figures they were still arguing about it.
1:12:40
Joe: Well yeah yeah the bickering that you know it's live on camera and they're like we said we weren't gonna talk about that right that was such a good little like yeah drop right in there.
1:12:52
Joe: Yeah which it kind of reminded me of uh recently how they're uh they're basically opening up all the UFO sightings on you know yeah yeah and like there's some from the 1950s and it looks like drones it looked like it could be drones and it's from the 1950s like whoa yeah that being said there's definitely times where this movie showed its age um just where it showed like that gritty and less polished that we you know have now and are accustomed to um you know just kind of stuff like that yeah so I would probably rate it I'd probably give it a seven and a half oh um I'd I enjoyed it yeah and I would definitely go watch it again there were you know maybe it's just from you know me already knowing like modern day zombies but there was just stuff that like just really pulled me out of it yeah you know with how intelligent the zombies were and kind of planning they were you know it kind of detracted it a little bit for me.
1:14:22
Joe: Oh okay because I'm probably so used to just the mindless shambling horde that we have now yeah yeah yeah I give it an eight seven okay okay not me trying to one up you with the point five you're like you know what I'll give an eight point seven oh Joe that's a total bar stool thing no um I'd probably give it an eight yeah yeah and after watching it again and again recently like it just it's such a classic to me.
1:15:02
Dylan: So watching it over like that yeah did it go up in rating or down in rating for you then?
1:15:07
Joe: I think it went up more yeah because yeah because I mean I grew up watching things like Twilight Zone and The Monsters and you know a lot of those classic TV shows that were already in black and white so I'm kind of used to it and being that it was such an indie film and appreciating everything that kind of went into it where it's just like this little film company that decided to pull in all their friends to you know get this going like I that for me adds to the appreciation of of what it looks like.
1:15:43
Joe: Yeah you know they're coming to get you Dylan Studios