Latest / The Cinematic Flashback Podcast / Dawn of the Dead (1978) – George A. Romero's Zombie Horror Classic

Transcript

Dawn of the Dead (1978) – George A. Romero's Zombie Horror Classic · The Cinematic Flashback Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This is not the Republicans versus the Democrats.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: They've got us in the hole economically or that we're
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: in another war.
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: It's more crucial than that.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: We are down to the line, folks. We are down
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: to the line.
• 0:14
  Speaker 4: There are no divisions among among living.
• 0:18
  Speaker 5: Please.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: At least let him finish.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: It's really all over his head.
• 0:26
  Speaker 6: Quiet.
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: Quiet. Welcome to the Cinematic Flashback Podcast. Get ready to
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: hop into the Wayback Machine as we journey through the wild, bold,
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: and unforgettable films of the 1970s. Each episode, we break
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: down a classic movie or forgotten gem, seeing how it
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: performed then and now, and wrapping things up by asking,
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: did it groove through the decades or did it lose
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: its beat? I am your host, Chuck Bryan, and today
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: we are reviewing George Romero's 1978 sequel to Night of
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, starring Ken Foray,
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: Scott Renninger, Galen Ross, and David Emgei. Joining me today
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: is my co-host, Matt Sargent, and I am so excited
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: about this. We had so much fun watching Suspiria last
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: time that Jeff Johnson from a Film By podcast and
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: Amanda Janik has agreed to jump back into the Wayback
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: Machine to help me answer this question. Is there ever
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: a good time to check your blood pressure in the
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: middle of a zombie horde at the mall?
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Welcome, guys. Good to see you back again.
• 1:40
  Speaker 7: Thanks for having me again, Chuck.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Chuck, happy to be back with you and Matt. And
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: of course, the lovely and talented Slasher Girl, Amanda. It's
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: great seeing you guys all. I did want to point out, though,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: high blood pressure is no joke. It's a silent killer.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: Wasn't very silent in the.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Movie, though. Did you get kicked out of the book
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: club yet? No, no, I'm still in the book club.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: We finished up Lonesome Dove and it's an awesome book.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Five stars. Highly recommend it. Other activities that went on
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: in my life where my daughter got married and there
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: was a Nor'easter all at the same time, which is awesome.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: But we were able to fit the outdoor wedding in
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: between windy, blustery blows and it all came off really well.
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: Well, before we drive over to the mall, I know
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: this was not a first-time watch. What was your origin
• 2:31
  Speaker 4: story with this film? Let's start with Amanda.
• 2:34
  Speaker 7: Same origin story, I swear to God, that I have
• 2:36
  Speaker 7: for every podcast that I do. I'm pretty sure I
• 2:39
  Speaker 7: saw this in my basement when I lived outside of
• 2:41
  Speaker 7: Chicago on USAF All Night. It's the same story every time,
• 2:46
  Speaker 7: but hand to God, I think it's true. Can't remember
• 2:49
  Speaker 7: if it's Rhonda Shearer or Gilbert Godfrey.
• 2:52
  Speaker 6: Mm-hmm.
• 2:52
  Speaker 7: I don't remember who was the host then, but I'm
• 2:55
  Speaker 7: pretty sure I was playing in the basement with my Barbies.
• 2:57
  Speaker 7: I think I've been watching this, but I'm pretty sure
• 3:01
  Speaker 7: that's when it happened.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Up all night.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: I'd forgotten about that show.
• 3:05
  Speaker 7: Yeah. It's my origin story for everything.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: You know it's back, right? Is it? No. Yeah. Rhonda
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Shearer has brought it back. Really?
• 3:13
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: She still looks fantastic.
• 3:17
  Speaker 7: What a time to be alive, man, because now we
• 3:19
  Speaker 7: got Rhonda Shear back and we have the Crypt Keeper
• 3:22
  Speaker 7: from Tales from the Crypt coming back to host Fear Fest.
• 3:26
  Speaker 7: I might as well go back in the basement with
• 3:28
  Speaker 7: my Barbies right now because I'm going to relive it.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Jeff, how about you? What was your origin story?
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: It definitely was the mid-80s with the boom of video
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: rental places popping up everywhere. So I would have been 10,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: 11 years old. One thing I distinctly remember as a
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: kid is that I chose this based on the box
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: art cover. So I'm talking about the one that has
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: the three photos of Scott Reiniger's zombie mode, had the
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: white clamshell.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I went down the rabbit hole. I did a Google
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: search just to find it.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: And I found the exact copy with that big, gaudy
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: white clamshell box. I was kind of surprised when I
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: looked it up online because I saw that it had
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: one of those critic blurbs at the top of it.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: An ultimate horror film, a savagely satanic vision of America.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: And that was given to us by Roger Ebert of
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: the Chicago Sun-Times.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: How about that? That is an awesome memory. I almost
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: added that exact same description into this as well. I
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: think we're syncing up on our video cassettes. We're simpatico,
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: I think. Zombie Matt.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, unlike the rest of you guys, I'm
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: actually old enough to have seen it in the movie theater.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: It came out in 1978, so I was 17.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: This movie was my soon-to-be brother-in-law's absolute favorite movie. And
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: his favorite scene, of course, is the one where the
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: guy's getting his blood pressure taken. He used to be
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: able to recite all of the scenes. So I mix
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: up the actual movie with his re-portrayal of it in
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: real time that he used to do all the time
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: because he loved it so much. I had probably not
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: seen it since 1980.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Really?
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: But man, I had so much fun re-watching it and
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: it brought back so many good memories. It was just
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: so much fun.
• 5:17
  Speaker 7: I love that.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: Matt, I got to say, one of the things I
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: love about a cinematic flashback We get to this portion
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: of the show and you gently remind us, well, hey,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: I was around when this was released.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: So I was there.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: And I always think of you as Roy Batty in
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Blade Runner, Rudger Hauer's character at the end when he's like,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: he has that beautiful monologue where I've seen things.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: And I just thought, man, if Matt was Roy Batty...
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I've seen things.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Cause I was there for the double feature at the
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: drive-in on Harrison Avenue. You know, I love that.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You're, you're my Roy Batty. We haven't even gotten
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: into the drive-in. We used to go all the time.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Sign me up. But yeah, it was, it was pretty fun.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: What about you, Chuck? What was your origin story on this?
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: I distinctly remember seeing this film back in May of 86.
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: It was a dark and rainy night. I drove down
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: to the video store. I'm looking around and I see
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: the exact same clamshell videocassette that Jeff Johnson just spent
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: time explaining. I will admit to going on eBay and
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: pricing it out. It was a little bit more than
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: a buck fifty. Oh, now I got to look this up.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: For nostalgia, I would go as high as 50 to
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: get my hands on that clamshell, I think.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: I would interject in, this would be the perfect movie
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: for a teenage dive-in movie. You know what, Matt?
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: I don't know that they're still doing it, but every
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: year up in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, where the mall is, they
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: would have a big three-day weekend festival. It would all
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: culminate with the showing of the movie. So it was
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: in the mall. It's been a longstanding tradition up until recently. Unfortunately,
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: the mall has finally been.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Sold to a small mom and pop outfit called Walmart.
• 7:11
  Speaker 6: Oh, that's cool.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: I don't think they're planning to make it a historical
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: site and leave it as it is, which is heartbreaking
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: because it's just so fun to go through that mall.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: And it's obviously over the years it's been upgraded and
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: remodeled here and there. But you know where you're at.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: You know, the bones of the place are still there.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. I was happy that I got to experience that. So, Chuck,
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Romero made Night of the Living Dead in 1968, right? Yeah.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: Dawn of the Dead came out in 78. What was
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: he doing there? for 10 years between those two. I
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: think he was trying to stay independent. It's something that
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: George Romero has in common with other 70s filmmakers.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: He just wanted to stay independent. He basically made his
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: own production house in and around Pittsburgh. And in this movie,
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: there's four main filming locations. The first one's the TV studio.
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: The other one is the Tenement Building. Both of those
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: are like eight minutes away in downtown Pittsburgh. drive about
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: 20 minutes towards Monroeville, you're going to come to the
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: airfield where they filmed the refueling of the helicopter, and
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: you're going to get to the mall itself. We used
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: to pass by it on the PA Turnbike when we
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: were going to Buffalo. Jeff, I know you said earlier
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: that you've made it out there.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, good times. That's crazy. I drive by that all
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: the time when we go to Canada because we go
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: to Canada via Buffalo. So I must have driven by
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: that 100 times. You need to swing in.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Before it's no more.
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: You'll pull up there and it'll be a giant Walmart
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: next time.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sadly.
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: After Romero made Night of the Living Dead, he spent
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: the next 10 years making anything but another zombie movie.
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: Just let me know if you've seen any of these.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: He did a film in 1971 called There's Always Vanilla.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Nope. Season of the Witch, 1972.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Currently available on Tubi. The Crazies. You seen that one?
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And then, of course, please tell me, Amanda, you've
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: seen Martin.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Long time ago. I think anytime you hear someone go,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I love vampire movies. I've seen them all. I'm always like, well,
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: let's talk about Martin or Vampire's Kiss.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: And they're like, no, I don't know this.
• 9:20
  Speaker 7: Martin?
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Like, yeah. Yeah.
• 9:23
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: But being independent, there is kind of a problem. It's
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: a financial problem. The way studios will finance a film
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: is is often they'll just go to the bank and
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: the bank will.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Give them a loan.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: Romero isn't making those kinds of loans from the bank. Instead,
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: he's kicking in some money. The producer, Richard Rubenstein, is
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: cooking in money. The total budget for this film ultimately
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: came to about $ 640, 000. Almost half of that was kicked
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: in by the director of the film we talked about
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: last time. Dario Argento. He gets the international distribution and
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: he also recuts the film. Eventually, this film made quite
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: a bit of money on the uptake. Argento brought in
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: the progressive rock group Goblin to help create the music
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: for this film. So all the pieces are coming together.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: The movie has financing, the script is completed, and they
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: secure the Monroeville Mall as a shooting location. So 10
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: years later, George takes those zombies from the Night of
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: the Living Dead and he puts them in a completely
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: different America. He finds the perfect place for them and
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: finds a way to make a much bigger movie without
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: going through Hollywood. Along the way, The zombies become a
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: commentary about us and our habits. And that is how
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: Dawn of the Dead happened. I think we're all ready
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: to beat the cast of Dawn of the Dead. But first,
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: we need to step away for a quick break. We'll
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: be right back.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: It's a cinematic flashback. Let the show begin. It's a
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: cinematic flashback. Let the show begin.
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: 1968, George Romero brought us Night of the Living Dead.
• 11:14
  Speaker 6: It became the classic horror film of its time. Now,
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: George Romero brings us the most intensely shocking motion picture
• 11:22
  Speaker 6: experience for all times. Dawn of the Dead. Night of
• 11:27
  Speaker 6: the Living Dead has ended. Dawn of the Dead is here.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: Welcome back. Let's talk about the cast. Who do we
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: want to start with? There's four main characters, and we're
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: just going to go through the main four. And the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: first one I'm going to talk about is David Emge,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: who plays Stephen Andrews, a.k.a. Flyboy. He was working as
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: a chef in New York when he was introduced to
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: George Romero. He was a U.S. Army veteran during the
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Vietnam era, stage actor at Pittsburgh Playhouse, a small film
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: career before and after Dawn. His zombie Flyboy became one
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: of the movie's iconic images. I think David MG plays
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: this guy very well. He's not very tough. He's a pilot,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: but little or no other skills. As much as I
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: would like to be Peter, I think I would be Steven. No,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: I don't see that. Or Roger.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: You know, one of the two. I think Def Dave
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: is Roger.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: That's hilarious. That's hilarious. I think, though, that in the apocalypse,
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: it takes a certain set of skills. Steven, bless his heart,
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: he doesn't have them.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah. He makes bad decisions without the skills to back
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: them up. But if we talk about the actor playing
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: this person, I think he does a great job playing
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: this doofus with the ability to fly a helicopter, which
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: was super marketable and, you know, made him the cool guy.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: And now the only skill he has is he can
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: fly a helicopter that has almost no gas left in it. So.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, this movie starts like if it's a first time watch,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: you immediately want to connect with him because you're like,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: this is the helicopter pilot in a bomber jacket.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: And he's got the coolest nickname. He's Flyboy.
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: This is the hero. And then it's determined that he
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: is not the hero.
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: There were two scenes in the movie not to get
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: into them, but they both involve guns, both involve pulling
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: the trigger.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: At the wrong time. Yeah.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: When you make a stormtrooper look like a crack shot,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: that's saying something.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: Good one. Good one.
• 13:28
  Speaker 7: Well, and I think it's interesting about his character, too, though.
• 13:31
  Speaker 7: I think that he knows that he ate the cat's meow.
• 13:34
  Speaker 7: I think he's a very clear individual, you know, by
• 13:36
  Speaker 7: some of the things that he says to Fran and Stop,
• 13:39
  Speaker 7: you know, about, you know, when she... Well, we'll talk
• 13:41
  Speaker 7: about her later, but basically he comes back and he's like,
• 13:44
  Speaker 7: a gun? Like, you can't use a gun.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: Well, why?
• 13:47
  Speaker 7: If she learns how to use a gun, he becomes useless.
• 13:49
  Speaker 7: He's already useless, but like, fly the helicopter. But I
• 13:52
  Speaker 7: think he knows his shortcomings already, and he's very insecure
• 13:55
  Speaker 7: about them.
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and it feels like he was a little surprised
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: when Fran says she needs to learn how to fly
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: the helicopter.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Again. Because if something should happen to you... I'm pretty
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: sure I'm going to die because I make bad decisions left, right.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: I think you make a good point. I think he
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: did know he was terrible. But I have to say,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: if you know you're terrible and you have somebody who's
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: not terrible and he's telling you not to do things,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: you should probably not do them. What do you mean?
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: He goes after the raiders when they don't even know
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: they're at the mall. And they know there's people there,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: but it's clear that they don't care about the people
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: at the mall. They care about the stuff. He gets
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: it in his head that it's his stuff because he
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: was the first one at the mall. I'm sorry. That's
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: just not how it works post-apocalypse. What happens post-apocalypse is
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: if you have stuff and you can't defend it, then
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: you don't have stuff anymore, including your life. So hide
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: or be able to defend yourself. But you can't be
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: in between. Well said.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: But if you've got an ego, your ego is not
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: going to allow you to do that.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but what did he have an ego from?
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: Exactly. Exactly.
• 15:13
  Speaker 7: It's a false ego. Yeah.
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: So I think that's what makes him a really interesting character. Well,
• 15:18
  Speaker 5: he's also a sad character because you mentioned his insecurities.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: But think about this for a second. You think you're
• 15:24
  Speaker 5: in a good spot because you just rescued your girl.
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: And in your mind, you've rescued her because, you know,
• 15:28
  Speaker 5: be on the roof at nine o'clock. Don't make me
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: come looking for you. But you're also holed up with
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: two other pretty, pretty rocking guys. And, you know, I mean,
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: she's kind of got her... Her pick of the litter here.
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: And he's he's got a he's got a. OK, I
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: can't shoot a gun and I make bad decisions and
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: I don't listen to any directions. I take no direction
• 15:48
  Speaker 5: from anybody.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:50
  Speaker 7: And a very insecure person is going to take it
• 15:52
  Speaker 7: that way, because when you're in the apocalypse, do you
• 15:55
  Speaker 7: really think she's looking at the other two dudes being like.
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: Hey, these guys are better?
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Like, no, no, that's the last.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Thing on her mind, I'm sure. It's not the last
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: thing on his mind.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: Oh, no. I think the first thing on your mind
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: is who can keep me alive? The only thing Flyboy
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: had until she learned how to fly was he could
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: fly the helicopter. After that, in my opinion, he was useless. Yeah.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: One last thing that I have with Flyboy is he
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: had a gun. He could have killed himself. Instead, he didn't.
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: And then when he became a zombie, he led all
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: the other zombies into... the back room. So he knew
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: that people did this and he still could not bring
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: himself to protect his unborn child and girlfriend and friends. Well,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: if we're done talking about David Emge. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Let's go to one of my favorite characters next. Who's
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: going to take him? Scott Reiniger as Roger, a.k.a. Trooper.
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: He was also an actor in New York. He worked
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: at the same restaurant that David Emge worked and he
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: met Romero at that location. Renegar was college friends with
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: Christine Forrest, and she was dating Romero at the time.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: She sent Renegar the script. So Romero, his only reservation
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: was there's a very physical height difference between Renegar and
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: Ken Forrey. Scott assured him that the audience is not
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: going to give a crap about that. After the first
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: five minutes, Romero laughed and Scott got the part. Renegar
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: returned in Romero's Knight Riders, which is an interesting film.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: I hope it's on Tubi because I would like to
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: rewatch it.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: That's a weird one. Yes, it is. That's early Ed Harris. Yes,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: it is. That's a strange one. Very, very. And he also.
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: And I didn't realize this because I didn't catch it
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: when I watched it. In the 2004 Zack Snyder version
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: of Dawn of the Dead, he makes a cameo appearance.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: And somehow he was the hereditary prince of gore. What
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: gore was, I'm not sure. But it was a country
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: and he was a descendant of the king of that
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: country at some point.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: I actually thought that they intentionally cast someone of short
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: stature for that role because it was so perfect, you know,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: that he was the smallest guy, but he was like
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: frenetic in his activity and his risk taking. And I
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: really think this was actually a masterstroke, in my opinion,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: because I think in a zombie apocalypse, you sort of have.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: A range of people's response. Some people are going to
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: be cold and calculating. We see this in other zombie
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: series and stuff. Very, very careful, very cold, very calculating,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: know what to do. And other people are 100% emotional,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: action oriented. This is what I'm going to do. And
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: he fit into that, even if it was going to
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: kill him. Absolutely. Amanda, any thoughts on Roger?
• 18:48
  Speaker 7: I'm really sad. I'm really sad for him, especially in
• 18:51
  Speaker 7: that scene, you know, where he's dying on the bed,
• 18:54
  Speaker 7: you know, and he's like.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: We got him, right? You know, we got them all.
• 18:58
  Speaker 7: You have Ken Ferreira's character then reassuring him, oh, yeah,
• 19:01
  Speaker 7: we got him because he knows he's dying, giving that
• 19:03
  Speaker 7: to him. You kind of attribute to it like, you know,
• 19:06
  Speaker 7: say like a dying soldier or something, you know, we
• 19:08
  Speaker 7: got the enemy, didn't we? And you know, he's going
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: to die. So why not give him those accolades before
• 19:13
  Speaker 7: he dies? That's really sad. I get really depressed at
• 19:16
  Speaker 7: that part every time. I feel like his character wasn't
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: as fleshed out as it could have been, which is
• 19:21
  Speaker 7: shocking for the length of this movie. It still just
• 19:24
  Speaker 7: strikes a chord with me and surprises me how sad
• 19:26
  Speaker 7: I get every time.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: But then I'm.
• 19:28
  Speaker 7: Infuriated with him. yeah during the truck scene like just
• 19:34
  Speaker 7: oh it's just it's so stupid but again it's another
• 19:36
  Speaker 7: case of you know a big head you know I
• 19:39
  Speaker 7: got this I can do anything now you know I'm
• 19:42
  Speaker 7: I'm the man I can you know and that was
• 19:44
  Speaker 7: his downfall so to go from being infuriated with him
• 19:48
  Speaker 7: to being as sad as I was I think he
• 19:50
  Speaker 7: plays that range really really well really well where he's
• 19:54
  Speaker 7: losing his marbles in the beginning you can see that
• 19:56
  Speaker 7: downfall already You know, when they're going through the apartment
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: building and stuff where, you know, he's shocked by what
• 20:02
  Speaker 7: he sees and you can see it's getting in his head.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: He has to collect himself.
• 20:06
  Speaker 7: And then for the next half of the movie, Penfrey's
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: reminding him, you got to collect yourself. We need you
• 20:10
  Speaker 7: in the game here. But you're watching him fall down.
• 20:13
  Speaker 7: You know, I just think he he was the perfect
• 20:17
  Speaker 7: choice for the role.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: I really do. Amanda, you put it perfectly.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: I think Amanda has got it here. It's his undoing
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: is his hunger for the adrenaline. Because when we're introduced
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: to him in the siege at the apartment complex, he
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: is the cool, calm, collected guy. He's telling the rookie like, hey, man,
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: when we get in there.
• 20:37
  Speaker 5: Don't worry.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Don't worry. You're going to be fine. You're going to
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: do fine.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: He can go through a situation like that and he
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: can keep his composure.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: As the movie goes on.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: It's this adrenaline rush where the combat and the scavenging,
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: the foraging, he can't get enough, and he's letting it escalate.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: But in doing so, his behavior becomes a little erratic.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: It's becoming increasingly reckless. He is his own worst enemy.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: The zombies didn't get him.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: Roger that. It's funny why you're saying that. That's the
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: scene that's playing.
• 21:10
  Speaker 7: Even while Jeff is saying, you know, about how he's calm,
• 21:13
  Speaker 7: cool and collected, you see glimpses, the weight of what's happening.
• 21:17
  Speaker 7: You can see that that's already hitting them emotionally. And
• 21:21
  Speaker 7: that's where you get that emotional side of the character.
• 21:23
  Speaker 7: You know, when he realizes what needs to be done,
• 21:26
  Speaker 7: you see it already eating at him.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: That was a beautiful pun.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Oh, pun not intended. Thank you.
• 21:32
  Speaker 7: Thank you. Thank you so much. But you see it
• 21:36
  Speaker 7: eating at him already. So it's not like this adrenaline
• 21:39
  Speaker 7: junkie comes out of nowhere. It's not like this recklessness
• 21:43
  Speaker 7: comes out of nowhere. It's not like this departure from
• 21:45
  Speaker 7: reality comes from from nowhere. Like you see it. You
• 21:49
  Speaker 7: see it starting to stew already from the beginning. It
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: wasn't a complete 180. And I think that that's an
• 21:54
  Speaker 7: incredible arc. To take where you're not necessarily going from
• 21:58
  Speaker 7: one side all the way to the other, but edging
• 22:00
  Speaker 7: your way.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: It would be less impactful.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: Exactly.
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: If all of a sudden it was just boom.
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:06
  Speaker 4: You're 100% right. And I'm sure it was the director
• 22:09
  Speaker 4: or the writer. Who was the same person, by the way.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: Right. That had it in their head that this is
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: how this person's going to crack. And this is how
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: this other person is going to not be able to
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: deal with it. And this is how this other person
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: who we think is going to give up, but then doesn't.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: And then, of course, you know, the heroine who basically
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: has her head on straight the whole time and knows
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: what's what.
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: Fly girl. My girl Galen here. So Dawn of the
• 22:35
  Speaker 7: Dead was actually her first major motion picture role. And
• 22:39
  Speaker 7: what's interesting about her is you think after being in
• 22:41
  Speaker 7: such an iconic film, which Dawn of the Dead obviously is,
• 22:45
  Speaker 7: that she'd go on to have this huge acting career.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: No, not really.
• 22:50
  Speaker 7: She did star in one of my other personal favorite
• 22:53
  Speaker 7: 80s slashers, Madman, which if you haven't seen that, check
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: it out.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: It's a.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: I've never heard of it.
• 22:58
  Speaker 7: Oh, it's a very strong Friday the 13th copycat.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 23:03
  Speaker 7: And that's actually a pretty good copycat. I like it.
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: And she does have a scene in there, which will
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: forever be burned in my memory, that involves a hot tub.
• 23:12
  Speaker 7: Not a death, but a hot tub. You have to
• 23:15
  Speaker 7: see it to believe it. As much as I'm going
• 23:17
  Speaker 7: to say, you're going to have to go YouTube that.
• 23:18
  Speaker 7: But it's something of its time. But she also starred, well,
• 23:23
  Speaker 7: starred loosely as Leslie Nielsen's adulterous wife in Creepshow.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: Something that tied you over. Ted Danson. The Ted Danson sequel. Oh,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: my gosh.
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: And the funny thing is, I know that movie Inside
• 23:36
  Speaker 7: and Out. I potted about it. It's one of my favorites.
• 23:40
  Speaker 7: I never even realized that that was her until I
• 23:42
  Speaker 7: was doing the research. Because remember, it's just on the
• 23:44
  Speaker 7: TV screen, you know, that let's put it in the open.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Going.
• 23:48
  Speaker 7: So that's why I say stars, you know, loosely in that.
• 23:51
  Speaker 7: But after that, kind of went away from acting and
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: went more into producing and directing roles. I believe she's
• 23:58
  Speaker 7: still married. I think so. But her and her husband
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: directed several award-winning documentaries and whatnot on serious subject matter
• 24:07
  Speaker 7: with social issues. And has kind of just laid low
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: aside from that. So she moved from in front of
• 24:12
  Speaker 7: the camera to behind the camera. And I think that's
• 24:16
  Speaker 7: pretty interesting. One of my favorite little tidbits about her, too, with,
• 24:20
  Speaker 7: you know, involvement in this film is we're all familiar
• 24:22
  Speaker 7: with Night of the Living Dead, you know, and Barb, right?
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: That was her name, Barb.
• 24:26
  Speaker 7: Yep.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: They're coming to get you.
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 24:28
  Speaker 7: Oh, good, Barbara.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 24:30
  Speaker 7: Just helpless, cried through the whole thing, screamed, you know, whatever.
• 24:34
  Speaker 7: Not this depiction of female strength. And anybody who knows
• 24:37
  Speaker 7: me knows that I don't vote on that. I'm not
• 24:39
  Speaker 7: one of those women who's like, you know, kind of useless.
• 24:42
  Speaker 7: Galen Ross basically came into this thing and told Romero,
• 24:45
  Speaker 7: I am not going to scream. And Romero was like, well,
• 24:48
  Speaker 7: you're being chased by zombies and you're in this horrific situations.
• 24:52
  Speaker 7: You're probably going to scream once or twice. And she said, no,
• 24:54
  Speaker 7: she said she's not going to scream. She's going to
• 24:56
  Speaker 7: depict a woman who feels helpless at first, but then
• 24:59
  Speaker 7: finds her strength very early on. And she doesn't scream
• 25:03
  Speaker 7: in the movie at all. She cries once or twice,
• 25:05
  Speaker 7: but doesn't scream. So she's the true hero of this movie. Like,
• 25:09
  Speaker 7: I really believe. So I think that's really interesting.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: She is the hero of this movie. When we talk
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: about female characters that are just cinematic badasses, we're quick
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: to go to Ripley from Aliens. We're quick to go
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: to Sarah Connor from Terminator 2. But you can't sleep
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: on Galen Ross's Fly Girl because this is 1978 and
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: she is not the damsel in distress. She's purposely learning
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: skill sets. She's purposely involving herself in the action, being
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: a decision maker. And she's kind of running things in
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: this four to five position. Absolutely.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Galen is.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: I think she's doing an amazing job here. Wonderful woman.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: Got to speak with her a couple different times over
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: the years. And she's lovely. So how many of these
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: actors have you met? Because you do a lot of cons.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: Have you met all of them? No, I've met her.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: I've met Tom Savini several times. And I've met Ken
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Foree several times.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: Okay. Never the rest of them, though. Matt? Yeah, I
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: think it's not lost on everybody that she was pregnant.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: The idea of her being the strongest and also... surviving
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: is the hope of the movie because she's pregnant and
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: she's going to go off and she's going to ultimately survive.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: And I'll be honest with you, you see echoes of
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: this all through all the different zombie franchises, right? Often
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: you see it's the women in a lot of the
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: franchises that are the moral guidance of the groups most
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: of the time. I think she serves as that. I
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: think she does a great job. I think she's a
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: great actress. I didn't notice it that she didn't ever scream,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: but it was a great decision. The scream is really
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: a kind of an abandoning of all control.
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: Well, Amanda, you said something that I absolutely agree with.
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: Barbara in Night of the Living Dead, completely different type
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: of character. I loved Fran in this movie. And I
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: also loved the lead actress in Day of the Dead
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: as well. I think both women were very strong women
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: in terrible circumstances. But I think Fran wins it out
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: because she had that impending... I'm pregnant.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: So at some point, we have to deal with this.
• 27:16
  Speaker 7: Well, not only that, but the lead from Day, which
• 27:19
  Speaker 7: this is a whole different conversation, obviously, about a different movie,
• 27:22
  Speaker 7: but that woman trained for it. I can't remember her name,
• 27:25
  Speaker 7: but she trained for it. She knew what she was
• 27:27
  Speaker 7: in for. Fran came into this. We walk into this
• 27:30
  Speaker 7: movie three weeks into... Apocalypse. Apocalypse.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: The crisis.
• 27:35
  Speaker 7: The crisis, whatever you want to call it. Yep. And
• 27:37
  Speaker 7: the way she adapts so quickly. She has nobody had
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: Tritony at this point for this. I mean, go back
• 27:43
  Speaker 7: to 2000, you know, like nobody knew what was going on.
• 27:47
  Speaker 7: But she adapted. She grew. She learned. She got stronger.
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: Just just phenomenal.
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: And then last of the main characters.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: Let's talk about the group's alpha, both physically and intelligently.
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: He accepts the situation for the tragedy that it is
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: without negating the pain and sadness of the threat that
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: they face.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: One of his best.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: Moments right at the beginning of the siege on the
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: apartment building, he's putting bullets through the heads of zombies.
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: And he's also upset about it. He's crying and he
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: has to wipe his eyes a couple of times because
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: he gets it. These aren't just animals. These aren't just targets.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: These are these were people a day ago. They were
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: making breakfast and playing with their kids. So I think
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: he's amazing. And much like Fly Girl, Galen Ross, he's
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: kind of the moral backbone of the group. Talking about
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: Ken Furry, obviously, Peter Washington. So cool. He doesn't need
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: a nickname. He's like the one out of the whole
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: group that doesn't get a nickname. Longtime collaborator of George A.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Romero.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: He's an absolute legend in the horror community. Talking memorable
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: roles in From Beyond, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3. He's had
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: memorable roles. Chuck, you mentioned Zack Snyder's Dawn of the
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Dead remake where he had the cameo as the televangelist
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: who gets to say the iconic line, you know, when
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: the earth.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: He got to say it.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I love him.
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: Me, personally, I love his character of Charlie in The
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Devil's Rejects. And let's not forget, you've seen him in
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: pretty much all your favorite TV episodes talking about shows
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: like Dukes of Hazzard, Hill Street Blues, The A-Team, Knight Rider,
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: The Fall Guy, The X-Files, Quantum Leap. And the man
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: is still out there. He is still putting out quality work.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Last time I talked to him, he was putting together
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: a comic book. I think I'm going to be seeing
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: him at Scarefest and I got to check in with
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: him on that. But Peter is, it's who I connect
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: to the most. If I'm in this situation, I hope
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: I'm going to conduct myself like Peter. Fran crescendos throughout
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: the film. Peter, he keeps his head on straight. Every
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: flaw the other two men have, he doesn't have. I
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: don't think he has an Achilles heel. If he has
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: an Achilles heel, it's that he cares.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: He cares too much.
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: Well, I'm going to tell you, I got the opportunity
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: to meet him in 2010. We used to have a
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: very small horror convention here in Virginia Beach, and it
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: was called Blood on the Beach. I remember that this
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: was right after in The Walking Dead, the character of
• 30:18
  Speaker 4: Merle became a zombie and was killed. He was there
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: at the event. He was the main draw along with
• 30:23
  Speaker 4: other cast members from that particular season. I brought my
• 30:27
  Speaker 4: daughters there because they were just crazy about all of
• 30:30
  Speaker 4: these guys, especially the actor who played, I believe his
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: name was Axel. I'm walking around the rest of the
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: autographs and I'm seeing people that I know and I
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: get pretty nervous talking with people. And then I walk
• 30:44
  Speaker 4: by and I see Ken Foray and I'm like, you're him.
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: He goes, it is I. And the two of us
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: just started talking, right?
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: I want to say that I was kind of cool
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: and suave and debonair, but I'm pretty sure I'm like
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: Chris Farley in that Saturday Night Live skit. I remember
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: that one time when you had the gun and you
• 31:03
  Speaker 4: shot the zombie.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: That was awesome.
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah. He was very cool. My kids finally found me
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: and I said, hey, this guy plays one of the
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: coolest characters in 1970s cinema. Not only did he sign
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: the one photograph that I had bought, he said, pick
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: any other one and sign it.
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: And so I picked up this one. that has all
• 31:26
  Speaker 4: the four main characters in it. And my intention was
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: to get all of them to sign it. And then
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: David Emge passed away.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: I think we all want to be the Peter Washington character,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: but I think we all mostly end up being the
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Ned Beatty character from Deliverance. I hope not.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: I hope not. I'll tell you one thing about Ken
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: that I love is he's got a great sense of humor.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: And Chuck, you know, you've talked with him. Over on
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: a film by, we did our 1986 series. He does
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: a really creepy horror film called From Beyond in 1986.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: First time I met him, he's like, you look like
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: a Dawn of the Dead guy. I said, well, we're
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: all Dawn of the Dead guys, but I'd love to
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: talk about From Beyond.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: He went, what? Oh, okay.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: If you've seen From Beyond, you know that there's a
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: scene in the movie where... he has to run down
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: to the basement and he's just wearing his bikini briefs
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: because it's 1986.
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: And I told him, I said, Ken, you are absolutely
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: jacked in this movie. Like, what's the secret? And he
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: just smiled and goes, gotta hit them weights, baby.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: It's like.
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: I was like, okay, that's the plan.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Great guy. Amanda, any thoughts on Ken Forey?
• 32:36
  Speaker 7: I love his character, obviously. The actor himself, obviously iconic.
• 32:41
  Speaker 7: One of my favorite roles of his in that Abomination
• 32:44
  Speaker 7: that was the Halloween remake when he plays Joe Grizzly.
• 32:47
  Speaker 7: One of my favorite parts about that movie, though. I mean,
• 32:50
  Speaker 7: he had a Taco Supreme and he wasn't afraid to
• 32:52
  Speaker 7: pass it in public.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: That was a memorable part. moment. To be honest, that's
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: the only moment I remember from that movie.
• 32:58
  Speaker 7: Any role he takes on, though, is automatically memorable, I
• 33:00
  Speaker 7: feel like. So great character.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, guys, I hate to do this, but we need
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: Welcome back.
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: When I went to watch this, I thought I would
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: just go to a streaming service like Netflix or Tubi
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: or Pluto TV or somewhere. I could not find it
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: available to stream, so I had to go and dig
• 33:31
  Speaker 4: up my DVD editions. It only has one problem. Jeff
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: Johnson showed me his version of it, which is in 4K.
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: I priced that one out, and that was a yeah, no.
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: I will say, Chuck, my release, it's from Second Sight Films.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: Four disc, Blu-ray, 4K. It's got the Argento cut, the
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: international cut, the Cannes cut, the theatrical cut. And it's
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: got probably about three and a half weeks worth of
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: behind the scenes, audio commentaries, interviews. You're living at the mall.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: It's a fantastic one. It's going to cost you a
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: couple bucks. But for the fans that want it and
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: can afford it, it's definitely worth the price of admission.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Okay, go back and explain to me what all these
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: different cuts are.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: You've got the theatrical cut, which Romero, he always regarded
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: this as his definitive version.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: And that's 127 minutes.
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: And when you hear alternate cuts, a lot of people
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: immediately think, oh, well, I'm going to get more.
• 34:25
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: The thing here is that Dario Argento is famous for
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: the Argento cut. That's the European cut. It's been called
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: the zombie version. He cuts about nine to 10 minutes
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: out of Romero's cut. The main difference here is that
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Argento's cut basically removes any trace of comedy or lighthearted moments.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: It's faster.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: It's more aggressive and feels, frankly, more like a horror film.
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: And then you've got the Cannes Film Festival version. That's
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: actually got 10 minutes more than the Romero cut. You
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: got to remember, this is an early work print release.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: It's kind of rushed so they can get it there.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: He hadn't really locked the film at that point. There's
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: some extra footage there. it's kind of irrelevant, honestly. Chuck,
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: we talked off mic, you know, every year I kind of,
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: you know, hey, I'm going to go with this cut
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: this year. I'm going to go with that cut this year.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: It's fun to change it up because then, you know,
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: you catch yourself going, I don't remember this. Or if
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: you're watching Argento, you're like, I thought there was a
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: moment where Peter and Steven had a cut. No?
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: So it's fun to go back and forth between them.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: But those are your three main cuts. And then the
• 35:24
  Speaker 2: fun one I just got to bring up is the
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: Japanese cut. The main difference here is that it's mostly
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: the Argento cut, but all traces of the library of
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: music are gone. For reasons I couldn't figure out, a
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: lot of the music cues are from Suspiria.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: It's the music that Goblin wrote for Suspiria? Yes.
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: Yes. That's the Japanese cut. That's the one that's going
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: to be hard to find for you. Challenge accepted. Chuck,
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: if you show up to Shirley Fest and be like, hey,
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: I got the Japanese Suspiria cut of Dawn of the Dead.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm in. Let's do it. It may be
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: like my Star Wars 1977 cut. Just realize I have sources.
• 35:58
  Speaker 7: You know, I just want to throw in about Argento's cut,
• 36:01
  Speaker 7: the music. Dude, it's like watching an episode of the 18th.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
• 36:04
  Speaker 7: Through the whole thing, like through the whole first half,
• 36:07
  Speaker 7: I'm finding that I'm appreciating Romero's cut more with that
• 36:12
  Speaker 7: music in there. You know, that more campy style, playful music,
• 36:16
  Speaker 7: because it kind of wore on me a little bit.
• 36:19
  Speaker 7: I want to watch the rest of it. But yeah,
• 36:21
  Speaker 7: you can already see in the first half the tonal
• 36:23
  Speaker 7: difference for sure.
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: The Goblin soundtrack that was used in the Argento cut
• 36:28
  Speaker 4: is available on Spotify. Assuming that all of that was
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: written by Goblin, not all of that music is as
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: awesome as what was in the U.S. and what was
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: in Romero's cuts. For example, you know the scene when
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: they're flying over the country and all the rednecks are
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: out shooting? In the Romero version, they have this country song.
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: I can't remember what it was, but it's just... Like
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: blue grassy kind of country. Yeah, and it just goes
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: perfect with shooting zombies on the horizon, blowing up a
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: car and stuff. The music that they played from Goblin
• 37:02
  Speaker 4: in that same scene in the Argento cut is nowhere
• 37:05
  Speaker 4: near as good.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: I like the cued library. Yeah, I totally can see
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: what you're saying there, Amanda. Can I say one more
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: thing about Goblin before we go? You may say as
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: much about Goblin as you want.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: First off, you know, because we can go back and
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: forth on the library music versus Goblin, and there's no
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: wrong answer here. Ultimately, it's what flavor are you wanting
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: that this Halloween? Because I think the library music lets
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: you know you're in a safe place and it's OK
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: to chuckle at times. The Goblin score lets you know
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: you're not safe at all, ever.
• 37:35
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: I just want to call out Simon Park for a
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: minute because he's got I think the track's called Sun High.
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: It's during Flyboy's failed marriage proposal and then rises during
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: what has got to be the most depressing post-quittal moment
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: in cinematic history. The disappointed look on their faces just
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: makes me grateful we didn't have to witness the act.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: Honestly.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: I bring up Simon Park because he's got one of
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: the coolest pieces of music that was never used for
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: any of these cuts.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: The track's called Figment.
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: It's super famous and you've all heard it because it
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: ultimately was used in 2004's Shaun of the Dead.
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: Okay. Shaun of the Dead where it's like that.
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: Weird cackling that's that was originally written and composed for
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: dawn of the dead never got used romero never used
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: it no one ever used it this it's the best
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: piece of music and thankfully when sean of the dead
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: came around 2004 they're like uh can we get some
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: of that got one can we get some of that
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: that simon park stuff so yeah next time you watch
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: sean of the dead know that you're listening to music
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: that was made for dawn of the dead that's fascinating yeah.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: This is why we listen to the podcast. Right there.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: That's the insider info that you won't get on any
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: other podcast besides the Cinematic Flashback podcast. Tell your friends. Jeff,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: you got some red on you. I had plans, man.
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: OK, could someone please just explain to me why I
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: can't stream this online?
• 39:05
  Speaker 7: My understanding of why it's so hard to find streaming
• 39:09
  Speaker 7: online is because buying the rights to it are ridiculous.
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: Because there was a 3D version, a failed 3D version.
• 39:16
  Speaker 7: Did you guys read about it?
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: I've never seen it, but I've heard about it.
• 39:19
  Speaker 7: It apparently exists. But the story that I read was
• 39:23
  Speaker 7: the producer, Rubenstein, wanted to make a 3D version.
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: And they did.
• 39:28
  Speaker 7: It had Romero's approval. They did the 3D layering. It
• 39:31
  Speaker 7: was a re-editing of the film. He sunk so much
• 39:34
  Speaker 7: money into that, and it never came to be. It
• 39:37
  Speaker 7: was shown in a That when he sells the rights
• 39:44
  Speaker 7: to it now to DVD companies, production companies and stuff,
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: it's so high that these streaming companies won't pay these
• 39:50
  Speaker 7: prices anymore. That's my understanding of why you can't stream
• 39:53
  Speaker 7: it like on Netflix or anything.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: You can go on Amazon Prime and rent it there.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: I didn't see it there.
• 40:00
  Speaker 6: Really?
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: But at least it wasn't listed in my streaming services.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Rubenstein, huh?
• 40:06
  Speaker 7: But what would you think about a 3D Dawn of
• 40:08
  Speaker 7: the Dead?
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: Like, does it work? I think it'd be fun for
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: the sake of nostalgia. You know, will it look better
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: than the shark in Jaws 3D?
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: But it's not going to be Avatar by any stretch
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: of the imagination, but it'd be fun, you know, throw
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: on your glasses and watch it. I wouldn't be blown
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: away by it, but I would enjoy it in the
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: same way I enjoyed watching Friday the 13th in 3D,
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: like Part 3 in 3D. You mean the best one?
• 40:30
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: Well, I don't know about the best one.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's the best one.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: It's up there. It is up there. So I was
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: just looking at the release of the 3D version, and
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: it was in Regal Theaters in 2022 over Halloween weekend. Oh,
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: that would have been fun. We have Regal right by
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: my house. Wait a minute. I've seen it in 3D.
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: Oh. I remember seeing it about that time at the
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: MacArthur Mall.
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Isn't that crazy? I think I did. I just normally
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: don't go out to see 3D movies. I had a
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: 3D TV and video player for a long time. I
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: had seen a lot of movies that were converted to 3D.
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: And typically what they did is exactly what Amanda was
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: talking about. They kind of relayer a picture so that
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: the guy's hands come out to you. Although it's the
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: same filmed hands from the flat version, they just change
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: it so that it looks like it's reaching out. So
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: that's what I tend to remember. There was a lot
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: of reaching out. What I remember with this film is
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: you got depth of frame. The zombies standing up into
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: the helicopter blade, nah, missed opportunity. All right, let's talk
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: a little bit about Mr. Tom Savini, who I think
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: is the real MVP of this movie. Without him, you
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: don't get the zombies. You don't get the blood and
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: the gore. You don't get the exploding heads and you
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: don't get blades. I can tell you this. He is
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: the only man in Hollywood whose resume... lists him as
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: a stuntman, a makeup artist, an actor, and a director.
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: And if you're wondering if anyone got close to this accolade,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: there is one guy who fell one short. He never
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: directed a film, but it just happens to be Savini's
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: childhood idol and major influence, Lon Chaney.
• 42:10
  Speaker 7: Wow.
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: I had heard in Vietnam, in the Vietnam War, he
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: was a combat photographer.
• 42:15
  Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: And I think he was more or less self-taught. And
• 42:18
  Speaker 4: I think that when you have seen the real thing,
• 42:22
  Speaker 4: it's easier to know how things should look.
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: You're talking about the things that we have in Dawn
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: of the Dead because of him, Chuck. Let's not forget,
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: he never intended to be a stuntman. He becomes a
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: stuntman on the set of Dawn of the Dead because
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: he realizes, oh, we didn't hire a stunt crew.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'll take care of it.
• 42:41
  Speaker 2: The budget wouldn't allow it, yeah.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: All right, George, I got it. So this guy is incredible.
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: I love the fact that he kind of transitioned from
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: behind the scenes doing the special effects work on... Some
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: of the greatest ones, you know, Amanda's Creepshow, Maniac, Friday
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: the 13th. But he segues into acting profession. And then
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: he's a talented director. We've been talking about Night of
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: the Living Dead. Let's not forget the remake from 1990.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: That's directed by Tom Savini.
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: Oh, I'm queuing up all of my October films in
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: this conversation. I don't know if he regrets it or not, but...
• 43:17
  Speaker 4: The color of the zombies, I don't think they were
• 43:19
  Speaker 4: supposed to look quite the blue gray.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: He wasn't intending that.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: You have to wonder, and this might be a question
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: for Zombie Matt. Matt, how's it looking on the big
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: screen in 1978? Now we've got 4K resolution and we're
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: going to see every tiny little nook and cranny. on
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: our 80-inch TV screens at home. So, Matt, did you
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: walk out of Dawn of the Dead in 1978 saying, man,
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: what's up with the blue-gray zombies?
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: No, definitely. They looked gray because, remember, you're watching on,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: you know, fairly dingy reflective screen through some dirt on
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: the lens because, remember, this is analog. There's a film
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: up there. There's a dude slapping the rolls on, you know,
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: when the dots come up. Those are called Q-dots. Cigarette burns. Yeah,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: the real intention was, you know, that they looked dead.
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: In almost all of human history, we would have all
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: seen dead people really often. Since the 1940s and 50s,
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: it's actually pretty rare that you see someone who's passed
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: away that hasn't been embalmed, right? You don't really know
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: what a dead body that just kind of loses blood
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: looks like. So I think it was a good interpretation
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: of it. It definitely creeped you out. It definitely was like,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: this ain't right. And then with the acting and the
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: stilted walking, it really gave you the heebie-jeebies. There's no
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: 100% it gave you the heebie-jeebies.
• 44:46
  Speaker 7: You know, Chuck, like we discussed this during Suspiria, too,
• 44:49
  Speaker 7: I think part of the problem is that when you
• 44:52
  Speaker 7: ask a question like that, you're looking at it through
• 44:54
  Speaker 7: a 2026 lens.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: True.
• 44:56
  Speaker 7: We are looking at, you know, that stupid TV show. Oh, God,
• 45:01
  Speaker 7: what is that called? The one that everybody watches except
• 45:04
  Speaker 7: for me.
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: Walking Dead.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 45:06
  Speaker 7: The amazing makeup on there. You know, we're looking at
• 45:09
  Speaker 7: CGI now. We're looking at incredible practical effects that are
• 45:13
  Speaker 7: out and stuff. In 78, this was pretty good, you know. And,
• 45:17
  Speaker 7: you know, even Tom has come out and said that,
• 45:18
  Speaker 7: you know, he doesn't care for the blue color, but
• 45:21
  Speaker 7: it got the point across. In the grand scheme of things,
• 45:23
  Speaker 7: that's all you needed at that point in time. We
• 45:26
  Speaker 7: can't compare it to what we see now. You had
• 45:28
  Speaker 7: asked if my son saw it. He just turned 21.
• 45:31
  Speaker 7: I will tell you, he didn't say one thing about
• 45:32
  Speaker 7: the way they looked. And I figured if anybody would,
• 45:35
  Speaker 7: it would be somebody of that ilk because this is
• 45:38
  Speaker 7: what they're watching. This is what they're used to, you know,
• 45:40
  Speaker 7: like these zombie movies that are out now, even, you know,
• 45:43
  Speaker 7: as far back as the 2000 whatever remake that we
• 45:47
  Speaker 7: shall not speak of. But we can't look at it
• 45:50
  Speaker 7: through that lens necessarily. For the time, I think it
• 45:53
  Speaker 7: was amazing. And even looking at it now with all
• 45:56
  Speaker 7: these new effects that are out and makeup, the way
• 45:59
  Speaker 7: it is and everything, it's still got the point across.
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: And I think you're absolutely correct. And here's one of
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: the things that I observe from it is that almost
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: all of those. I mean, this is the one thing
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: that because I've watched a lot of the newer zombie
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: stuff and I enjoy it. One of the things rewatching
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: this was like, oh, that's where they got that from. Oh,
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: that's where they got that from. Oh, that's why they
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: do this. You know, it was all laid out for them.
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: I mean, George Romero basically rolled it out for him, said,
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: This is how you need to run a series of
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: the future, a long format series. All you got to
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: do is remake my movie over a longer period of time.
• 46:38
  Speaker 7: In 78, there was no predecessor, really, like mainstream predecessor
• 46:41
  Speaker 7: to compare it to. So it was pretty groundbreaking.
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: At the time. Yeah, 100%.
• 46:46
  Speaker 7: You know, and the fact that, you know, Romero, when people,
• 46:49
  Speaker 7: when these actors, all these extras who were paid like
• 46:53
  Speaker 7: with a burger or no, a donut and a T-shirt,
• 46:56
  Speaker 7: a T-shirt, but ask him, how do we act? And
• 46:59
  Speaker 7: he said, you don't just act like you're dead. And
• 47:01
  Speaker 7: refuse to give them overall, like, this is how I
• 47:04
  Speaker 7: want you to walk. This is how I want you to,
• 47:06
  Speaker 7: you know, lumber around. Because then everybody's walking the same.
• 47:09
  Speaker 7: You know, it's just all these things tied together that
• 47:12
  Speaker 7: really just made it so unique and memorable. Because if
• 47:15
  Speaker 7: you watch The Walking Dead now, they all act the same.
• 47:17
  Speaker 7: They all, you know, so there was nothing to compare
• 47:20
  Speaker 7: it to back then. And I think that's pretty remarkable
• 47:22
  Speaker 7: that it set the groundwork for everything to come that
• 47:25
  Speaker 7: now people want to compare it to.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: I think it also one of the appeals just in
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: general of the film is such a send up of
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: of the teenage culture in the mall. We spent every
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: waking minute in the mall. And it's a classic line
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: is like, we don't know why they keep coming back
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: to the mall. They just keep doing it. And just like, OK,
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: I get it. 17, 18 year old me, when I
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: saw it, I picked right up on that whole consumerism message.
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: And I think that was the first time I ever
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: watched a movie where I picked up what the director
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: was saying.
• 47:58
  Speaker 7: Romero's always got a message there.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: Always does. Always does.
• 48:03
  Speaker 4: Amanda, you sent me a picture earlier today with two people.
• 48:06
  Speaker 4: right at the very beginning of the movie. Who did
• 48:08
  Speaker 4: you spot?
• 48:09
  Speaker 7: George Romero and his, I believe, wife at the time,
• 48:13
  Speaker 7: which I think is really interesting because you have a
• 48:16
  Speaker 7: picture in your head of what Romero looks like when
• 48:19
  Speaker 7: you're my age. I mean, because you see the older Romero.
• 48:22
  Speaker 7: And I remember there was a cameo, and when I
• 48:25
  Speaker 7: rewatched it a couple weeks ago, I was like, oh,
• 48:28
  Speaker 7: I'm going to be able to pick him out. And
• 48:29
  Speaker 7: I went through the whole movie and I'm like, didn't
• 48:31
  Speaker 7: see him, didn't see him. And then all of a
• 48:32
  Speaker 7: sudden I'm like, oh my gosh, this movie is how
• 48:35
  Speaker 7: old he would not look like the Romero I have
• 48:37
  Speaker 7: in my head. So when I watched it right away,
• 48:40
  Speaker 7: I picked it up. So again, 2026 lens.
• 48:43
  Speaker 4: So one other cameo that I picked up on, Jeff,
• 48:47
  Speaker 4: I'm going to ask if you remember who Captain Rhodes
• 48:50
  Speaker 4: was from Day of the Dead.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah. What was his line?
• 48:54
  Speaker 3: I'm running this farm.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah. If you saw Day of the Dead, Joseph Palato
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: played Captain Rhodes, and he plays a SWAT officer. And
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: then finally, we've talked about Martin a couple of times.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: Martin starred John Amplis. He had a quick cameo in
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: this film as one of the tenement dwellers, and he
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: was wearing a red bandana at the very beginning. But
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: he was also Dr. Ted Fisher in Day of the Dead,
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: as well as Nathan the Zombie in Creepshow, who had
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: the great line, Where's my cave?
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: Where's my cave?
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: I think when Romero was building up his community there
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh, I think he had the actors who lived
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: in that area and he would use.
• 49:45
  Speaker 4: Them time and time again. I'm curious, who was your
• 49:49
  Speaker 4: favorite zombie in Dawn of the Dead?
• 49:52
  Speaker 5: Matt?
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: I did. My favorite zombie is the one that stands
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: up under the helicopter and gets a flat top. That
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: was just my favorite one.
• 50:01
  Speaker 7: That forehead is its own star of the movie right there.
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: So it deserves its own credit.
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: Matt, you are not alone.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: That is Tom Savini's favorite special effect in this movie.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: That's great. That's great.
• 50:14
  Speaker 4: I had to look at that so many times because
• 50:17
  Speaker 4: for the longest time, I did not see how they
• 50:20
  Speaker 4: did that. I think I might have seen a behind
• 50:22
  Speaker 4: the scenes filming of it. And now the magic is ruined, unfortunately.
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: Don't ruin it for me. I won't. Because I don't
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: know how they did it, except for put a little
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: head extension on the guy and have him stand up. Amanda,
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: did you have a zombie that you liked?
• 50:35
  Speaker 7: I do, but it's for a different reason, I think,
• 50:38
  Speaker 7: than everybody else's choosing theirs. Well, it's a tie.
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: Can I do a tie?
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: You could do two.
• 50:44
  Speaker 7: Sure. Okay, good.
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Juan, you got to give it up to Steven.
• 50:48
  Speaker 7: I think that's the most impactful zombie of the entire movie.
• 50:51
  Speaker 7: When those elevator doors open and you can tell there's
• 50:55
  Speaker 7: extra makeup, there was extra care taken into his appearance.
• 50:58
  Speaker 7: It's just seeing the downfall of this character that you
• 51:01
  Speaker 7: just spent the last, God forsaken, two hours with. It's
• 51:04
  Speaker 7: just horrific to me. Absolutely horrific. So very memorable. The
• 51:09
  Speaker 7: other one, this is coming out of left field, guys,
• 51:12
  Speaker 7: but it's another one that gets me every time. When
• 51:15
  Speaker 7: Fran is sitting on the one side of the glass door,
• 51:17
  Speaker 7: outside of Penny's, of course, or she's inside of Penny's.
• 51:21
  Speaker 7: And there's the zombie just sitting on the floor, playing
• 51:24
  Speaker 7: with his fingers, playing with his shoelaces, just looking lost,
• 51:28
  Speaker 7: looking at her like he doesn't know what to do.
• 51:32
  Speaker 7: And it makes you wonder, okay, these zombies are so disconnected.
• 51:36
  Speaker 7: Like they say in the beginning of the movie and
• 51:37
  Speaker 7: they repeat through the, you know, it's the repeating theme.
• 51:40
  Speaker 7: They're just shelves of themselves going about what they normally
• 51:43
  Speaker 7: would do because they have no emotion.
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: They have nothing.
• 51:45
  Speaker 7: They just have muscle memory. It makes you wonder, is
• 51:48
  Speaker 7: that the case for everybody? Because the look on his face,
• 51:51
  Speaker 7: the zombie look on his face, he just looks confused.
• 51:55
  Speaker 7: And it's such a moment of reflection in the film
• 51:57
  Speaker 7: that I think really just hits hard. And for me,
• 52:00
  Speaker 7: that's really memorable. His makeup was great. You know, there
• 52:04
  Speaker 7: was nothing crazy. It's just you saw a little bit
• 52:07
  Speaker 7: of a human side of a zombie. And I think
• 52:10
  Speaker 7: that was pretty impactful.
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: You know, Jeff, the zombie I thought she was going
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: to say would have been my number two pick, which
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: would be the nun zombie who gets her habit caught
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: in the door.
• 52:20
  Speaker 5: And Fran.
• 52:23
  Speaker 4: She just shows a little bit of mercy, if you will,
• 52:26
  Speaker 4: and just kind of opens it so that they could
• 52:28
  Speaker 4: get on. That's who I thought you were going to pick.
• 52:30
  Speaker 4: But yours is.
• 52:32
  Speaker 7: But it's the same. It's on that same vein, though.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 52:35
  Speaker 7: You know, because Fran hands her back the hat and
• 52:40
  Speaker 7: the nun just walks away. When the intrinsic behavior for
• 52:45
  Speaker 7: these zombies we've seen would be to go after her.
• 52:48
  Speaker 7: She's warm flesh. And she just walks away. So there's
• 52:51
  Speaker 7: a little something, maybe a little something deeper to some
• 52:54
  Speaker 7: of these undead than we're seeing up to that point.
• 52:58
  Speaker 7: And we see that in Day of the Dead, not
• 53:00
  Speaker 7: for spoilers, but we start to see that in Day
• 53:02
  Speaker 7: of the Dead, too. So I think these two undead
• 53:05
  Speaker 7: here that we're talking about are really a precursor for
• 53:08
  Speaker 7: what we're going to see in the next sequel.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: Jeff, who's your zombie?
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: It's definitely the poor bastard that takes a machete to
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: the head from Tom Savini's Blades movie. When I think
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: of Dawn of the Dead, it's one of the most
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: iconic images to come out of the movie.
• 53:23
  Speaker 7: 100%.
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: I remember seeing that photo in Fangoria Magazine. It's probably
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: why I went to the video store and grabbed that
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: white clamshell of Dawn of the Dead to begin with.
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: It's such a brutal moment.
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, especially seeing Savini just wind up, you know,
• 53:39
  Speaker 2: rear back with that machete, just buries it in the
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: dude's head. And then they take the time to unwedge it,
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: you know, out of his head. It's It's an all-time
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: zombie kill for me.
• 53:51
  Speaker 7: A nice preview to Friday the 13th Part 4.
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
• 53:55
  Speaker 7: Honing his skills there.
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: Before you saw Crispin Glover take it to the head,
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: it's this.
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: Guy in 78. It's fantastic. Such a good effect.
• 54:03
  Speaker 4: I absolutely love the zombie wearing these tight swimming trunks.
• 54:08
  Speaker 4: And I'm asking myself, what was he doing when he died?
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: Was he swimming? Was he getting out of the pool?
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: Was it hot? Was it cold?
• 54:18
  Speaker 4: What was going on with him? I think we've just
• 54:21
  Speaker 4: established that in Dawn of the Dead, these zombies, they
• 54:25
  Speaker 4: are all different. They're clothed different. However they met their demise,
• 54:30
  Speaker 4: there's a story and you can watch these people and
• 54:34
  Speaker 4: you can come up with what that story might have been.
• 54:36
  Speaker 4: But they're all characters in themselves. I really felt that
• 54:40
  Speaker 4: in this movie, when I walked away from it the
• 54:43
  Speaker 4: first time watching it, the zombies were all interesting as
• 54:46
  Speaker 4: well as being scary. Not individually, but when there's a
• 54:51
  Speaker 4: bunch of them. And you're backed up against the wall.
• 54:54
  Speaker 4: That's when they are scary as all get out.
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: Well, the thing about the zombies in this film, and
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: you got to look at a great director who will
• 55:01
  Speaker 2: ensure that every character in his ensemble will have their
• 55:05
  Speaker 2: moment to shine. You know, like the generic masses of
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: zombies that you see in other movies. Like, I'm looking
• 55:11
  Speaker 2: at you, World War Z. They're not scary, but Romero's zombies, they...
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: They've always been scary and somewhat tragic because of their look,
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: because of the clothing. These things hint at who they
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: were when they were alive. And that makes them real
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: in that sense. And that makes them something to fear,
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: We need to take one more break.
• 55:33
  Speaker 3: It's a cinematic flashback. Let the show begin. It's a
• 55:39
  Speaker 3: cinematic flashback.
• 55:44
  Speaker 4: Now comes the question that really matters. Did Dawn of
• 55:47
  Speaker 4: the Dead groove through the decades, lose its beat, or
• 55:50
  Speaker 4: fall somewhere in between? Jeff, as our guest, I want
• 55:54
  Speaker 4: to get your thoughts first.
• 55:56
  Speaker 7: Chuck.
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: Not only has Dawn of the Dead grooved through the decades,
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: I think it's fair to say it'll have you doing
• 56:03
  Speaker 2: the zombie shuffle like you're an extra in Michael Jackson's
• 56:05
  Speaker 2: Thriller video. This is an every year watch. And take
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: your pick. Watch Romero's cut. Watch Argento's cut. Don't watch
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: the edited for television cut. That's just cruel and unusual.
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: And if you've got the resources, find that Japanese cut.
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: Get yourself some more Goblin.
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: Grooves on.
• 56:23
  Speaker 3: Awesome.
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: Amanda?
• 56:25
  Speaker 7: Absolute guru. We've talked about what comes after this and
• 56:28
  Speaker 7: the different layers that were added to what Romero laid
• 56:31
  Speaker 7: out to begin with. It's fascinating to me. And like
• 56:35
  Speaker 7: I said, man, I showed it to my 21. Well,
• 56:38
  Speaker 7: at that point in time, he probably was only 16, 15, 16,
• 56:40
  Speaker 7: and he loved it. So that's a real testament, man,
• 56:44
  Speaker 7: if you can keep a teenager's attention. Especially over the two,
• 56:48
  Speaker 7: almost two and a half hour length of this movie,
• 56:51
  Speaker 7: which I could go on about two. But yeah, it's
• 56:54
  Speaker 7: a it's it's a banger.
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: Totally grooves.
• 56:56
  Speaker 7: Matt.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: So I don't think it's any surprise that I'm going
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: to say that it grooved because I think I already
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: said it in the first two minutes of our podcast.
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: The other part of it for me is that it
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: really was so full of memories and. recalling that time
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: when we went to see the movie and we saw
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: it again and we talked about it and everything when
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: we were younger and the whole idea of that whole
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: walking around the mall and everything just is so hilarious
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: and it was so funny to my son who's like
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: he really did that and then That sort of thing.
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: So yeah, 100%. I think it definitely grew back in
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: the day because we had a blast watching it. We
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: rewatched it. We saw it on drive-in movie theater screens.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: And then when I watched it again, just maybe a
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: week or so ago, absolutely just as impactful. So much fun.
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: A great story. A real surprising development of characters when
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: you think it could have just been one dimensional. It
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: definitely was not.
• 57:54
  Speaker 4: Well, hey, this is not even a question for me.
• 57:57
  Speaker 4: I mean, like Dawn of the Dead has to be
• 57:59
  Speaker 4: My favorite. horror film of all time. Because of this film,
• 58:03
  Speaker 4: I've become a fan of just the post-apocalyptic genre. Maybe
• 58:08
  Speaker 4: not so much of the early 70s, but like the
• 58:10
  Speaker 4: Mad Max and when stuff goes wrong. And I have
• 58:14
  Speaker 4: also become a fan of both Night of the Living Dead,
• 58:17
  Speaker 4: Day of the Dead. But after that, I have to
• 58:19
  Speaker 4: say Romero's zombie films just sort of fell flat. I'm
• 58:23
  Speaker 4: going to say that Night and Day and Dawn are just,
• 58:28
  Speaker 4: I love them so much. Dawn was so much fun.
• 58:30
  Speaker 4: I had a lot of fun revisiting it again. This time, Amanda,
• 58:34
  Speaker 4: there are things that I put together that I had
• 58:36
  Speaker 4: never caught before. Like I had never caught that they
• 58:39
  Speaker 4: were only three weeks in. I didn't put it together
• 58:42
  Speaker 4: that the reason that they were at the tenement building
• 58:44
  Speaker 4: was because the people were supposed to evacuate. They were
• 58:46
  Speaker 4: there to evacuate them and to get rid of the dead.
• 58:49
  Speaker 4: I always saw the television and the tenement building as
• 58:52
  Speaker 4: two separate things, but they're giving you a lot of
• 58:54
  Speaker 4: information that And I thought that was really, really good.
• 59:00
  Speaker 4: Galen brings so much to her character. Roger, he frustrates
• 59:04
  Speaker 4: me because I like him, but he's so tragic in
• 59:08
  Speaker 4: the fact that he gets in his own way. Steven,
• 59:10
  Speaker 4: he's almost tragic as a character. But, you know, finally, Peter,
• 59:15
  Speaker 4: he almost completely breaks down, but somehow he finds a
• 59:18
  Speaker 4: way to continue on. So without a doubt, Dawn of
• 59:21
  Speaker 4: the Dead just still continues to groove through the decades.
• 59:25
  Speaker 7: You know, something to add to this whole groove through
• 59:27
  Speaker 7: the decades thing. I think that Dawn is having a
• 59:30
  Speaker 7: little bit of a resurgence right now because of what
• 59:34
  Speaker 7: we went through in 2020.
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 59:36
  Speaker 7: Not to get, you know, too deep or whatever, but
• 59:39
  Speaker 7: we also lived through a time where in the beginning
• 59:41
  Speaker 7: we didn't know what was happening. You know, so you
• 59:43
  Speaker 7: look at that scene from the newsroom where they're all
• 59:45
  Speaker 7: screaming at each other. Whose fault is this?
• 59:47
  Speaker 2: What do we do? Is it best to evacuate?
• 59:49
  Speaker 7: Is it best to stay in our homes? I think
• 59:50
  Speaker 7: it's something that newer audiences now can relate to.
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, I know. Whereas 15 years ago, How do you
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: relate to that?
• 59:57
  Speaker 7: You can't. We just went through something where these younger
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 7: audiences and newer audiences can really identify with a lot
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 7: of these emotions and feelings, you know, of isolation and
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 7: survival and all that. It really just brings, I think,
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 7: back a lot of those core memories that are recent
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 7: enough for people to be able to identify with them.
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 7: So I think that's probably why it's having its day
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 7: in the sun right now.
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: What you just said was not lost on me while
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: I watched it, because I think this might have been
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: the first time I've watched it since 2020 all the
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: way through. That was definitely on my mind. Amanda, I
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: want to thank you and Jeff for both coming on
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: for Suspiria and for Dawn of the Dead. I appreciate you.
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 7: Thank you for having us.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: That was fun.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: Are you crossing the finish line over at a film by?
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: Honestly, this has been an awesome October. We kind of
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 2: started off the beginning of the month with our good buddy,
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 2: Wes Forsyth. We did Halloween 2. We talked about Scarefest,
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 2: which we had an absolute blast at. Cannot wait to
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 2: get all that stuff out to our listeners and to
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: everyone out there listening and watching. Amanda, Slasher Girl, I
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 2: never thought we'd be talking with Helene Udy on My
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 2: Bloody Valentine, and that was absolutely just awesome. So, Shout
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: out to the slasher girl because she made that episode happen.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: She's like, you know, let's do let's do My Bloody Valentine. OK, well,
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: let's get one of the cast. Like the fact that
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: we were able to do that, I can't think of
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: man enough for that. And and now we're about to
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 2: sit down with yet another awesome person, Nathan Basil, who
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 2: if you've seen Behind the Mask, The Rise of Leslie Vernon.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: Love the movie.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 2: It's celebrating its 25th anniversary. He'll be sitting down to
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: talk with us and we'll be celebrating that one. So
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: it's been a pretty awesome October. And I've been on
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 2: the Cinematic Flashback. I've been on the All 80s Movies podcast.
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: I've been on the Docking Bay 77 podcast. You're all
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: over the place.
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah. People are going to be sick of hearing me
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: for sure. Well, Jeff, we do love a film by.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: We like everything that you guys are doing over there.
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know how you produce all that content. Got
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: to hit them weights, baby.
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 4: Well, that wraps up our Goblin Connection Month. We didn't
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 4: really talk too much about Goblin, but we talked about
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 4: everything else under the sun. Join us in two weeks
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 4: as we return to Alan J. Pakula's Trilogy of Paranoia,
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 4: which we started earlier this year with Clute.
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: We're going to.
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 4: Begin with The Parallax View, starring Warren Beatty. Then we
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 4: will follow it with All the President's Men, where Robert
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 4: Redford and Dustin Hoffman play the two Washington reporters who
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 4: uncovered the Watergate scandal.
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: We want to thank you for taking the time to
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: tune in. If you've seen Dawn of the Dead, we'd
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: love to hear what you think. Reach out to us
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: on Facebook or leave us a message at cinematicflashback.com. Don't
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: if you're enjoying the podcast, Until then, thanks for listening.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 3: In the decade where every flick left a trace. Come
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 3: on and flashback to the tales untold.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: Where the heroes were gritty, the.
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 3: Villains were bold.
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 4: From the highs to the lows, every twist and spin.
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 3: It's the cinematic flashback. Let the show begin. So tune in.