Every Sunday at 11:30am was a special time for people on Long Island. WPIX showed Abbott & Costello movies at that time, and the best one of all was Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. It had everything. Abbott and Costello at their comedy best. Dracula, actually played by Bela Lugosi. Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolf Man. The Frankenstein Monster played by Glenn Strange. And of course you have Vincent Price making a 'disappearance' at the end in a special cameo.
Trivia:
Boris Karloff was asked to reprise his role as the Monster, but refused since he thought the idea of playing the Monster for laughs was a mockery of the poor creature. He did help promote the movie for Universal.
Glenn Strange broke his ankle on set. Lon Chaney filled in for him in one scene since he wasn't working that day.
Lugosi almost didn't get the part of Dracula for this movie. Universal was looking at Ian Keith, who was almost Dracula in 1931. They didn't think of asking Lugosi at first because they thought he was dead. His agent went to them and told them otherwise.
Walter Lanz, the creator of Woody Woodpecker, did the animation of Dracula changing into a bat.
Dracula's reflection in the mirror wasn't a mistake shot at first. Some say the studio intended to remove Lugosi's reflection from the shot, but ran out of time and left it in.
Have a Happy and Safe Halloween and...
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Showing posts with label Halloween Count Down. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halloween Count Down. Show all posts
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Halloween Count Down: Day 2-The Black Cat (1934)
"Do you know what I am going to do to you now? No? Did you ever see an animal skinned, Hjalmar? Ha, ha, ha. That's what I'm going to do to you now — flay the skin from your body...slowly...bit by bit!"-Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Bela Lugosi)
The Black Cat is one of those under appreciated films that falls through the cracks. I first saw it on channel 13 PBS when they aired their Kevin Conway hosted Cinema 13 Horror series that showed Universal horror movies from the 30's and 40's. Having nothing to do with Edgar Allen Poe's story by the same name, it teams Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi together in a film written and directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.
Karloff, looking weird in a widows peak hairdo, is the essence of what you'd think a Satan worshipper to be in 1930's. The character, who was based on Alister Crowley and director Fritz Lang, didn't divorce his wives, but kept their bodies preserved and hanging like statues in his mansion (for the record Crowley never did that...I can't speak of Lang though).
Even though Karloff got top billing, I really feel this is Lugois' movie. He plays the tragic Dr. Vitus Werdegast, who left his wife and daughter to fight in the war and was abandoned in a prison camp for the last fifteen years. When Werdegast speaks you can feel his pain. People forget that Lugosi was a World War One veteran having fought in the Austro-Hungarian Army and was wounded in battle. I think this gave him great insight into his character since they both shared a common background.
Universal made another Black Cat in 1941, a comedy horror film with even less to do with the Poe story. Lugosi was relegated to a small forgettable supporting role, another indignity in this great actor's life. Poor, poor, Bela.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
The Black Cat is one of those under appreciated films that falls through the cracks. I first saw it on channel 13 PBS when they aired their Kevin Conway hosted Cinema 13 Horror series that showed Universal horror movies from the 30's and 40's. Having nothing to do with Edgar Allen Poe's story by the same name, it teams Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi together in a film written and directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.
Karloff, looking weird in a widows peak hairdo, is the essence of what you'd think a Satan worshipper to be in 1930's. The character, who was based on Alister Crowley and director Fritz Lang, didn't divorce his wives, but kept their bodies preserved and hanging like statues in his mansion (for the record Crowley never did that...I can't speak of Lang though).
Even though Karloff got top billing, I really feel this is Lugois' movie. He plays the tragic Dr. Vitus Werdegast, who left his wife and daughter to fight in the war and was abandoned in a prison camp for the last fifteen years. When Werdegast speaks you can feel his pain. People forget that Lugosi was a World War One veteran having fought in the Austro-Hungarian Army and was wounded in battle. I think this gave him great insight into his character since they both shared a common background.
Universal made another Black Cat in 1941, a comedy horror film with even less to do with the Poe story. Lugosi was relegated to a small forgettable supporting role, another indignity in this great actor's life. Poor, poor, Bela.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Halloween Count Down: Day 3-The House That Dripped Blood(1970)
"TERROR waits for you in every room in The House That Dripped Blood."-Film's Tag Line.
This has to be one of the best titles ever, The House That Dripped Blood, just say it a few times out load. Each time you do it will sound creepier and creepier.
This is another of Amicus' anthology films (if you read this blog you'll know my fondness for Amicus), and is one of their best with a script by Robert (Psycho) Bloch based on his short stories. The wrap around story has an inspector investigating the disappearance of an actor from the title house, and is told of the other sinister events that have taken place there.
The cast includes Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who #3) and Ingrid Pitt (sign, nerd crush). Lee and Cushing don't appear together in the same story, but when Cushing is in the wax museum he does pass a figure of Lee as Dracula. An interesting bit of Trivia is that Vincent Price was originally wanted to play Pertwee's role, but had to turn it down due to his exclusive contract with A.I.P. at the time.
Amicus knew how to make great horror anthologies, an art sadly lost today.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
This has to be one of the best titles ever, The House That Dripped Blood, just say it a few times out load. Each time you do it will sound creepier and creepier.
This is another of Amicus' anthology films (if you read this blog you'll know my fondness for Amicus), and is one of their best with a script by Robert (Psycho) Bloch based on his short stories. The wrap around story has an inspector investigating the disappearance of an actor from the title house, and is told of the other sinister events that have taken place there.
The cast includes Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who #3) and Ingrid Pitt (sign, nerd crush). Lee and Cushing don't appear together in the same story, but when Cushing is in the wax museum he does pass a figure of Lee as Dracula. An interesting bit of Trivia is that Vincent Price was originally wanted to play Pertwee's role, but had to turn it down due to his exclusive contract with A.I.P. at the time.
Amicus knew how to make great horror anthologies, an art sadly lost today.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Halloween Count Down: Day 4-The Revenge of Frankenstein(1958)
The Revenge of Frankenstein is Hammer Films' sequel to their smash international hit Curse of Frankenstein starring Peter Cushing again as the demented Dr. Frankenstein. While the Universal movies contiuned their Frankenstein franchise following the monster, Hammer followed Cushing's doctor as he tried over and over again to take the power of God and make men (and sometimes women) himself.
Cushing escapes the guillotine with the help a defromed dwarf and sets himself up in another town as Dr. Stein, who is thought to be a good doctor that helps the poor. Really Frankenstein is just looking for parts. A young doctor figures out who he is and joins Frankenstein in his expiriments (which gets repeated in nearly every Cushing Frankenstein film all the way to his last, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell).
This is my favorite of the Hammer Frankenstein series (I don't count The Horror of Frankenstein to be part of this series, but that's for a later blog). Enjoy the trailer below and keep it in mind for this Halloween.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Cushing escapes the guillotine with the help a defromed dwarf and sets himself up in another town as Dr. Stein, who is thought to be a good doctor that helps the poor. Really Frankenstein is just looking for parts. A young doctor figures out who he is and joins Frankenstein in his expiriments (which gets repeated in nearly every Cushing Frankenstein film all the way to his last, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell).
This is my favorite of the Hammer Frankenstein series (I don't count The Horror of Frankenstein to be part of this series, but that's for a later blog). Enjoy the trailer below and keep it in mind for this Halloween.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Halloween Count Down: Day 5-Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Masque of the Red Death, base on the story by Edgar Allen Poe and brought to the screen by Roger Corman (his first production filmed in England) is a favorite of mine. I first saw it when I was eight years old on the Channel 7 (WABC TV here in New York) 4:30 Movie.
Vincent Price is sinister as Satan worshipping Prince Prospero who gathers nobles into his castle while the 'Red Death', a plague that causes the victims to ooze blood out of every pore and orifice, ravages the land. He enjoys the suffering of others, and kidnaps a poor christen girl from the village he had burned down in order to try and corrupt her.
Price seems to relish the role of the evil prince, who is so smug and pretentious that you want him to get what's coming in the end. Hazel Court, beautiful as ever, is often overlooked in this film which is a shame since she turns in a wonderful performance as Juliana the bride to be of Satan. Jane Asher looked every bit the lost innocent amongst the nasty nobles, who tries to hold on to her beliefs and virtue.
Special praise I think should be paid to Patrick Magee (Alfredo), Skip Martin (Hop-Toad) and Verina Greenlaw (Esmeralda), who make up the sub plot of the movie base on Poe's short story Hop-Frog, which is one of my favorite parts of the movie (and one of my favorite Poe stories as well). Personally, I think this should of been it's own movie, but it's done so well here I really can't complain.
The film looks above and beyond it's budget, due in part to two things. One, Corman took advantage of British tax laws to save money and put that money back into the production, and two he got to shoot on the set for Becket (1964) which had just wrapped so he didn't have to build anything.
I own the DVD (available at Amazon) and will definitely be playing this on Halloween.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Vincent Price is sinister as Satan worshipping Prince Prospero who gathers nobles into his castle while the 'Red Death', a plague that causes the victims to ooze blood out of every pore and orifice, ravages the land. He enjoys the suffering of others, and kidnaps a poor christen girl from the village he had burned down in order to try and corrupt her.
Price seems to relish the role of the evil prince, who is so smug and pretentious that you want him to get what's coming in the end. Hazel Court, beautiful as ever, is often overlooked in this film which is a shame since she turns in a wonderful performance as Juliana the bride to be of Satan. Jane Asher looked every bit the lost innocent amongst the nasty nobles, who tries to hold on to her beliefs and virtue.
Special praise I think should be paid to Patrick Magee (Alfredo), Skip Martin (Hop-Toad) and Verina Greenlaw (Esmeralda), who make up the sub plot of the movie base on Poe's short story Hop-Frog, which is one of my favorite parts of the movie (and one of my favorite Poe stories as well). Personally, I think this should of been it's own movie, but it's done so well here I really can't complain.
The film looks above and beyond it's budget, due in part to two things. One, Corman took advantage of British tax laws to save money and put that money back into the production, and two he got to shoot on the set for Becket (1964) which had just wrapped so he didn't have to build anything.
I own the DVD (available at Amazon) and will definitely be playing this on Halloween.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Halloween Count Down: Day 6-Re-Animator (1985)
The early eighties was a treasure trove for the young horror fan growing up during that era. Just when I thought it couldn't get better, BAM, along comes Re-Animator. It was based on the Herbert West: Reanimator series of short stories by H.P. Lovecraft and directed by Stuart Gordon (who would go on to make more Lovecraft films).
The performance of Jeffrey Combs as West is what really makes this movie. He has a single minded obsession with his experiments that blinds him to the potential dangers, not that he cares anyway. He's like a computer nerd, only he dabbles in cadavers not microchips. Incidentally, I've meet Mr. Combs and he's a very friendly warm person, totally unlike his West character. Darn it.
What really blew me away the first time I saw this movie were the make-up effects. The effects people really pushed the boundaries of what could be done, from the great screaming corpse in the beginning to the headless Dr. Hill. The dead looked like real corpses, special attention was paid to how real decomposition coloring looked rather than just spray an actor with pale white and blue grease paint. I'm still surprised they got away with an R rating back in 1985 considering all the gallons of blood they splashed up on the screen. The effects hold up when you watch it today, I think it's better than a lot of the CGI crap we get now.
The second half of the 1980's didn't hold the promise that the first half did, with the endless Freddy sequels, rip offs and slasher trash that flooded the market. In a way Re-Animator marked the end of quality horror movies for the decade. It did spawn two sequels, Bride of Re-Animator (1991) and Beyond Re-Animator (2003), but neither lived up to the original.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
The performance of Jeffrey Combs as West is what really makes this movie. He has a single minded obsession with his experiments that blinds him to the potential dangers, not that he cares anyway. He's like a computer nerd, only he dabbles in cadavers not microchips. Incidentally, I've meet Mr. Combs and he's a very friendly warm person, totally unlike his West character. Darn it.
What really blew me away the first time I saw this movie were the make-up effects. The effects people really pushed the boundaries of what could be done, from the great screaming corpse in the beginning to the headless Dr. Hill. The dead looked like real corpses, special attention was paid to how real decomposition coloring looked rather than just spray an actor with pale white and blue grease paint. I'm still surprised they got away with an R rating back in 1985 considering all the gallons of blood they splashed up on the screen. The effects hold up when you watch it today, I think it's better than a lot of the CGI crap we get now.
The second half of the 1980's didn't hold the promise that the first half did, with the endless Freddy sequels, rip offs and slasher trash that flooded the market. In a way Re-Animator marked the end of quality horror movies for the decade. It did spawn two sequels, Bride of Re-Animator (1991) and Beyond Re-Animator (2003), but neither lived up to the original.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Halloween Count Down: Day 7-Monster Squad (1987)
"Wolfman's got nards!" - Horace from The Monster Squad
And the seventh movie on my list is The Monster Squad (1987) directed by Fred Dekker and co-written by Shane Black who wrote the first Lethal Weapon movie (you know, the good one).
It's your basic story of Dracula leading the Frankenstein's Monster, a wolfman, a mummy and a gill man to a little town so they can get an amulet that will let the monsters can take over the world, and a bunch of kids, their little sister and a old Jewish man are the only ones to stop them.
This opened in August of 1987, and I walked from Kings Park (where I lived) to Commack so I could watch it (I was seventeen but I didn't drive yet). I went alone because none of my friends wanted to see a children's movie, or "those old monsters are stupid" (just so you know, I wound up punching out the guy who said years later, mostly because he was drunk and belligerent but I'm sure that foul comment was a small part of it too). Many others must of felt the same way because I was alone in the theater for a Saturday afternoon showing it's first weekend.
It was a kick seeing the "Classic" monsters back on the big screen. The characters of the monsters stay intact from what we remember from the Universal Monster movies (this wasn't put out by Universal). The wolfman can't control the beast inside him and just wants to be set free. Frankenstein's Monster is both child like and tragic. Duncan Regehr's Dracula is suave, blood thirsty and dangerous, at no time does he camp it up for laughs.
It would have been easy to make it goofy and have the monsters be buffoons but, like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Dekker and Black knew to have the film work the monsters had to play it straight. The boys reminded me of myself at their age, obsessed with monsters and reading Famous Monsters of Filmland. And they act like kids, not talking like adults with tiny bodies.
I recently rented the 20th Anniversary DVD (it was finally released after fans screamed for it for years) from Netflix to see if the movie held up after all these years, and it did. Get it, pop some popcorn, gather the family around and enjoy this one.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
And the seventh movie on my list is The Monster Squad (1987) directed by Fred Dekker and co-written by Shane Black who wrote the first Lethal Weapon movie (you know, the good one).
It's your basic story of Dracula leading the Frankenstein's Monster, a wolfman, a mummy and a gill man to a little town so they can get an amulet that will let the monsters can take over the world, and a bunch of kids, their little sister and a old Jewish man are the only ones to stop them.
This opened in August of 1987, and I walked from Kings Park (where I lived) to Commack so I could watch it (I was seventeen but I didn't drive yet). I went alone because none of my friends wanted to see a children's movie, or "those old monsters are stupid" (just so you know, I wound up punching out the guy who said years later, mostly because he was drunk and belligerent but I'm sure that foul comment was a small part of it too). Many others must of felt the same way because I was alone in the theater for a Saturday afternoon showing it's first weekend.
It was a kick seeing the "Classic" monsters back on the big screen. The characters of the monsters stay intact from what we remember from the Universal Monster movies (this wasn't put out by Universal). The wolfman can't control the beast inside him and just wants to be set free. Frankenstein's Monster is both child like and tragic. Duncan Regehr's Dracula is suave, blood thirsty and dangerous, at no time does he camp it up for laughs.
It would have been easy to make it goofy and have the monsters be buffoons but, like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Dekker and Black knew to have the film work the monsters had to play it straight. The boys reminded me of myself at their age, obsessed with monsters and reading Famous Monsters of Filmland. And they act like kids, not talking like adults with tiny bodies.
I recently rented the 20th Anniversary DVD (it was finally released after fans screamed for it for years) from Netflix to see if the movie held up after all these years, and it did. Get it, pop some popcorn, gather the family around and enjoy this one.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Halloween Count Down: Day 8-Elvira's Haunted Hills
Sorry this is late, work and life got in the way so I'll try and post #8 through #6 today.
And number eight in my list of top ten Halloween movies for 2009 is Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001). What do you mean you never seen it/heard of it? Sure, it wasn't played in wide release, only small screenings, and went straight to DVD. As far as I know it never played on cable either. That doesn't mean it isn't a good film or that you should miss out on it.
It stars Elvira (Cassandra Peterson who also wrote and produced) as...well Elvira. Lost in eastern Europe (around the 1800's) she and her girl friday find themselves in a castle straight out of a Roger Corman Poe film. Richard O'Brien (Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture show) is the master of the castle, who is slowly going insane and mourns for his long dead wife.
This film is a love letter to the horror films of Corman and Hammer (it's dedicated to Peterson's personal friend Vincent Price)and it shows on the screen. It's a parody, but it's a respectful parody that doesn't belittle the original subject.
There's a great documentary on the DVD that talks about the shoot in Romania where the people dress and look like they did two hundred years ago, letting the production save money on having to pay extras in costumes.
One little bit of trivia I found interesting was that Richard O'Brien's part of Lord Vladimere Hellsubus was originally to played by Richard Chamberlain, who dropped out just two weeks prior to film rolling. I can see Chamberlain playing a Vincent Price like character, but O'Brien is an inspired bit of casting and he chews up the scenery very nicely.
Elvira's Haunted Hills is available at Elvira's web site HERE.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
UPDATE 10/27-I finally found a trailer so I just added it.
And number eight in my list of top ten Halloween movies for 2009 is Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001). What do you mean you never seen it/heard of it? Sure, it wasn't played in wide release, only small screenings, and went straight to DVD. As far as I know it never played on cable either. That doesn't mean it isn't a good film or that you should miss out on it.
It stars Elvira (Cassandra Peterson who also wrote and produced) as...well Elvira. Lost in eastern Europe (around the 1800's) she and her girl friday find themselves in a castle straight out of a Roger Corman Poe film. Richard O'Brien (Riff Raff from The Rocky Horror Picture show) is the master of the castle, who is slowly going insane and mourns for his long dead wife.
This film is a love letter to the horror films of Corman and Hammer (it's dedicated to Peterson's personal friend Vincent Price)and it shows on the screen. It's a parody, but it's a respectful parody that doesn't belittle the original subject.
There's a great documentary on the DVD that talks about the shoot in Romania where the people dress and look like they did two hundred years ago, letting the production save money on having to pay extras in costumes.
One little bit of trivia I found interesting was that Richard O'Brien's part of Lord Vladimere Hellsubus was originally to played by Richard Chamberlain, who dropped out just two weeks prior to film rolling. I can see Chamberlain playing a Vincent Price like character, but O'Brien is an inspired bit of casting and he chews up the scenery very nicely.
Elvira's Haunted Hills is available at Elvira's web site HERE.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
UPDATE 10/27-I finally found a trailer so I just added it.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Halloween Count Down: Day 9-Mad Monster Party
Number nine on my list has special meaning for me.
My memory of the first time I saw Mad Monster Party is very vivid. As a child I had a heart problem that eventually needed surgery when I was seven. For years before that I had to go to the hospital for tests, which doesn't put a toddler in a good mood. I came home with my parents, miserable and still scared (doctors can be as scary as a monster when you're four) and turned on the TV to find this movie already in progress. Immediately I forgot the jabs of needles in my little arm and people poking and examining me. This movie made the pain and fear go away, and I'll forever be in it's debt.
Rankin/Bass, who made all those stop motion(they called it Animagic) Rudolph Christmas specials, made Mad Monster Party in 1967 with none other than Boris Karloff performing the voice of an aging Dr. Frankenstein. The script was co-written by Harvey Kurtzman and characters designed by Jack Davis, both Mad Magazine veterans. The premise is that Dr. Frankenstein wants to announce who his successor will be and invites all the monsters to a big party.
It's made for children for the most part. Still some of Kurtzman's dark sense of humor shows through between the monsters singing and clowning around. Today I'm surprised by the stuff that got past censors and parents back then, like some of Felicia's lines (not to mention her curves). Even after all these years I still think it's a wonderful film. Now I get to share it with my daughter and watch her eyes light up as mine did all those years ago.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
My memory of the first time I saw Mad Monster Party is very vivid. As a child I had a heart problem that eventually needed surgery when I was seven. For years before that I had to go to the hospital for tests, which doesn't put a toddler in a good mood. I came home with my parents, miserable and still scared (doctors can be as scary as a monster when you're four) and turned on the TV to find this movie already in progress. Immediately I forgot the jabs of needles in my little arm and people poking and examining me. This movie made the pain and fear go away, and I'll forever be in it's debt.
Rankin/Bass, who made all those stop motion(they called it Animagic) Rudolph Christmas specials, made Mad Monster Party in 1967 with none other than Boris Karloff performing the voice of an aging Dr. Frankenstein. The script was co-written by Harvey Kurtzman and characters designed by Jack Davis, both Mad Magazine veterans. The premise is that Dr. Frankenstein wants to announce who his successor will be and invites all the monsters to a big party.
It's made for children for the most part. Still some of Kurtzman's dark sense of humor shows through between the monsters singing and clowning around. Today I'm surprised by the stuff that got past censors and parents back then, like some of Felicia's lines (not to mention her curves). Even after all these years I still think it's a wonderful film. Now I get to share it with my daughter and watch her eyes light up as mine did all those years ago.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Halloween Count Down: Day 10-Return of the Living Dead
With Halloween just ten days away I've decided to do count down of my favorite ten movies to play on Halloween. These will be in no particular order, but I did try to pick at least one movie from each decade starting with the 1930's. First up is number ten on the list: Return of the Living Dead (1985).
John Russo, who wrote The Night of the Living Dead in 1968, retained the rights to use 'Living Dead' in a movie title and wrote a screenplay he wanted for the sequel. Tobe Hooper (Texas Chain Saw Massacre) was to direct it as a 3D film, but backed out to make Lifeforce. Dan O'Bannon (who wrote and starred in John Carpenter's Dark Star and lots of other great stuff) was brought in to polish the script, and when Hooper left O'Bannon was asked to direct it. He said he would if the producers did one thing: junk the original script and let him write a new one. They agreed and the rest is zombie history.
From the start it pay homage to George A. Romero's first film, but blazes it own path with talking zombies and incredible zombies like the Tarman zombie played by Muppet puppeteer Allan Trautman.
I first saw this when my parents brought it home from Cheap John's Video when it was release on VHS, but I had known about it from Fangoria and other horror magazine I read at the time. Most of the articles I read concentrated on the zombie effects and Linnea Quigley's (man did I have a horror geek crush on her) famous zombie strip tease.
What I didn't expect was the humor, which found just the right balance with the thrills and chills. I remember being a little mad that my mom and dad were going to watch it with me, thinking they wouldn't appreciate it, but we had a great time being scared and laughing it up. It was like a little party. To this day I love sitting down with a group of people to watch this, especially if they haven't seen it before.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
John Russo, who wrote The Night of the Living Dead in 1968, retained the rights to use 'Living Dead' in a movie title and wrote a screenplay he wanted for the sequel. Tobe Hooper (Texas Chain Saw Massacre) was to direct it as a 3D film, but backed out to make Lifeforce. Dan O'Bannon (who wrote and starred in John Carpenter's Dark Star and lots of other great stuff) was brought in to polish the script, and when Hooper left O'Bannon was asked to direct it. He said he would if the producers did one thing: junk the original script and let him write a new one. They agreed and the rest is zombie history.
From the start it pay homage to George A. Romero's first film, but blazes it own path with talking zombies and incredible zombies like the Tarman zombie played by Muppet puppeteer Allan Trautman.
I first saw this when my parents brought it home from Cheap John's Video when it was release on VHS, but I had known about it from Fangoria and other horror magazine I read at the time. Most of the articles I read concentrated on the zombie effects and Linnea Quigley's (man did I have a horror geek crush on her) famous zombie strip tease.
What I didn't expect was the humor, which found just the right balance with the thrills and chills. I remember being a little mad that my mom and dad were going to watch it with me, thinking they wouldn't appreciate it, but we had a great time being scared and laughing it up. It was like a little party. To this day I love sitting down with a group of people to watch this, especially if they haven't seen it before.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
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