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Pop Will Eat Itself: FX Master Tom Savini transforms Andy Warhol into a zombie, 1985
12.17.2019
08:39 am
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Tom Savini and Andy Warhol. All photos by Christopher Makos via Pittsburgh City Paper.
 
Before Tom Savini made Andy Warhol look like a character from one of George Romero’s films, he had never met the soft-spoken artist. However, his actor/makeup artist/stuntman younger brother Joe Savini had attended school with Warhol at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh. George Romero is also an alumnus of the school. Following the release of Day of the Dead in 1985, Savini would receive a call on behalf of Andy Warhol requesting that he transform Andy into one of his iconic zombies. Given the fact that Pittsburgh is truly the center of the zombie universe, as well as the birthplace of Andy Warhol and Tom Savini, the pop artist’s request to become a zombie was perhaps inevitable. Whatever the case may be, Savini and long-time colleague FX legend Greg Nicotero traveled to meet Warhol in New York to make Andy’s dream of becoming one of the undead a reality.

During their time with Warhol, the platinum-wigged artist sat quietly while Savini and Nicotero worked their magic. Also on hand was Massachusetts native, photographer (and former apprentice to Man Ray) Christopher Makos, who captured a few moments from the threesome’s strange get-together. According to Savini, he himself was unaware Warhol was wearing a wig and gently tried to adjust Andy’s “hair.”
 

Zombie Warhol.
 
It turns out Andy Warhol was very much a fan of Romero’s Living Dead series and zombie culture. In an interview with the Pittsburgh City Paper, Makos, a close friend of the artist, believed Romero’s films—and others like them—were a part of the artist’s “fieldhouse” (though he likely meant “wheelhouse”). Warhol’s 1977 film Bad features a gory scene of a woman tossing her crying infant out of a window. It splatters on the sidewalk next to a woman walking by, spraying blood from its head.

Another aspect of Romero’s films that appealed to Warhol was how the filmmaker was able to make such a strong statement with a relatively small budget. In the case of 1985’s Day of the Dead, Romero saw his initial budget of seven million slashed in half. This forced Romero to make huge concessions not only to the original script and larger scale of the film, but his desire for Day of the Dead to be unrated. If you’re a fan of this film, the reality of the drastic cuts ended up producing some of the greatest practical effects ever, as well as the gift of another Massachusetts native, Joseph Pilato (RIP) in the unforgettable role of Captain Henry—“Choke on ‘em!”—Rhodes, who only got the part as a direct result of the reduction in the film’s budget.

Makos’ photographic legacy is astounding in its own right, and his many images of Andy Warhol can be found in his beautiful books on Andy. Tom Savini has recently released his highly anticipated autobiography, Savini: The Biography.
 

An alternate image of Warhol as a Savini zombie.
 

The trailer for Andy Warhol’s ‘Bad.’

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Andy Warhol interviews Frank Zappa (whom he hated) without uttering a word
Andy Warhol meets the Cars: The notorious NSFW ‘nude’ version of the ‘Hello Again’ video
Oh, you pretty thing! Polaroid portraits of Andy Warhol in drag
The Andy Warhol episode of ‘The Love Boat’

Posted by Cherrybomb
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12.17.2019
08:39 am
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‘Send more paramedics’: A look at classic punk zombie flick ‘The Return of the Living Dead’


Artwork from Vestron Video and their UK VHS for ‘The Return of the Living Dead.’
 
Before we take a deep dive into the deviant classic that is 1985’s The Return of the Living Dead lets demystify the collection of films by late director George A. Romero and his partner John A. Russo. The first was Night of the Living Dead, released in 1968. Romero wrote the script for the film during his freshman year of college after meeting Russo while he was visiting Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh where he was studying graphic arts. After passing the script back and forth, the pair finally agreed the zombie antagonists in their film would be of the flesh-eating variety, not primarily brain consumers. With respect to zombie film super fans, this distinction has often been lost on connoisseurs of the genre, and Romero himself has publicly lamented about being constantly asked to include the words “Eat Brains!” while signing autographs—even though his zombies were just not into eating human brains. Initially, the title of the film was “Night of the Flesh Eaters,’ which was later modified for its theatrical release in order to avoid confusion with the 1964 film, The Flesh Eaters. However the release lacked notation of copyright, errantly placing the film in public domain where by definition an artistic work is considered common property.

In 1974 Russo would pen his first novel based on Night of the Living Dead. Four years later would see the publication of Russo’s second book Return of the Living Dead, which served as the basis for his dark screenplay (written with another Romero collaborator, Rudy Ricci) and subsequent 1985 film adaptation of the book. According to an interview with Russo in 2018, none other than Frank Sinatra had agreed to finance the film but withdrew after his mother Dolly Sinatra was tragically killed in a plane crash. After it was clear George Romero wasn’t interested in directing, the late Tobe Hooper was tapped but pulled out to direct Lifeforce (1985). Eventually, Russo and Ricci’s original screenplay would end up with a man of many talents and connections, Dan O’Bannon (Heavy Metal, Alien, Total Recall and, coincidentally, one of the writers behind Lifeforce) who revamped it completely so much so Russo has said he’d still like to see his (and Ricci’s) original screenplay get the film treatment someday. Ultimately, this about-face wasn’t a bad thing at all, and at the urging of the film’s distributors, dialog and scenes were at times meant to be darkly humorous. The pioneering O’Bannon would end up in the director’s seat for the first of five Living Dead films, this being the only one directed by him. Thanks to many factors and concepts influenced or directly implemented by O’Bannon, the film would become one of the most beloved zombie flicks of all time.

Think I’m wrong? Let me help you with that starting with one of the film’s stars, actress and heavy metal fitness enthusiast Linnea Quigley, and the trick behind her long nude scene in the movie.
 

Actress Linnea Quigley as Trash getting ready to do her graveyard dance in the nude. Sort of.
 
Part of the plan for the release of the film was that it would also, at some point, be shown in an edited-for-TV form; devoid of most of its nudity and questionable language. At first, Quigley, who spends pretty much all of her time on camera nude, had pubic hair. The story goes, one of the film’s producers just so happened to be visiting the set while Quigley was doing her graveyard striptease and freaked out at the sight of her bush and ripped Dan O’Bannon personally, telling him that pubic hair could “not be shown on television.” The then 24-year-old Quigley was sent off for a quick Brazilian at the beauty parlor, which further horrified the producer (said to be line-producer Graham Henderson), who responded that you could now see Quigley’s “everything.” This guy. The job of disguising Quigley’s down-under parts would go to the film’s art department who created a mannequin-like prosthetic for Quigley’s hoo-hah, which made her lady parts look like a barbie’s plastic vulva. So for those of you of a certain generation which grew up believing you saw Linnea Quigley’s hairless crotch in The Return of the Living Dead, I’m sorry. 

More after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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07.25.2019
10:21 am
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‘Wild Zero’ the ultimate Japanese zombie-comedy Rock’n'Roll Jet Movie!


 
Wild Zero is a cult/trash classic - a bizarre mixture of zombie-horror and rock’n'roll-comedy from Japan. It stars the excellent garage punk band Guitar Wolf
(comprising members Guitar Wolf, Bass Wolf and Drum Wolf) doing battle with a marauding horde of zombies from outer space, and a corrupt alien nightclub owner who steals their wages, armed only with fire-sptting motorbikes, cheap sunglasses and the power of rock’n'roll (oh, and some guns and a magical guitar pick!)

Imagine if the Ramones had wandered onto the set of Peter Jackson’s Brain Dead just as the crew held a mutiny being led by John Waters, and you’re kind of nearly there. The fact that this hails from Japan makes it all the more strange of course, and while you may snigger at the band’s mis-pronounced rallying cry of “Rock’n'Roll!” (repeated by the main protagonist, Ace, a Guitar Wolf super-fan who accidentally saves the band before getting himself into a whole heap of zombie trouble while trying to rescue a shy girl - or is she?), I guarantee you will be shouting it by the end of this movie too. As you’d imagine the soundtrack is awesome, and there’s even some unexpected innovation - like two zombies french-kissing, surely a first? If you’re looking for a feel good adventure ride just now, this is the film for you. Here’s the original Japanese trailer:
 

 

Thanks to Geoff Crowther for reminding me of this gem.

After the jump - it’s WILD ZERO!

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Posted by Niall O'Conghaile
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10.05.2011
10:34 am
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Harold Camping: The Zombie Apocalypse happens October 21
06.02.2011
09:24 pm
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Since the Rapture failed to materialize as predicted on May 21, the mainstream media has pretty much dropped 89-year-old crazy Christian doomsday kook Harold Camping and his un-Raptured followers like…well… the goofy losers they are. And rightfully so.

However, according to the Christian Post website which has continued following his dumbshit antics, Camping still insists that the Rapture DID IN FACT occur but only in a SPIRITUAL sense! Camping maintains that his dates for a May 21 Judgment Day and a October 21 real Doomsday are STILL—despite EVERY EVERY SINGLE BIT OF EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY—accurate and absolutely right on target. He was expecting maybe a little more in the way of some box office boffo special effects, sure, maybe some floods and for the earth to be torn asunder, but, hey, the Lord works in mysterious ways, fella! It’s not all shock and awe:

Judgment Day on May 21 did come, asserted Camping. However, he clarified that the Judgment Day arrived in a spiritual sense rather than manifesting in a physical Rapture.

On Monday, a caller asked Camping whether they would see any signs from Deuteronomy 28, beginning with verse 15, fulfilled in the coming End Days. The passage refers to the curse of God for those who disobey his teachings.

“Those who are unsaved are going to experience the curse of God,” affirmed Camping, president of Family Radio.

He predicted that whatever of a person’s corpse is left in the grave on October 21 “will be thrown out of the grave” and be “like manure on the ground.” Furthermore, those who die on October 21 won’t receive a burial, said Camping.

“They will be shamed in the eyes of God,” he said.

“On the last day, all the unsaved are going to come under the curse of God. They are going to be thrown out of the grave if there are still a corpse there or bones. If they are in the grave, they will be shamed in the eyes of God. If they die on that day, they’re not going to be buried. They’re going to be shamed in the eyes of God,” Camping further predicted.

He explained that the actual person himself will not really experience any of this beastliness because they are already dead. You mean like zombies? Exactly!

“But they will be shamed,” Camping insists. This coming from someone so impervious to shame himself, of course, but I digress…

Also on Monday’s radio show, Camping took some hits from a few of his pissed-off followers—some who are now broke and having a crisis of faith—on his radio show:

“I’ve been studying the Bible with you all those years,” said the caller Monday.

“I thought nothing would shake my faith that I would go through all the tribulations and all that. But now that I see that it didn’t happen once again, all I look at is disappointment from our Father.”

The caller commended Camping for “staying faithful” but expressed his own lack thereof.

“In my case, I don’t know what it means to be faithful anymore because I am really disappointed,” the caller said in a saddened voice.

—snip—

One ex-follower was so upset over Camping’s failed prediction that he threatened the doomsday speaker with violence and used profanity to address him.

“You’re really pathetic, you know? I wasted all my money because of you. I was putting all my money and my hopes on you,” an angry caller told Camping.

“Do you understand? I wish I could see you face to face, I would smack you.”

Camping attempted to explain himself but the caller sounded like he had enough.

“Mr. Camping, you always say a lot of (expletive). I lost all my money because of you, you (expletive),” said the caller.

I don’t feel one single lick of sympathy for these fuckin’ people. They got EXACTLY what they deserved: A really expensive lesson in REALITY.

Posted by Richard Metzger
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06.02.2011
09:24 pm
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The Ded Dave Show: A show about what zombies do when they are not eating you
12.16.2010
05:51 pm
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image
 
The Ded Dave Show is a local TV/webcast comedy show from the Detroit area that’s “about what zombies do when they are not eating you.”

The Ded Dave Show really pushes the envelope of how good an “amateur” production can be. In fact, its very existence goes to show how the line between the two gets erased further with each passing year due to better video equipment finding its way into the hands of eager and talented young filmmakers who don’t feel that they need anyone’s permission to make what they want to make. About the only thing separating “amateur” from “professional” these days seems be getting paid… which can still be an issue of course! Let’s hope Hollywood notices the talents on display here.

In this special Holiday episode—a yearly classic for the entire (Manson) family—join Ded Dave, Bog and a host of undead characters in their X-mas adventures in the land of the dead!

On Christmas night of 2009, The Ded Dave Show aired its very own Holiday special. Broken into two separate segments, the episode began with a gruesome telling of the “true” story of Santa Claus. The second half showed one of The Land of The Dead’s most sacred of ceremonies for Jesus’ birthday, its annual X-Mas Pageant.

 

Posted by Richard Metzger
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12.16.2010
05:51 pm
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