A Night with the Living Dead

I recently had the privilege and pleasure to hang out with cast and production members of George Romero’s original Night of the Living Dead—a truly delightful group of people who are very obviously just as excited as fans about the legacy of this game-changing movie.

Judith O’Dea, who played Barbra, is even more beautiful now than she was back in 1968…and she was stunning then. She was even gracious enough to do a kooky green screen picture with me. (If you look closely you can see an image of the original Romero zombie Bill Hinzman—may he rest in peace—in the background.) I found it a lot easier to speak with Gary Streiner, NotLD’s sound engineer, than his brother Russ. Even though Russ, who played Johnny, had nothing but a smile on his face every time I caught his eye, I just couldn’t get past hearing “They’re coming to get you Barbra!” in my head. I’m not ashamed to admit it still freaks me out…

What really struck me in my conversations with the NotLD cast was their devotion to the movie, its’ fans and preserving the legacy. Gary Streiner, who has been championing efforts to save the chapel seen in the film’s opening sequence, did me a kindness and agreed to appear in the following blog post I wrote for the Zombie Survival Crew website.

Here’s an excerpt:

From the mobile unit of ZSC Commander-in-Chief, Juliette Terzieff, with special guest Gary Streiner:

When we think of iconic horror movie moments it isn’t long before visions of Bill Hinzman lurching through the Evans City Cemetery towards unsuspecting siblings Barbra and Johnny in the 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead float to the top. Like the gruesome murder of Janet Leigh in the infamous Psycho shower scene, or Linda Blair’s impossible head gymnastics in The Exorcist, the image of that first modern-era zombie seeking out a meal remains a favorite of horror fans around the globe.

George Romero’s black and white masterpiece is legend. A singular piece of filmmaking that has inspired generations of writers, artists, musicians, actors and filmmakers to probe through decaying flesh in search of the monster inside us all.

Read the full post here: http://zombiesurvivalcrew.com/2012/10/zsc-special-alert-fix-the-chapel/

Dead On …. And I am terrified

How The Walking Dead confirmed my worst nightmare

 

Ok, so, my regular readers (all three of you) know that I pride myself (endlessly) on my Horrordentials. I love “le freak” – the gorier, the better.

But this past week, a brand new series about the shambling hordes — The Walking Deadactually really and truly freaked me out.  

And, yes, I am going to tell you why …..

After the premiere of the show last week I jumped on to AMC’s official site to snoop around and decided – for a hoot – to take The Walking Dead Survival Test to see what character I would be in a survive-the-apocalypse situation. We all know who I think I would be, but I wanted to see if I was right.

I thought about my answers (as much as you can in the 30 seconds they give you).

I answered honestly (as honestly as I could knowing the “real” me).

I came up as:

Glenn, the plucky sidekick.

(Who is, of course, also smart, brave, loyal, forever funny – my additions)

 

Little did I know at the time, because I have not (gasp) read the graphic novels that inspired the series, that just one week later Glen would face my worst nightmare. Seriously ….

Continue reading Dead On …. And I am terrified

My Favorite Freaky Things

Ok, so I may not win the 2010 prize for originality, but given the onslaught of #lefreak into mainstream pop culture, the following seemed only appropriate for an All Hallows’ Eve.

With no offense intended toward the incredible Julie Andrews or the Sound of Music, here is my version of …. My Favorite Things

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Bloodstains on collars and entrails on the outside

Fangs on a Skarsgard and a Zombieland thrill ride

Jamie Lee Curtis cowering in a closet

These are a few of my favorite things

 

Continue reading My Favorite Freaky Things

“Night” I joined the Zombination

Now most of you know I pride myself on my Horror-dentials and love the fact that I am the head of my very own (self-created) #zombiesurvivalcrew 

(yes, I’m serious … and yeah, go ahead and laugh …. Just don’t come crying when the zombie apocalypse begins!).

… but I wasn’t always the brave, uber-organized, escape-plan-packed-in-boxes-in-the-garage zombiephone …

And so I shall kick off my Halloween week observance with a tip of my hat to the man who first scared me silly, … the one, the only ….

George Romero

 

It was, of course, a night or two before Halloween … one of those years where most of the leaves on the towering Buffalo trees had changed colors and fallen to leave the ground crunching under your feet.  The kind of night that would send every gust of wind sneaking in through the seams of my jacket to tickle the hairs on my arms. In other words, a perfect atmospheric storm of spooky!

Continue reading “Night” I joined the Zombination