All language subtitles for The.Core.S01E09.WEBRip.x264-ION10

Mickey:
This week on "The Core,"

we say goodbye and thank you
to genre gods

George A. Romero
and Tobe Hooper.

"Last Podcaster On the Left"
Henry Zebrowski

joins me to talk
about their iconic work.

Then, special effects
artist Gabe Bartalos,

legendary cinematographer
Daniel Pearl,

and "Dawn of the Dead" star
Ken Foree

tell us all the gorey details

of working alongside
the two masters.

Bust out the tissues,
the barf bags,

or whatever seems fit,
as we pay tribute.

No, no, please,
let me go!

Cut!
That was brilliant.

Perfect.

Hey, uh, I don't mean to be
Daniel Day Lewis here,

but is this, like,

putting a hat on a hat?Hat on a hat?

You got a zombie and
a redneck chainsaw man?

Yeah, why would he be
chainsawing up his own house?

This is my house, you know?

Guys, we're cross-pollinating.

What's the problem?

I forgot
everyone's a director.

Just, let's do it again.
Welcome to "The Core."

The circle of creation
is a brutal one.

It births new artists
and innovations,

but it also leaves us grieving
for the ones who came before.

Those who irrevocably
changed the genre.

Today, on this very special
episode of "The Core,"

we bid adieu
to titans of horror

George A. Romero
and Tobe Hooper,

icons who we lost in 2017.

Throughout the 1950s and '60s,
horror movies

were mainly escapist
monster flicks.

"King Kong vs. Godzilla,"
"Frankenstein Created Woman,"

"The Curse of the Werewolf,"

but by the late '60s
and early '70s,

America was neck deep
in some of the most

politically tumultuous
years in her history.

Racial tensions were
coiled tight,

the Vietnam War brought
graphic violence

into our homes
on a nightly basis.

Protest was in the air,

and it took that
rebellious sensibility

and nation on the brink

to change the face
of genre film.

Johnny: They're coming to
get you, Barbara.

Mickey:
In 1968, George A. Romero's
"Night of the Living Dead"

was unleashed upon
the public with,

of all things,
an African-American lead.

Never before had a horror movie

made such an unapologetic
social statement,

and the world took notice.

Romero's little zombie flick
made 150 times its budget

and independent horror
was changed forever.

Tobe Hooper tore his way
onto the scene in 1974 with

"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

Stark, brutal, terrifying,
and disturbingly realistic --

a perfect film
for the Vietnam era.

A precursor to modern slasher,

we've seen dozens
of horror movies

with a hulking figure
wielding a power tool,

but never before
"Texas Chain Saw."

Hooper went on to make
the quintessential ghost story

of the 1980s
with "Poltergeist."

In "Dawn of the Dead,"
Romero continued

his critiques
of American culture,

this time setting his sights on
our obsession with consumerism

all while perfecting
the zombie genre.

Without Hooper and Romero,

we'd still be watching
creature features.

With me to talk about
these filmmakers,

you know him as
The Demon on Adult Swim

"Your Pretty Face
is Going to Hell,"

and from "The Last Podcast
on the Left,"

Mr. Henry Zebrowski.It's good to be here.

Thank you so much for --It's good to be out
of my little cage.

So, all right, let's go
right off the bat,

George A. Romero,
we all love his work.

"Night of the Living Dead,"
one of the most influential
horror films ever made.

What's so appealing
about that film?

Well, it's got
political undertones,

it -- it's very relevant,
it is...

it's startlingly modern
when you watch it,

it's still very scary.
Yeah.

"Night of the Living Dead"
was, I'd say,

the beginning
of modern horror, right?

It was, like, the idea of
we can watch a horror movie

and subtly learn something
at the same time.

That's a great point
because I feel like him,

as a filmmaker, his movies,
they turn the mirror on society,

the reflect on
our inherent fears.

He's making art, he's not
just making genre work,

which, especially at
the time, was so schlocky.

You had this nugget of, uh,

beautiful acting,
real tension.

The ending of that film was
one of the most iconic parts

of any horror film

and showed that shit can
actually end badly in a film.

When we look back on that,
I think what's so interesting

is that ability to say,

"There's no safety net"
to the audience.

It's nice to know that
the lead people --

the lead characters
have stakes.

George Romero, in my mind,
so classic,

and what he did w-was really
inspire a lot of people,

and his was, like, the gold
standard for zombie horror,

and they branch into
the weird stuff,

like what we find
with "The Crazies,"

kind of like a general
paranoia about other people.

But then Tobe Hooper,
with stark realism with

"Texas Chain Saw Massacre"

was the granddaddy
of everything we see now.

The ultra realistic shit,
the stuff that you're supposed

to forget is not a movie.

And I think what's so great
about the realism

of "Texas Chain Saw Massacre,"

the man is the monster
and the monster is the man,

and the darkest thing that
we can do is to each other.

Oh, absolutely,
and Tobe Hooper based it

loosely off of
a serial killer,

like, a real -- it has --
it is grounded in real horror.

And so it has
a double effect.

And with
"Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2,"

which is my favorite,
probably my favorite sequel

to a horror movie,

he goes right to camp
and such great performances,

then he gave us Bill
Moseley, for the most
part, which is nice.

What I think is funny
and what is so inspiring
to me as a filmmaker, too,

is when you look at
behind the scenes of both

"Night of the Living Dead"
and "Texas Chain Saw Massacre,"

you just see
it's a skeleton crew.

It's guys with one camera
on their shoulder.

And it's directive vision.
It's, like -- There's a --

We don't have a lot
of that anymore.Right, exactly.

George Romero, I was
so entertained

by everything that he made.

Tobe Hooper scared
the shit out of me.

Right, so let's take one last
look at some iconic scenes

that these legends
have created for us.

Talk about the iconic
helicopter decapitation
in "Dawn of the Dead."

You very rarely see zombies
climb in any of these movies,

so it's just like, randomly,

one zombie's figured
out how to climb.

And, I mean,
it was like "Squish!"

I was obsessed with the script,
and at the end,

she actually
decapitates herself, you know,

instead of flying away
to a happy ending.

And then when I saw this for the
first time, I was waiting for

the decapitation at the end,
and it didn't come.

Well, she just --
you know, in the end,

they just thought that
this was a lot cooler.

And then, of course,
someone finally was like,

"Well this needs
a happy ending."

This is arguably the peak
of zombie films.

So, "Texas Chain Saw Massacre,"
the dinner scene.

One of the best parts of this
movie, as far as I'm concerned,

is the way it sounds.

There's very little soundtrack
except for the...

I heard that when
they filmed this,

it was, like,
120 degrees in the room.Oh, yeah.

And that they used
real meat as props.

It just reeked.

This movie's full of, like,
what-the-fuck moments,

but this whole sequence

is really kind of beyond
the pale of anything else.

It's a good reveal,
because at this point,

we've meet Leatherface.

He's, like, the Goldberg
of the group.

You've got the other two guys
that are essentially, like --

what was it, it was the Bash
Brothers from "Mighty Ducks 2."

They're very similar,
they're the good henchmen,

the Rocksteady and Bebop
of the family,

and up until this point,
Grandpa's just been a prop.

And you know what's so funny?
I think everyone's like,

"Oh, well this is so gritty,
it's so realistic,"

but I think the photography
in this movie is beautiful.

Going on the idea
of disgusting meat,

there's a perfect segue
into, weirdly,

the most disgusting meat scene
ever -- "Poltergeist"!

I think that it's
actually very close to
"Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

I think they saw the true
potential of meat.

And everyone said,
"Oh, Spielberg secretly
directed this movie,"

but I think this is
a pure Tobe Hooper.
Yes.

There's certain scenes
that Spielberg directed.

He definitely was, like,
"Make the little girl lost,

let's look for
the little girl."

And I love this
because, like,

it's another great
example of, like,

'80s horror where they don't shy
away from the prosthetics,

so it's just full-on.
And this is a PG movie!

Iiiiit's show time!

Mickey:
Oh man, "Creepshow."

I just love everything
about this movie,

particularly because it's
Stephen King,

it's George A. Romero,

and they're going crazy.They're going crazy.

I like that
Leslie Nielsen shows

what a great serious
actor he is in this,

and you forgot that
that's how he started.

And it's just, for some reason,
it's great to watch

Ted Danson
get tortured as well.

When you think about it,
in a strange way,

this is probably
one of the worst ways

in the entire world
to be murdered.

There's no way
to stop the ocean.

There's no way
to stop the tide.

I warned you, Martin.
Nobody in the town.

It's so weird,
'cause I feel like "Martin"

is one of those Romero films

that is never the first
out the gate to watch,

and yet it's so effective,

and it's so kind of stark,
and realistic,

and really, he set that
precedent of he took vampires

and he did something
completely different.

And when I saw this ending,
where it's just so blunt,

and brutal,
and there's no music,

and it's just horrifying,

and the way that he dies
is just so realistic,

it traumatized me.

Well, I love
anything that blurs

the line between
fantasy and reality.Yeah, totally.

That's my favorite
kind of horror

is the idea "Is he nuts
or is he bad?"

Or is things
really happening?

Is it a serial killer
or a vampire?

I always like shit
like that.

And that's what I think is
so brilliant

about George A. Romero
is he took these kind of,

almost like
mythological monsters,

and he put them
into real life.

What a great
pop culture artist.

"Funhouse." All right,
let's talk about this one.

It's another celebration of,

like, the carnival weirdness
that he does so well.

It's just got a lot
of fun visuals in it,
and also, it's like,

♪ Clowns and bodies,
clowns and bodies ♪

The colored lighting,
and the wide-angle lens,

and everything like that.
It looks like a giallo movie.

It does, and it's 'cause all
the reds and stuff like that.

I wonder if he actively did
that, if he actively said,

"I want this to be
my 'Suspiria'"

in a little bit, except
he doesn't have ballerinas.

I need to make my house
more of an evil carnival.

"Night of the Living Dead,"

greatest ending
of all time, maybe?

Sobering, political.

What a joyless
ending to a movie,

and stark and intense
for this time period.

Yeah. You're a
brilliant artist like that,

your observations
of the world

just reflect
naturally in your art,

and this is a case,
perfect example,

of, like, these hillbillies
coming and gunning down things

first and asking
questions later,

and a guy who we have
championed for the entire movie

makes it out alive.

No one even asked him
a question, just...

Boom! Shoot him right
in the head. It's awful.

It just also shows, it's like,
there are many storylines here.

Right.This is a world in crisis.

So, "Night of the Living Dead,"
a part of what's interesting

is that, up until this point,
we're like, "Wow,

what a personal tale of
these people struggling
in this house."

And then his storyline
just ends.It just completely ends.

Ends, and then a whole
other world of dudes

are coming here thinking
like they're heroes.

Like, this is another movie.Yeah.

Another movie has just
walked into this movie

and just rolled over it, and it
just shows how little we know.

Good shot.

Okay, he's dead.
Let's go get him.

That's another one
for the fire.

You know, I just think it's,
like, really kind of inspiring

that these guys
pushed the envelope.

"Night of the Living Dead" comes
out, there's no ratings board,

and that causes a ratings
board to kind of happen.It's very punk.

Especially
for a man who ended up,

like, I don't know, it's like,
it became the gold standard,

but it's funny how something
like that is so revolutionary.

'Cause then you can kind of
see now where it's like,

"Okay, no nudity,
no violence"

just immediately because
he threw it in there.

There's a standard rating
that you have to abide by,

and I hope more
filmmakers take --

Oh, no!

Dude, help me!
I'm sorry!

You piece of shit!

Oh, no!

Is this how you treat
your actors?!

No, you fuckers.
Stop it, no!

Choke on it!
Choke on it.

I think it's going
to be all right.

We're back again
with effects guru Jim Ojala

and you brought
a guest today.

I did, I brought my good friend
Gabe Bartalos

who is also a wonderful
special makeup

and creature effects artist,

and who was actually
on the effects crew

for "Texas Chainsaw
Massacre Part 2"

with the late,
great Tobe Hooper.

Damn.That's right, and over
30 years ago now.

Thank you so much
for being here today, sir.

So, Gabe, why don't you tell us
just a little bit about

working with Tobe Hooper
on "Texas Chainsaw 2"?

I mean, that's such, like,
a huge, insane deal.

Yeah. Yeah, you know,
it's interesting,

because a lot of times,
when you're on an effects film

doing special effects
or creature,

you don't know the film's
place in history

because time hasn't
unfolded yet.

But with "Chainsaw 2,"
it was interesting,

because I had a relationship
with Tom Savini.

His star was completely
on the rise as well.

He had done "Day of the Dead,"
which was a landmark film.

The next film for him as
an effects person, "Chainsaw 2."

It was the Mount Everest,
you know? It was perfect.

You know, I think we all knew
that "Texas Chain Saw 1"

haunted me, probably like
a lot of people.

It's minimal independence was,
like, a flag in the sand.

So, we knew now it's a studio
picture. What's he gonna do?

And the flavor of the script,
it was so different.

Could you tell that it was gonna
be kind of a dark comedy,

or...?
No, no.

The comedic elements weren't
there, and to Tobe's credit,

a lot of that rose
through the characters.Right.

Bill Moseley, as he made the
character himself as Chop-Top,

he found that place

where he probably
couldn't do it straight,

it had to get a little wacky.

But really, like, it was
perfect for the film.

Yeah, oh, my God.

The acting in that movie
elevates it, too.

To a huge extent, Dennis Hopper,
with two chainsaws on a belt.

Probably the
weirdest thing was

Tobe Hooper does a cameo
in the film.

There's a scene where, like,

these frat people
are running in a hallway.

He was really concerned
about finding the time

to make that cameo.

It was, like, they were trying
to get the scheduling,

and he had
this funny head gear.

Of all the things
to worry about,

I heard a few times, you know,

"Let's make sure
we nail that in there."

Jim, amazing entrails
as always.

Let's just kind of
go through it.

Yeah, we made a piece here
that could butt up to Henry.

Kind of like that.

Make a gut bucket
ahead of time.

That's silicone inside
so it doesn't leak.

And then we make a lower half
that has some intestines

already pre-loaded,
and then it can butt together,

and in fact, we even,
we put in magnets.

So, this thing can actually
click together, stays put,

and then our wonderful
art department here

made a false floor
so he could actually

hide the rest of his body in.

So then once we get his
fake body in place,

we take our gelatin skin,

drape it over all of this,
disguise it with a T-shirt,

pre-score the tee shirt

so the zombies can just dig in,

and then they can actually
rip the skin apart.

Now, Henry, how does it feel
to see all your innards

all laying out on the table?

We're just bags of meat with
electricity running through us.

Was Tobe Hooper
pretty responsive

to the effects sequences when
you guys were doing effects?

Like, was he really involved,
or, like...?

In the beginning, he was.

And to Tom Savini's credit,
he would lay every gag out,

and we would sometimes even do,
like, stick-figure storyboards,

and him and Tobe
would get in on it

so they had an understanding,
especially if it led

to a physical effects rigging
or a stunt scenario

that other departments
needed to be involved in.

But once that was set,
Tom Savini's a pro,

he's done this before, him
and his guys just run with it.

And from there, the amount
of freedom we had was huge.

What was the most insane
effect that you guys had
on "Texas Chainsaw 2"?

I think one of the crazier ones
was, opening the film,

there was a scene
on a bridge overpass

where the yuppies --Yes, "Death to the yuppies!"

Yeah, and we did a lot
of rigging on it,

it was done
with a couple stages.

There was a prosthetic appliance
that an actor wore,

and with a bladder,
an air device,

we lifted the head
so you start to see

the impact of the wound
on the talent's head.

And it was great because
it was a huge setup, you know?

The vehicles were cool,

Leatherface was going friggin'
nuts with the chainsaw.

It was, like,
so big and theatrical.

The -- well, look,
I can just show you.

There is a chainsaw
right here.

So, what they did was
very similar to what I'll do.

Oh, shit.
Whoa, hey there.

So, yeah, you know,
don't try this at home.

But every now and then,
you could go nuts

with the Leatherface dance,

swing toward your friends...

and suddenly...

Okay, cool.

Whoa.
Ho, ho, ho...
Oh, not good.

Man.

There has never and will
never be a movie

that looks like Tobe Hooper's
"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

It's a force of nature,

it's one of the most important
horror films ever made,

and here to talk to us today
about it is the cinematographer,

the man who shot the film,
Mr. Daniel Pearl.

Thank you so much
for being with us today.

How did you first
meet Tobe Hooper?

Right when I graduated, my
buddies were over at my house,

and I told them, "Guys,
I think I'm pretty good

at this cinematography
thing."

I was 23 at the time,
and I said,

"I will shoot a feature film
by the time I'm 35.

I'll be the youngest guy
to ever shoot

a feature film
anybody's seen."

And all my buddies, they were
all directorial students,

and they all went,
"That's pretty bold shit."

Well, three weeks later,
Tobe rang up,

and he'd seen some commercials
that I had been shooting

for the directorial students

that had graduated
ahead of me.

Whenever I talk about Tobe,

I have to talk
in his Texas accent.

He'd go "Dannel."
He'd always call me "Dannel."

"Dannel, man, uh,
I've seen you workin'.

I reckon you're the best
cinematographer

in the state of Texas and I
want you to shoot my movie."

So, I went, "Yeah, sure.
Can I read the script?"

Well, I read it,
and it was incredible.

Right there on paper,
really strong.

Literally hair standing up
on the back of my neck.
Yeah.

For Tobe, it was totally
a political allegory.
Mm-hmm.

For me, it was the story
of what would happen

if our cars broke down
between the cities.

We consider the cities of Texas
to be the safe islands.

You travel from Austin,
you know, 200 miles to Dallas,

or 80 miles to San Antonio,
whatever it is to Houston.

W-We were sure that if --
if our cars broke down

that the rednecks would
have their way with us

and certainly they'd, you know,
cut our hair and do whatever.

In my mind, it was sort of
taking that fear

that we had
to the next level.

But for Tobe, it was a lot
about the gasoline shortage,

the Vietnamese war, and just
a lot of the political injustice

that was going on
in the world.

What was your process
of working with Tobe,

the preparation and how
to conceive the idea?

I mean, I know we went and
scouted locations together.

I saw the locations.

But there weren't hours of
meetings and things like that.

In fact, we -- first week,
get to the set together,

and we started
shooting in the van.

And at the end of that week,
the primary investor at the time

decided we weren't
going fast enough,

and "You guys are just making
it up as you go," you know?

And Tobe and I were going,
"Well, what's wrong with that?

We're making up great shots."
And the guy goes, "No,

that's not how it's done.
Make a shot list

and that's how this film
is going to get made."

So, they shut us down
for a week, right?

And Tobe went off and he made
a shot list by himself.

Coming back
the following Monday,

after being down for a week,

I'm given a shot list
for the first day.

I'm there before Tobe,
about a half hour, 45 minutes.

I start setting up the
first shot. Tobe showed up.

Keep in mind, this is the days
before video assist.

So, as the cinematographer,
I'm the only one

seeing the shots
as they go down.

Tobe was always right
to my right,

right next to me, watching.

You know, we wind up
moving the camera,

put it someplace else,
right,

rather than what it said
in the shot list.

And we went through the day
not shooting the shot list.

"Tobe, what the fuck?"
I mean, you know, he goes,

"Oh, Dannel, man,
didn't I tell you?

We're not doing that." He goes,
"They made me write that list,

but we're just gonna
keep doing this the way
we've always done it.

We're just gonna keep making
the shots up as we go."

Comes the next day, it's a
Wednesday of the week, right?

And we're shooting
outside the swing.

They figured it out by 2/3
the way through Tuesday that,

"They're not shooting
the fucking shot list.

You guys are gonna shoot
that shot list, God damn it.

That shot list
and nothing else."

Right?
"Okay."

We're like whipped puppies.
Okay, okay, we got caught.

As we finished shooting
around the swing,

I go, "Tobe, you know,
I have an idea.

I think if I lay down
on this platform

and hang the camera
off the front,

and as Teri stands up,

I'll track with her
under the swing

and, as we clear the swing,

the house will start to be
small in the frame and grow

and grow and grow
and grow and grow

and envelop the frame."

The assistant director
at that point, he says,

"What are you guys doing?"

And Tobe goes,
"Oh, man, Dannel's

come up with
this amazing shot.

I mean, this is such
a strong opening

for the beginning of the
second act of the film."

He goes, "We have
to shoot this."

Then he goes, "No,
you're not shooting it

because it's not
on your shot list."

And Tobe goes,
"You know what?"

He goes, "Right now, I'm
the director, he's the D.P.

Get the fuck out of our way.
We're shooting this shot.

Maybe we're fired, maybe we're
not gonna be here tomorrow."

But he goes, "But it's way
too good of a shot,

and we're shooting it."

And I have to love him, man,
for many reasons,

but particularly
for fighting the fight

for us to be able to
make that shot,

because, as you know, it's
considered, in many places --

if you Google
"best dolly shot,"

it'll come up as one of the
best dolly shots of all time.

In fact, Marcus Nispel,
two or three years

before we did
the remake together,

he walked in one day
and he says,

"Have you seen
Premieremagazine?"

And I go, "No why?"
He goes,

"Oh, they reckon
you invented the dolly."

I go, "What?"

They said the dolly shot
was invented by Murnau,

and was put to further
use by Hitchcock,

and taken to another step
by Godard,

but perhaps the most pertinent
dolly shot of all times

is Daniel Pearl's shot on
"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

I started to cry.

Literally, I'm going, "I'm
in a paragraph with Godard?"

Murnau, Godard, and Hitchcock?
Oh, my God.

What is like, from what
you can remember, watching
him direct that film?

Very intense.
Very into it.

You knew what he wanted,
very adamant that he get it.

There was -- This story may not
have been told before,

where one night, the caterer
made marijuana brownies

and Gunnar had eaten one,
not knowing they were
marijuana brownies,

but Tobe and I missed it
because we were out scouting.

And Tobe and I carried on
by ourselves

the rest of the night
with Gunnar,

where he carves
through the front door,

and if you watch
that sequence,

you'll see
he's a little bit --

his footing and everything
is not quite right.

But he's running
with the chainsaw,

but Gunnar was
a strong ox of a man.

He could wield that chainsaw
like it was a toothbrush,

so we weren't worried.

You and Tobe worked together
again on "Invaders From Mars."

Well, actually, there
was something before
"Invaders From Mars."

Billy Idol, "Dancing
with Myself."

This is a crazy story.

Producer had an idea
to do the first 3-D video

ever to be on MTV and it was
gonna be anaglyphic --

the blue, green, and reds?

Like, the comic books
used to have?

And he thought Billy Idol
would be the perfect artist

to have this 3-D video,

and his plan was to sell
the glasses in the 7/11s

for, I forget if it was
$1 or $2,

and he was confident
he'd make a million dollars,

he was gonna get in,
produce one film,

and get out with a million
dollars and retire.

So, somehow, he gets to Billy
Idol, and Billy Idol goes,

"All right, mate,
if you want to do my video,

get me the guy who directed
'Texas Chain Saw Massacre.'"

And then the producer
knew that,

he went to
Keith Williams's house,

who was the writer for so many
of the early music videos,

and Keith said,
"Well,

Pearl lives up the street,
just a block away.

Come on, we'll go ask him
if he can put us...

put you in touch with Tobe."

And Tobe had just had
a bit of a rough ride

on "Poltergeist."

He had gotten
a bit reclusive

and not very communicative
to anybody.

And I went to his place,
and knocked on the door,

and I said, "Tobe,
Billy Idol wants you to
direct his next video."

"What?"

MTV had just been
on television

only for
a few months, right?

He goes, "I've been
watching that stuff."

He goes, "It's amazing."

But anyhow, what's great about
it was Tobe was nominated

as Best Director
of the first MTV Awards

and it was really just,
you know, a real...Rejuvenating.

...it rejuvenated him
fabulously,

and I'm very happy to
be able to pay him back
with a favor like that.

The entire horror community
was devastated

by the loss of Tobe Hooper.

I'm very curious as to what
the loss of Tobe Hooper

means to you, personally,

since you worked together
for so long?

Well, to me, I was -- I was --
I was shocked.

I was...

really just stopped me in
my tracks for -- for a while

because I do owe
so much to Tobe.

He gave me an opportunity,
I've been very fortunate

to have a very
successful career.

But he gave me
the start that --

I wouldn't have even gotten
my foot in the first door

if he hadn't given me
that opportunity.

So, um...

I'm forever grateful
for that.

That's why I'm here
with you today,

it's my chance to tell people
how much I owe the man.

And how much I miss him.

Us, too. We at "The Core"
adore Tobe Hooper

and your work has influenced

an entire generation
of filmmakers.

The most important horror
film maybe of all time.

So, sincerely...
Thank you.

...thank you
for being with us.

Thank you very much.

If I were to ask any of you
what the greatest zombie film

of all time would be,

I wager 9 out of 10
of you would say

"Dawn of the Dead."

And fortunately, I have
the star of "Dawn of the Dead"

here with us, Mr. Ken Foree,
to tell us all about it.

Hey!
Thank you so much
for being here.

My pleasure, my pleasure.

So, let's talk about
Duane Jones

for a little bit
and George Romero

as a civil rights pioneer.

Why do you think that
"Night of the Living Dead"

had such an impact?

Quite frankly,
I think Duane Jones,

aside from George Romero,

is the reason that
"Night of the Living Dead"

was such an important film,
because African-Americans

just weren't the heroes
of films in those days.

They weren't even
the leads of most films.

And then Duane Jones shows up
in this very low-budget film,

but he's the hero, he's the
person who takes charge,

he's the voice of reason.

That was new,
that was new for everyone.

And at the end, everyone wanted
Duane Jones to make it.

Of course!

It stopped being
a man of color.

It stopped being
an African-American

or a black man doing it.

This became everyone's hero,

everyone's knight
in shining armor.

This was Sir Lancelot
coming to kill the dragons.

It was Duane Jones
and he opened the door

and he was shot

and the entire world went...

Yeah.
"God, no."

And then I'm cast,
and I said,

"Well, I guess
it's just coincidence

or something like that."

And 15, 20 years later,
maybe,

maybe even longer than that,

people -- I'd meet people
in the airport

or at, you know,
the supermarket or somewhere,

they'd be African-American
people, they'd say --

Can I shake your hand?

"Oh, Mr. Foree,
you were the greatest,

and we're so happy
that you lasted.

You survived!"

"Most of us die
in the first two minutes.

You lasted over --" I said,

"Yeah, okay,
thank you very much,"

and I didn't -- I-I thought
it was curious.

I didn't think it
that important.

I just didn't get the...

I did -- didn't connect
the dots there until later,

I became to realize that it was
an important issue

in their lives

that the African-American
in this film

did not die in the first two
or three minutes of the film.

The torch being passed
from the hero in "Night
of the Living Dead"

to the hero in "Dawn of the
Dead," that's a big deal.

Had you seen the movie before
you saw "Dawn of the Dead"?

Oh, absolutely! I knew
Duane Jones, personally.

We were --
We were very close.

He told me a few things about
the climate in Pittsburgh.

Tell me a little bit
about that.

You know,
this is 1968, okay?

There was a lot
of racial tension.

So, he kind of felt
that it was, you know,

it was alive and well
in the midwest,

and especially
in Pittsburgh.

He said kind of, like,
"Hey, man,

you better be careful about
when you go down there."

There were some
racists down there

and he kind of
warned me about that.

But you didn't hesitate
when you got the call.

I bet you flew right out
to Pittsburgh.

Oh, no, no, absolutely not.
I was ready to go.

And it's such
an ambitious movie,

and it's such a big scope.

What, from your opinion, from
the perspective of an actor,

was the most difficult scene
to get right and to shoot?

I think that what
affected me the most,

I think it was the --

because it was the first
real acknowledgement

of what they were trying
to depict in this film,

was when we were in
the basement of the project,

and we broke through,
and I had to shoot those people

that were laying there.

And from my POV,
it was quite real.

How was it working with Romero
as an actor's director?

George was a
very quiet individual.
Mm-hmm.

He was a very man
and he was very generous,

and those things
you got a sense of

when you talked to him,
when he gave direction.

There was a ladybug
or something else

that had attached itself to him
and wouldn't go away.

You know, some people
might squash it,

or not treat it so gently
and throw it off...

He was so delicate
with this bug,

and he just slowly lifted it,
put it on his finger...

And it flew away?And it flew away.

Sums it up.And that was George.

Are there
any final thoughts

on George A. Romero
and his legacy?

I think that everyone,

from someone
who's creating a zombie film

for $5,000 in their basement,
to "The Walking Dead,"

they all stem from
"Night of the Living Dead,"

George A. Romero,
Duane Jones,

and then Ken Foree a little bit,
and Terry Alexander.

Absolutely.

Ah, this has been amazing.

Thank you again.
Thank you.

Ah! This is awesome.I appreciate it.

It's been wonderful.
Wonderful.

Mickey, my friend.

I applaud your beautiful tribute
to Romero and Hooper.Oh, thanks, man.

Yeah, those guys shared
some really wonderful stories.

It was especially poignant
seeing Henry's guts

spilled out and eaten.

Uh, I guess?

Oh! And when your head was
obliterated by a chainsaw.

It was just a lovely
celebration of humanity.

Sam, as always, you've got
a very unique outlook on life.

As did Hooper and Romero.

Let's talk about some films
that share their vision.Let's do it!

All right, I'm not gonna
talk about films

that are influenced by
George A. Romero and Tobe Hooper

because everyone is influenced

by George A. Romero
and Tobe Hooper.

"Night of the Living Dead,"
"Dawn of the Dead,"

"Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

These movies can't be topped.Very true.

But we've seen some
really wonderful films

that I think share
the independent,

frenzied, horrific spirit
of those movies,

so let's talk about them.

"Angst."

Gerald Kargle's Austrian
masterpiece.

This is an incredible
home invasion film

with amazing
cinematography.

This movie is absolutely unreal
and one of the only movies

that captures the frenzy
that Tobe did

in "Texas Chain Saw Massacre,"

the feeling
that a movie is about

to absolutely break
out of control

of everyone on that set.

It's a special film,
it's a violent film,

there's really
nothing like it,

much like there's nothing
like "Texas Chain Saw"

and much like there's nothing
like "Night of the Living Dead."

Ah, man, and
the cinematography inspired

Gaspar Noé's
"Irreversible," right?

Absolutely it did.

Let's talk about
"The Battery."

♪ But we'll still be together
and we can not be defeated ♪

I didn't want to talk
a lot about zombie films,

but I did want to talk about
what Jeremy Gardner

pulls off in "The Battery"

because I think what he does
is really comparable

to what George did
and the Image Ten did

when they made
"Night of the Living Dead."

It's a small movie
made for $5,000.

It's about character,
it's about humans,

and there's wonderful,
wonderful zombie work in it.

It's a beautiful independent
movie and a great success story.

And Jeremy Gardner, one of the
great actors of our generation.

Absolutely. I mean,
you know him well

from your own film
"Psychopaths."

Very lucky to have him.

"The Alchemist Cookbook."

Gosh.

Where are you?!

Very cool movie
from Joel Potrykus.

It's a film about isolation,
about madness, about dark magic,

and this features a really great
lead performance by Ty Hickson.

The reason I bring that up
is because even these days
in horror,

we're not seeing a ton of
great horror with black leads.

Obviously, "Get Out"
was huge this year.

Ty Hickson puts on
an incredible performance here,

it's a great little movie.
It's creepy, it's weird,

and it's deeply
about something.

Can't wait.

"Bedevilled."

This is my final one
because this is really like

the convergence
of Hooper and Romero.

It gets at
that sort of madness,

that boiling point that Hooper
nailed in "Texas Chain Saw,"

nailed in "The Fun House,"

and Romero who had deep,
deep, beautiful themes.

Civil rights, consumerism,

all the things that
bubble up in Romero's films.

Here in "Bedevilled,"
you'll see the madness

and you'll also see
real, rich conversation

about abusing women,

it's about people
who stand by and watch

and how complicit they are.

It's brutal, it's terrific,
it's deep, it kicks ass.

Cannot wait. Korean cinema
is the best cinema.

Exactly.

Well, these look fantastic.

And, uh, out of curiosity, how
do you want your funeral to be?

Oh, just simple.
Small, family, friends.

Oh, that sounds
really nice.

Yeah, and then I'll be burned
alive in front of them all,

much like the end
of "The Wicker Man."

Well, I'm...

sure your wishes
will be respected, Sam.

Hope so.

It'll be like
deluxe cremating.

Well, that's about it
for "The Core."

Thank you to everyone
who helped us pay tribute

to George A. Romero
and Tobe Hooper.

May they continue to
inspire generations

who have taste, brains,
and a taste for brains.

Oh, scoot over.
Let me get in on that.