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156 - Day of the Dead (2008)
86 Plays1 year ago
"You know what? Where’s mom?"
We’ve reached the nadir of our Romero Remakes Spooky-thon with this remake of the 1985 zombie classic! We talk about some of the underrated members of the cast, discuss the differences between the remake and the original, and debate whether zombification begins at the bite or at death! The movie may not be great, but you won’t want to miss this conversation!
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- Find Stephen at @ChewyWalrus on Bluesky, Instagram, Letterboxd, and (for now) Twitter
- Find Brett at @sus_warlock on Instagram and Letterboxd
- Find Tucker at @icenine09 on YouTube and Instagram and @tuck_mugs on Instagram
Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content, including our latest episode of Oops! All Christianity Corner on William Friedkin's 1973 classic, The Exorcist: https://patreon.com/Disenfranchpod
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Transcript
Introduction to The Disenfranchised Podcast
00:00:27
Speaker
No, please don't kill me, Mr. Ghostface. I want to be in the sequel. That's what I'm talking about. It's the disenfranchised podcast, that podcast all about those franchises of one, those films that fancy themselves full fledged franchises before falling flat on their face. After the first film, I am your host, Stephen Foxworthy. And joining me, as always, the man with brains to spare, it's my co-host, Brett Wright. Hey, Brett. Hello, Stephen.
00:00:54
Speaker
That's right. We are right smack dab in the middle of our spookiest of thongs doing some Romero remakes. But before we get into the movie that we're discussing today, I do need to introduce that other guy over there. And his name is Tucker. Hey, Tucker.
00:01:11
Speaker
Hi, it's me, Tucker. How's it going, Stephen? It goes. That's pretty cool. Speaking of spooky season, you know, I have remembered to put the spooky version of the disenfranchised theme before both of the previous episodes this month, which I'm really proud
Guest Introduction: Tucker
00:01:27
Speaker
of myself for because I forgot all month last year. Yeah, you really did not remember at all.
00:01:33
Speaker
didn't exist. Well, it was kind of a weird time for me to October was a tumultuous month for me last year. It was. It was crazy. Yeah, shit was shit was going down. You can be you can be forgiven. But but yeah, gentlemen, we are here in week three of our four week exploration of the remakes of George Romero that did not get sequels this week. Brett, we are talking about just, you know, just one of them. Which one are we talking about, Brett?
00:02:03
Speaker
We're talking about Day of the Dead, not Day of the Dead Bloodline, just Day of the Dead. Yes. Also not Day of the Dead Contagion and not the TV show. So we're talking
Discussion on Day of the Dead Remake 2008
00:02:14
Speaker
about 2008's Day of the Dead. It was directed by Steve Miner, written by Jeffrey Rettick and starring Mina Savari, Nick Cannon, Michael Welch, Anna Lynn McCord, Stark Sands, Matt Rippey,
00:02:33
Speaker
Ian McNeese, Krista Campbell, Ving Rhames, Pat Kilbane, excuse me, and a few others. What a cast, gentlemen. What a picture. Look, Steven, out of that cast list that you just read off, there are two actors that I think, despite the poor script,
00:02:58
Speaker
And the poor performances from the other actors really shined through. And one was Stark Sands. I think he's just great in everything. And in this, he did the best with what he had. And I think he was probably one of the only ones that had some real actor moments that worked. Ian McNeese is always a good time, too.
00:03:21
Speaker
I thought he was really fun in this movie as well. He was the guy who played the radio DJ. Honestly, I don't think we got enough time with him.
00:03:32
Speaker
If I'm being real honest, I liked him. I mean, I enjoyed I enjoyed a thing. Rames as well as a little bit. He was in it. I thought he was fine. Yeah. I would. You know, I wouldn't say that he phoned it in, but he also doesn't really seem like he was all the way in it either. He's fine. He's not bad in this movie. I feel like his zombie acting is on point.
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah. This is a very good zombie acting. Assuming that was him under the makeup, which I think it is as far as I know. I'm really upset that I didn't get to watching Day of the Dead until today because I really wanted to go back and listen to the commentary because I have this on DVD.
00:04:17
Speaker
Now, you may be saying, Tucker, this movie sucks. And why would you ever watch it? Because it's horrible and stupid. Well, everything that I just said about it is valid. But also, this is one of those really bad movies that if you have a couple of friends with you and you're drinking a couple beers, you know, and you're maybe passing the bowl around or whatever, this is a damn good time, especially the first two thirds of the movie.
00:04:42
Speaker
It's it's really bad, but it's bad in a fun way. And like I say, like I said before, the dialogue is just it's so bad. It's like the room bad almost. But I wholeheartedly disagree with everything you just said, but not for good reasons. But it's nice. You've got if you've got a group and you're having a good time, this is a good party, bad movie. Every time I watch this with people, we have a good time. Every time I watch it by myself, I'm just bored.
00:05:13
Speaker
If I threw this on at a party, that would ruin the party and everyone would go home. It would it would basically have the effect of Carrie Fisher putting on the hot Star Wars holiday special at her parties. Well, that's why I said you have to have the right people, other people that appreciate how bad something can be. And Steve and from Steve Miner to this is like Steve Miners. I got you, Brett. I just got to say that Steve Miner
00:05:42
Speaker
is an established director. This guy is not just some like associate producer that stepped in to do some shit. No, fucking Steve Miner did Friday the 13th part two. He did Friday the
Critique of Day of the Dead Remake
00:05:55
Speaker
13th part three. He did Forever Young with straight up Mel Gibson, which was a big deal back in the day. Excuse me, he did Warlock. He did H2O for Cryin' in the Mud.
00:06:09
Speaker
like he's really nothing to sneeze at and then like what is this? What is this?
00:06:19
Speaker
I don't know. I don't see that's that's the weird thing. As I say, I don't know, but I've heard the commentary. And that's another reason that I kind of like this movie is because I've heard the commentary and everybody on the commentary. It's Steve Miner and I think the writer and a couple of the actors. And they loved making this movie like they had a real fucking good time during every stage of production of this movie. So like knowing that they were having such a good time making this shitty movie,
00:06:46
Speaker
It makes my heart warm a little bit. Just a little bit. I mean, sure. Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm glad you like it. I don't like it. I don't like this movie. OK, let's be clear. I do not like this movie. It will get a low star rating. I'm just saying with the right people. It's a good fucking time. Well, just to say, people that are drunk, stoned or both.
00:07:12
Speaker
Uh, you know, I think the first time I saw this with someone, I don't think we were either, but we still had a good time because it was just so ridiculous and we were just making fun of it the whole time. But it is the kind of movie that inebriating substances would probably assist with the enjoyment of. Yeah.
00:07:31
Speaker
Okay, that's my type five. Meanwhile, I was actively, I actively hate this movie. Oh yeah, it's bad. It's egregious, yeah. It's so bad. There were three times where I almost shut the movie off.
00:07:49
Speaker
That's fair. That's very fair. Twice. The first time when the zombie crawls in the ceiling. Second
The Original Day of the Dead and Romero's Impact
00:07:55
Speaker
time when the zombie goes through the door and crawls on the wall. And the third time when the scientist zombie alien to dude. So completely silent, tore him apart and threw him down on the floor completely silent. I don't know how a zombie fucking does that.
00:08:11
Speaker
But don't you know Brett zombies have superpowers. They're fucking spring-loaded. Don't you know that? Here's why I hate it cuz they're also spider-man cuz I look Running zombies, you know, I hate them, but they don't make any sense But like I understand why they have to exist. Yeah, no, I get it I don't like it personally, but I don't get it
00:08:37
Speaker
But zombies have powers that can jump around and crawl on walls and have no internal logic whatsoever. Sometimes they can retain memories of who they were and sometimes they can't. That only seems to happen when it's relevant to the story.
00:08:54
Speaker
Fully pure vegetarian. And when they're trying to reference the original in a very loose and stupid way, that's when I just, I can't, as I've grown accustomed and enjoy saying, I can't sanction that buffoonery.
00:09:11
Speaker
So I actively hate this film in every way shape or form. It's real bad. Yeah, it's awful. So the Day of the Dead was actually the first, the original was the first of the Romero zombie films that I actually ever saw.
00:09:35
Speaker
Um, and I don't, I think our friend of the podcast, uh, same with the mass, uh, when he showed it to me, I don't think he was, uh, happy with how I reacted to it. Cause I was kind of like, that's good. And he was like, no, it's not good. It's the greatest zombie movie of all time. And I was like, that's an important movie to us, Steven. I'm aware of that now, but I mean, it's fine. I appreciate this about Steven though, even if he knows how important a movie is to you, he doesn't hold back his opinion about it.
00:10:03
Speaker
So, and I appreciate that about it. It's always better to know. Honesty is the best policy, man. Yeah. So, I mean, I'll tell you what to think. But yeah, and I was just like, you know, it's fine. It's fine. And I watched it again this week in preparation for this podcast. In fact, I did too much homework for this podcast this week. Way too much. Because I watched not one, but two Day of the Dead remakes in addition to the original. Steven, you could have been watching good movies.
00:10:34
Speaker
Yeah, probably. But I didn't. I didn't do that. I watched. I watched this instead. Yeah. But I watched this and then I watched before I watched this, just, you know, really punish myself because what is October, if not for just masochism, I watched a little movie called David Dead Bloodline. And holy fuck, that's
00:11:02
Speaker
worse, but not that much worse. You know, if you want to see the the lead singer from that thing you do get really skeevy and lick a lick of college students face multiple times both as a human and as a zombie.
00:11:20
Speaker
have at it. It's on Netflix right now. God, why would you want to watch it? It's egregiously bad. But still, like just a little bit worse than this one, like this one also not great. And I'd say this is the best remake. And they all suck.
00:11:37
Speaker
This one is just a, you can, this one is obviously a competently made film. It's a real movie. Yes. Yes. That's what
Steve Miner's Career Retrospective
00:11:44
Speaker
I was getting at. It's a real movie. The other one is an actual movie. The other one feels like a student films they shot in a weekend. It's got that kind of like all the actors, very stilted, delivering, you know, like dialogue that they clearly don't understand what it means.
00:12:00
Speaker
Yeah, kind of like very amateur film kind of stuff, which I mean, some people really dig that aesthetic. Some people really dig that. That's fine. That's not my thing. But I was very intrigued by the way that both of these movies sort of
00:12:19
Speaker
distort the original, like none of them is faithful in any regard. In fact, I think of the remakes that we've been discussing, they've gotten progressively looser every week, like you get Savini's Night of the Living Dead remake, which is
00:12:37
Speaker
Very true to for the first god probably like hour of that movie very true At least to the spirit of the original if not, you know the action of the original And it's really only in the third act that things really start to get very different But then you get dawn of the dead Which we said last week was more an homage than it was a straight remake and then you get this which doesn't feel even like an homage it just feels like
00:13:06
Speaker
let's slap Day of the Dead on this zombie script that we have because it's got military people in it and we can probably make this guy into a walking, like the good zombie if we've been anchored up a little bit. I feel like what they did with this is
Zombie Movie Recommendations: Pontypool
00:13:24
Speaker
They'd seen the original movie. They had their own zombie movie that they were making. Somebody was like, Taurus Entertainment was like, hey, guys, you want to call this day the dead? And they were like, OK. And then they put in three or four scenes that are similar to the original and change some character names. And here you go. Yeah.
00:13:45
Speaker
Like the fact that they call Mina Savari's character Corporal Cross the entire movie, and then she's in the credits as Bowman. And so you're like, wait, what? What happened? What is this? Like someone didn't take a careful look at that before they put this together, but you know. Yeah.
00:14:06
Speaker
And also, somebody seemed to be a fan of Resident Evil. Yeah, it's yeah, dude. It kind of is Resident Evil. Yeah, it's more like really, it was at the end when I was like, wait a minute, has this been a Resident Evil homage? Yeah, they have their own T virus. Yeah. Like when they get to the secret lab, that's all super sterile and clean. It's very high fish. Yeah, very high fish. It's in the middle of a small town. The outbreak has happened in a small town like.
00:14:39
Speaker
Steven, come on. You at least know about Umbrella and Raccoon City. Don't do the video game. You know more than that. Not much. That's all you need to know. That's all you need to know. Like it's it's a secret experiment virus was released into a small town and they all turn into zombies. The end. Yeah, I mean,
Zombie Film Saturation Post-2004
00:15:00
Speaker
yeah, I don't know this this kind of like and you can tell like
00:15:05
Speaker
Quality drops in some level between the last one and this one. This just did not get a theatrical release. This was released straight to video, which usually disqualifies it from our criteria.
00:15:20
Speaker
We're making we're making the exception so we can talk about this as a part of this theme month. But like it's got it's got names in it. Like so you would expect that they would at least try to push this into into a theatrical release like who? No, nobody in this cast is in their prime. If anything, no, they're not. Anybody that we know in this cast are on a down slope.
00:15:48
Speaker
Nick Cannon is is on his way up. He's the one who's on his way up, I guess. When has he ever really been up, though? I mean, he's always kind of circling the bowl. That's where he lives. But I mean, Mena Savar. Yeah, she's several years off of her her highlight highlight run. But now Stark Sands, as I mentioned, Stark Sands, he has gone on to
00:16:16
Speaker
better things and he's a phenomenal actor and I think he really gives as best performance as he can in this movie. My favorite thing that he's been in is he's an inside Lewin Davis. I love that movie. And you know who he is in that movie, right? I don't. Who's the inside Lewin Davis? He's the the army dude that's staying
00:16:37
Speaker
Uh, with, uh, with Lou and Davis's pals and he's a singer and he's the guy who is going to get produced by the guy in Chicago when he gets out of the army. And that's why Lou and Davis goes to Chicago to play for the guy. Oh, that's, you know, like the, the kind of, the kind of naive kind of wholesome guy.
00:16:56
Speaker
Mm-hmm. That's him. That's Bud, dude. Straight up Bud. He plays it very well. Yo, he's good in everything I've seen him in for sure. Of course, you know, my favorite character, like small character in that movie is Adam Driver.
00:17:09
Speaker
Yeah, bug code. Yeah, dude. He's great, too. I love I love that moment, too, where Lou and Davis goes to stay at his place and he hits his toe on something. He pulls the box out and he's got a box of his own LPs as well. Like right. And Lou and Davis is like, oh, man, maybe I'm not the only one who's like living this life that sucks. Yeah.
00:17:34
Speaker
Um, now inside Lou and Dave's much better move than this one. So good. It's my second favorite Coen brothers movie. It's good. It's real good. It's top five for me. I don't know that it's that high for me for sure. One of these days we'll do our top five Coen brothers movies. We already did. Uh, we did a, uh, uh, uh, didn't dis and five chised Coen brothers movie a couple of months ago on the Patreon. Yeah. I know we did Fincher. Did we do? Nope. We did Coen Bros. Okay.
00:18:02
Speaker
We sure did. I promise you we did. I remember the discussion. I wouldn't be on it because I haven't seen enough to do that list. So you guys did it on your own. Yeah. Yeah. But my brain. Look, I'm so out of it, you guys. I'm so I'm very sorry to everyone within earshot of my voice right now, because it's been it's been a week. But yeah, no. April 30th, a serious top five, we called it. Oh, nice.
00:18:29
Speaker
Right on. It's the I've I have so much has happened since April that yeah. Yeah, one could say I hope I can get in for not remembering your week, your month or dare I say your year. As long as I got you guys to be there for me, then I guess I'll be all right. When the rain starts to pour, I'll be there. Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, dude, like I've been there before. Yeah, right on.
00:18:57
Speaker
I mean, because, you know, I'm there for you to. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do. But I mean, Ving Rhames is just.
00:19:11
Speaker
Perfunctory in this movie. He's just he this is kind of an NAR for him. No acting he's fine. He's not bad He's fine. He's just doing what he's got to do I'll tell you one I Joke never gets old. Yeah, but all right one actor in this movie that I actually legitimately do like who Doesn't
Debating Zombie Lore and Romero's Influence
00:19:37
Speaker
I mean his
00:19:40
Speaker
He's not he's not more well known and it kind of bums me out that he's not Ian McNeese. Yo, I was just talking about him when you were taking care of your dog, man. I was talking about how he's the shit in this movie and like everything else that he's in.
00:19:54
Speaker
No, I love Ian McNeese, man. I first saw Ian McNeese in the sci-fi original Dune as Baron Harkonnen. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Maybe that. As Baron Harkonnen. And then he would just pop up and stuff from time to time. And I'm like, I know that dude. That dude is fucking awesome. But he doesn't get
00:20:16
Speaker
the play that like a lot of the other like British character actors get like he kind of gets relegated to these like kind of silly little like secondary tertiary roles like he's the voice of one of the
00:20:34
Speaker
the Gorgons or go the big monsters and you had it right. You had it right. Oh, I did. In Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Vogue on Vogue on. That's what it is. Like he's he's in like Brian De Palma's Black Dahlia. Like he's he's got a recurring but very small role in Rome. The TV show HBO series Rome.
00:20:58
Speaker
Like he just shows up. I think he's like Churchill and like a Doctor Who thing. You know, his his most celebrated performances, I think, in Asia and nature, nature calls. Right. But yeah, like he just he just kind of shows up and stuff, but he's like he.
00:21:17
Speaker
I don't know. I'm bummed that he doesn't get more stuff to do because I've always really liked him as an actor. I wish we would have spent more time with the the DJ because that just like you don't even get to take the journey with that group. Like you just rejoin them at points and shit has happened. It's like that's where all the missing reels are. Yes. Is like is that story like. OK, I guess these guys showed up at some point. Here we are like.
00:21:45
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was just a bummer because he's great. He's fun. I don't know what happened. Yeah. And he's he's good. Like he's having a lot of he looks like John Goodman in flight is kind of what he looks like. Like if you've seen flight, like I half expect him to just be accompanied by sympathy for the devil every every time he walks on with.
00:22:10
Speaker
Please allow me to introduce myself. I would say if you want to watch a zombie movie set in a radio station, just go watch Pontypool. Yeah, I do. That's some good shit. What's the deal with that after credit scene, though, man? What's that all about? Kind of threw me off. I was like, what? What is this called? What am I watching? Pontypool, P-O-O-L.
00:22:38
Speaker
It's essentially someone spied on Joseph and I in middle school and took our idea and made it into a really good fucking movie. Oh, okay. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. We wrote this in middle school. We didn't publish it or you would have no way of getting a hold of it, but you still- And really, it's just the scenario that you stole, but still, we want money.
00:23:01
Speaker
OK, I'll tell you what he pulls the shit. It's lots of fun. I've never heard of it. It's unique. They're very unique zombies. They have a bit of a bit of a gimmick. These zombies don't spoil it for yourself. Go and watch. I normally hate zombies with a gimmick, but this one was. I was going to say, I know you do. You're not a bit. It was like like zombies meet trimmers, kind of, you know, saying, Brett, you don't say it. No, that's what I like. I like trimmers so much. Yeah, dude. Dude, yes.
00:23:31
Speaker
But I mean, this that pony pull comes out same year as this Day of the Dead remake. So like, again, this is kind of the zombie fervor has taken hold at this point. And we're like, yeah, we're deep into it at this point. Like, it's been four years since Dawn of the Dead last week, which we talked about. And like, it's it's just been.
00:23:51
Speaker
It's been long enough like the I don't know. It feels weird to talk about how saturated zombies were as part of the culture for that specific part of that decade. It was infuriating as a fan and being honest or like expound on that a little if you guys could.
00:24:12
Speaker
Well, for me, it was just that, and I mentioned this last week, once 28 Days Later and Dawn hit and everybody was making a zombie movie, right around that time is when streaming was in its infancy. So you had a lot of low budget movies. You had a lot of mid budget movies. You had stuff like World War Z, higher budgeted movies and stuff like that. And, but there were so
00:24:42
Speaker
many, so many, and 90% of them sucked. Sure. And it just really like before you got a zombie movie every couple years, if you were lucky. Mm hmm. You know, if like the 90s, I can't even think of a zombie movie from the 90s. Can't even think of one. I mean, Tom, separate out of the living dead, living dead. Yeah. I think but I mean,
00:25:10
Speaker
Do you got one? Well, I think I would describe this phenomenon as imagine if Marvel didn't have exclusive monopoly rights to the MCU. Imagine the early 2000s. They're just all public domain. All public domain. Anybody could make a Marvel movie. And everybody was making. And everybody, low budget, mid budget, high budget. And they all sucked. Yeah, and like 95% of them sucked.
00:25:36
Speaker
That was the zombie craze. It was just so frustrating because before, you know, you you could just chill and find the ones that were good and even the ones that were bad stuff like the video dead and stuff like that. I mean, it was still a good time because you had a zombie movie, you know, it was nice to just have one. And then 20 days later and Dawn of the Dead dropped and like you walk out your door and you're stepping in a pile of zombie movies and
00:26:04
Speaker
You're like, oh, why do I just keep coming to my door? Why can't I stop it? Man. I didn't order these. Yeah, exactly. Who wants this? Nobody wants this. Nobody. And then Jim Jarmusch comes in like 10 minutes later, or 10 years later, and he's like, I won't do a zombie movie. The dead don't die, yeah. And then it fucking sucks. Like, what the fuck, Jim Jarmusch? Oh, that's a bummer. He's never let me down before. Dead Man, the shit. Coffee and cigarettes.
00:26:34
Speaker
other shit
Vampire Lore and Its Evolution
00:26:35
Speaker
like Jim Jarmusch is like he's the Andy Darling that most people slept on that real ones know right the dead don't die came out and it was like what like I get what you're doing but it's not working
00:26:50
Speaker
And look at that cast, man. You got Adam Driver, Bill fucking Murray, Bob Odenkirk's in that movie. Close seven years in there, right? Golly. Yeah, the cast is stacked and it's just it's boring. It's the kind of movie that would have been good if it had been made in response to the remake of Dawn of the Dead. Well, because, yeah, like now we're getting those subversive ones that are like.
00:27:15
Speaker
good because their responses to the oversaturation like you've got what was the there was that one that wasn't good but then there's like um what was the one with uh the the teacher what's her name what the teacher zombie it's all it's all kids cooties no the other i like that movie cootie monsters and
00:27:41
Speaker
Maybe with Lupita Nyong'o and Josh Gadd? Yes, that's the one. Oh, I can't watch anything with Josh Gadd. That dude just annoys me just the sight. You know what? He leans into it a little bit in that movie and it's it's a little more bearable in that because he's he's a children's host. And so like when the Josh Gadd persona is on, it's really fucking obnoxious. But then when he's off, it's like actually pretty fun. He's like the James Corden. He's like the American James Corden for me.
00:28:10
Speaker
I get it. Not because and I do. Absolutely. Not because of that. They have similar body shapes. That's not what I'm saying at all. It's just they are similarly annoying. Yeah, except as far as I know, Josh Gad doesn't seem to be like awful to like people around him. Oh, yeah. I mean, he in the way. Yeah, he seems like a pretty cool guy.
00:28:36
Speaker
It's that theater kid try hard energy that a lot of people find off putting. It's the same thing people don't like about like Anne Hathaway or Lin-Manuel Miranda. I would like to hang out with Lin-Manuel Miranda. Let's put it at that. We would be friends.
00:28:52
Speaker
It's that kind of try hard energy that people associate with them that it kind of turns them off. But I think there's a lot of that in Josh Gad. I'm not particularly fond of Josh Gad. Yeah. Like he does kind of like the ubiquity of Josh Gad has kind of gotten under my skin. But like, I wish I wish him no ill will. No, not at all. I'm sure he's fabulous. Fabulous guy.
00:29:15
Speaker
I mean, on the other hand, right? Not so much. He is doing both a show with Andrew Rannells, a new Broadway show called Gutenberg, the musical. Nice. That I sounds really fun and I would kind of like to see it sometime. I actually did read about that recently. But unfortunately, neither of those actors are in 2008's Day of the Dead.
00:29:34
Speaker
Well, no, but we were talking about like the fun subversive zombie movies, even even even zombie lands, which came out a little bit after the saturation kind of at the tail end of it. I was going to say, didn't it hit 2009, the first one? Yeah, it was kind of fun. It was more near the end as it was tapering off, but maybe not. But still, it was clearly like a subversion of the, you know,
00:30:00
Speaker
oversaturation of the zombie movie. Yeah. Zombie comes out in 2009 and then Double Tap comes out 10 years after that. Well, that's that's great.
Bruce Campbell and the Evil Dead Series
00:30:11
Speaker
That was a good thing. I think about the whole thing taking off and there being oversaturation because it was so popular. The ones, the diamonds in the rough, the really good zombie movies that came out after the remake of Dawn of the Dead probably would not have happened.
00:30:30
Speaker
if the market weren't so hungry for zombie movies, you know? Like we wouldn't have Fido. Yeah, we probably wouldn't have Train to Busan either. Nope. And I don't want to live in a world without Train to Busan. I love that movie. Who would? Actually invoked that movie earlier today in conversation with my partner sister, so. As you should. Yeah. As you should. We do love Train to Busan. Train to Busan is my Roman Empire, as the kids say. We are all fans. We are all fans.
00:30:59
Speaker
Yeah, God, that movie rules, that movie rules so hard. And I, of course, as evidenced by the commentary track that Brett did, Brett and I did on it, God, like two October's ago, you know, I will cry at the end of that movie every fucking back when we did commentary tracks. Yeah. For things other than trailers back when Pepper, Pepper Char remembers how we could devote, you know, two plus hours to just sitting in front of a screen watching a movie. Yeah. The good old days. No, the good old days.
00:31:28
Speaker
when life was a little simpler and maybe a little easier. But yeah, here we are. We're here. And we're here talking about 2008's Day of the Dead. Big damn oof.
00:31:48
Speaker
Gentlemen, let's say we talk about the plot of this movie before we start digging any deeper into the rest of it. Let's do it. I'm into it. Do it. We have our predetermined places on the die.
00:32:06
Speaker
Yes, I remember that I am three and four. So while while Brett is prepping that, let me say the plot in 60 seconds is the part of the show where we recount the plot of the film that we are discussing, in this case, Day of the Dead from 2008 in 60 seconds or less. And to decide which of us will do that, Brett is going to roll the D6 of Destiny, which he has predetermined which sides correspond with which of us. And based on his role, that will determine which of us will be recounting the plot.
Media Literacy in Zombie Adaptations
00:32:37
Speaker
Well, so we have decided that our numbers will be set permanently. So that way it can be a little more fair because as the numbers change, they just kept dodging me. So I'm hoping by well, I'm not hoping. I am. I'm just being more fair. But so now we're going to have set numbers. So hopefully that means I'll actually have to do it every once in a while.
00:32:59
Speaker
Um, so tucker you were three and four last week. I think I was Five and six or was I one and two? Do you remember steve? I don't remember. I think I was one and two because I Didn't care for it at all right liked it more than the other two of us fair So, yeah, i'm one and two tucker three and four steven five six, huh
00:33:26
Speaker
That was a five, ladies and gentlemen, five. As soon as you said five and six, I was like, I know this is going to always go my way because the the the the the frequency with which you tend to roll fives and sixes when you do this is alarming. Well, look, we have set numbers now. So we do. The odds will say that we each have, what, a third chance every time. Sure. Three. So.
00:33:58
Speaker
There you go. Which house is just how it should be? It is. I'm just glad it wasn't me, because even though I've seen this movie many times, after about the first half hour, I just kind of zone out. I mean, no idea what happens, really. They go to the hospital and I'm like, what? I don't know what happens after this. I don't remember most of this movie, so I'm going to make up a lot of this stuff. And let's hope that what I make up is similar to what's actually in this movie. You can call me in for an audible, Steven. I might be able to help a little.
00:34:28
Speaker
No, I'm just I'm just going to do it. I'm just going to fucking wait. Like, I mean, I've got the I've got the Wikipedia plot synopsis pulled up, but it is not helping me. Are you going to tag me? And I did recently watch this right before the recording. If you want me to do it, I'll go and do it. I mean, no, it's no I must abide by the D6 of Destiny. That is that is the bylaws laid down by the podcast gods. So I I have been chosen. I have been chosen. I go my friends to a better place.
00:34:55
Speaker
Well, Steven, all I have to say to you is, you know what? Where's mom? Good luck. Thanks. Anyone going to like time me or? No, we were going to let you do it yourself. I will put 60 seconds on the clock. Thank you. I'll give you the 10 second warnings. As in adherence with podcast law.
00:35:22
Speaker
Alright, your time starts whatever the fuck you want. I don't care
00:35:28
Speaker
So I don't know, there's a fucking small town in Colorado and there's like quarantines and military and Mina Savari is there and so is this other guy and he thinks the town's a shit hole even though she lives there because it is kind of a shit hole. But surprise, the sickness that's like attacked the entire town, it's zombies really. And so everyone starts fucking turning into zombies and it like as it infects them, like their skin starts to fall off like immediately. It's really fucking weird. Anyway, they they
00:35:58
Speaker
I don't know. They run into some people. The military's there. Bing Rames gets mauled by zombies and then comes back and eats his own eye. They crawl through the, like, the, what do you call it? 20 seconds. They fucking diehard it through the hospital.
00:36:14
Speaker
I don't fucking know, man. Nick Cannon's there. Eventually, they break into some place to figure out how to get away from it, and a bunch of people get shot. Some of them make it out, and then a zombie screams at the camera at the end, and I don't fucking know what happened in this movie. That's the game. Yeah, no, that was fine.
00:36:36
Speaker
The only thing that you didn't really mention was that they ran into the doctor and then when they get to the underground facility, they find out that it's like this bioweapon straight up Resident Evil. It just turns into Resident Evil at that point. I think I read that the name of the project is the same one from the Andromeda strain, like the Michael Crichton book, the Andromeda strain. I believe that.
00:36:55
Speaker
Like they just straight up like ripped that off. And then of course, you know, they do the nice zombie that doesn't eat anybody except as opposed to him learning in the Romero movie or him having a high concentration of antibodies in his blood like the other remake. He doesn't need anyone because he's a vegetarian. Yeah, dude.
00:37:17
Speaker
He don't eat meat, but he sure like to bomb. Rough. Oh God, why? Why are you? Doctor, why are you? I am. I am the one who is called I am. We're going to hand wave that away and then mention this because this this doesn't even worse job. My biggest gripe with Dawn of the Dead remake is that it just that little homage.
00:37:42
Speaker
spits in the face of the point of the original. I agree. It does. It spits in the face, pisses in the face and shits in the face of the original. And that's just it. Like that is, I think, the important thing about the original Dawn of the Dead. And it's the thing that neither of the remakes that I watched this week handle well at all. Yeah. Like they don't handle it particularly well at all. And it's it's really kind of infuriating. Well, it's hard to remake perfection. It's
00:38:12
Speaker
It's honestly, it's similar to my Zack Snyder Watchmen problem, where it's like, yeah, you can make this thing, but did you even understand the point of the thing you're adapting? Because I don't think you did.
00:38:26
Speaker
As far as Watchmen goes, it always seemed to me like it was more like, and I hate it when directors do this, I don't think that Zack Snyder trusted his audience to understand the point. I don't think Zack Snyder understood the point, honestly. I don't know. He seems like a pretty smart guy.
00:38:46
Speaker
I mean, he gives every one of those characters a hero shot, tells me he does not he does not get the point of the original because the point of the original is that this is stupid. Superheroes are dumb and they don't look dumb when Zack Snyder is filming them like they should. Well, not everybody can be as cynical as Alan Moore.
00:39:06
Speaker
No, and it's a good thing. Few people can. That man, who society would not function if you're as cynical as Alan Moore. Good God. Like, am I glad he's around? Yes, but also I just need the one. Like, we don't need any more Alan Morris. Right. No, God bless. And it's fine. The one is he was a visionary. He's got his problems. I'm not going to say the man doesn't have his problems, but what a grump. What a grump visionary comic book writer.
00:39:33
Speaker
Um, but uh, oh yeah, no no more of him, please big old grump But I don't blame zach snider because People don't have media literacy anymore Yeah, you pretty much do have to spell shit out and don't expect them to understand anything sure I mean sure is this coming off a little bit pretentious right now, but come on We've been on twitter. We know what that's like. We've seen it firsthand Yeah
00:40:00
Speaker
people that's completely missing the point of just about everything they watch. I mean, that's true. They do. But and again, like we went when all you can watch is like, you know, superhero movies that just spoon feed you everything you need to know, then, you know, there's no real reason to expand your media literacy.
00:40:19
Speaker
Cause there's nothing else to explain a little more. That was, that was my uncle Marty tirade, but yeah, I thought it was funny. Anyway, no, it was good. It was good. It was a good joke, man. It was good. Do you patronize me? I love you. I wouldn't get it. I'm kidding. I'm joking. I love you. Bring it in. Come here. Bring it in big guy. Yeah, there we go.
00:40:46
Speaker
But yeah, anyway, I did not like it at all. This movie is garbage. Anyway, this movie is this movie is bad. So thanks for listening to our episode on Day of the Dead. Oh, no, wait, I didn't get to talk about how the the lead male protagonist, Sarah's brother, looks like his face is falling off of his head. And look.
00:41:06
Speaker
I don't like, I feel like it counts as punching down to make fun of the way somebody looks. But look, I am looking, but wait, looking at his IMD picture, IMDB
Romero Films vs. Remakes: Lore and Impact
00:41:16
Speaker
picture. Now he grew into that phase and he's handsome as fuck. So I don't mind saying that he literally looks like his face is falling off of his head. He has no, there's no structure. He's in his face. It's just like.
00:41:33
Speaker
I mean, it's kind of hilarious that he was in Star Trek Insurrection, which is a movie about aliens who had, you know, faces stretched over their own. He nailed that role, I'm sure.
00:41:48
Speaker
No makeup required. He was also in Twilight, apparently. So there you go. That's the thing that happened. So, yeah, the same year this movie came out, he was also in a little movie called Twilight. So he was in another movie that was direct response to the oversaturation of everything. What's that? Vampires. Yeah. Oh, Twilight was. Yeah. I mean, Twilight was kind of a part of the reason why vampires became even more oversaturated. But yeah.
00:42:17
Speaker
Yeah, Anne Rice sort of like alley-ooped it. Stephanie Meyer and Stephanie Meyer just spiked that shit into the ground. Yeah, she did. Yeah, she did. You know, much to everyone's dismay. Everyone, unless you were like a 12 to 15 year old girl at that time, yeah, much to your despair. Oh, no, like 12 to like 35 year old girl at that time. Like, Lord, man, those books were rapidly, ravenously popular.
00:42:46
Speaker
I don't understand. I read them and I don't know how I managed to get through the second book. I didn't. I watched 10 minutes of the first movie and I was like, can't do it. Sorry, I'm out. You deserve a medal, Brett. I feel like I do. You didn't. Just having to suffer through that second book is just, oh my God, it's just nothing but because it's all written from Bella's perspective. So it's just a whiny teenager.
00:43:13
Speaker
just expounding about how much she misses her vampire boyfriend. Yeah. Hey, how come those vampires still go to high school? Like they don't have to do that. Why would they do that?
00:43:25
Speaker
There's an explanation for it in the book, and I don't fucking remember what it is to pray on to pray on underage girls. Not all of them. You do. Well, like the the Canadian guy, like like Gordo says in detention, you know, he only eats baby animals because they haven't had time to live a life. And, you know, they're not missing as much because he's eating them as babies. Do you remember that? I do.
00:43:48
Speaker
Yeah, I remember I don't remember how you man me I don't remember how that relates to what we were saying but
00:43:56
Speaker
It doesn't, that's fine. No, there was a reason it connected. We actively don't want to talk about this movie. Yeah, that's pretty much what we're getting at. I can help you out here. I can help you out by talking about this movie, but also not talking about it at the same time. Something that's interesting about Ring Raims in this movie is that he does the same thing that Joe Pallato does in the original trilogy. And I get the impression that Ving is actually a very big fan of the original films.
00:44:25
Speaker
Like he sought out Dawn of the Dead. Like he like he heard there was a remake and he went to them. It's like, you're going to put me in this, right? Like, I feel like he's a fan of the original Romero films. Probs, yeah. Well, the reason I say that he is similar to Joe Pilato is because Joe Pilato was in the original Dawn of the Dead as a policeman. And then in Day of the Dead, he was Captain Rhodes. Same actor, two different roles. Ving Rhames.
00:44:55
Speaker
is the cop in Dawn of the Dead. And then he plays Rhodes in this movie. Same actor. Different roles. That's pretty cool. You see what I'm saying? You see what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. I figured that out myself. It's not even on IMDb,
Monsters in Media: Vampires and Zombies
00:45:12
Speaker
I don't think.
00:45:14
Speaker
Yeah, I made that connection myself you guys You should put it on social medias you guys that would also scream to me that like he's a big fan Maybe he actually set that shit up Right like I would not be at all surprised to learn that because again after he sought out dawn of the dead It would not be surprised a surprise to me that he would go you're gonna put me in this one too, right? Like well, yeah, but didn't you die at the end? It doesn't matter. I'm I'm in this one
00:45:39
Speaker
Well, one of the one of the production companies behind this movie was also one of the production companies behind the remake of Dawn of the Dead. So it could be possible that he had some kind of contract as well. To appear in other zombie movies from this production company. Okay, that's that's strike strike is the name of the company.
00:46:02
Speaker
And their production logo appears before both 2004's Dawn of the Dead and 2008's Day of the Dead, though every other production company and the distributor are different. Right. And that's I think something worth pointing out here is that unlike the original Romero trilogy, which they're loosely connected by all being a part of the same outbreak.
00:46:26
Speaker
These movies are not connected at all. And I know we talked about this last week. Well, and it's it's funny that you mentioned that, Stephen, because just like the remakes, the originals are all owned by different companies. Right.
00:46:41
Speaker
Like that's the reason why like strike may have produced this movie, but you can't do it. You have to go through tourists to do anything. Day of the Dead related because they own the name. Right. Well, I mean, it's a very similar thing to how Sam Raimi had to make.
00:46:57
Speaker
the Evil Dead trilogy. Oh yeah, all three of those are under different companies as well. They're all tied up in different distributors, different production companies. Renaissance, New Line, Universal. Which is the reason why Ash versus the Evil Dead can't mention Army of Darkness.
00:47:14
Speaker
That's it's why that franchise is kind of fuzzy and why nothing has happened with it. Really sent out besides Ash versus the Army of Darkness. I don't know. Besides Evil Dead Rise this year. Outside of that. Yeah. I mean, well, you're right. No, I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying. Right. Yeah, I do. I do. I do. There's there's a reason why nothing is there. They're not really pumping out any more. Ash Army of Dead Army of Darkness Evil Dead. Yeah. Yeah.
00:47:45
Speaker
Well, nothing like they want to set it on. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Maybe try and set up a big crossover movie. Maybe that'll happen. Yo, just get me homegirl. Just get me homegirl from the remake. And I want I want Jane Levy to do another Evil Dead movie. I loved her in the remake in 13. Well, no. Didn't Bruce Campbell say he would do the three person crossover if it happens?
00:48:12
Speaker
He would do that. I think he said he was done. I thought he said he was retired. Hey, I don't know if you know this, but sometimes people come back. There was this football guy named Tom Brady that retired and then he came back like a couple months later. Do you remember when Mark Hamill said he wasn't going to do the Joker anymore and then he did the Joker some more?
00:48:28
Speaker
Do you remember that? Remember when that happened? Bruce Campbell was out doing press tours for Evil Dead Rise, introducing the movie and doing Q&A's. He's a producer on it. He's part owner. It's him, Ramey, and the other guy. Robert Tappert. Tappert, yes. They all own it together. Of course, he's out there. He's got a vested interest in making sure that thing sells. Name some of the producers that do what he did though?
00:48:55
Speaker
Look, he's the face. He's the guy. He's the chin. He's the chin of the series. The face of a franchise. They don't. No one's the chin, Brett. No one's the chin. But Bruce Campbell, man, you know, whatever. Maybe I'm wrong. No, I agree. I agree with both of you. No, it does make sense. But I agree with you, Brett, that like that's unprecedented. I would still love to see it. Don't get me wrong. I just don't know that we're going to. Oh.
00:49:23
Speaker
but i would i would still love to see it at the end of the day it is just a fan theory yeah i did a day it's just a fan theory like speaking of fan theories you guys none of you guys responded to the one i dropped in the chat the other day none you what which is what i figured it out did you oh that yeah the deadites are just ramero zombies possessed by pazuzu
00:49:47
Speaker
Yeah, you dropped that yesterday when I was busy with the lady. So I guess. But Pazuzu is not from the Book of the Dead, though. He's a he's a. But I mean, just like in terms of the attitude like the it's got like the I guess. But is Pazuzu going to like let you summon a big head to like try to eat you and like send you back in time? And we don't. I don't think we get enough time with Pazuzu. He might. We don't know.
00:50:14
Speaker
Sounds like to me, he just likes to hang out in little girl's bodies and like talk some shit. Speaking of barf, you guys, first thing,
00:50:28
Speaker
My day of the dead remake DVD is gone. I don't know where it is. Oh, sure. I had it when I moved here. It is good, good, good, good. Oh, my gosh. I feel so bad for you. No, it is. It is bad. You joke, but it is bad because the commentary, like I say, is worth the price of admission itself. And the words of the great Gene Wilder, wait, stop, please. I said, good day, sir.
00:50:59
Speaker
I want to lose. I want to put this in the chat, see if you guys can see it. This is. If that shows up, is that just a photo, you guys? Is it a DVD cover? It is a photo of a DVD cover with a lot of be barfing with an eye in the bar. Yeah, that's the cover of the DVD that I had until I just looked and it wasn't there. Oh, God.
00:51:24
Speaker
And is the subtitle supposed to be the need to feed? Is that the subtitle of the movie? It was on all the DVDs. It's not on the actual film. Look how stupid and awful that cover is. Isn't that the worst thing you've ever fucking seen in your life? Pretty awful. Especially because there's only one vomiting zombie scene.
00:51:43
Speaker
It's just disgusting. And you know what? Not only was this the cover, but it came with a slip cover and that was a hologram. And you could see the barf come out of his mouth if you moved it to the sides. I don't need this. I don't need it. I don't want it. No, thank you. See, that's the thing about it is it's so aggressively bad that I just can't help myself, but just like laugh at how absurd it all is.
00:52:11
Speaker
That's where the joy in this movie comes from. It's just giving into the absurdity and being like, I can't believe. Can't believe how bad this is. Oh, I'm glad it brings you joy. I wouldn't say it's joy. I will dunk on this movie. You just said joy. What brings me joy is dunking on this movie, okay? I mean, fair. That's what brings me joy. You want to get a couple robots together, go up into space and just shit on this movie all the time. Yes. Yes, sir.
00:52:40
Speaker
For sure. But yeah, no, I just I could not with this movie like it. It has no logic. No, it has no logic at all. How does this disease fucking work? Why did they all turn at the exact same time if there's some sort of sentient virus? They all froze at the same time. And it wasn't like what?
00:53:02
Speaker
And there was no biting and there was no patient zero. It was just everybody had the flu. And then like their skin deteriorated and they became zombies. I don't know. I mean, at least they explain. I mean, it's a virus. No, like, honestly, I'd rather. That's what's great about the Romero films is you don't know. I like the ambiguity of it. That's where I think that the Walking Dead almost took a misstep by almost explaining it in the second season. Like, what the fuck are you? Look, Frank Darabont's gone for one episode and look where you are. Come on.
00:53:32
Speaker
He turns his back for one second. And what the fuck? I mean, things kids. We did finally do that in the show. It was nice that we got dude from Truman show in there for a season. That was cool. Like, I like that actor, the guy who played the scientist that they found who plays Truman's best friend in Truman show. I can't think of his name. He shows up and shit all the time.
00:53:53
Speaker
he's great in that season i just don't like the fact that he exists in that season because i don't want to fucking know that's but that's i mean they reveal that later on in the show because they reveal that in the comics that they're just yeah everybody's infected we don't know what but they don't explain why though as far as i know i'd ever
00:54:09
Speaker
read the rest of the comics. I don't know. Yeah, they don't explain it. The thing is, like, it was an airborne thing. And so anybody that's still alive is immune to the airborne virus. But if they get bitten,
00:54:27
Speaker
It's in their bloodstream, I guess. I don't know. It's no. Because even if you die, that was the thing. That was the twist. Even if you died without getting bitten or scratched or anything, you still turned. So everybody's just infected. Right. The people that are alive are immune to whatever, like you said, is in the air if it was airborne. Yeah. Once you die, regardless of how you die, you turn. Which is convoluted, dude. It's hard to keep track.
00:54:54
Speaker
But I mean, I know a lot of other zombie fictions that kind of do that though. It's like, you're just, you know. Oh, you got like Night of the Creeps, you got the space slugs. Right. You know, as long as it's fun and silly, I'm into it. Oh, we love Night of the Creeps here, like, you know, previous episode of Night of the Creeps. And I'm definitely a fan of just the straightforward, the dead come back to life, you get bitten by one, you turn into one, period, end of story. Right. If you die, even by a bite,
00:55:23
Speaker
You turn into one. That's the thing is the bite gives you such, infects you so bad that you die. It's your death that turns you into a zombie. No matter how you die. But if you get bitten, you're going to die because of the infection. Does that make sense? Well, that's why we were just talking about how the walking dead works. I thought you didn't like that.
00:55:49
Speaker
No, I like that. Maybe I misunderstood. Oh, okay. What I'm saying is- You have to be bitten to turn is what I'm saying. Oh, I'm saying if you die, this Romero zombies are if you die, you come back. If you get bitten, you die, therefore you come back. Like getting bitten is a death sentence. Did I miss that part of the Romero films?
00:56:12
Speaker
Have I not seen Day of the Dead in forever? Is that what happened? Maybe, but people die. That's the recently deceased man. That's why we have cemetery zombies. They weren't bitten. Like dude in the remake. Like he's got his backwards tux on dude because he was in a fucking casket getting buried man. They obviously did not pour the volt around that dude yet. No.
00:56:33
Speaker
And that guy could have been bitten before he died. Like I never, I never assumed that they were like, cause you don't, do we ever see straight up thriller style corpses crawling out of the ground? No, because George Romero has the sense to know that not only would they not be able to break out of a wooden coffin because they're so weak.
00:56:58
Speaker
But most of them will be too deteriorated to do so. And also most of there's a thing called a burial vault, which I know you guys know what this means. But in case there are listeners that are not aware, a lot of the time when you're buried, they don't just put your casket in the ground. They put your casket in the ground and they put cement around it. So it's like sealed. And so not only could you. Zombie apocalypse, you stay put.
00:57:21
Speaker
Absolutely. Like you'd have to be really if you're coming out of the grave, you got to be real fresh and real, real fresh. It prevents grave robbery as well. Yeah. So it's neither it's neither here nor there, actually. That's never that's ambiguous. Well, in in Knives the Living Dead, the remake, Uncle Reg was not bitten. He was just sick and he died and he came back.
00:57:52
Speaker
He did not get bitten. I'm trying to think who else. That line to mean he got sick because he was bitten. No, I'm trying to think who else in the original trilogy just straight up died.
00:58:07
Speaker
That's weird that we would interpret that in like two different ways, because that's always been like, that's always been my understanding. You die. The fact is the recently deceased, they come back to dead. They say recently deceased several times, particularly in the original film that the bodies of the dead must be destroyed. Well, right. But but you can also interpret it as like, well, I mean, these these are just news reports saying that if they're not saying whether or not they've been bitten or not. Yeah, but chicken or the egg, Brett, like how do you have a zombie if there's also people?
00:58:37
Speaker
like everybody when the walking dead did that thing where like if you die regardless you come back it was a big deal like everybody was such a really good twist like is it like it sounds like though I thought it was because look at my boyfriend's back Johnny Dingle gets shot in the heart right
00:58:57
Speaker
And he comes back as a zombie. He wasn't bitten by anybody. I mean, that's not canon Romero. I'm just saying that's an example of a movie zombie where it's understood by most that the way you become a zombie is you die. You just die. And then you come back. But I'm going to try not to. I'm going to try not to come back.
00:59:24
Speaker
which is crazy that you two have interpreted it this way. That's the way it is. And from the sounds of things, most people have it? Am I crazy? No, I don't think you're crazy, Brett. I think it's one of those things where you get into your 20s or your 30s and you realize you've been saying something wrong your entire life. You know what I mean? If that were the case, you could show me more definitive examples that that's how it works.
00:59:55
Speaker
And so far you haven't been able to except for the one that isn't even a Romero movie. Working on it. Reanimated corpses, man. Not saying people who get bit. So I am going to reference
01:00:17
Speaker
the original Night of the Living Dead, also Dawn of the Dead, and also Day of the Dead because there are several zombies in each of those films where you can tell that they died by other means. That's not proof though. That's you interpreting it. Is it not? Is it not?
01:00:38
Speaker
According to a Quora link that I found in the zombie universe, anyone who dies, dies, comes back as a zombie, regardless of whether they were bitten or not, as long as their brain is not destroyed.
01:00:55
Speaker
Okay. For one example, watch Land of the Dead, where a man who hangs himself comes back as a zombie without ever being in contact. There you go. That's one. I feel like somebody gets, well, Ben. Ben in Night of the Living Dead remake does not get bitten. He gets shot twice by Harry Cooper and the motherfucker turns into a zombie because he dies. Because he dies.
01:01:19
Speaker
Yeah, man. So this, so again, so well, okay. So I'll give you that, but also at the same time, I mean, right there in that same answer gives a lot of reasons for why a lot of people don't believe that's the case. I've never heard, I've never, this is the first time anyone has come to me, Brett, and said, it's only the bite that does it.
01:01:42
Speaker
And I'm not saying that you're wrong. Because when a person comes back as a zombie that hasn't been bitten, they don't seem to make a big deal about it, especially in that example, too. Like, yeah, he hangs himself and comes back as a zombie, but there's no, like, they're not putting a point on it. They always put a point on the bite and the turn. There's always a focus on that. Because that is dramatic tension, because usually- And also, that's probably how you're going to die. Usually it's someone in the party who's been bitten that wants to keep it from everybody else.
01:02:14
Speaker
And so it becomes and then it becomes a way to build tension within the scene, because then the we know it, but the characters do not. The audience is aware, but the character. Johnny, Johnny, and then why? But Johnny gets his neck broken in the original and the remake. Such a big deal. Like if they all know that if they die, they're going to come back as a zombie. Why even bother hiding the bite? There's such a big focus because they're short sighted idiots.
01:02:40
Speaker
But still, well, that's the same thing. I think even the characters within the universe think that if you get bitten, you become a zombie. And that's how it happens. Well, and I think that's what's interesting about a lot of the zombie movies, particularly the ones that front load the.
01:02:55
Speaker
the outbreak is that there's a lot of misinformation, much like there was, I mean, we were in a pandemic not long ago. Like there's a lot of misinformation. There's a lot of confused information. There's a lot of things people get right and a lot of things that people get wrong. And I think that those, you can see a lot of that playing out across it. So yeah, maybe these people on the ground do think that the bite is what turns them because they haven't come into contact with someone who died without the bite yet.
01:03:23
Speaker
I have a couple examples, uh, Johnny from the original and the remake, he is bludgeoned to death and comes back in both. Um, also, um, the guy that Rhodes takes over for in day of the dead. I'm pretty sure he just dies from something. I don't think he gets bitten. I feel like they would have mentioned it because he, Dr. Logan's got his corpse and it's alive. Like.
01:03:54
Speaker
So I'm more than happy to admit I was wrong about this, but at the same time, I can't abide by you saying this is one of those situations where I thought I was saying it wrong for all this time, but I've actually been wrong. I don't think I'm wrong. There's been a definitive story relevance to the bite. There's been 28 days later that the virus that turned them into these things is caused by a bite. There's a story focus on the body. Or blood. You just come in contact with the blood. Yeah, or a scratch even.
01:04:23
Speaker
like and even in Resident Evil even if you're bitten or you're scratched you become one you but not if you just die like there's a lot of why did you make that face because I don't know man well I'm telling you that's how it works okay okay well and I and so this is something that I brought up before on on other
01:04:42
Speaker
episodes about other monsters, like vampires in particular, is that different writers, then once someone has established a baseline for what the rules are, different artists come in and riff on those rules. It's like jazz. Once you know what the rules are, you can riff like crazy. And I think other art works in that way.
01:05:02
Speaker
You get the fucking Twilight vampires, which do not operate the same way that classic vampires do. And even classic vampires do not operate the same way that Bram Stoker's Dracula. Really? The rules change from. And I agree with that. But I would say the. You know, you have interpretations, I'm sure, where it is just the bite, but I would say it's safe to usually assume that it's just death. That turns them.
01:05:32
Speaker
I think that's what's frustrating. That's what's making me mad right now. Not that I was wrong. Is it because it's too much of an implication than like an actual fact that there's proof for? No. The fact that you basically said I've been wrong my whole life and they're like. We still love you, Brett. You did say that, Tucker. You did. Well, what did we say before? It's always better to know.
01:05:58
Speaker
You want the truth from your boys, right? But it's not. It's exactly what Steven just said. It's like vampires. It's a different interpretation. I can admit that I was wrong about the Romero zombies. I can admit that I was wrong about that. But there's plenty of other zombie media where it's the bite that matters or contact that matters.
01:06:14
Speaker
Now, even in Resident Evil, it's a really weird thing where they do this homage in Resident Evil 3, where they do this homage to Return of the Living Dead, where it rains, and then Jill goes through a graveyard, and the zombies start rising out of the graves in the graveyard.
01:06:30
Speaker
and like that's sort of does it make any sense no within the universe of Resident Evil but I guess but whatever so yeah but most of the time it's just you get bit or scratched and the Resident Evil universe he becomes zombie and there's plenty of other media where that happens and
01:06:48
Speaker
And again, I point out that big of a misconception about how it works is why that twist in The Walking Dead was so popular with a lot of people, because I don't think they knew any better. That's wild. Well, and it's like you said earlier, man, the media literacy is dead.
01:07:09
Speaker
And I was thinking that, but I'm like, wait a minute, that's not media literacy. Like if you have so much media putting such a focus on getting bitten, like that's just, well, yeah, that's how it works. That's what they show me all the time. Like there's a difference between being subtle about something and that's your intention versus something in the background that nobody's gonna notice because you're putting such a focus on something else.
01:07:40
Speaker
And I mean, again, I think Romero intentionally doesn't put the point on it in the way that others do. But again, it's the difference between like.
01:07:52
Speaker
Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees like it's like one of them is like the culmination of all of these different ideas that come together and the other one is riffing off of that original idea and doing something interesting and different but Jason Voorhees is more in line with what the slasher genre became whereas Michael Myers was always emblematic of kind of like its origins and something far more sinister at work
01:08:19
Speaker
beneath the suburban veneer of society, right? And I think zombies can operate in much the same way in that Romero's got his idea that he comes out with, but as that becomes more popular and as more people start using it and riffing on it and taking it, they take just like Cunningham did with Friday the 13th, they're gonna start taking the pieces that resonate more with them
01:08:44
Speaker
and applying it to what they're doing and they're going to ignore or omit or overlook or what have you the pieces that don't necessarily fit their understanding or conception of what's going on. Before we move on, I want to say the one singular piece of zombie history that automatically puts my brain in that space that says that just automatically assumes in every zombie movie that it's death.
01:09:14
Speaker
And then a bite will lead to death. And that is in the original Night of Living Dead when they they finally get the TV and stuff. And there's that whole long section where they're just watching TV, the most exciting scene in a movie where people watch TV for me, where the reporter is talking about the report that he got from like a medical lab or something where like the the person the person that's dead
01:09:45
Speaker
like it just starts moving and getting up and trying to attack them and stuff like that whole like the whole story that he tells to me because it was just like a morgue. Like I never I never thought about how it could be implied that all of these deaths were by bites. So Brett, I do see where you're coming from, even though I think you're wrong. Like I get it. I totally get it.
01:10:10
Speaker
I mean, like, I haven't gotten that passionate and heated for a while. Hey, man. That was a good little discussion, man. I had fun. I had fun. Good stuff. And I don't know what it is between vampires and zombies, but I can accept most variations of vampire lore. But for some reason, I just can't accept other variations of zombie lore. I don't know why I have. I think part of it is that zombies have
01:10:36
Speaker
with very few exceptions until very recently operated as a monolith. Like, there was Romero, he was the guy that did it best, and just about everyone riffed on his conception, specifically. Well, before Romero, it was just voodoo slaves, man. There were no like, ghouls didn't exist. Like, people coming back from the dead and eating people wasn't even a thing. Didn't even exist. Yeah.
01:11:04
Speaker
And also, I guess for vampires, the variations are always kind of subtle. Twilight, not. Yeah. Like the variations are always kind of subtle. It's not like, you know, but I like some. I like some of the bigger swings. And the strain does something completely different with vampires. But I want to say I like some of the bigger swings, like stuff like Dracula 2000, where it goes back to where it's Judas, like Dracula is Judas, the original vampire, because like
01:11:33
Speaker
the blood from like the cross or something. It's ridiculous. It's it's stupid, but it's a fun interpretation. You know, it's not something you would you'd be like, oh, that does that is kind of cool. Like that does kind of make a little bit of sense of these. Yeah. Well, it's it's usually Cain is usually the person they go with as the right buyer. So.
01:11:50
Speaker
I'm was it Kane and Dracula 2000? I think it was Judas and Dracula 2000. It's just like even in Vampire the Masquerade and the RPG and like that whole trilogy. That whole trilogy. Like it it definitely drops in quality for the second two, but it's still a good watch as a whole. I really like the the story that flows through the three of those movies. So, Brett, clarify for me then is does that mean that vampirism is the mark of Kane in that that subset of lore?
01:12:20
Speaker
Yes, because the mark at least the lore in that in the vampire the masquerade universe, I believe is yes, the mark of Cain means immortality and cursed with like, God, hold on. I got to dig deep. No, I mean, you're you're basically the Oh, God.
01:12:43
Speaker
Do you guys know when Dean had the Mark of Cain? Do you want me to talk about the actual biblical purpose? And he had that knife and it was fucking cool. Yeah. So, well, real quick, I sort of remember like when Cain was cursed by God in the Empire of the Masquerade universe, three different archangels visited him and cursed him in different ways.
01:13:05
Speaker
One was to be forced to drink blood. One was to not be able to walk in sunlight anymore. And one, I forget what the third one was, but, but yeah. So, and then he, oh, curse with immortality was the third one. So I guess you're immortal, but you have to drink blood and you can't walk into sunlight. So that's, that's, I believe the vampire of the masquerade lore about Cain. So.
01:13:36
Speaker
So biblically speaking, the Mark of Cain is simply a sign that God places on Cain so that people are not, so that people don't immediately kill him when they see him because they know that he murdered his brother in cold blood. Like the scarlet letter, but for murder. It gave Dean superpowers.
01:13:58
Speaker
They did. Yeah. But again, that's another one of those things that you can you can riff on that lore all day long. So. Oh, yeah. That's that's that's right up there with like the four horseman stuff that I fucking shit. I just eat it right up. I bet you do. It is delicious. Delicious fake by the Lord. Nice. But yeah, so.
01:14:22
Speaker
No, man, that was that was a good little diversion. What else do we have to say? Let's let's let's bring this plane in for nothing. What else do we have to say? Fucking nothing at this. All I have to say, Stephen, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Johnny has the keys. Johnny does have the keys. Look, this is the other line. Does he look dead to you? Is he dead? Now, there it is. Is he dead? There it is.
01:14:50
Speaker
This movie comes out April 8th, 2008. It is released direct to video. Yeah, we did not get theatrical. No theatrical release whatsoever. It was made on a budget of 18 million and I had a budget of Nick Cannon.
01:15:07
Speaker
I have absolutely no information about the video sales on this at all. We decided to break our Batman rule for this episode. Exactly, yeah. Well, I have here on IMDb, I don't know how they got this. It may have been a very limited release, but we have a budget of 12 million and a gross worldwide of $301,771.
01:15:33
Speaker
So I don't know what that comes. It's certainly not video sales. I know that I bought it the day it came out because it just looked so awful. And back then you couldn't just like stream a new movie. You know, you had to buy something blind. You did.
Best Buy's Media Sales and 2008 Box Office Review
01:15:48
Speaker
You did. Or you had to trust some film critics to get a blockbuster. Yeah. I also got this at Lafayette Square.
01:15:57
Speaker
The heard did you hear the Best Buy said they're gonna stop selling physical media. Yeah Why am I gonna go to Best Buy anymore cheese never get it surround sound system get some nice speakers
01:16:11
Speaker
So this movie comes out April 8th, 2018. It is the rest of the box office. It does not get a theatrical release. But what is in the box office this week at the number one spot opening this week to twenty point eight million dollars future episode of this podcast. Prom night, the remake of prom. I did not like that, but I want to talk about it. We will do that one of these days. Nice.
01:16:37
Speaker
Oh, awful poster to. Oh, at number two. It's bad. At number two, we've got the movie Street Kings, Keanu Reeves, Chris Evans, Kings of the Street Force Whitaker, I think is in that one, too. In third place down from the number one spot the week before, twenty one. That's that card counting movie. Oh, yeah. With Jim Sturgis.
01:17:08
Speaker
in fourth place, down from number two the week before, Nim's Island. What if Nim had an island? Well, nothing coming out this week, dude. Maybe they should have released it theatrically. I mean, in fifth place, the George Clooney film, Leatherheads. Wow, still don't care about any of these movies. What's next? Well, get ready to not care some more. It's Horton, here's a who. The animated film,
01:17:36
Speaker
Horton, here's a who off the back of the Lorax. Yeah, with Horton. This is before before the really. Yeah, I'm pretty sure it works. There's who's in this movie, right? Because he hears one. Yeah. Lorax is 2012. Yeah. So this is 2008. Oh, OK. OK. This was their their big pivot away from live action after. It was an Easter movie, right? Why was it an Easter movie?
01:18:01
Speaker
Well, because the next one is Horton lays an egg. Honestly, we could probably cover Horton. Here's a who. Because there is an actual canonical sequel to that one. So we could probably cover that one now in seventh place. New this week. Smart people. Eighth place. Smart enough. Like I never heard of. The eighth place, the ruins. Nine is the parody superhero movie. And I like the rules. What was the parody superhero movie?
01:18:32
Speaker
It was called the parody superhero. No, it is the parody film called superhero movie like scary movie movie. Not another teen movie. Yes. Yeah. The date movie started bats. Oof. Big damn oof. And in the number 10 spot, Drillbit Taylor.
01:18:52
Speaker
Wow. And I'll bet the studios around this time were like, why isn't anybody going to the movies? I don't know. You just keep putting out diarrhea like nobody's going to come to the movies. We got diarrhea at home. I was saying, go check out the ruins. I've never heard of it, but I will check it out based on your recommendation. Don't remember. I think I didn't care for that one, but let me get let me give you the elevator pitch, Tucker. So some people are going on vacation in the jungle. I think maybe or something like that.
01:19:22
Speaker
They find this really old like Mayan Shrine thing. I think it's mine. I'm not real sure I don't remember And they get trapped on top of it Because whenever they try to leave the plants that are deep inside of the shrine Kill them and they also try to lure them into
01:19:47
Speaker
the ruins themselves by making that sounds cool. It's really you could have just, you know, Brett, like that all sounds interesting, but you could have just said Jenna Malone's in a bikini in this movie. Oh, there you go. I mean, yes, accurate. And I can say that because she's only two years younger than me. Now, Jim, alone is like she's a hottie. I've always had a thing for her. I think she's great.
Ratings and Personal Takes on Day of the Dead Remake
01:20:14
Speaker
Yeah, you're Donnie Darko like a motherfucker.
01:20:17
Speaker
The Tomatometer score on the 2008 Steve Miner Day of the Dead is a 13%. Yeah, sure. That's a little generous if you ask me. Mm-hmm.
01:20:30
Speaker
It is not on Metacritic. There is no Metascore for this one at all. So, sorry about that as a zero. And the Letterbox score is a 2.0. Tucker, out of the five stars possible, how are you going to rate Steve Miner's 2008 direct-to-video Day of the Dead? I'm going to agree with everyone on Letterboxd and give this a 2.
01:20:58
Speaker
It's one star because it's complete fucking garbage. But as I've said before, that second star is there because you get the right people together and watch this movie. You're going to have a good fucking time for the majority of it, especially with that ridiculous dialogue for the first half. It's a real good time if you're if you're just straight up dunking on this movie with your friends. Nick Cannon, you know, trying to summon the power of He-Man with a machete. That's what I'm talking about.
01:21:28
Speaker
That is what he's talking about. Hey, did you guys know what Nick Cannon's talking about? Everything apparently because he says it about every three minutes. He's talking about just pretty much everything.
01:21:40
Speaker
Brett, how are you rating this movie out of five? I gave it one star. I was going to give it a half star, but it's, you know, it's a half star just because it's a it's a competently made movie.
Final Episode Anticipation and Podcast Promotion
01:21:51
Speaker
It's an actual film, yes. But I gave it another half star just for that little bit of Resident Evil homage at the end that took me by surprise. Yeah, I also gave it one star because it is bad. It's real bad. Yeah, I couldn't.
01:22:07
Speaker
I cannot sanction this movie's buffoonery, to quote Brett and Tommy Lee Jones. So not only can I not, I won't. You can't. No shame. But there it is. That's it. That is the penultimate episode of our Romero Remake Spookython next week.
01:22:25
Speaker
We're going to close out our fourth annual spook-a-thon with another Romero remake. I'm kind of excited to watch this one, honestly. I've never seen this one before, so I'm kind of stoked to get into it. You've never seen either, the original or the remake? No, I've never seen either. Yeah, dude, I'm so excited for you. You could say it's going to get crazy. Oh.
01:22:44
Speaker
And, you know, it's it's it really fits with this month, this month, not because it's just because it's George Romero, because let's be honest, you guys, people who have seen this film, it's just zombies by a different name. Yeah, that's my understanding of it like. We were talking about reinterpretations of zombies at one point, Romero was like, what if I reinterpreted it?
01:23:10
Speaker
Right. Like, what if I put a little spin on it? Like, what if I did that? A little bit of that fan. I was fine. I'll do it myself. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, all right. Fuck it. You don't fuck with my shit. I'll fuck with my shit. Bam. And so until next week, when we do talk about that, look, you can find us on all the social medias. You can find us on
01:23:31
Speaker
We're on Blue Sky now, Instagram, letterboxed, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube at disenfranch pod. Find us anywhere. Also Google Plus or on Google Plus. Are we? No, it doesn't exist anymore. You silly. I was going to say, no. I did like it when it did, though, because it was super low key and nobody was there.
01:23:52
Speaker
nobody was there i think i was on there for like a week and i was like this sucks i'm gonna no it was great um the uh you can you can also look while you're on your pod catcher choice find us there leave us a nice five star rating and review particularly if you're on apple podcast or spotify
01:24:08
Speaker
That's gonna really go a long way to helping us find more listeners like you and we like you. So we probably like other listeners like you as well. So go ahead and please do that. That would be very much appreciated. That is probably the best way to support the podcast without donating money. But if you have, like say a spare five bucks a month laying around that you're not doing anything with
01:24:28
Speaker
consider hopping over to patreon.com slash disenfranch pod and sliding five of those American dollars our way we've got so much content back there behind that paywall it is ridiculous in fact I was talking to a patron the other day who was like I was not expecting this much content and I was like yeah there's a lot of it we've basically been putting out regular monthly content on that page for the last
01:24:53
Speaker
God, what, two years, year and a half? Yeah, there's there's days of content there. Like you guys were doing at least one or two a month when it first started. Yeah. And then for the last several months, we've been doing what are we watching once a week, weekly. Yeah.
01:25:11
Speaker
And then occasional monthly episodes where we can like, uh, oops, all Christianity corner, like the one we did earlier this month on the exorcist. Uh, the one that we've talked about doing on this week's, what are we watching? Um, another oops, all Christianity corner that Tucker wants to fast track. Like we've got some, we've got some fun stuff at oops, all video game corner episodes. Look, we've got, we have 22.
01:25:38
Speaker
Well, I'm sorry, we've got four oops, all Christianity corners. We have five oops, all video game corners. We have twenty two. What are we watching? Ten disenfranchised at the movies, seven unenfranchised in nineteen disenfranchised. That's days and a partridge in a motherfucking pear tree. Yeah, it's all there. So you look, it is five dollars well spent if you do decide to throw down your hard earned money.
01:26:05
Speaker
We promise we will make it worth your while.
Hosts' Social Media and Tuckmugs Jokes
01:26:08
Speaker
And so that is a great way to support us financially. All the money that we make does go right back into the podcast. We're not really getting rich on this because we we're not making that much. So that's fine. But yeah, we do it for the love.
01:26:24
Speaker
We do it for the love, we do it for the patrons, we do it for the podcast. I'm your host, Steven Foxworthy. You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd, and Blue Sky at Chewy Walrus. Brett, where can we find you on socials these days?
01:26:42
Speaker
You can find me on Instagram, Letterboxd, and now on Blueski as well. Blueski! Although you were just talking about how Google Plus was sort of there, and Blueski kind of feels like better than me right now. I miss Google Plus. I mean, there's people there, and people are talking, but it's a little bit harder to find a good feed of stuff.
01:27:06
Speaker
You really got to go digging. You really do. And if you don't have the time to do that, it can be a little daunting to kind of build your build your your armory, I guess your arsenal of followers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm getting a fairly decent number of followers each day, which is cool. I don't know why they're following me, but cool.
01:27:29
Speaker
and uh yeah so you can find me there it's sus uh well so bluesky is sus warlock they wouldn't let me put the underscore bastards but the other two are sus underscore warlock right on and tucker where can we find you these days
01:27:43
Speaker
You can find me at ice909, that's I-C-E-N-I-N-E, the number zero and the number nine on both the YouTubes and the Instagrams. I also have my famous mug page on Instagram, tuckmugs, tuck underscore mugs. Last week we had a guest mug from my sister that was really cool and interesting and, you know, you know, fit.
01:28:09
Speaker
Not only the theme of the page, but since it is a a disenfranchised adjacent Instagram page, it also had something to do with movies and shit. And that was cool. Right on. It was really cool. Also posted today. We posted on Tuckmugs. Yeah. Kind of a kind of a twist in that story, a bit of a twist. Do the team over at Tuckmugs is doing a great job.
01:28:36
Speaker
They are. They've been really focused lately. We're getting together a lot of really good content. We kind of put it together weeks in advance just so that we can fine tune it. We have a test audience like a beta team that goes through all our stuff. No expense is spared.
01:28:56
Speaker
Spared no expense. John Hammond style. Spared no expense. Yeah, no. And before before I'd stop talking, I want to show you guys this because it's funny, but you can't see it. Fuck. Never mind. I'll send it to you. And I can't even describe it. Can't even fucking describe it anyway. We're all friends. Which is we are friends. We are friends.
01:29:24
Speaker
So, yeah, that is all she wrote for the 2008 remake of Day of the Dead. This has been the disenfranchised podcast. I'm your host, Stephen Fox. Where are they from? My co-hosts, Brett Wright and Tucker. Until next time, you know what? Where's mom?
01:29:55
Speaker
you