Night of the Living Debt

Bruiser (Trailer)

George A. Romero, 2000

 

 

Amongst George A. Romero's film oeuvre, the psychological thriller Bruiser (2000) was something of a blind spot until very recently.

Bruiser can be best described as the missing link between The Mask (1994) and American Psycho (2000). Despite some great ideas and Peter Stormare's scene stealing as an outrageously sleazy boss, the film is a let down due to an unfocused script and its messy execution. To hazard a guess, it reeks of studio interference.

Misfits - Scream 

Famous Monsters, 1999

 

An interesting story about Bruiser, however, is how it does honour a favour between the horror punk band the Misfits and Romero for having him direct their music video for Scream! The only music video Romero ever directed. Misfits would return the favour by appearing in Bruiser and performing a four song set; including the titular song.

The film would end up a commercial failure, but the zombie movie renaissance in the 2000s would result in Romero still making films, although restricted to another Dead trilogy. 

Land of the Dead (Behind the scenes w/ Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg)

George A. Romero, 2005

The first film in the new trilogy, the underrated Land of the Dead (2005), would feature cameos from Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright as flesh eating zombies. The British comedy duo ignited their film careers the previous year with the success of their zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead (2004), which was heavily inspired by Romero's original Dead trilogy. 

Just goes to show the extent of Romero's influence on other creative types and how willing they were to repay him.

These Creatures Are Nothing but Pure Motorised Instinct

R.I.P. David Emge, who recently passed away! Horror nerds might have been familiar with the actor for playing Stephen "Flyboy" Andrews in The Empire Strikes Back of horror film trilogies, Dawn of the Dead (1978).

The tense finale, where a zombie Flyboy shuffles his way to his former hideout, was effectively forshadowed earlier in the film when his desperate comrades set up base in a shopping mall. Peter Washington (Ken Foree) yells, "Hold it, Flyboy! Don't go into the stairway! Don't open that door, baby, you'll lead them right up with you." which he inevitably did in his zombie state.

The news of Emge's death has once again triggered the age old question for horror geeks like myself: did Flyboy betray his friends? Much like his skin complexion, it's a grey area. To some, his zombie state might have made him exempt of responsibility; to others, his final goal while alive was to reach his girlfriend Fran Parker (Gaylen Ross) and their unborn child, which persisted in his undeath.

Romero made it clear in his zombie films that the undead occasionally exhibited lingering memories and actions in their past lives, hence the answer as to whether Flyboy is on the same level of despicable characters from a previous post related to traitors, is clouded like a zombie's eyeballs (except Flyboy's for whatever reason).

The Moment I Feared: Part 7

A recurring question I often ask myself when I zone out of reality is "what's the G.O.A.T horror anthology?" I'm often torn over a bunch of Amicus's classic portmanteaus, with From Beyond the Grave (1974) being my personal top choice. But then there's George A. Romero and Steven King's collabarotive return to the old school effort, Creepshow (1982). The legendary comic book publishing company EC Comics plays a major hand in both films as one was sourced and the other clearly inspired by the defunct publisher's tales of terror.

Creepshow achieved the impossible by turning Ted Danson into a frightening zombie in the short story Something To Tide You Over; who, along with his lover played by Dawn of the Dead's Gaylen Ross, seek revenge upon their murderer played by Leslie Nielsen. Along with Danson's gargled dialogue and the terrifying sight of him shuffling in all that zombie makeup, it would continue to instil fear upon me whenever I caught sight of him on an episide of Cheers (1982 - 1992). Kind of funny that one of the most frightening moments from a film to leave a permanent mark on me - especially one that includes: cockroaches bursting out of E.G. Marshall's corpse; the oncoming doom of an alien weed taking over the world; a severed head for a cake; and of course Fluffy - it's the one with Ted Danson and Leslie Nielsen in it.

Creepshow (Beach Zombies Scene)

George A. Romero, 1982

 

Dada Debaser Bonus Feature:

Didn't realise until writing that Martin (1978) review earlier this year that John Amplas played the zombie Nathan Gratham in the Father's Day segment.

Vampire in Braddock

Martin (George A. Romero, 1977)

Ought to precede this by stating that my first impression of George A. Romero's slept-on vampire film, Martin (1977), was a mostly negative one. Romero's modern update of such a traditional supernatural foe, festooned with indie art house sensibilities, was stark contrast to Hammer's traditionally, gothic bloodsuckers which your pre-teen host was accustomed to back in the day. This was new wave before I even knew new wave. Much like our taste buds maturing as we get older, the same is also applicable with film. For this blogger, Martin has gradually improved for the better.

The youthful Martin, played by John Amplas, is apparently an eighty-four year old vampire who has come to live and work with his elderly cousin Cuda in Braddock, Pennsylvania. The superstitious old man isn't afraid to reveal his contempt for Martin; right from their first meeting at a railway station, he ominously professes to him, "first I will save your soul, then I will destroy you!" From this point, their relationship is set in stone. It's old world meets new world.

Martin dispels many myths regarding vampires: sun light doesn't burn our protagonist, although his eyes are sensitive, however; crucifixes and garlic which Cuda has adorned all over his house to protect him and his daughter Christine from Martin, have no power. You begin to wonder why he would even allow Martin in his home. It's revealed that Martin's condition is a hereditary curse, which is countered with outsiders assuming he is suffering from either being an eccentric oddball. Drugging his victims and cutting them with razors are how Martin goes about feeding his lust for blood. The first kill, set on an overnight train travelling to Pittsburgh, illustrates Martin's predatory instincts and his methodical approach to killing. A disturbing scene, in my opinion.

As a character study, the film's titular protagonist, isn't the first new take on vampirism to emerge, but it is one of the more well realised examples. Amplas, a minor cameo actor in everything I've seen him in thus far, does a sterling job in playing Martin as a complex individual. Romero was supposedly so impressed by him, that he rewrote the titular character to look much younger than he really is.

A cool element of the film is Martin regularly calling a talk radio DJ, where he's been dubbed as "the Count". He nonchanontly describes how being a vampire isn't all that cracked up as it's meant to be. Of course, the DJ and his audience openly mock him, labelling him as another one of the city's freaks, but they're some of my favourite scenes from the film, and really serve to get even further inside Martin's psychological state.

Romero uses an effective feature where he edits black and white flashback style scenes into the film. These juxtapostions completely contrast between Martin's romanticed fantasy of what is about to transpire and the ugly reality of how they never do. 

Since it's such a very modest budget film, Romero makes economic use of his cast and locations, by including family and freinds, along with filming in their homes. Romero even improvises scenes by taking advantage of a street marching band playing in the local street and having Martin trying to blend in with the crowd. Tom Savini makes an appearance as Arthur, boyfriend to Martin's other cousin, Christina, played by Christine Forrest, who married Romero a few years after the film. Romero also has a small part in the film as the liberal catholic priest; in one scene he bigs up William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973) in what appears to be an improvised scene.

As mentioned earlier, the film was way over my head, initially. Decades on, when I've since discovered other regional seventies horror gems, like Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971), Messiah of Evil (1973), and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), films which arguably follow in Romero's independent footsteps with the seminal Night of the Living Dead (1968), it's the reason why I've grown to appreciate Martin since then. Would I have loved those movies if I had watched them at such a young age as I did with Martin? Probably not, in all honesty.

Today, Martin's legacy is perceived as an under appreciated horror classic. It's Romero's last hurrah as a somewhat unorthodox film maker, even his follow-up, the god-tier Dawn of the Dead (1978) is a much tighter offering with far more mainstream appeal. This would be a good reason why Romero struggled to get his non-zombie films made; especially in the twilight of his film making career.

Apparently, there is an extended version of Martin. Boutique label Second Sight unsuccessfully tried to obtain the distribution rights, but the current owner of the film demanded a sky high price allegedly, thus the extended cut remains largely unseen. That's a real shame for film aficionados, sadly.