Extra Credit

Beccah turned this report in to me during the winter, before christmas, even. so, i thought it only right to give credit where credit is due and put it up for the world to see. If any of you had done the same, this class might have turned out a little better in the end. Nice Job, Beccah.

Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things
1972

Director: Bob Clark

Starring: Alan Ormsby (Alan); Jeff Gillen (Jeff); Paul Cronin (Paul); Anya Ormsby (Anya); Jane Dally (Terry); Velerie Mamches (Val)

Plot: a ridiculously pretentious/ fucked up company of actors go to a cursed island, which is ¾ cemetery. There, their seriously demented/ enragingly pretentious and arrogant douche-bag of a leader plans to awaken the dead with Satanic rituals just for kicks. When obnoxious Alan’s spell fails miserably, they take a dead body back to the rat-infested abandoned cottage in which they’re staying, and proceed to have a grand old time disrespecting the dead—until they actually come alive and start eating the members of the troupe.
Fun facts:
• 1st North American zombie film inspired by George Romero
• Budget was between $40,000 and $70, 000

Reactions:
• Obviously extremely low budget (all I can say is wow regarding the “special effects”)
• The plot moves at a snail’s pace—the zombies don’t even come alive until 10 minutes before the end of the movie, and the acting really isn’t good enough to carry the plot
• The opening scene is pretty great though—it sufficiently confuses you, and sets you up to be tricked by Alan’s joke later. Plus, live burial is always a disturbing topic (having the view from the inside of the coffin is a nice touch)
• The zombies do make a genuinely creepy entrance into the film (extremely late in the game, but whatever). The whole protruding limbs/ rotten-looking flesh is pretty effective when popping out of the dirt (eerie green fog helps too)
• It’s less a zombie movie, and more a commentary on pretentious artists. As the latter, it’s pretty effective (and funny), but it kind of falls short as the former.
• The zombies steal the (now dead) company’s boat at the end…presumably to head toward civilization for a night on the town
• Alan throwing Anya to the zombies, then locking himself in the room where Orville is patiently sitting on the mattress waiting to exact revenge on his ass (probably the best part of the whole movie)
• This movie is hilarious, and the bastards get it in the end