SPEAKER_00 0:01

Will it is me there and stream videos means me do me to me to me back to me woe is me, woe is me, they have seen what I've seen.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Greetings andor salutations, and welcome to Imbibe Cinema. I'm Jonathan C. Leggett, along with my co-hosts Michael Noins.

SPEAKER_03 0:32

Trisha Leggett.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

And uh in this episode, we are going to be discussing uh Jim Germoosh's The Dead Don't Die, currently available on digital download while imbibing, well, obviously, zombies. Uh the recipe is on our website, which is imbibesinema.com. The Imbibe Cinema Podcast is brought to you by the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, otherwise known as Bwiff. Our festival seeks independent character-driven films of all lengths, styles, and genres. To learn more, visit us at Bwiff.com. That is BWIFF.com. So welcome to our Halloween 2019 episode, and I am going to start by immediately addressing the elephant in the room. This is not a slasher or horror film. This is a hysterical, metatheatrical, zombie apocalypse adjacent film.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yes, in a huh? kind of way.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Any number of times you sit there and go, wait, what? Did they actually just address that they're in a movie?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

No, I love that it starts out subtle. And then just keeps building. No, no, that wasn't I I hallucinated that. No, wait, are they talking about what? Oh my god, they they're talking about the movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

Yeah, they're literally talking about the script, even. So sure, people are being eaten by zombies, but at no point does a j zombie just randomly jump out of nowhere and make you toss your popcorn across the room. So given this, I think uh it's our Halloween episode, so uh thanks to Tricia, you point out beautifully, we should kind of discuss movies that have scared us. So um I mine, I I'm not easily frightened. I do get spooked initially, but specifically the story I want to tell is in high school, I was uh uh uh invited to a party uh of a group of people I would not normally have hung out with. We decided to watch Candyman. Okay, not a big thing for me. Okay. I was not at all terrified. In fact, I decided to be the cocky, arrogant dickhead who like walked into the bathroom while all the lights were off and like said candyman and kept like screwing with everybody else and and whatnot. And then all of a sudden my dad came and picked me up. He drops me off at home and he goes, All right, your mom and I are going out. And I'm like, wait, what? He's like, Yeah, we're we're going to a party. And I'm like, So I'm home alone? He's like, Yeah. Yeah, you're what? I'm like, okay, that's that's fine. But none of the lights were on in the house, so of course, like I'm running through the house turning on lights. Not that, you know, I was scared during the movie, but it's like I am now alone in the pitch dark house and I was the one tempting fate. Like I'm gonna be the like I'm karmically the asshole who's about to die.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

And in horror movie rules, you have to die.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

I mean, if you were a slut or the guy that was a jerk, pretty much right off the bat. But I was the comic relief jerk.

SPEAKER_03 3:30

Oh, yeah, that one always goes, I feel like, too. But they're one of the last ones to go. See, because you know, you need the comic relief to the story. Up until the and then you officially piss off your audience when you kill the comic relief.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:42

But you're doomed.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

So yeah, so that that is my story. Like I wasn't spooked by the movie as much as the aftermath.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Well, and that's one of the reasons I think I I enjoyed Deep Blue C, the uh intelligent shark film. Um, because uh he lives throughout the funny guy lives throughout the film, I'm good.

unknown 4:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Alright, so so what was what was the movie that scared you?

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Oh, so many movies have terrified me. Like I could say Mommy Dearest was my first horror film. That's the Bar Guys.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

That that uh wire hanger scared.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Audience's scary mother apparently is too much for me.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

I have no idea. So that uh I can't say I saw The Shining and I was like, really? Oh, Shelly Duvall is not scary. Like, none of this is scary at Jack. So what has scared you though? Well, anything that's religion-based because Catholicism Exorcism? Yes, oh yes. Okay, Catholicism sneaks up on you when you don't want it to, and it either makes you feel guilty or it makes you terrified of something stupid.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Eternal damnation.

unknown 4:51

Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

And so anyway, uh yeah. Uh and then of course, like uh Oculus, I saw the short when it was at WIF, but I did not see the feature because the short, a low budget short, scared the bejeebers out of me. Not watching it, watching it was like, okay, this is tense. But then for like a month, every time I woke up in the middle of the night and I was in the bathroom and I caught my reflection, I like ran to the bed. I was like, oh my god, this is a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Yeah, no, we we also screened the feature, and let me tell you, Oculus was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

Yeah, it takes it to the feature takes it to a whole new level. Uh both both films are are are very different and scare you in very different ways.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

The feature is not a remake of the original, in fact, it's a continuation in the sense that this this mirror, which is fucked up, is gone from house to house and found more people to kill.

SPEAKER_03 5:45

Yeah, if I remember correctly, i the short is actually just part of the mirror's history now. Yeah. In in the uh in the future.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

Yeah, it's now one of the first scary movies I remember watching as a kid was Watcher in the Woods, the Disney movie from like what the late 70s.

SPEAKER_03 6:00

You call that a horror?

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Well, I was a kid.

SPEAKER_03 6:03

She calls Mommy Dearest a horror. Two shab.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

Patty Davis wasn't a scary. But anyway. Um, so yeah. Uh, but I like the ones that play with the rules when they flip things around, like um uh Deep Lucy when LL Cool J like literally gives his will and testament but then survives the film. Uh and then um Samuel L. Jackson during his in the middle of his major speech. And uh Cabin in the Woods messes with those archetypes in the setups and then flips them around on you. Um that that was brilliant, terrifying, but brilliant. I like when they kind of go outside of the box and uh do a different angle. Like uh signal we were talking about, it's like isn't this the viewpoint of the zombie? You just don't realize it until the end of the film. Shauna the Dead, one of my favorites.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

Oh my god, you're gonna hit every film that has ever been. She was asked to give one movie.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

I don't like scary movies, but I'm like so passionate about this. Okay, so my favorite zombie movie of all time is Ghostbreakers, starring Bob Hope, Willie Bell. Seriously, that is a horror movie. It was my favorite zombie movie. Yes, zombie movies date back to like at least the 1940s, everyone. And if you at least watch a Bob Hope movie.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Wait a minute. Your brother once likened me to Bob Hope.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

I say I love to be scared.

SPEAKER_03 7:27

Could you explain who Bob Hope is to our listeners?

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Okay, okay, so if you are over 40, you've seen Bob Hope movies, you've seen road movies, you know Bob Hope. Uh if you are in the military, uh, and and at least as of the first Desert Storm, you know who Bob Hope is.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

If you're between 30 and 40.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah, and you've seen uh spies like us, he's the he's the old golfer that comes through and says, um, can I play through? Yeah, rock or doctor, glad I'm not sick. Yeah. All right. And uh if you're younger than that, he's a golf course.

SPEAKER_04 8:02

There you go.

SPEAKER_03 8:03

All right. Michael's turn. Oh, okay. My turn. Uh yeah, the scariest movie uh I've ever seen is The Mist. Um, that was scary.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

That movie Again, religion. The zealotus uh lady who starts going like completely ballistic and like, you know, saying it's because of God and Oh, yeah, I forgot about her.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

Marsha Gay Harden is a very good thing.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

Marsha Gay Harden is amazingly scary. She is scary.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

Right. The the overall concept of the movie really messed with my head. And it's Cthulhu. Right. Absolutely. I mean, that's what you're it's a love cook. It's Cthulhu. You're watching a terrifying movie that is so smart. Right. You know you're watching a really good movie that is also terrifying. I feel like there's a lot of movies out there that are horror movies that are more shock value films, or more like torture porn. Yeah. That's the stuff I don't really that's like a whole other genre. That's like a bad name.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Somebody mentioned this to me recently. So here's a disturbing thought for everyone. They talked about a horror porn, and I was like, you know what? There's a lot of screaming, and usually no good plot or dialogue. Actually, the two have a lot in common.

SPEAKER_02 9:22

Oh my god. Um yeah, I'm I'm not even gonna touch that one because I like I I have thoughts, but um none of them are smart. Um But no, uh for the mist, you have to watch that in black and white, though. Yes, absolutely. It was the way to watch it.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Yeah. Where um, like Hitchcock always said, you can't you don't give them a monster, you make them afraid. Uh like people people know what scares them. Don't tell them what to be afraid of. They won't be afraid of it. Let them scare the crap out of themselves.

SPEAKER_02 9:54

Honestly, I think it's what sold Jaws. Well, yeah. The the fact that the uh malfunction salt water, and so they could not do anything more than showing a fin, typically, and that honestly made that film work much better.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

What what messed with my head so much with the mist was the fact that you know you couldn't see anything because it was in the mist. There's something in the mist. Like just that some you know, that somebody screaming that is terrifying enough. Um and not being able to see it, but then just being able to see bits and pieces, and then when you do go out into the mist, you only get to see uh like fractions of what's going on. And as horrifying as it is, what you do get to see, what I think that that movie does so successfully is it's like it it it horrifies you with what you can see and messes with you still with what you can't see. So it's like you're seeing something terrible going on here, but um just imagine what other people are going through.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

That's the brilliance of uh of of uh sound a lot of times. Like um there's a 1939 film, it's a Hitchcock movie called Foreign Correspondent, in which he made just uh try propaganda to get us into World War II. Fun fact not a great movie. I'll be up front about it, but there is a great scene, it's a torture scene with George Sanders watching. Torture scenes are great. No, no, no. Listen, listen, listen. So people are torturing this guy for information, and you don't see anything. All you see is George Sanders reacting to watching someone else be tortured and listening to the sound, not just of somebody screaming or freaking out because they're being tortured, but the sounds of whatever they're doing. And so you can't see it, but just by watching his reaction to it, you know. It's like, oh my god, this is terrifying.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Well, yeah, because your mind is making it much more devastating, disgusting, horrible. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

Well, and and the idea of something like the mist being so smart and the fact that people are afraid of what they don't of the unknown. It's not just what you can't see, it's what you don't know. And then Marsha Gay Hart and his character in theme of most horror films, the thing that puts you in the most danger isn't the monster, it's the other people in the room. They're the ones that are gonna get you killed.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

No, that that that's the reason there are a number of people uh in in my in my college group of friends that uh we have openly discussed um um that uh if a zombie apocalypse ever happened, we would just shoot a couple of them um out of out of love and respect. Right. Uh purely because they would be the people who would get us killed.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

So in like a Star Trek kind of way, the good of the many. They're the red shirts. Um the good of the many outweighs the good of the few.

SPEAKER_02 12:40

Yes. There you go. All right. So you so you know, in in in in fashion of this, uh, because I had you know openly made this this comment a couple episodes ago, let's do this properly here. All right.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

What are what are we subjecting ourselves to? We are gonna subject ourselves to this, okay? We will pin a post uh on onto our Facebook page in BIB where we will start accepting suggestions for scary movies. When we get to 250 followers on Facebook, we will take the suggestions that have been sent, we will whittle that down to make a Facebook poll. The one that wins, regardless of how scary or or or whatnot that is, we will watch it. We will do it, we will do it for you and we will resent you for it. We will imbibe it and I will be drunk the entire time.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Then afterwards, I think we should probably watch a film with that has uh like a therapist in it, and then we'll have like our own therapy sessions.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

There you go. Actually, I think the podcast is therapy, to be perfectly honest. Regardless. Alright, so we we've we've waxed enough poetics about uh Halloween and horror and anything. So now let's get to the movie. Really about the zombies yet. I've already drained mine. Um my brains are empty.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Um And that's how you get a zombie.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

That is how you get a zombie.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

No, that's the one thing that is consistent, right? Like, has anybody seen a zombie movie where there is any other way to kill a zombie besides cut?

SPEAKER_02 14:06

No, because that's that's the That's zombie cannon. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

In fact, actually, one of my one of my favorite things uh about But this one didn't do blood, it did like dark blush like dust, like people depending on how dead it was.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

It depends on how dead they were, because when they kill when they hack up Selena Gomez, and yes, they hack up Selena Gomez.

SPEAKER_03 14:24

What movie are we talking about?

SPEAKER_02 14:26

We are talking about the dead don't die. I know. We're gonna get to like so we're gonna get I I do want to start with Cast and Crewe, so let's start with Selena Gomez. Um so Selena Gomez plays She died. She she but but what's interesting about this they don't make certain things overly grandiose. No, they they don't they don't over heighten anything. A lot of people's death is just stupid and asinine, like you would likely go out in a zombie movie. Right. Like Selena Gomez and two of her friends who uh uh who are Iowans. Yeah, they're from Ohio. They're from Columbus, Ohio, probably Cleveland, Ohio, that's right. Probably um have driven into town at just what ends up being the wrong time. Yeah. And like, you know, uh the the the the sheriff and the deputy tell them, you know, stay in, stay in, you know, your room, and we never see them die.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

No, and we know they locked the door. They lock the door.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

We just see the hotel manager walk out. There's nothing about their death that is, you know, uh over the top or exaggerated or there are things that are set up where you're like, okay, so this is going to be a thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

In in the in the words of kiss kiss bang bang, why do we bring this up? Yeah. Do you think that's maybe where the climax is going to be? Yeah. But in this case, it's like, oh, we set this up because something's coming. Oh, never mind.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

Yeah. So this is this is obviously uh a Jim Jamoosh, uh written and directed, um, and with an uh not only cast but also crew uh that he has worked with a lot. Yeah. A lot of the names, uh Frederick Elms, the cinematographer, Alfonso Enclaves, Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tom Waits, Chloe Seveny, all these people have worked with Jim before on multiple films.

SPEAKER_03 16:23

He must be good to work with, otherwise nobody would go back, regardless of whatever Bill Murray says in this movie. He must be a really nice guy. Nice guy.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

But so so yeah, there were there were moments that I noticed the pacing of the film a little bit. Yeah. Something that that uh uh Michael, I believe you mentioned that is kind of uh atypical of Jim and his films.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

Yeah, I mean I haven't I haven't seen a lot of them, but I do know that this is a staple of his. Okay. Uh especially after watching Coffee and Cigarettes. I mean, it's almost like a series of short films, and it actually started out as I think two short films and then made a feature about this concept. And um it is, it's very it's very slow. Um it's a very dry, very steady paced movie. But I don't mean that in a negative way. No, it's his style.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

And if I had seen any of those films um because I'm sheltered and I don't get out much, because of the material, I think, I really, really enjoyed the pacing. I thought with an audience, there'd be so many laughs because of the awkward beats, especially when you like take turns going to look at like look at the body.

SPEAKER_03 17:35

Oh yeah, that whole sequence was fantastic. I mean the fact that and then it's like every time, every time somebody goes in there, like you're going in there with for the first time with them, it's like wait, why do we need to watch them? Revisiting the first bit of cottage.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Maybe it was maybe it was an animal.

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Several animals that kind of uh you know, we're gonna take this in stride kind of thing, but it's a zombie apocalypse, and and the two of those things put together are hysterical.

SPEAKER_03 18:05

Well, yeah and speaking of uh well the partnership uh between Adam Driver, the unlikely partnership between uh Bill Murray and Adam Driver, just their chemistry on screen hysterical.

SPEAKER_02 18:19

And and they're the ones who who break the fourth wall. I I don't think there's another person in it at any point who breaks that the the fourth wall being they they're actually commenting on the fact that they are in a movie. One of one of Trisha's favorites.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

What I love, uh and Trisha brought that up. What I uh what I love about that is that you're you know, when it it first is brought up like in the the very beginning of the movie, and you're like, wait a minute, like uh why why do I know this song?

SPEAKER_02 18:49

Yeah, it's the theme song.

SPEAKER_03 18:51

You're like, wait a minute. Well he doesn't even say the movie, he just says it's the theme song. And you're like, the theme song? Is that a theme song for some other movie? Yes, that's right. Are they talking about the movie? Right, and then they just move past it, and you're like, wait a minute, that was a good one.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Well, and then there's that added extra element where um Adam Driver shows up in his uh smart car, and for a second you're like, Did I hear? And it makes the sound of like an X-wing. Yeah, and I'm like, No. Like, but for a second you're like, Did I hear no? Because I'm just associated, this is my brain playing tricks on me. And then it just gets it just heightened and tightened and heightened.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

He's got the keychain that is the uh Star Destroyer. Uh but no, the specifically the the the one that made uh Trisha and I laugh like out loud was they're in the car and all of a sudden uh you know uh uh Bill Murray's talking about the fact that he was supposed to retire.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

You know, years ago you're supposed to retire.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Two years ago, we were supposed to retire.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

Two years ago, and and and Adam Driver goes, Why didn't you? What are we doing? Bill Murray just goes, Wait, are we improving? Were we improvising now? Are we improvising?

SPEAKER_01 19:56

No, no, I I probably know the answer to the side.

SPEAKER_02 19:58

No, I probably know the answer to the song. So it's like you you like as a viewer, you're sitting there going, Wait, what? And then you're like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

But they never look at the camera, it's never like Ferris Wheeler's Day Off, it's never like airplane, it's never where it's go over the club.

SPEAKER_03 20:15

So easily go right over your head.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Oh, yeah, and they do such a good job of playing. And then I I I love Tom Waits' character in this where he is Hermit Bob, and they they introduce him as this he's the narrator of of all the shit that's going wrong in the world, which has set these, you know, the the the the shit in motion. But my my favorite thing about him is they introduce him and he's shooting at Adam Driver and and and Bill Murray. And and up to that point, you're like, what a what a weird character. And then towards the end of the film, he happens to be near them, and I'm like, oh, okay. You know, they'll he's he's going to be the guy that like comes in and saves Nope, he's just gonna keep talking. Okay. He's just the observer. He's just a casual observer.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

I'm like, well, no, and judging society because he is outside of society. This is a movie that does judge society heavily. I know we had that uh one reviewer uh with Book Smart that said it was political, and I was like, wow. Yeah, yeah. And yet this movie is very political. Very political. Political zombie film.

SPEAKER_02 21:23

Yeah, we will get to the uh those full things, but uh uh it's great to see uh Danny Glever uh and Steve Buscemi as well. What great characters the two of them got to play and when they got to play off of each other as well in the diner. Tilda Swinton. Oh my gosh. What what I I I would I'm not gonna lie when I when I say I would love to see her play just a an absolutely normal character, just to just to see what it would be like.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Because the whole time we'd be waiting for her to go a little weird. We're like, when's it gonna happen?

SPEAKER_02 21:55

Yeah, yeah, wins when's tilde, and then she waves her hand over the keyboard and you're like, what?

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Well, I mean the samurai sword stuff came in early.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

Well the samurai story but that that's fine. That's just a nuance of a Scottish uh Scottish uh uh you know. Mortician? Mortician. That's that's fine.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Still a fan of Star Wars though.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Well yeah, yeah, I love that. She's she's the one who points out that yeah, it's a fine word in fiction. Carol Kane.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Oh my god. Okay, so Carol Kane. I love Carol Kane, but it's so funny watching her uh in this film in in her bit and then thinking about Princess Bride and going, how young were you in that film? Because I think you're made up to look older now, and you're starting to look like the character that you were you played like what 20, 30 years ago. Right. And yet I don't think you're even that old yet.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Yeah, that's true. So I I mentioned Frederick Elms, uh, he was the cinematographer, and he has worked a lot with Jim, specifically on Patterson, uh, as one of the ones where he worked with Adam Driver as well. Right. Uh also did Blue Velvet. And then uh uh Ellen Lewis, uh, who is the casting director, uh, has done Wolf of Wall Street, League of Their Own, The Departed. She also did Forrest Gump, Ready Player One. I mean, like, it seems to me that a lot of these people who had worked with Jim probably signed on and then everybody else just kind of flooded in.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

Right.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Those those kids, we make such a big deal of the kids in the detention hall. Yes. What happened to them? Yeah. Were we were we never supposed to know? Or was we do we do just edit that out? Like, did they have an ending or didn't they? Was it on purpose? Why? Why? My heading's floating.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

Yeah, considering they seem to be like, other than other than Tom Waits, they are the only three who survive.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

But we don't know.

SPEAKER_03 23:44

They just We won't know until the dead don't die too. Oh. TOO, of course.

SPEAKER_02 23:56

Oh, damn. Alright, we're gonna take a few minutes to fill our glasses back up, get ready to imbue more after this. Foxhole Creative is a production company and venue in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. Host your next private event, screening, meeting, or project of their versatile space. Their production team is the solution to your creative needs, whether you need a commercial or online promo video for your business, an exhibit set up for an event or festival, or a boutique crew to shoot your next short or feature film. They've got you covered. Step into their sound booth for the perfect voiceover recording, or work with them for all of your post-production needs. Learn more at thefoxhole.com. You're listening to Vibe Cinnamon. I'm Jonathan C.

SPEAKER_03 24:37

Leggett, and I'm here along with Michael Noens and Tricia Leggett.

SPEAKER_02 24:42

And we are discussing the dead don't die. Uh enjoying this episode? Please subscribe or follow us on all of your favorite podcast providers to get the new episodes as soon as they become available, which is every fortnight. So that's every two weeks. Uh rate andor leave us a review. And you can also follow Imbibe Cinema on Facebook and Twitter. So we spent the first act discussing the cast and crew, but now I think we really need to get to the nitty-gritty, and that is the story andor themes. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

So where do you want to start?

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Oh, where don't I want to start?

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Start with the hook. You're always about the hook.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

Michael does look.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Oh, well, the hook. Oh, the the hook is fantastic. I mean, at first I really didn't even realize it was it was Tom Waits.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

You know, because he's because he's just this creepy old dude hiding behind a bush.

SPEAKER_03 25:28

I mean, and then I like kicked myself because it was like, but of course that's Tom Waits' character. But um, he shoots at at the two of them, and Bill Murray's like, meh.

SPEAKER_02 25:39

Should we arrest him?

SPEAKER_01 25:40

Like, he shot at an officer. Nah. No, if it's junior high, it's fine.

SPEAKER_03 25:45

Right. And you're like, oh, okay. Yeah. Knowing that there are gonna be zombies later, I'm just like, wow, Bill Murray's gonna be very forgiving during this movie. Like, you know, look, you ate somebody, but that's that's that's fine. It's not you.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Oh, he lets uh uh Danny Glover go.

SPEAKER_01 26:03

Yeah, he can't do it. He can't over too.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

And the comedy is as thankfully Danny Glover as a zombie. He just goes, yeah, okay, cool. He doesn't like doesn't try to eat him. He's kind of like a mutual respect for the biggest.

SPEAKER_03 26:15

That's a zombie breakfast.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Yeah, it is. Welcome to ZA Zombies Anonymous.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Okay, so another thing is like different zombie movies have different takes. Like uh some of them it's uh like the signal, it's a frequency thing, some of them uh it's a virus that goes out. Yep. Uh here it's the axis of the earth. Arctic fracking. Polar fracking. Polar fracking.

SPEAKER_03 26:41

Yes. How is the polar fracking making like there's this orange, no, sorry, this purple glow around the moon? The moon is also like insanely large in the sky.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

Yeah. Uh so there's a uh that's Yeah, there's science behind this, right? Of course. There's gotta be science behind it. But what whatever it is about the the the fracking that is going on in the in the poles uh sets the Earth's axis is off. Axi off. Nine o'clock at night or whatever, they're they're in you know the sun, and then all of a sudden it gets like really dark in the afternoon. Uh again, like you know, all of time and everything is off.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

I haven't seen a lot of zombie movies, but I've seen more than I should have. And in this case, the one thing that they uh address is the zombies uh evidently crave not just human flesh, but they crave uh something that they they wanted in life, and they just can't get to that, so they eat people.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

Hence Carol Kane's obsession with Chardonnay even after she's dead.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Right. And uh like there's a tennis player trying to play tennis in the background. All about zombie, coffee zombie. And you know, because when you think iggy pop, you think coffee.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

It totally makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Zombies who are specifically just all about their cell phones, children's children's zombies who are all about the uh convenience store that has candy and toys.

SPEAKER_03 28:05

That was that was that was pretty sad.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

And then and even like it's it's like we're all in that cop car together because they're like, oh, that's so sad. And they're like, that's so sad.

SPEAKER_03 28:14

It took like a weird, serious turn right there.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Well, and then uh there are references where they um go out of their way to reference other things that they were in in their uh meta approach to the film. And then the other thing is uh when we talk about politics in this, I don't know if it's necessarily politics, uh, as it is the fact that it's kind of real world and how if there was an apocalyptic event of this nature, how useful the government and the news would be in that where they'd be like, Yeah, it's fine. Like we're not gonna talk about it.

SPEAKER_04 28:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:49

Absolutely. I mean, while I while I was watching like while I was watching the movie and the polar fracking thing, I I did have this thought in my brain where I was like, this would be plausible.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

Yeah. The Congress is going, no, this is this is completely normal, everything's fine, there's nothing to worry about. That's exactly what that's not even a problem.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

What?

SPEAKER_02 29:13

But it's it's sunny at ten o'clock at night, you you a holes.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Alright, and then you know, if there's going to be uh a line that you remember, it's going to be this is gonna end badly.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

He says it three times.

SPEAKER_02 29:27

He says it at least three times. Which you stop saying that how badly is badly. How do you know that it's going to end badly? Yeah. What? You got the script. The whole thing? Yeah. He sent me the whole script. I only got the scenes we're in. Yeah. That was one of the things that made the the this this film so entertaining.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

The balance between like, this is downplayed, dry humor, and then just the absurd random, what the hell was that? And back to, yep, we're back where we were.

SPEAKER_03 30:00

Yeah. Yeah. Well, and the thing was, it was like they're not afraid because it's a movie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:06

So they're like, I mean, like, I'm not really gonna die. Right, but everybody else is afraid. Like the other cop Chloe. The other, yeah, Chloe, the other cops and grandmas out there.

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Yeah. She she walks or gets out of the squad car to go be with her grandmother. Yeah. The the the thing is, is any number of people do what you would logically think you either should do, and you would also see the the human failings that cause them to be killed. Yeah. Um, you know, uh don't run over zombies.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

You will get stuck in zombies, and the car will not be able to go anywhere. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03 30:41

So you learn a lesson from this. Also, you know, I've heard many times from people where they're like, the best place to be during a zombie apocalypse would be a hardware store. That was their thought. They went to a hardware store.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 30:54

Wasn't true.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

No, well, so the back door, yes. Remember all e points of egress. Yes. Uh, but no, for uh for a hardware store, there is uh perishable food. Yes. Uh and all He's defending this. Yeah, sure, sure.

SPEAKER_03 31:11

You were probably one of the people that was like, I'm headed to the minute. I am heading to actually Home Depot. Yeah, we are loyal.

SPEAKER_02 31:17

All the way. I'm trying to remember what glass windows.

SPEAKER_03 31:20

Uh well, yeah, I think I think all any of them are gonna have some glass windows.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

Well, yeah, that's true. The the the one that they hide out in, Danny Glover and uh Caleb Jones, uh Caleb Landry Jones, uh, who plays Bobby Wiggins, uh, they do end up in one and they manage to use lumber and uh you know nail guns and all sorts of stuff to lock the front door. Sure. But they don't think about all aggressive.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

And his character is another character where they set him up, and you're like, oh, I know who this is, I know what this is gonna come into play. Like uh when he meets uh Selena Gomez and they have this exchange, and she's like, Oh, you're really smart. And like they connect on this like nerd level, and then you're like, Oh, the guys she's with they're they're gonna they're gonna die, and then these two the nerd and her are going to nope, nope, didn't nope, not at all.

SPEAKER_02 32:12

Did nothing any number of things you're like, oh, these people will manage to survive. And this this film did an amazing job of squashing.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Uh small town, was it Centerville? Centerville, yeah. Centerville. Small town. A nice place. Still yes, nice place. Not even a nice place to live, it's just a nice place. Right. Um, okay, so if it's a nice place, it's a small town. We only have three cops in town. Why is there such a large uh detention center for children? Like that is big.

SPEAKER_03 32:43

That is a very large.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Like, unless it's like for the whole county, maybe, and it's in the one town. But it's just like, how many deviant children do you have in like when you have three cops?

SPEAKER_02 32:53

And then like two jail cells.

SPEAKER_01 32:55

Right. And yet this this giant detention hall that's like a maximum security presence.

SPEAKER_02 33:00

High school.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

With uh with like Dwayne uh The Rock Johnson uh stunt men.

SPEAKER_03 33:06

Which I'm not yeah, I mean, when they were like, oh, so and so come over here and you know escort this kid back, I was like, Holy shit, is that Dwayne Johnson? No. Did I miss that?

SPEAKER_02 33:16

So the guards are Kevin McCormick and Sid O'Connell.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

It it was it was very interesting.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Yeah, they're swole.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

It it looked like they were in a gym that also happened to be.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

I think they're just bench pressing the kids that are there.

SPEAKER_01 33:30

But they were very like there's a very nice, like nice place. Their rules, they're not jerks about anything. They're like, you're just not supposed to be here. Come on, let's go. I'm I'm disappointed in a dad way.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

You know, Geronimo keeps sneaking over to the girls' wing, and they're just like Geronimo, get back.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

And obviously, as he was Geramo for a reason.

unknown 33:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Keeps going to the girls for, so Geronimo.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

Yeah, I still I still need to understand what happens to those three. Maybe you're right, Michael. Maybe it is a maybe it is a sequel.

SPEAKER_01 34:05

Perhaps. I mean Or they did it on purpose to be like just so you uh wait what happened.

SPEAKER_03 34:15

I feel like you shouldn't feel like you miss them.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Yeah. Right. Like Danny Glover, we see, and he calls out, Oh, it's Danny Glover. You know, we we we see pretty much every other person.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Oh yeah, speaking of somebody's demise, Steve Uscemi. Oh yeah, yes. Wait, and his hat, what did his hat say?

SPEAKER_02 34:32

Um Make America White Again?

SPEAKER_03 34:35

Yes. Or something like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Something to that effect, and it's it's just great watching him and Danny Glover have, you know, conversation.

SPEAKER_01 34:44

Just in the background. And it's a very civil conversation, like they've known each other their whole lives. It's like, hey, what's up?

SPEAKER_02 34:51

My personal favorite is Bill Murray, uh, when they're when they're going around warning people that there might be zombies. Uh uh Adam Driver's like, shouldn't shouldn't shouldn't we go tell uh uh farmer Frank Miller? Uh and he's like, no, fuck that guy.

SPEAKER_03 35:05

We'll have uh Chloe Chloe's character, yeah. So we're not heartless, we're not completely heartless. You know, he is he is a resident of Centerville. Yes, even when we don't like him.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:15

All right, fine.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

Uh but no, he he manages to take up uh quite a number of zombies before he uh and then the mystery of the chicken that like Tom Wade's character, he would never, he would never do that.

SPEAKER_01 35:28

That's so out of character, he would never take the farmer's chicken and eat. He's fine. At the end, he's like narrating it's like that chicken was delicious.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

It's like it's good chicken.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

Yeah. As as Steve Boucemi is being like just I love that he's actually being like mob pit dragged out of his house.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Like they're holding him up and marching him down to an area where they then it seems like uh Tom Waits' character is never in danger, ever. Not even not even like, oh, yeah, like oh, they're approaching the woods or anything like that. It's just he's always in a safe zone.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

And I think it's because he's uh we established right away, he is not part of their society. He is outside the realm of that society's eating itself.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Right.

SPEAKER_03 36:14

Yes. One of the things I was gonna mention earlier was uh the the branding of uh uh oh whoops. Oh the UBS. Yes. It was just a whoops.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Well, and that's that's true for like everything in the film that there's a logo for. Yeah. That there is thought behind all of that, and if you catch it, it's like, wait a minute, what did that say? That that's silly.

SPEAKER_02 36:36

It's uh RZA is uh uh Dean, the uh whoops man. That was that was one of the saddest things is when he showed up as a zombie because I was like, oh, that's a that's a good character.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Uh he had like three lines or four lines, there's a small interaction, and you're like, I love this guy.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Yeah, he was he was looking out for Bobby given giving him a uh uh like a vintage uh vintage comic book uh just out of the kindness of his heart.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

He drops wisdom on him.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

Drops wisdom on him, yeah. He he keeps you know Bobby on the on the straight and arrow, and then suddenly, you know.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Very early on, we have the first attack in the diner, and then uh uh Bill Murray turns to Adam Driver and he's like, so what do you really think? Something in zombies. I think it's zombies, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:21

Ghouls, the way he says ghouls is so beautiful. So Adam Driver.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Like not out of the realm of possibility, right? So we establish this is a this is a good like this is a theory that holds water without really any any forensic evidence or anything, right? But then even though we've established this, we forget that there's a dead body in in the police station in a jail cell that hasn't even been closed. Like the Amazon that you know somebody is coming back to life. We all know that the dead come back to life, and we've forgotten about the dead body.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

That was one of the most interesting things, is the fact that night one, two, two, two zombies come back to life and go for coffee. And you're like, oh, I guess this this zombie apocalypse isn't bad if they just, you know, kind of pop up periodically, and then night two, it just don't know. Exactly. You're like, oh, fuck that. Never mind. We're all right.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Before Tilda was the uh the local mortician, whoever had the job prior did a damn good job because everybody was so well preserved. Yeah. You can tell by the date of the clothing, because they do a very good job of showing that it's different decades. The clothing were like, you guys held up well underground.

unknown 38:43

Silence.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

We've been drinking zombies.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

It's four rums and an apricot brandy and then orange juice and pineapple juice.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Which is interesting because um why would you name a drink that's just sugar and rum zombie?

SPEAKER_02 39:00

I think it's because it literally melts your brain.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

Fun fact about this film is I don't think anybody actually eats anybody's brains. No brains ever. It's actually brought up.

SPEAKER_03 39:12

Like usually they go after brains. Yeah. This is weird. I don't think we ever addressed this. You brought up the the the blood.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Right, that they do like comes for a black dust kind of thing instead. Right, but you know what?

SPEAKER_03 39:26

No, but but but but people who had just died.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

No, because when they kill when when the when they behead Selena Gomez, there's a splatter of of of blood on on Chloe.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Right, no, but she's not the undead, she's just dead. That was a preemptive kill.

SPEAKER_03 39:43

Yeah. Right. It was it was before it's before she's a zombie. Whenever you're a zombie, the moment you become a zombie, even if it's like five hours later, it's dust. Oh, that's a good point. Right. Because um uh Chloe, Chloe's character became dust, right? When he killed Chloe. Yes. And that was that was like minutes.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

What allowed me to enjoy the film more was the lack of blood. I'm not I'm not in, I don't know. You don't like food.

SPEAKER_03 40:12

So we make it we make it powder and it's tolerable. Yeah. Why don't we poke the bear? All right, I'm just gonna start off by saying Chicago reader actually like this movie. Um The AU review says, Life's far too valuable to waste on underwhelming cinema such as this.

SPEAKER_01 40:36

See, I just want to be like, you know, you review movies for a living, so if you don't want to watch movies, maybe you should stop watching movies for a living.

SPEAKER_02 40:47

Yeah, that one's that one's a little bit interesting. No, I I like it.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

You know what? I bet they didn't even watch it. I bet they were like, I don't want to do my homework. This is what I'm just gonna say.

SPEAKER_02 40:56

I see, but I where whereas I like I like the pun of it that life is Oh cute.

SPEAKER_03 41:02

Yeah, very cute. See, see, see this is from the hero sorry, not there's no the it's just hero collector. Uh the deadpan performances and laid-back aesthetic are just as Jarmouchian as you might hope, but the writing feels lazy and the film lacks the necessary bite.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

It does seem that they at least acknowledge and understand Jarmouche's film.

SPEAKER_01 41:27

So go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 41:32

Next, The Sun, which is uh based out of the UK, says it goes to show that even a packed cast cannot carry a movie unaided, though Tilda Swinton's Scottish Undertaker comes close.

SPEAKER_01 41:46

Oh yeah, that sounds like a little biased, doesn't it? Just a little bit. It wasn't good except for the one person that sounded like they were from our neighborhood.

SPEAKER_04 41:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

Oh, I didn't go there with it, but okay. I went with you now.

SPEAKER_02 42:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:01

Um, that's what I got.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

We greatly appreciate all of our listeners for choosing this podcast and supporting independent films. So uh keep an ear out for our next episode to check out our uh show notes or drop us a note. Uh please visit us at imbibesinema.com. Once again, I am Jonathan C. Light and thanks for imbibing with us. Cheers.