Went to the Glasgow showing last night, and it was fantastic! There were a few hiccups but they just served to make it more memorable.
First off the little announcer guy came on stage and apologized that Ken Foree would not be arriving until the end of the movie because he was still in the hotel recovering from the previous night. Apparently the previous night's audience were so unresponsive and dour-faced (he didn't mention Edinburgh by name but that's Edinbuggers for you) that Ken and Joe and the little journalist guy went out and got shit-faced afterwards.
They played Dawn of the Dead (US Theatrical Edit) which was fantastic. The print seemed a little touch on the dark side, but like Symph reported reported from Edinburgh, it was probably played off a Blu-Ray and the brightness and contrast on the projector could have used a little tweaking. I have no complaints about the actual visual and sound quality of the film - in fact, if that WAS the newly released disc they were showing, they did a good job on it.
The audience was fantastic - laughing and cheering and whooping throughout - it was the best experience I've had watching either of these films since the first time I saw them.
It's weird - when half the audience roars with laughter or cheers and applauds at a gag or set piece that I have seen a thousand times and have become inured to - it really makes one see the film with fresh eyes. For example, I never realised until now, but Fran and Steven's ineptitude at fighting zombies is actually played for laughs in the film. I was always slightly embarrassed by the scene in which Fanboy clumsily fights zombies at the airpad while Fran looks helplessly on - but this audience, many of whom were Dawn first-timers, lapped it up. They weren't laughing in a "this movie is old and sucks" kinda way, they were laughing in a sort of empathetic "these characters are as bad at fighting zombies as I would be" kinda way. And when Roger slapped Steven's poorly-aimed rifle out of the way and took aim, the roof almost went off the place - I'd never thought of that as a comedian scene, but it IS! Dawn of the Dead is a funny, funny film. These movies are packed full of intentional gags, almost to the level of a Shaun of the Dead, but I'd seen them so many times and picked their plot points apart in sombre discussions so often that I'd forgotten it.
It made me think about Survival of the Dead. The movie has been getting flak for being too silly, people have been saying that Romero isn't taking the genre seriously enough anymore. Now I realise he never did - and it's not a bad thing. Last night I sat there thinking: if George showed up tonight, and played his movie with he'd have this audience eating out of his hand. It also explains, for me, why some showings of Survival generated better reviews than others: GAR's films are MADE to be seen with a lively audience, preferably with a high quotient of willing non-Romero fans who, unlike us, are not sitting there quietly and desperately praying "please be good, please be good", but just enjoying the movie in the context of wacky humour and gross-out scares. That's how I hope to see Survival for the first time - the laughter and mirth of the n00bs loosens up the hardcore GAR nuts and lets us enjoy the film at face value.
Anyway, back on topic. Dawn got a round of applause and, when Foree came out, it extended the overall ovation to about the ten minute mark!! He announced at the start of the QA session that he wanted to tell some stories about his life and talk about racism and Obama but the promoter had asked him not to, as it ran on for so long the previous night; so his hands were tied. First question from the audience? "Can you tell us some stories from your life and talk about Obama?" LOL! So he gave us the condensed version of the time he was called out to Vancouver to shoot The X Files, and he was pissed off because he was intending to go and visit his old neighbourhood that week and catch up with all the people from his childhood, only to discover that he knew David Duchovny and used to play basketball with his brother. (He didn't do the racism talk though). So he had an interesting QA - lots of questions asked - he told us his thoughts on the Dawn remake, he told us about his upcoming films (Zone of the Dead and El Superbeasto), talked a little about his friendship with Duane Jones before he died, etc. etc.
Afterwards, they played Day of the Dead. Again, too dark but otherwise amazing quality. Again, the audience had a blast. One thing that is clear is why people didn't like Day of the Dead at first. After watching Dawn, it stands out so clearly that the first 40 minutes (and a lot of the rest) of Day is just people shouting at each other. After that time, the humour starts creeping back in, Bub appears and all the girls go "aww". By the end, everyone was enjoying Day just as much as Dawn, and the gore scenes actually raised some shocked cries and surprised laughter from the newbies in the audience.
Another lengthy round of applause as Joe Pilato came out in character as Rhodes - but holding the umbrella Symph mentioned, and said the following line in the Captain's voice (shivers down the spine time): "They say it's bad luck to open an umbrella indoors. They say it's bad luck to say the word... MACBETH in a theatre. Especially a SCOTTISH theatre. We ain't gonna have any of that bullshit superstition here tonight, COS I'M RUNNING THIS MONKEY-FARM NOW GLASGOW, AND I WANNA KNOW WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE DOING WITH MY TIME!!" The audience - including both old fans and newly acquired ones - almost died from a deadly combination of violent mutual nerdgasm and pants-shitting terror.
Pilato's QA was just as interesting as Foree's (moreso, and I'll get to why in a moment). He talked about his involvement in an early version of From Dusk Till Dawn (the production trailer, featuring him, is apparently available online). He talked about how they should have sent Rhodes into Afghanistan to deal with the Taliban ("shoot the mothers in the head"). He told various stories about Day of the Dead, and spoke a little about the healthcare debate ("you all look a lot healthier than Americans"). But then - the most interesting thing, because I'm not sure if this knowledge is out there on the web yet - he spoke a little about his upcoming projects:
Apparently he is involved in the new "Night of the Living Dead: Origins" CG Dead movie. And he spilled quite a few beans on it, here they are:
* Origins is not a remake or a sequel, instead it takes the very same characters, interpersonal conflict and basic premise from Night and transplants them into a new setting: New York City on Christmas Eve at the start of an outbreak!
* The film is basically an allegory about the September 11 attacks and the world of fear, mistrust and conflict we live in now.
* The film is almost fully CG. Not rotoscoped like Sin City.
* There was suggestion that the film was aiming for a theatrical release in 2010.
* No mention, so far, of running zombies.
* And now the coffee-spilling moment. Joe Pilato will be starring in the movie as
I'm still not sure whether this is awesomely cool or not. Anyway, I've typed enough now. I'm writing this post on my smartphone and my fingers are going to drop off.
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Originally Posted by SymphonicX
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