Get ready to listen to us hate on the character of Alan. Man, is he unlikable.
Knocking back “Strange Magic” from Moonraker Brewing. They’re out of Auburn, CA, and they make some great stuff. This is Michael’s pick, and he’s proud of it.
During the discussion of the filmmakers, Michael admits he saw “Rhinestone” in the theater as a child, and thought it sucked even then. Why he isn’t embarrassed to have seen this film, particularly in the theater, is rather surprising.
This is one of the first zombie films following George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” and the makers were admittedly influenced by it.
We draw a link between the ending of this film and Lucio Fulci’s "Zombi."
Jayson wanted to punch Alan in the face ten minutes in. Everyone will, when they see it.
The plot is disturbing. A ‘prank’ that entails going to an abandoned island with a forgotten cemetery, beating up an old man, digging up a body, desecrating graves and all manner of objectionable behavior, on threat of losing your job with his Alan’s theater troupe. And, they go along with it.
Alan’s stripy pants are his only redeeming quality, almost ruined by his blouse.
The actor Alan Ormsby is honest about the film, looking back. He also hated the tie he wore. Much like us, he enjoys it, but sees how its low budget shows. He also went on to write quite a few things, and created a toy. He did makeup for this film, and it’s actually quite good. The zombies are scary. Check out this interview with Alan from YouTube.
Sometimes, when your budget is low, it forces you to be more creative, and leads to some cool stuff. For instance, the lighting in this film contributes to an eerie atmosphere.
It has a running time of 1:26, but the zombies don’t show up until 1:03, and that builds tension. Then, all hell breaks loose.
Poor Orville, the main zombie. You know he’s going to get his revenge, and keep waiting. The extras in this one went on strike at one point. Some of the cast and crew took part in a reunion in 2019, including Seth Sklarey who played Orville.
The theater troupe takes no umbrage with all the awful things Alan is doing, and has them doing. These people are wildly disrespectful. Terry finally draws her line when Alan wants to drag a corpse inside. Alan threatens her position with the troupe, and she backs down. We wonder if the precursor to “Don’t do that!” in horror films may have started here.
Once inside with the corpse, Alan wants to marry it, then necrophilia undertones are introduced, and we squirm and dislike Alan even more.
Alan’s lowest of low points, throwing Anya to the zombies. Even the zombies pause to look at Alan, as if to ask, “Who’s the human here?”
Alan’s comeuppance comes at the hands of Orville, which is only fair.
Michael, under the influence of “Strange Magic,” from Moonraker Brewing, compares this film to Shakespeare. Jayson smartly brings us back from that nonsense and references John Kenneth Muir’s “Horror Films of the 1970s.”
There’s a cult-like effect Alan has over his troupe. Was this conscious, in the wake of the Manson family?
One last reason to dislike these people: The poor caretaker they beat up gets eaten by zombies, tied up to a tree. We ask the tough question: Why does this abandoned island need a caretaker?
We conclude a Halloween viewing party where you dress up as the characters would be a winner.
We close up discussing how very 70s this film is, and: would there be wolves on an island off the coast of Florida?
Intro music for this episode is a mix of (1) Turn on The Funk (Story Blocks Audio subscription), (2) sample 1961’s The Phantom Planet [in the public domain], and (3) sample 1968’s Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women [in the public domain]. Outro music is Mortician's Twist (Story Blocks Audio subscription)
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