Original subtitles

Mickey: This week on "The Core,"

we say goodbye and thank you to genre gods

George A. Romero and Tobe Hooper.

"Last Podcaster On the Left" Henry Zebrowski

joins me to talk about their iconic work.

Then, special effects artist Gabe Bartalos,

legendary cinematographer Daniel Pearl,

and "Dawn of the Dead" star Ken Foree

tell us all the gorey details

of working alongside the two masters.

Bust out the tissues, the barf bags,

or whatever seems fit, as we pay tribute.

No, no, please, let me go!

Cut! That was brilliant.

Perfect.

Hey, uh, I don't mean to be Daniel Day Lewis here,

but is this, like,

putting a hat on a hat?Hat on a hat?

You got a zombie and a redneck chainsaw man?

Yeah, why would he be chainsawing up his own house?

This is my house, you know?

Guys, we're cross-pollinating.

What's the problem?

I forgot everyone's a director.

Just, let's do it again. Welcome to "The Core."

The circle of creation is a brutal one.

It births new artists and innovations,

but it also leaves us grieving for the ones who came before.

Those who irrevocably changed the genre.

Today, on this very special episode of "The Core,"

we bid adieu to titans of horror

George A. Romero and Tobe Hooper,

icons who we lost in 2017.

Throughout the 1950s and '60s, horror movies

were mainly escapist monster flicks.

"King Kong vs. Godzilla," "Frankenstein Created Woman,"

"The Curse of the Werewolf,"

but by the late '60s and early '70s,

America was neck deep in some of the most

politically tumultuous years in her history.

Racial tensions were coiled tight,

the Vietnam War brought graphic violence

into our homes on a nightly basis.

Protest was in the air,

and it took that rebellious sensibility

and nation on the brink

to change the face of genre film.

Johnny: They're coming to get you, Barbara.

Mickey: In 1968, George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead"

was unleashed upon the public with,

of all things, an African-American lead.

Never before had a horror movie

made such an unapologetic social statement,

and the world took notice.

Romero's little zombie flick made 150 times its budget

and independent horror was changed forever.

Tobe Hooper tore his way onto the scene in 1974 with

"The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

Stark, brutal, terrifying, and disturbingly realistic --

a perfect film for the Vietnam era.

A precursor to modern slasher,

we've seen dozens of horror movies

with a hulking figure wielding a power tool,

but never before "Texas Chain Saw."

Hooper went on to make the quintessential ghost story

of the 1980s with "Poltergeist."

In "Dawn of the Dead," Romero continued

his critiques of American culture,

this time setting his sights on our obsession with consumerism

all while perfecting the zombie genre.

Without Hooper and Romero,

we'd still be watching creature features.

With me to talk about these filmmakers,

you know him as The Demon on Adult Swim

"Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell,"

and from "The Last Podcast on the Left,"

Mr. Henry Zebrowski.It's good to be here.

Thank you so much for --It's good to be out of my little cage.

So, all right, let's go right off the bat,

George A. Romero, we all love his work.

"Night of the Living Dead," one of the most influential horror films ever made.

What's so appealing about that film?

Well, it's got political undertones,

it -- it's very relevant, it is...

it's startlingly modern when you watch it,

it's still very scary. Yeah.

"Night of the Living Dead" was, I'd say,

the beginning of modern horror, right?

It was, like, the idea of we can watch a horror movie

and subtly learn something at the same time.

That's a great point because I feel like him,

as a filmmaker, his movies, they turn the mirror on society,

the reflect on our inherent fears.

He's making art, he's not just making genre work,

which, especially at the time, was so schlocky.

You had this nugget of, uh,

beautiful acting, real tension.

The ending of that film was one of the most iconic parts

of any horror film

and showed that shit can actually end badly in a film.

When we look back on that, I think what's so interesting

is that ability to say,

"There's no safety net" to the audience.

It's nice to know that the lead people --

the lead characters have stakes.

George Romero, in my mind, so classic,

and what he did w-was really inspire a lot of people,

and his was, like, the gold standard for zombie horror,

and they branch into the weird stuff,

like what we find with "The Crazies,"

kind of like a general paranoia about other people.

But then Tobe Hooper, with stark realism with

"Texas Chain Saw Massacre"

was the granddaddy of everything we see now.

The ultra realistic shit, the stuff that you're supposed

to forget is not a movie.

And I think what's so great about the realism

of "Texas Chain Saw Massacre,"

the man is the monster and the monster is the man,

and the darkest thing that we can do is to each other.

Oh, absolutely, and Tobe Hooper based it

loosely off of a serial killer,

like, a real -- it has -- it is grounded in real horror.

And so it has a double effect.

And with "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2,"

which is my favorite, probably my favorite sequel

to a horror movie,

he goes right to camp and such great performances,

then he gave us Bill Moseley, for the most part, which is nice.

What I think is funny and what is so inspiring to me as a filmmaker, too,

is when you look at behind the scenes of both

"Night of the Living Dead" and "Texas Chain Saw Massacre,"

you just see it's a skeleton crew.

It's guys with one camera on their shoulder.

And it's directive vision. It's, like -- There's a --

We don't have a lot of that anymore.Right, exactly.

George Romero, I was so entertained

by everything that he made.

Tobe Hooper scared the shit out of me.

Right, so let's take one last look at some iconic scenes

that these legends have created for us.

Talk about the iconic helicopter decapitation in "Dawn of the Dead."

You very rarely see zombies climb in any of these movies,

so it's just like, randomly,

one zombie's figured out how to climb.

And, I mean, it was like "Squish!"

I was obsessed with the script, and at the end,

she actually decapitates herself, you know,

instead of flying away to a happy ending.

And then when I saw this for the first time, I was waiting for

the decapitation at the end, and it didn't come.

Well, she just -- you know, in the end,

they just thought that this was a lot cooler.

And then, of course, someone finally was like,

"Well this needs a happy ending."

This is arguably the peak of zombie films.

So, "Texas Chain Saw Massacre," the dinner scene.

One of the best parts of this movie, as far as I'm concerned,

is the way it sounds.

There's very little soundtrack except for the...

I heard that when they filmed this,

it was, like, 120 degrees in the room.Oh, yeah.

And that they used real meat as props.

It just reeked.

This movie's full of, like, what-the-fuck moments,

but this whole sequence

is really kind of beyond the pale of anything else.

It's a good reveal, because at this point,

we've meet Leatherface.

He's, like, the Goldberg of the group.

You've got the other two guys that are essentially, like --

what was it, it was the Bash Brothers from "Mighty Ducks 2."

They're very similar, they're the good henchmen,

the Rocksteady and Bebop of the family,

and up until this point, Grandpa's just been a prop.

And you know what's so funny? I think everyone's like,

"Oh, well this is so gritty, it's so realistic,"

but I think the photography in this movie is beautiful.

Going on the idea of disgusting meat,

there's a perfect segue into, weirdly,

the most disgusting meat scene ever -- "Poltergeist"!

I think that it's actually very close to "Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

I think they saw the true potential of meat.

And everyone said, "Oh, Spielberg secretly directed this movie,"

but I think this is a pure Tobe Hooper. Yes.

There's certain scenes that Spielberg directed.

He definitely was, like, "Make the little girl lost,

let's look for the little girl."

And I love this because, like,

it's another great example of, like,

'80s horror where they don't shy away from the prosthetics,

so it's just full-on. And this is a PG movie!

Iiiiit's show time!

Mickey: Oh man, "Creepshow."

I just love everything about this movie,

particularly because it's Stephen King,

it's George A. Romero,

and they're going crazy.They're going crazy.

I like that Leslie Nielsen shows

what a great serious actor he is in this,

and you forgot that that's how he started.

And it's just, for some reason, it's great to watch

Ted Danson get tortured as well.

When you think about it, in a strange way,

this is probably one of the worst ways

in the entire world to be murdered.

There's no way to stop the ocean.

There's no way to stop the tide.

I warned you, Martin. Nobody in the town.

It's so weird, 'cause I feel like "Martin"

is one of those Romero films

that is never the first out the gate to watch,

and yet it's so effective,

and it's so kind of stark, and realistic,

and really, he set that precedent of he took vampires

and he did something completely different.

And when I saw this ending, where it's just so blunt,

and brutal, and there's no music,

and it's just horrifying,

and the way that he dies is just so realistic,

it traumatized me.

Well, I love anything that blurs

the line between fantasy and reality.Yeah, totally.

That's my favorite kind of horror

is the idea "Is he nuts or is he bad?"

Or is things really happening?

Is it a serial killer or a vampire?

I always like shit like that.

And that's what I think is so brilliant

about George A. Romero is he took these kind of,

almost like mythological monsters,

and he put them into real life.

What a great pop culture artist.

"Funhouse." All right, let's talk about this one.

It's another celebration of,

like, the carnival weirdness that he does so well.

It's just got a lot of fun visuals in it, and also, it's like,

♪ Clowns and bodies, clowns and bodies ♪

The colored lighting, and the wide-angle lens,

and everything like that. It looks like a giallo movie.

It does, and it's 'cause all the reds and stuff like that.

I wonder if he actively did that, if he actively said,

"I want this to be my 'Suspiria'"

in a little bit, except he doesn't have ballerinas.

I need to make my house more of an evil carnival.

"Night of the Living Dead,"

greatest ending of all time, maybe?

Sobering, political.

What a joyless ending to a movie,

and stark and intense for this time period.

Yeah. You're a brilliant artist like that,

your observations of the world

just reflect naturally in your art,

and this is a case, perfect example,

of, like, these hillbillies coming and gunning down things

first and asking questions later,

and a guy who we have championed for the entire movie

makes it out alive.

No one even asked him a question, just...

Boom! Shoot him right in the head. It's awful.

It just also shows, it's like, there are many storylines here.

Right.This is a world in crisis.

So, "Night of the Living Dead," a part of what's interesting

is that, up until this point, we're like, "Wow,

what a personal tale of these people struggling in this house."

And then his storyline just ends.It just completely ends.

Ends, and then a whole other world of dudes

are coming here thinking like they're heroes.

Like, this is another movie.Yeah.

Another movie has just walked into this movie

and just rolled over it, and it just shows how little we know.

Good shot.

Okay, he's dead. Let's go get him.

That's another one for the fire.

You know, I just think it's, like, really kind of inspiring

that these guys pushed the envelope.

"Night of the Living Dead" comes out, there's no ratings board,

and that causes a ratings board to kind of happen.It's very punk.

Especially for a man who ended up,

like, I don't know, it's like, it became the gold standard,

but it's funny how something like that is so revolutionary.

'Cause then you can kind of see now where it's like,

"Okay, no nudity, no violence"

just immediately because he threw it in there.

There's a standard rating that you have to abide by,

and I hope more filmmakers take --

Oh, no!

Dude, help me! I'm sorry!

You piece of shit!

Oh, no!

Is this how you treat your actors?!

No, you fuckers. Stop it, no!

Choke on it! Choke on it.

I think it's going to be all right.

We're back again with effects guru Jim Ojala

and you brought a guest today.

I did, I brought my good friend Gabe Bartalos

who is also a wonderful special makeup

and creature effects artist,

and who was actually on the effects crew

for "Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2"

with the late, great Tobe Hooper.

Damn.That's right, and over 30 years ago now.

Thank you so much for being here today, sir.

So, Gabe, why don't you tell us just a little bit about

working with Tobe Hooper on "Texas Chainsaw 2"?

I mean, that's such, like, a huge, insane deal.

Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's interesting,

because a lot of times, when you're on an effects film

doing special effects or creature,

you don't know the film's place in history

because time hasn't unfolded yet.

But with "Chainsaw 2," it was interesting,

because I had a relationship with Tom Savini.

His star was completely on the rise as well.

He had done "Day of the Dead," which was a landmark film.

The next film for him as an effects person, "Chainsaw 2."

It was the Mount Everest, you know? It was perfect.

You know, I think we all knew that "Texas Chain Saw 1"

haunted me, probably like a lot of people.

It's minimal independence was, like, a flag in the sand.

So, we knew now it's a studio picture. What's he gonna do?

And the flavor of the script, it was so different.

Could you tell that it was gonna be kind of a dark comedy,

or...? No, no.

The comedic elements weren't there, and to Tobe's credit,

a lot of that rose through the characters.Right.

Bill Moseley, as he made the character himself as Chop-Top,

he found that place

where he probably couldn't do it straight,

it had to get a little wacky.

But really, like, it was perfect for the film.

Yeah, oh, my God.

The acting in that movie elevates it, too.

To a huge extent, Dennis Hopper, with two chainsaws on a belt.

Probably the weirdest thing was

Tobe Hooper does a cameo in the film.

There's a scene where, like,

these frat people are running in a hallway.

He was really concerned about finding the time

to make that cameo.

It was, like, they were trying to get the scheduling,

and he had this funny head gear.

Of all the things to worry about,

I heard a few times, you know,

"Let's make sure we nail that in there."

Jim, amazing entrails as always.

Let's just kind of go through it.

Yeah, we made a piece here that could butt up to Henry.

Kind of like that.

Make a gut bucket ahead of time.

That's silicone inside so it doesn't leak.

And then we make a lower half that has some intestines

already pre-loaded, and then it can butt together,

and in fact, we even, we put in magnets.

So, this thing can actually click together, stays put,

and then our wonderful art department here

made a false floor so he could actually

hide the rest of his body in.

So then once we get his fake body in place,

we take our gelatin skin,

drape it over all of this, disguise it with a T-shirt,

pre-score the tee shirt

so the zombies can just dig in,

and then they can actually rip the skin apart.

Now, Henry, how does it feel to see all your innards

all laying out on the table?

We're just bags of meat with electricity running through us.

Was Tobe Hooper pretty responsive

to the effects sequences when you guys were doing effects?

Like, was he really involved, or, like...?

In the beginning, he was.

And to Tom Savini's credit, he would lay every gag out,

and we would sometimes even do, like, stick-figure storyboards,

and him and Tobe would get in on it

so they had an understanding, especially if it led

to a physical effects rigging or a stunt scenario

that other departments needed to be involved in.

But once that was set, Tom Savini's a pro,

he's done this before, him and his guys just run with it.

And from there, the amount of freedom we had was huge.

What was the most insane effect that you guys had on "Texas Chainsaw 2"?

I think one of the crazier ones was, opening the film,

there was a scene on a bridge overpass

where the yuppies --Yes, "Death to the yuppies!"

Yeah, and we did a lot of rigging on it,

it was done with a couple stages.

There was a prosthetic appliance that an actor wore,

and with a bladder, an air device,

we lifted the head so you start to see

the impact of the wound on the talent's head.

And it was great because it was a huge setup, you know?

The vehicles were cool,

Leatherface was going friggin' nuts with the chainsaw.

It was, like, so big and theatrical.

The -- well, look, I can just show you.

There is a chainsaw right here.

So, what they did was very similar to what I'll do.

Oh, shit. Whoa, hey there.

So, yeah, you know, don't try this at home.

But every now and then, you could go nuts

with the Leatherface dance,

swing toward your friends...

and suddenly...

Okay, cool.

Whoa. Ho, ho, ho... Oh, not good.

Man.

There has never and will never be a movie

that looks like Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

It's a force of nature,

it's one of the most important horror films ever made,

and here to talk to us today about it is the cinematographer,

the man who shot the film, Mr. Daniel Pearl.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

How did you first meet Tobe Hooper?

Right when I graduated, my buddies were over at my house,

and I told them, "Guys, I think I'm pretty good

at this cinematography thing."

I was 23 at the time, and I said,

"I will shoot a feature film by the time I'm 35.

I'll be the youngest guy to ever shoot

a feature film anybody's seen."

And all my buddies, they were all directorial students,

and they all went, "That's pretty bold shit."

Well, three weeks later, Tobe rang up,

and he'd seen some commercials that I had been shooting

for the directorial students

that had graduated ahead of me.

Whenever I talk about Tobe,

I have to talk in his Texas accent.

He'd go "Dannel." He'd always call me "Dannel."

"Dannel, man, uh, I've seen you workin'.

I reckon you're the best cinematographer

in the state of Texas and I want you to shoot my movie."

So, I went, "Yeah, sure. Can I read the script?"

Well, I read it, and it was incredible.

Right there on paper, really strong.

Literally hair standing up on the back of my neck. Yeah.

For Tobe, it was totally a political allegory. Mm-hmm.

For me, it was the story of what would happen

if our cars broke down between the cities.

We consider the cities of Texas to be the safe islands.

You travel from Austin, you know, 200 miles to Dallas,

or 80 miles to San Antonio, whatever it is to Houston.

W-We were sure that if -- if our cars broke down

that the rednecks would have their way with us

and certainly they'd, you know, cut our hair and do whatever.

In my mind, it was sort of taking that fear

that we had to the next level.

But for Tobe, it was a lot about the gasoline shortage,

the Vietnamese war, and just a lot of the political injustice

that was going on in the world.

What was your process of working with Tobe,

the preparation and how to conceive the idea?

I mean, I know we went and scouted locations together.

I saw the locations.

But there weren't hours of meetings and things like that.

In fact, we -- first week, get to the set together,

and we started shooting in the van.

And at the end of that week, the primary investor at the time

decided we weren't going fast enough,

and "You guys are just making it up as you go," you know?

And Tobe and I were going, "Well, what's wrong with that?

We're making up great shots." And the guy goes, "No,

that's not how it's done. Make a shot list

and that's how this film is going to get made."

So, they shut us down for a week, right?

And Tobe went off and he made a shot list by himself.

Coming back the following Monday,

after being down for a week,

I'm given a shot list for the first day.

I'm there before Tobe, about a half hour, 45 minutes.

I start setting up the first shot. Tobe showed up.

Keep in mind, this is the days before video assist.

So, as the cinematographer, I'm the only one

seeing the shots as they go down.

Tobe was always right to my right,

right next to me, watching.

You know, we wind up moving the camera,

put it someplace else, right,

rather than what it said in the shot list.

And we went through the day not shooting the shot list.

"Tobe, what the fuck?" I mean, you know, he goes,

"Oh, Dannel, man, didn't I tell you?

We're not doing that." He goes, "They made me write that list,

but we're just gonna keep doing this the way we've always done it.

We're just gonna keep making the shots up as we go."

Comes the next day, it's a Wednesday of the week, right?

And we're shooting outside the swing.

They figured it out by 2/3 the way through Tuesday that,

"They're not shooting the fucking shot list.

You guys are gonna shoot that shot list, God damn it.

That shot list and nothing else."

Right? "Okay."

We're like whipped puppies. Okay, okay, we got caught.

As we finished shooting around the swing,

I go, "Tobe, you know, I have an idea.

I think if I lay down on this platform

and hang the camera off the front,

and as Teri stands up,

I'll track with her under the swing

and, as we clear the swing,

the house will start to be small in the frame and grow

and grow and grow and grow and grow

and envelop the frame."

The assistant director at that point, he says,

"What are you guys doing?"

And Tobe goes, "Oh, man, Dannel's

come up with this amazing shot.

I mean, this is such a strong opening

for the beginning of the second act of the film."

He goes, "We have to shoot this."

Then he goes, "No, you're not shooting it

because it's not on your shot list."

And Tobe goes, "You know what?"

He goes, "Right now, I'm the director, he's the D.P.

Get the fuck out of our way. We're shooting this shot.

Maybe we're fired, maybe we're not gonna be here tomorrow."

But he goes, "But it's way too good of a shot,

and we're shooting it."

And I have to love him, man, for many reasons,

but particularly for fighting the fight

for us to be able to make that shot,

because, as you know, it's considered, in many places --

if you Google "best dolly shot,"

it'll come up as one of the best dolly shots of all time.

In fact, Marcus Nispel, two or three years

before we did the remake together,

he walked in one day and he says,

"Have you seen Premieremagazine?"

And I go, "No why?" He goes,

"Oh, they reckon you invented the dolly."

I go, "What?"

They said the dolly shot was invented by Murnau,

and was put to further use by Hitchcock,

and taken to another step by Godard,

but perhaps the most pertinent dolly shot of all times

is Daniel Pearl's shot on "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

I started to cry.

Literally, I'm going, "I'm in a paragraph with Godard?"

Murnau, Godard, and Hitchcock? Oh, my God.

What is like, from what you can remember, watching him direct that film?

Very intense. Very into it.

You knew what he wanted, very adamant that he get it.

There was -- This story may not have been told before,

where one night, the caterer made marijuana brownies

and Gunnar had eaten one, not knowing they were marijuana brownies,

but Tobe and I missed it because we were out scouting.

And Tobe and I carried on by ourselves

the rest of the night with Gunnar,

where he carves through the front door,

and if you watch that sequence,

you'll see he's a little bit --

his footing and everything is not quite right.

But he's running with the chainsaw,

but Gunnar was a strong ox of a man.

He could wield that chainsaw like it was a toothbrush,

so we weren't worried.

You and Tobe worked together again on "Invaders From Mars."

Well, actually, there was something before "Invaders From Mars."

Billy Idol, "Dancing with Myself."

This is a crazy story.

Producer had an idea to do the first 3-D video

ever to be on MTV and it was gonna be anaglyphic --

the blue, green, and reds?

Like, the comic books used to have?

And he thought Billy Idol would be the perfect artist

to have this 3-D video,

and his plan was to sell the glasses in the 7/11s

for, I forget if it was $1 or $2,

and he was confident he'd make a million dollars,

he was gonna get in, produce one film,

and get out with a million dollars and retire.

So, somehow, he gets to Billy Idol, and Billy Idol goes,

"All right, mate, if you want to do my video,

get me the guy who directed 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre.'"

And then the producer knew that,

he went to Keith Williams's house,

who was the writer for so many of the early music videos,

and Keith said, "Well,

Pearl lives up the street, just a block away.

Come on, we'll go ask him if he can put us...

put you in touch with Tobe."

And Tobe had just had a bit of a rough ride

on "Poltergeist."

He had gotten a bit reclusive

and not very communicative to anybody.

And I went to his place, and knocked on the door,

and I said, "Tobe, Billy Idol wants you to direct his next video."

"What?"

MTV had just been on television

only for a few months, right?

He goes, "I've been watching that stuff."

He goes, "It's amazing."

But anyhow, what's great about it was Tobe was nominated

as Best Director of the first MTV Awards

and it was really just, you know, a real...Rejuvenating.

...it rejuvenated him fabulously,

and I'm very happy to be able to pay him back with a favor like that.

The entire horror community was devastated

by the loss of Tobe Hooper.

I'm very curious as to what the loss of Tobe Hooper

means to you, personally,

since you worked together for so long?

Well, to me, I was -- I was -- I was shocked.

I was...

really just stopped me in my tracks for -- for a while

because I do owe so much to Tobe.

He gave me an opportunity, I've been very fortunate

to have a very successful career.

But he gave me the start that --

I wouldn't have even gotten my foot in the first door

if he hadn't given me that opportunity.

So, um...

I'm forever grateful for that.

That's why I'm here with you today,

it's my chance to tell people how much I owe the man.

And how much I miss him.

Us, too. We at "The Core" adore Tobe Hooper

and your work has influenced

an entire generation of filmmakers.

The most important horror film maybe of all time.

So, sincerely... Thank you.

...thank you for being with us.

Thank you very much.

If I were to ask any of you what the greatest zombie film

of all time would be,

I wager 9 out of 10 of you would say

"Dawn of the Dead."

And fortunately, I have the star of "Dawn of the Dead"

here with us, Mr. Ken Foree, to tell us all about it.

Hey! Thank you so much for being here.

My pleasure, my pleasure.

So, let's talk about Duane Jones

for a little bit and George Romero

as a civil rights pioneer.

Why do you think that "Night of the Living Dead"

had such an impact?

Quite frankly, I think Duane Jones,

aside from George Romero,

is the reason that "Night of the Living Dead"

was such an important film, because African-Americans

just weren't the heroes of films in those days.

They weren't even the leads of most films.

And then Duane Jones shows up in this very low-budget film,

but he's the hero, he's the person who takes charge,

he's the voice of reason.

That was new, that was new for everyone.

And at the end, everyone wanted Duane Jones to make it.

Of course!

It stopped being a man of color.

It stopped being an African-American

or a black man doing it.

This became everyone's hero,

everyone's knight in shining armor.

This was Sir Lancelot coming to kill the dragons.

It was Duane Jones and he opened the door

and he was shot

and the entire world went...

Yeah. "God, no."

And then I'm cast, and I said,

"Well, I guess it's just coincidence

or something like that."

And 15, 20 years later, maybe,

maybe even longer than that,

people -- I'd meet people in the airport

or at, you know, the supermarket or somewhere,

they'd be African-American people, they'd say --

Can I shake your hand?

"Oh, Mr. Foree, you were the greatest,

and we're so happy that you lasted.

You survived!"

"Most of us die in the first two minutes.

You lasted over --" I said,

"Yeah, okay, thank you very much,"

and I didn't -- I-I thought it was curious.

I didn't think it that important.

I just didn't get the...

I did -- didn't connect the dots there until later,

I became to realize that it was an important issue

in their lives

that the African-American in this film

did not die in the first two or three minutes of the film.

The torch being passed from the hero in "Night of the Living Dead"

to the hero in "Dawn of the Dead," that's a big deal.

Had you seen the movie before you saw "Dawn of the Dead"?

Oh, absolutely! I knew Duane Jones, personally.

We were -- We were very close.

He told me a few things about the climate in Pittsburgh.

Tell me a little bit about that.

You know, this is 1968, okay?

There was a lot of racial tension.

So, he kind of felt that it was, you know,

it was alive and well in the midwest,

and especially in Pittsburgh.

He said kind of, like, "Hey, man,

you better be careful about when you go down there."

There were some racists down there

and he kind of warned me about that.

But you didn't hesitate when you got the call.

I bet you flew right out to Pittsburgh.

Oh, no, no, absolutely not. I was ready to go.

And it's such an ambitious movie,

and it's such a big scope.

What, from your opinion, from the perspective of an actor,

was the most difficult scene to get right and to shoot?

I think that what affected me the most,

I think it was the --

because it was the first real acknowledgement

of what they were trying to depict in this film,

was when we were in the basement of the project,

and we broke through, and I had to shoot those people

that were laying there.

And from my POV, it was quite real.

How was it working with Romero as an actor's director?

George was a very quiet individual. Mm-hmm.

He was a very man and he was very generous,

and those things you got a sense of

when you talked to him, when he gave direction.

There was a ladybug or something else

that had attached itself to him and wouldn't go away.

You know, some people might squash it,

or not treat it so gently and throw it off...

He was so delicate with this bug,

and he just slowly lifted it, put it on his finger...

And it flew away?And it flew away.

Sums it up.And that was George.

Are there any final thoughts

on George A. Romero and his legacy?

I think that everyone,

from someone who's creating a zombie film

for $5,000 in their basement, to "The Walking Dead,"

they all stem from "Night of the Living Dead,"

George A. Romero, Duane Jones,

and then Ken Foree a little bit, and Terry Alexander.

Absolutely.

Ah, this has been amazing.

Thank you again. Thank you.

Ah! This is awesome.I appreciate it.

It's been wonderful. Wonderful.

Mickey, my friend.

I applaud your beautiful tribute to Romero and Hooper.Oh, thanks, man.

Yeah, those guys shared some really wonderful stories.

It was especially poignant seeing Henry's guts

spilled out and eaten.

Uh, I guess?

Oh! And when your head was obliterated by a chainsaw.

It was just a lovely celebration of humanity.

Sam, as always, you've got a very unique outlook on life.

As did Hooper and Romero.

Let's talk about some films that share their vision.Let's do it!

All right, I'm not gonna talk about films

that are influenced by George A. Romero and Tobe Hooper

because everyone is influenced

by George A. Romero and Tobe Hooper.

"Night of the Living Dead," "Dawn of the Dead,"

"Texas Chain Saw Massacre."

These movies can't be topped.Very true.

But we've seen some really wonderful films

that I think share the independent,

frenzied, horrific spirit of those movies,

so let's talk about them.

"Angst."

Gerald Kargle's Austrian masterpiece.

This is an incredible home invasion film

with amazing cinematography.

This movie is absolutely unreal and one of the only movies

that captures the frenzy that Tobe did

in "Texas Chain Saw Massacre,"

the feeling that a movie is about

to absolutely break out of control

of everyone on that set.

It's a special film, it's a violent film,

there's really nothing like it,

much like there's nothing like "Texas Chain Saw"

and much like there's nothing like "Night of the Living Dead."

Ah, man, and the cinematography inspired

Gaspar Noé's "Irreversible," right?

Absolutely it did.

Let's talk about "The Battery."

♪ But we'll still be together and we can not be defeated ♪

I didn't want to talk a lot about zombie films,

but I did want to talk about what Jeremy Gardner

pulls off in "The Battery"

because I think what he does is really comparable

to what George did and the Image Ten did

when they made "Night of the Living Dead."

It's a small movie made for $5,000.

It's about character, it's about humans,

and there's wonderful, wonderful zombie work in it.

It's a beautiful independent movie and a great success story.

And Jeremy Gardner, one of the great actors of our generation.

Absolutely. I mean, you know him well

from your own film "Psychopaths."

Very lucky to have him.

"The Alchemist Cookbook."

Gosh.

Where are you?!

Very cool movie from Joel Potrykus.

It's a film about isolation, about madness, about dark magic,

and this features a really great lead performance by Ty Hickson.

The reason I bring that up is because even these days in horror,

we're not seeing a ton of great horror with black leads.

Obviously, "Get Out" was huge this year.

Ty Hickson puts on an incredible performance here,

it's a great little movie. It's creepy, it's weird,

and it's deeply about something.

Can't wait.

"Bedevilled."

This is my final one because this is really like

the convergence of Hooper and Romero.

It gets at that sort of madness,

that boiling point that Hooper nailed in "Texas Chain Saw,"

nailed in "The Fun House,"

and Romero who had deep, deep, beautiful themes.

Civil rights, consumerism,

all the things that bubble up in Romero's films.

Here in "Bedevilled," you'll see the madness

and you'll also see real, rich conversation

about abusing women,

it's about people who stand by and watch

and how complicit they are.

It's brutal, it's terrific, it's deep, it kicks ass.

Cannot wait. Korean cinema is the best cinema.

Exactly.

Well, these look fantastic.

And, uh, out of curiosity, how do you want your funeral to be?

Oh, just simple. Small, family, friends.

Oh, that sounds really nice.

Yeah, and then I'll be burned alive in front of them all,

much like the end of "The Wicker Man."

Well, I'm...

sure your wishes will be respected, Sam.

Hope so.

It'll be like deluxe cremating.

Well, that's about it for "The Core."

Thank you to everyone who helped us pay tribute

to George A. Romero and Tobe Hooper.

May they continue to inspire generations

who have taste, brains, and a taste for brains.

Oh, scoot over. Let me get in on that.