Horror movies &stuff Interviews Curtis Owen and Tom Fallows, writers of the new book -- "George A. Romero:The Pocket Essential"
We recently got a chance to chat with scribes and horror fanatics Curtis Owen and Tom Fallows, penners of the upcoming book -- "George A. Romero:The Pocket Essential"...a piece of literature which is small enough to fit in your pocket, yet contains a larger-than-life wealth of knowledge and info about the veteran genre director and his illustrious career -- which is still going strong after so many years. Owen, a writer and film reviewer for many popular genre sites, and Fallows...a screenwriter, film reviewer, director, and writer, reveal to HM&S.com everything you'd wanna know about upcoming literary release which will hit stores at the end of this month in the UK and the U.S.
MR. H:Lets get into your writing backgrounds respectively. How long have you guys been writers, and what have you written throughout your careers?
Curtis:I've been writing bits and pieces since I was a kid. When I was about eleven I used to watch films like Escape From New York and Dawn of the Dead and create my own stories that followed on from the films, it was juvenile stuff but its was lots of fun. My main focus has been writing novel length stories since 2005. I've been working on an idea called 'Sunnyside' which is set in a revolutionary England in which Nazi occultists are slowly taking over the country. I also love writing non-fiction; writing about film is a growing passion
Tom:My main focus had always been filmmaking, and I've written and directed several short films. I kind of fell into film journalism by mistake. After leaving university I was terrified about joining the real world, so I applied for a course at the British Film Institute on Film Journalism. Weirdly they accepted me (I think they had to make up the numbers) and I totally fell in love with it. Since then I've written reviews for various film festivals and contributed to a bunch of websites. Basically I'm a film junkie and if I'm either making them or writing about them I'm happy.
MR. H:What spurred the idea for you guys to move forward with writing this book?
Curtis:I've always been passionate about Romero, he captured my imagination from an early age, getting paid to write a book about the king of the zombies was a dream come true.
Tom:I'm constantly amazed at how undervalued Romero is. I mean he was part of the American New Wave and has made films that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with movies by Scorsese, Spielberg and Coppola. And in terms of horror he's a giant. So I could never figure out why there were only a handful of books about him and his work. I guess because he's made so many films about zombies he's easy to dismiss. But that was really what spurred me on. I wanted to spread the word about a great filmmaker!
Curtis:I have to agree with Tom about Romero being undervalued. When you compare him to filmmakers like Scorsese, Spielberg and Coppola he doesn't obtain the same instant respect from Hollywood - even though he deserves it. Guys like that can demand $100-150 million budgets; Romero has to fight for $10 million, its crazy! That's why his films are endearing because imagination conquers the limitations. Dawn of the Dead, in my opinion, is as much as a masterpiece as Taxi Driver, Jaws or even Apocalypse Now.
MR. H:What exactly will this book intail, how many pages is it, and when will it be released?
Curtis:We split the book into four distinct periods to reflect Romero's career. 'Blue Collar Monsters' looks at his early films (from Night of the Living Dead to The Crazies), then we get into 'Weird Fantasies and Tales of Fear' (which includes Martin, Dawn of the Dead and Creepshow). Next we look into the 'Hollywood Horror Show' of Monkey Shines and The Dark Half, and finally 'Back from the Dead' (Bruiser, Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead). We also have two concluding chapters: 'Children of the Living Dead' which focuses on the films that have been inspired by Romero, from Lucio Fulci's Zombie 2 to British classics like 28 Days Later. The 'No More Room in Hell' segment looks at the projects Romero could have directed, from the notorious Diamond Dead and Resident Evil to more obscure titles such as Before I Wake and Mongrel: The Legend of Copperhead. The book is 160 pages long and comes out at the end of October.
MR. H:Pocket Essentials Publishing is releasing the book, were they your first choice for a publisher?
Tom:Yeah, we pitched it to them and amazingly they said, "Yes." This is our first book and we were struggling to get a foot in the door, but Pocket Essentials were really accessible and open to ideas. Once we got the go ahead they were so supportive and allowed us space to write the book on our own. We had a great experience with them.
MR. H:How much input or lackthereof, did THE -- George A. Romero have in putting this book together?
Tom:None really. He was too busy promoting Diary of the Dead to properly sit down and chat with us.
Curtis:Most of his input was indirect, it would have been great to interview the Macabre Master but I think you lose your critical eye when you get involved with what you're writing about. You need distance to be objective. We got a chance to meet him when he was promoting Diary though.
Yeah, and he lived up to his reputation as being one of the nicest guys in cinema. He's really humble and shy. His reaction to us telling him we were writing a book about him was pretty much, "why?"
MR. H:Will this book be a bio about his film career, his personal life, or both?
Curtis:The main focus is on his career but we have included information about his personal life throughout (how he got arrested when he was making his first feature, when he met his then wife Christine and how he decided to go at it alone after Day of the Dead). I think we managed to balance it out. For example, we talk about how Romero teamed up with Richard Rubinstein (his then producer) and how they created Laurel Entertainment together and made one-hour sport profiles on people like O.J. Simpson before they worked on films.
MR. H:Are you guys die hard Romero fans or just casual fans who are appreciative of his filmmaking and storytelling abilities? How long have you been fans of his?
Tom:I think I'm a die hard George Romero fan who appreciates his filmmaking and storytelling abilities. I think he's truly made some masterpieces of American cinema but then I'm not the kind of fan who thinks everything he does is genius. A few of his films, like Diary of the Dead, are really flawed- but then they're flawed for the right reasons, like experimenting with the form, lack of budget or an unwillingness to compromise. Say what you like about him, but all of his films contain enough heart, imagination and insight to at least keep them interesting.
Curtis:I've been a fan of Romero since I was about eight. I still remember the buzz of watching Dawn of the Dead for the first time on VHS. I used to secretly borrow it from my parents and watch it in the darkness of my bedroom. I was fascinated and repulsed, "what the hell were these creatures shuffling around a supermarket trying to bite people?" My imagination was on cloud nine; "what would it be like to be locked in a shopping mall fighting off zombies?" This was nothing like Inspector Gadget or Fraggle Rock; it was like having a private invitation into an adult world. I managed to convince my mum to buy me Day of the Dead for Christmas when I was twelve. I've never been the same since; it warped my fragile little mind.
Tom:Actually Curtis warped my fragile little mind by introducing me to Romero when we were at college together. His films blew me away. Up until then I'd always been terrified of horror movies. When I was little I used to watch films like The Fly and Gremlins and then switch off half way through when things got nasty. Pathetic, I know. I mean Gremlins for Pete's sake!
MR. H:Will the book be released in any special formats such as glow in the dark cover, holographic cover, paper and hard back, etc.? Or will it be put out in one particular format?
Tom:Those ideas sound great! I think maybe we should pitch them to the publisher. A hologram of a big zombie head lurching out would be amazing. Otherwise it's just going to look like a regular Pocket Essential and will sit nicely alongside other edition on Orson Welles, David Cronenberg and John Carpenter.
Curtis:It would have been cool if the book was released in a special format, have a 3-D image of a rotting zombie on the front cover! Pages that reek of decaying flesh, a sort of scratch and sniff smell-o-rama.
Tom:(Laughing) Yeah, and then if people told us our book stunk we could just say, "Yeah, we know. It's supposed to."
MR. H:Did you get any quotes from actors, writers, etc....people who've worked with Romero for the book? If so whom?
Curtis:We managed to get into contact with the king of splatter Tom Savini. We told him about the book and he was really enthusiastic about answering questions. We put a few of the quotes into the 'Splatter Factor' sections. He's a really friendly bloke.
Tom:I had a really great interview with Tom Atkins whose in Romero's Creepshow, Two Evil Eyes and Bruiser. He's was such a warm guy and really funny - I wanted him to be my dad. But frustratingly there just wasn't enough room in the book to include any of it. Instead we just give him a thank you at the start. A great guy though and a brilliant character actor. Just watch him in Halloween 3 and Night of the Creeps and you'll fall in love with the man. Seriously.
MR. H:As Romero fans, do you want to see him eventually move away from zombie movies for awhile and try to take on some other subgenres of horror?
Curtis:That's a good question. I would love to see Romero move away from zombie cinema, he's done all he can do with it (in my opinion).
Tom:Interestingly another thing that spurred us on to write the book was that we were sick of people just referring to Romero as, "that zombie guy". Films like Martin, The Crazies and Bruiser are equally brilliant and it's a crime that they're not more respected. But while we were trying to promote him as more than just the "Don of the Dead," Romero seemed to accept this fate completely. With the new film he's making that makes three zombie movies in a row. It's a shame.
Curtis:We got a section in the book called 'No More Room in Hell'; where we look at the projects that could have been. Compiling that list was so much fun because we imagined what it would have been like if Romero had directed a Tarzan movie, had done a superhero movie with Marvel Comics or had made Stephen King's The Stand. Still hope I guess.
MR. H:How many factoids will this book contain? Will it contain a few factoids about Romero and his films, or will it be a huge library of interesting little factoids and bits of info?
Curtis:We have a section in the book called 'From the Vault' where we include trivia for each film. Stuff like how the UK band The Gorillaz sampled dialogue from Day of the Dead in their music and how Romero played an FBI agent in Johnathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs.
Tom:The great thing about Romero is he's a real independent filmmaker and shot a lot of his films guerilla-style on the streets of Pittsburgh. Making films this way is an adventure in itself, which makes chronicling their production fascinating. Like deciding which of the crew to set on fire while making Night, or that on Season of the Witch a lot of the cast thought the film had been cursed by the devil.
MR. H:There've been a few books about George A. Romero released before this one, how do you personally see yours ranking amongst those literary pieces?
Curtis:The Zombies that Ate Pittsburgh is my personal favourite. Even though it's out of date Paul Gagne did a fantastic job. Knight of the Living Dead and Gospel are a little highbrow for my tastes but I enjoyed reading them.
Tom:Yeah, I agree. Knight and Gospel are academic texts really. And Zombies that Ate Pittsburgh only covers up until Day of the Dead and its been out of print since God knows when. I think what we have going for us is a balance between facts, biography and analysis. I hope it's the kind of book you can just pick up and enjoy or use as the starting point for an academic study. We're the best of both worlds...I just hope we did a good job.
Curtis:We wanted to give the book a unique edge, give it a personality beyond the other books. I hate to rank or compare but I feel our book is the most up-to-date and most assessable for general readers and horror fans alike.
MR. H:How do you think horror fans, Romero fans, and casual readers in general will rank it?
Tom:I hope they like it. I guess it's hard to please everybody but we really tried hard to write a book that would be inclusive of fans and newcomers alike. I think Romero fans should be happy that we've devoted so much space to his non-zombie films and hopefully the uninitiated will be turned on to some really great movies. Plus for anyone who just loves zombies there's stuff in the book for them too.
Curtis:It would be good to get feedback once its out. Horror fans should love it! But then I'm biased.
MR. H:If the book does well, will there be a followup book later on? Just how many Romero books do you guys have planned after this one?
Tom:Nothing on Romero planned yet. If this book does well I'd be interested in doing a revised edition in a couple of years, one that would include Diary of the Dead 2 (or whatever it's going to be called) and any other films he's worked on since. In the meantime I'd like to look at some other filmmakers. Plus I write a month article for the website obsessedwithfilm.com on Cult Movie Actors. So far I've looked at people like Brad Dourif, Pam Grier and Rutger Hauer and I'd love to turn that into a book.
Curtis:I hope the book does well enough so we can justify writing another book for Pocket Essentials. I'm researching a book about the pope of trash John Waters at the moment so no concrete plans for another Romero book (unless we get the green light for the smell-o-rama edition with glow in the dark zombies). I would be interested in doing a revised edition, it'll be fun to see what direction Romero takes after the new dead film in 2009, anything can happen! Still hoping for that damn Tarzan movie.
MR. H:Question for Curtis: As a film reviewer Curtis, how would you rank Romero's "Dead" trilogy from best to weakest, and how would you score "Dawn Of The Dead 2004", "Day Of The Dead 2008", "Day Of The Dead 2:Contagium", and "Night Of The Living Dead 3-D"?
Curtis:That's interesting because Dawn was always my favourite until we started the book. But I think Day is in a different league. Its so damn impending and claustrophobic, in Night it was a farmhouse, in Dawn it was a shopping mall, in Day it's a damn cave - at least they could walk out the front door in the other two. There's something that harks back to our subconscious in Day, the fear of the dark. The sequence in which Rhodes gets pissed off and puts Sarah and McDermott in the zombie pen freaks me out every time. Or when the zombie hands break through the wall, sends a chill down my spine. Its John Harrison's music too, it just lifts the film into another world.
Even though it's a flawed vision the proverbial 'it's a classic' comes to mind. I'm not a big fan of the Dawn remake. The zombies look like 100m Olympic runners on drugs. I think Snyder misplaced the Romero subtext; these things are much scarier when they are slow moving and huddled together. Considering the bad reputation it developed online I liked Day of the Dead 2: Contagium. It was fun. It's like watching a Troma movie! I've stayed clear of watching Day of the Dead 2008 and Night 3-D, I just don't see the point. I really want to watch that one with Billy Connolly though, what's it called, Fido I think.
Tom:I saw that, but my DVD was scratched and the last five minutes wouldn't play! What I saw was good though.
MR. H:Question for Tom: Can you give us a few scoops on any upcoming horror films that you might be writing, or co-writing?
Tom:Lots of things in development with nothing yet a dead cert. Let's put it this way, I'm still pretty far from quitting my day job. There are a couple of shorts I'm working on at the moment. One is called Kitchen Sink Monster and it's about a werewolf who's forgotten how to be a werewolf. And I'm also working on a film called The Break In about a young couple who are asked to trust the man who's invaded their home. It's kind of John Carpenter-esque. As well as those I'm writing a feature about monsters (like the vampire and the wolf-man) who live in the real world. I can't really say much about that one at the moment though. We'll see.
MR. H:What are both of your opinions about this "Dawn Of The Dead" sequel revealed a few months ago to be moving forward and starring Tony Todd possibly?
Tom:Erm. Well they've already committed the sin of remaking it to begin with, so a sequel isn't going to hurt too much. Plus I love Tony Todd so I'd probably go see it based on that. Oddly, Tony Todd played Ben in the Night of the Living Dead remake. He was good too. Maybe he could come back as Ben's twin brother or something.
Curtis:It all depends on who's directing it. All we need now is Dawn of the Dead: The Musical. I imagine it's already in the planning stages. Look out for the musical numbers: 'Kiss my rotting lips and tell me that you love my decomposed heart', 'If I was a zombie I would bite you neck' and 'I'm living with a zombie'.
MR. H:Thanks for the time guys!
Tom:No problem.
Curtis:It was a pleasure, as the king of the zombies says, 'Stay Scared!' Hope people enjoy the book.
End. Be sure to check out Tom's monthly column at
Obsessed with film!
| | | |
