DAWN OF THE DEAD’S Zombie Legacy, SUSPIRIA Spoof Trailer, and More!
In this Issue:
- Horror History: Dawn Turns 20
- Image of the Week: Shape Shifter
- Tiny Bites – This Week’s Best Horror Headlines
- The A to Z of Subgenres: V is for Video
- A Shudder Book Club – What We’re Reading
HORROR HISTORY: DAWN TURNS 20
Forty years ago this week, George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead bit down hard on the horror genre, and it’s never been the same. Dawn crossed cultural lines only nudged before by its predecessor Night of the Living Dead (and some movies that emulated Night of the Living Dead, like The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue and The Grapes of Death).
Never had a zombie movie felt so apocalyptic in its implications. Never had we seen humans so convincingly eaten by other (albeit dead) humans (thank you Tom Savini). Never had a horror movie tagline — “When there’s no more room in Hell, the dead shall walk the earth” — been so iconic. And never had consumerism been so savagely attacked in a genre movie, with Muzak-addled flesh munchers wandering the mall that “had been important to them” in life.
It’s as if Romero had seen ahead to the consumerism that would engulf the 1980s, and that prescience solidified Dawn of the Dead‘s classic status in the home video era. Without Dawn of the Dead‘s mix of zombie carnage and social lampoon, there’d be noResident Evil games or films to critique corporate culture. Without Dawn of the Dead‘s humor, the “zombie comedy” wouldn’t exist: no Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Warm Bodies, Fido, or Zombie Strippers.
Romero’s genius for mayhem and mirth has not only ensured that Dawn of the Dead will remain a horror movie classic, but the horde of zombie cultural artifacts created in its wake have proven that forty years later, this is George Romero’s world, and the rest of us are just living in it. (Though some of us are only shambling.)
IMAGE OF THE WEEK
Shape Shifter
Artist Daniel Danger’s dreamlike Mondo poster for Shape of Water — drawn with the blessing of Guillermo del Toro — perfectly captures what it feels like to fall in love with a monster who’s not really a monster after all.
TINY BITES
BEWITCHED IS BACK, CHANCE THE RAPPER’S PIZZA HORROR & MORE
Somebody mashed togetherPaddington 2 and the Hereditary trailer, and we suggest you go watch it immediately.
Paul Tremblay says he wrote his horrifying home invasion novel The Cabin at the End of the Worldbecause he doesn’t like home invasion novels. (It’ll make sense once you read his explanation.)
Serial killers, vampires and dust: The strange story of how Electronic Arts spent $20 million to develop a game about Jack the Ripper then never released it.
Presented for the approval of the Midnight Society.(Warning: NSFW)
FrightFest warned audience members to turn off their bloody phones with Shushpiria, a delightful spoof ofthe Suspiria trailer.
The trashy (and awesome) ‘70s and ‘80s horror thrillers featured in Paperbacks from Hell are going to be brought back to print.
The movie adaptation of the frequently-banned Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books has been in Development Hell for years, but producer Guillermo del Toro says filming’s finally about to start.
The creator of Black-ish is updating the ’60s suburban witch sitcom Betwitched for ABC, which this time will feature an interracial blended family.
Check out the trailer for Slice, Chance the Rapper’s film debut featuring werewolves, paranormal investigators, and a pizza joint built over a gateway to Hell.
THE A TO Z OF SUBGENRES: V IS FOR VIDEO
The videotape. For many movie fans, an object of nostalgia … if also of questionable quality. For horror fans of a certain generation, it’s an icon. Tapes were how discoveries, epiphanies, life markers happened. In fiction, though, tapes open a door to a world of terror. Cursed media is an old device. Words in occult texts house spells and unimaginable power. The Twilight Zone developed dark futures in “A Most Unusual Camera.” But has anything been as scary as the images revealed and the fate doled out by Sadako, or Samara in Ring and The Ring? What of the self-filmed killers and mythical documents of real murder? Just as VHS made home media more widespread, the videotape has a unique knack for acting as a relatable, readily accessible window into both the supernatural and the all-too-real evil of man. Ever find a blank tape? Whatever’s on it isn’t good.
See: The Ring / Ringu, Thesis (aka Tesis), The Poughkeepsie Tapes, Beyond the Gates, Benny’s Video
A VERY SHUDDER BOOK CLUB- WHAT WE’RE READING
By Joshua Lyon
Derek Milman’s new YA book Scream All Night, about a boy who takes over his dad’s creepy cult film studio, packs a ton of winks for grown-up horror fans in with the typical teen fare like crushes and college angst. It all helps serve as a beginner’s course for your kid/niece/nephew that you’re dying to watch Texas Chain Saw Massacre with someday.