Episode 16: The Z Word

Ed: Are there any zombies out there?
Shaun: Don't say that!
Ed: What?
Shaun: That.
Ed: What?
Shaun: That. The 'Z' word. Don't say it.
Ed: Why not?
Shaun: Because it's ridiculous!
Ed: Alright...Are there any out there, though?
Shaun: Don't see any... Maybe it's not as bad as all that. Ohp! Nope, there they are.
— Shaun Of The Dead

The apocalypse has a face and its name is zombies. Whatever the cause, the result is always the same. The dead have risen in huge numbers to feed on the living. With each victim they claim, their numbers swell, and no force on Earth can contain them. As society collapses, it's up to the remaining humans to fight their way to safety or keep shooting until things blow over - but they rarely do.

As everyone knows, the word "zombie" has its roots in the Voudun beliefs of the Caribbean, referring to a body "revived" and enslaved by a sorcerer known as a bokor. The culture that created the zombies was born in forced labor, so the horror to these West-Africans wasn't getting eaten by a zombie, but becoming a zombie — a mindless, senseless, unfeeling slave for eternity. Even as the mass media of today focus on the repulsiveness of the living dead's feeding habits, this core concept of the zombie remains to be one of its most relevant aspects - especially in the George A. Romero films.

In fact, George Romero's Night Of The Living Dead is responsible for the wide-spread usage of the word in modern context as well as the layers upon layers of social criticism presently attached to it. As the 1968 cult film was accidentally entered into the public domain due to an error in the end credits, it quickly became the object of imitation and emulation by many other directors. Most zombie invasion stories nowadays follow the same conventions, even as some specific zombie tropes are inspired by the later works of John Russo, Night's co-writer.


The classic "Romero Rules" for zombies include:

• The effect is pandemic; anyone who dies arises moments later as a zombie, whatever the cause of death, unless they suffer damage to the brain.
  
• The bite of a zombie is infectious, and is always a fatal injury, even if it seems a trivial scratch. This results in the victim returning as a zombie, much to the horror of the zombie infectee.
  
• Zombies are slow-moving, lumbering, and stupid. Give them a door knob and they will be forever confused.
  
• It is generally the case that a single zombie is not a tremendous threat. The threat of zombies generally stems from the fact that they tend to turn up in mobs. This trope is largely symbolic in nature.
  
• Zombies can be killed only by destroying their brains, though rendering them immobile is usually taken to be just as good.
• Zombies are compelled to eat the flesh of the living.

The "Russo Rules" are similar, but include several specific differences:

• Zombiism is a virus. Zombiism results only from being bitten by another zombie, though event zero created the first zombie that starts off the chain reaction.
  
• A zombie bite results in zombification, though the transition is slow, with the victim becoming progressively more zombie-like. Zombies generally become stupider and less human over time.
  
• Zombies are stronger than humans, which is a bit strange given that there bodies are decomposing.
  
• Zombies are specifically compelled to eat the brains of living humans. Zombies still possessing the power of speech may begin talking rather obsessively about smelling brains, before their minds deteriorate and leave them saying only, "Brains..." They say "brains" because Russo zombies find being dead very painful, and eating brains is the only thing that eases that perpetual agony. Once they've sated themselves, they can apparently talk and think normally in the interval before the hunger returns.

Of course, zombie flicks have progressed since 1968 so nowadays they are both more dangerous and less attached to the basic zombie concepts and rules. 28 Days Later, for instance, replaces the living dead with abnormally aggressive humans. Regardless of the changes, the basic points of all zombie films are essentially the same: it is never about the zombies as much as it is about the humans trying to deal with the zombie apocalypse. Speaking of which, if you would like to get prepared for the eventual apocalyptic event, check out this zombie survival wiki.

Zombie apocalypse stories usually fall into one of two categories of political allegory. Some zombie films are really a political statement against capitalism and consumerism, with zombies representing the bulk of humanity as unthinking sheep (example: Romero's Dawn of the Dead). On the other hand, zombie horror advocates hardcore individualism and libertarianism, with added emphasis on the heroic "well-prepared" survivalist, and death to anyone who dares show compassion for others or cares about anything other than their own personal survival. Zombies also seem to fit the aliens-as-communists archetype, while the military is never anything but an obstacle at best, and often is directly responsible for the ensuing mayhem.


On to the show that aired on 18 September, and was largely about the music with fair amounts of Goblin and Zombi against firsts such as The Flaming Lips. Before you check out the playlist, remember to visit Television Tropes & Idioms, a grand website that inspired most of what's written here.

>>> Download playlist, Barb!

Episode 10: Giallo! Giallo! Giallo!

Staying focused on Italy for the second week in a row, last Friday Danse Macabre featured the beautiful sounds of giallo's greatest masters, Ennio Morricone and Goblin. We also gave the most basic lesson in the Italian language, "Non mangi la neve gialla!" which at the time seemed both appropriate and funny. Seriously, though, giallo movies deserve all the attention they have been given in the States for the last couple of years, as well as the wave of remakes that will surely follow soon. That we devoted a whole show discussing the classics of this peculiar sub-genre is only natural.

An original giallo pulp, the kind of which

provided the basis for the whole subgenre.

By the way, check out the following couple of sites for some very interesting giallo-related stuff:

• The Do-It-Yourself Giallo Kit
• Top 26 Giallo Cliches

This is one of my favorite Giallo Kit creations:

A Doll's Head in an Empty Grave

Directed by

Pupi Duppi

A man, on his way to an urgent appointment, disappears, and is subsequently found dead in a river. A visiting English spiritualist finds a letter that contains some unknown details about the mystery. Despite several false leads, the hunted becomes the hunter as she decides to make the real criminal pay!

That fake name - Pupi Duppi - is actually a reference to director Pupi Avati whose The House with Laughing Windows (1976) is one of the obscure gems of 1970s cinema.

To download the whole show, CLICK HERE. To stream the show, CLICK HERE. Whatever you do, always be careful around people with black gloves!

Episode 9: A Dog called Dylan

Announced as early as episode 3, the Dylan Dog Special is finally here! The show aired this morning, on Saturday 13th (a date not nearly as evil as Saturday 14th), starring comic book specialist Barker, two self-proclaimed patients and the ghost of Gordana Stoshic - it was epic, it was slightly geeky, it was just the way I like it :)

Boy, did we cover a lot of ground. We went briefly over the history of the comic and how it was introduced to readers in ex-Yugoslavia (see the cover below), the format, the first double issue, why Dylan Dog has been so popular over such a long stretch of time, Rupert Everett, and that was just the introduction!

Some other interesting things that came up during the show: we listened to Giuseppe Tartini's "Devil's Trill", discussed Dylan Dog as a horror / pop culture encyclopedia, Dellamorte Dellamore, the writers and artists of the comic, Groucho and Bloch (of course!), Death and Xabaras, our most-loved episodes, and last but not least, Dylan Dog's greatest loves, including the one that was a bit incestuous!

Musically speaking, the show was infused with a good deal of italo prog rock, thanks to Goblin and Zombi, some 1980's post-rock, some shoegaze, and a good portion of the soundtrack for Dellamorte Dellamore. To stream the entire show CLICK HERE, to download the show CLICK HERE, and whatever you do, enjoy the weekend!

Zombi - Spirit Animal (2009)

Zombi is a truly rare animal in this here 21st century of ours. Based in Pittsburgh, the multi-instrumentalist duo comprised of members Steve Moore and A.E. Paterra hearkens back to the days of full-on italo prog, pushing forward this slightly pretentious but always megacool blend of rock like it was the only thing in the world worth living for. The interesting thing here is that Zombi might be on to something: with records full of epic horror soundscapes getting helium-high on funky keyboards and muscular percussion, the music simply demands your attention!

Now let's describe Spirit Animal. If you read about Zombi around the web, you'll see that some references are dropped on regular basis: Goblin's Dawn of the Dead soundtrack, Rush's Moving Pictures "without the vocals", and last but not least, Fabio Frizzi's work for Zombie Flesh Eaters. Combine these references, crank it up to eleven, set your eyes on that immense elephant-infested record cover and you pretty much have Spirit Animal. The references don't ring any bells? Then check out the following live video from Zombi's earlier performances.

It sounds like you've heard this song in a 1970's film before, doesn't it? :)

If Spirit Animal has one problem is that it is too ambitious at times, continuing through long stretches of ambiance with little to no variation, which of course can be slightly boring. Then again, there is always a solution to this problem: just turn on the volume, and cop on the doomed retro futuristic world that Zombi is all about. I know I have. 

Follow this link for a nice little torrent of Zombi's entire discography, but remember to buy the record if you like what you hear. 

Goblin - Suspiria OST

When it comes to movie soundtracks, few are more acclaimed than Goblin's work for Dario Agento's masterpiece Suspiria. The best thing about the Italian proggers' sound here is that it doesn't need Argento's images to create scary atmosphere. Wailing electric guitar, manic percussion, oozing synthesizers and whispered chants swell from the titular track and its best companion, the track "Sighs," to the effect that neither should ever be played in a dark room. Granted, there are some slightly lighter moments - such as the brilliant "Blind Concert" - spread around the soundtrack, but make no mistakes: this is some dark prog through and through, its bombast so totally undeniable, it comes as no surprise that heavy metal fans are genuinely fond of it. That said, Goblin didn't work on the music for the sequel Inferno, and it is too bad. I can see million ways in which their music could have made the film even more bizarre than it already is. Oh, well...

Get Goblin's Suspiria soundtrack.