WGTC: So have either of you seen any zombie movies recently that really got you excited?
Tom Savini: Again, World War Z!
Alexandre O. Philippe: The one that impressed me the most in the last year and a half was Juan Of The Dead. [Sees a look from Savini] It’s a Cuban zombie film…
Tom Savini: Really?
Alexandre O. Philippe: It’s a smart, smart zombie movie.
WGTC: Tom Savini is just making a list of recommendations right now…
Alexandre O. Philippe: He’s going to be calling me all the time…
Tom Savini: Exactly! What the hell was the zombie movie we were talking about!
WGTC: Tom, I’m curious about your love of World War Z, because personally I didn’t care for it…
Tom Savini: The main thing is it took advantage of – to me there’s two ways to scare somebody. Either somebody jumps up and goes “Boo,” and they do it all the time in major movies be it a cat jumping out of a box or a bird flying through a window – and this is a scare that lasts for two seconds. The best scares come from suspense. Hitchcock was a master of that, and that’s what World War Z did. They’d scare you with suspense, creating a horrible situation and plopping people into it. I bit my nails off because I knew the bomb was about to blow up.
Here’s a room. There’s a door here, and a door here. You show the tentacled monster, the psycho, behind the door, so when the girl walks in – it’s usually a girl – the scare has started. You can’t wait for the girl to get to that damn door. If you’re a smart director, you slow her down – the phone rings. The entire time she’s on that phone you’re having anxiety attacks. Get to the door so I can see what happens! She hangs up so you’re thinking, “Great,” but then she gets delayed again. Maybe a broken nail. FUCK! Get to the door, because you know that’s where the scare is. This isn’t boo for two seconds, this is like fifteen seconds of anxiety. Then when she gets to the door and opens it, if you’re smart, there’s nothing there, AND THEN THE MONSTER JUMPS OUT. When you make people laugh or make them relax, that’s the science of scaring – World War Z did that. Plus it has the whole herding idea that I’ve never seen before. I mean Brad Pitt – it’s just great to look at him!
WGTC: So where are zombie movies evolving next – what can we expect in the coming years?
Alexandre O. Philippe: I think they’re going to go everywhere we haven’t imagined yet. To expand on your previous question, and I’ll go on record saying World War Z the book is far greater than the movie, I will say that the movie is an extremely important film because now it officially has started the era of the PG-13 zombie movie. Why is that important? It opens the genre to audiences who were never previously exposed to it, who now can say, “OK, who is this George Romero? What’s Night Of The Living Dead?” Via World War Z, people can discover what are known as “true” zombie movies, gory zombie movies.
Tom Savini: I’m leaving this interview with the same effect that Doc Of The Dead is going to have on audiences, with movies I haven’t seen yet. What is that? I want to see that? There are two that I absolutely have to see now! [To me] Now I’m curious as to why you didn’t like World War Z?
WGTC: I wasn’t digging the fast zombies personally…
Alexandre O. Philippe: So you’re a purist? [Laughs]
WGTC: I was going to go with hipster because I get called a horror hipster a lot for liking older movies…
Tom Savini: George Romero, at conventions, sells bumper stickers that say “Fast Zombies Suck,” because to him they’re dead. They don’t become superheroes! They’re dead and are going to continue to rot, disintegrate, and deteriorate.
Alexandre O. Philippe: You know there’s a short on Vimeo called Hipsters Vs. Zombies, so now you need to write that down.
WGTC: OK Alexandre, I have to ask – how much zombie porn did you have to watch? That was probably the most shocking portion of Doc Of The Dead, finding out there are actually pornographic treatments of zombies…
Alexandre O. Philippe: Oh God – there was a whole segment on zombie porn.
Tom Savini: It exists?! Give me a title.
Alexandre O. Philippe: There’s The Walking Dead: A Hardcore Parody, an Evil Dead parody – because they sell.
Tom Savini: There are people made up as zombies fucking?!
Alexandre O. Philippe: Joanna Angel, who is the adult star in the film, says that, not surprisingly, The Walking Dead: A Hardcore Parody is her best seller so far.
Tom Savini: Is it called The Fucking Dead??
Alexandre O. Philippe: Nope –Â The Walking Dead: A Hardcore Parody. I’m sure there’s probably a The Fucking Dead too. It’s just so out there.
WGTC: So let’s end on another nerd-out question. If you could pick your zombie killing dream team from different cinematic characters, who would be on your team and why?
Tom Savini: Can I use CGI?! John Wayne. Jason. Oh, Charles Bronson!
Alexandre O. Philippe: Indiana Jones! No, I’d go with Afro Samurai, Han Solo…and The Powerpuff Girls. How’s that?
Tom Savini: Ace Ventura. Wait! No! Not Ace – Jesse Ventura with the gun from Predator. Yup, that’s it!
I’d like to thank Tom Savini and Alexandre O. Philippe for their time and this exclusive interview. Be sure to catch Doc Of The Dead (available for viewing on EPIXHD.com for subscribers) to learn about the latest zombie phenomenon!
