The Omega Man – Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers

The Last Man on Earth, 1964 & A Conversation with Victoria Price

Welcome back to another installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This week Dion Baia and J. Blake are covering an absolute classic, a movie based on the famous novel by Richard Matheson, I am Legend , that was even cited by auteur George Romero as a direct inspiration for his film Night of the Living Dead, which basically created an entire zombie horror subgenre. We are first talking about Vincent Price, and then his groundbreaking film, The Last Man on Earth, from 1964.

The boys explore this highly underrated classic and it’s influence on the entire zombie, vampire, post-apocalyptic and Italian zombie genres, and also the influence of it’s legendary star, Vincent Price. They get into the original groundbreaking novel by Matheson and the differences between this version as well as the other film incarnations that followed.

Victoria Price / Book cover

But more importantly as a bonus, the boys speak exclusively with Vincent Price’s daughter Victoria Price about her new book, The Way of Being Lost: A Road Trip to My Truest Self . In their in-depth interview they discuss the inspiration that inspired the book and her journey on the road to happiness, and rediscovering joy in the world, as well as what it was like being the daughter of such an esteemed Hollywood mega-couple. And also touch on the legendary but little known industrial designer and family friend, Henry Dreyfuss.

So come on down and listen to Blake and Dion show some love to such an underrated classic, AND check out this great, exclusive interview with Victoria Price in this all new and exciting episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras:

Check out The Last Man on Earth in it’s entirety, courtesy of YouTube!

Have a listen to the complete audiobook of I am Legend !

Take a listen to the 2006 BBC 7 audio-play adaptation of I am Legend !

As discussed in the podcast, take a listen to Vincent Price‘s amazing monologue “The Black Widow” in the Alice Cooper song Devil’s Food, beginning at the 1:30 mark.

And of course, here is Michael Jackson‘s Thriller video, featuring Vincent Price.

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August 14

Zombie, 1979

This week around Dion Baia and J. Blake delve deep into the video store racks and bring out an absolute cult classic and a very personal favorite of theirs; a film which practically reinvigorated an entire genre in Italy, and lured in legions of soon-to-be horror and zombie fans… we of course are speaking of the Lucio Fulci classic, Zombie, from 1979.

zombie poster

This film is known by many names: Zombie Fresh Eaters, Island of the Living Dead, Zombie Island, Zombie 2: The Dead Walk Among Us, Woodoo, and was officially released in Italy as Zombi 2.

The boys breakdown the state of horror cinema in the 1970’s, giving a quick summary of the zombie genre leading up to 1979 and a history of Italian horror up to this point. Why (and how) was this Fulci masterpiece actually released as a sequel to George A Romero‘s Dawn of the Dead? They discuss their love for Fulci, Italian horror cinema in general, and the fabulous Fabio Frizzi soundtrack. Dion and Blake also explain their shared journey of discovering this movie while in Film School. We’re dropping some knowledge in this week’s episode so come on down, grab a seat and take a listen to another exciting edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! And remember, FULCI LIVES!

*And as an added bonus for our listeners this week, we’ve included our very first audio commentary for a film, so you can watch and follow right along with your friends, Blake and Dion. They may cover some of the same ground that they do in the podcast but this debut commentary lets the fellas stretch their legs, and go step by step and get into the nuts and bolts of the film, while having fun and spontaneously opining about their love of Fulci, horror films, and Italian babes- all in real-time with the movie. So let us know what you think and maybe we’ll do more down the road but remember, it’s our first attempt, so we’re still feeling it out. We hope you enjoy!

(*It is Val Lewton, not Hal.)

Here is the entire 1979 film, courtesy of YouTube!

Take a peek at an alternate poster, which actually is a deleted/or lost scene from the film.

This is the 2010 Windows 7 television commercial that featured the shark/zombie scene.

Blue Underground explains its 2K restoration process to get this film remastered and ready to be available on Blu Ray and DVD.

Check out Bill Lustig‘s thoughts on Fulci’s Zombie!

Here’s a peek at the 12″ Zombie Maquette Statue, courtesy of ArtofToys.

The book about Quentin Tarantino that J. Blake refers to in the podcast was the first edition of “King Pulp: The Wild World of Quentin Tarantino” by Paul A. Woods.