Given his penchant for tequila, you've no doubt woke up feeling like a zombie after a Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers show (lord knows we've felt it). But on Friday, October 28, Clyne and friends will literally be getting zombified -- dressing up as the undead for Harold's Haunted Honky Tonk Halloween in Cave Creek.
"Yeah, you know, it's Halloween, and in the past we've done a couple of Halloween things [in the past]," Clyne says over the phone. "This year, I just felt like doing "zombies." I've always been a fan of...since high school, ever since I saw Day of the Dead. Zombies are just fun. Probably more fun for guys than they are for gals [because] there's usually some degree of violence associated with encountering zombies. They guys are like, 'Yeah,' and it's cool because zombies [you can] at least dislike, if not loathe zombies, and not be politically incorrect. It's going to be fun."
In celebration of the spooky fun, we asked Clyne to tell us about his five favorite zombie movies in time for Halloween, and to get ready for his country-rock undead gig.
5. Zombieland & Pet Cemetery
"[Zombieland is] kind of a comedy zombie movie. That's a really good one.
Though [Pet Cemetery is] sort of outside the definition of the [zombie genre], one of my first introductions to the world of the undead, to horror, was when I was in college and I read Stephen King's novel. It's not necessarily a zombie story per se, but the [undead] become reanimated in this strange, spectral way. Really a great ominous shadow over the whole thing...I think it qualifies as a zombie [movie]. So those two are tied for number five."
4. I am Legend
"I'm going to go with I am Legend, a modern zombie tale. Fast zombies. Not your average zombie that you can just...you better come loaded, because these guys will get you before you can reload. Which is pretty scary. Fast, angry, cunning, zombies: that's a little twist on the tale, and I liked it."
3. 28 Days Later
I thought this was sort of a classic retelling of the zombie horde. "Those amongst us who we get to know and love become zombies before our very eyes." Very good one. I didn't like 28 Weeks Later quite as much, but 28 Days -- I thought it was great.
2. Shaun of the Dead
Another comedy: Shaun of the Dead. What do you say? It was great. In the end, I guess he keeps his buddy zombie as sort of a pet, sort of a nice twist at the end of that one. And it happens in a British pub, which is really great.
1. Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn
Again, it kind of skirts the zombie category, but I think Evil Dead 2 was seminal for me. Formative in my love of b-movie/horror classics involving the undead. Evil Dead 2 - it's just number one."
"[Zombies are] just fun. Kind of scary and gross," Clyne says. "There's a certain sort of pervasive cultural anxiety going on right now. We've got, you know, the idea of civilization is being tested internationally right now. You know, especially with the consumer economy sort of leading what civilization is, and our economies, by and large on the planet, aren't that healthy. So people get panicky. So you start getting acronyms like S.H.T.F., "shit hit the fan," and "What Would You Do If?", and people are getting a little edgy. I hear people using the term "zombie apocalypse quite a bit." It's nice to have an outlet in the face of that apprehension. Just be the thing we fear for the night, zombie-up and have fun with it."
Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers are scheduled to perform at Harold's Cave Creek Corral on Friday, October 28.
