SIFF Gay Zombies Were Here Before You, Bruce La Bruce
posted by on May 13 at 18:27 PM
From a miffed Chris Diani, director of the locally produced Creatures from the Pink Lagoon:
Hello Stranger,
Did you catch the description of Bruce LaBruce’s new movie, Otto; or, Up with Dead People in the SIFF guide published in the Seattle Times? They’re calling it “the world’s first gay zombie movie.” I find this particularly interesting, considering my own gay zombie movie, Creatures from the Pink Lagoon, was released two full years before Otto and has screened in Seattle five separate times in the past two years. What’s more, Creatures from the Pink Lagoon was submitted to SIFF in 2006 (they rejected it) and the Seattle Times has written about Creatures on three separate occasions. I’m tempted to chalk it up to the whole “SIFF ignores local filmmakers” meme, but couldn’t someone have done a simple Google search before going to print?
Incidentally, my gay zombie movie wasn’t the world’s first; I believe that honor goes to Alex Dove, whose 2003 film Zombies is about - you guessed it: gay zombies. And in 2007, a short film by Michael Simon titled Gay Zombie made the film festival rounds, playing in the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, among others.
And while I’ve got your attention, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for the starred review you gave Creatures from the Pink Lagoon back in 2006. We’ve been using Andrew Wright’s quote “near-galactic levels of both enthusiasm and snark” in all our press materials ever since.
Best regards,
Chris
Noted. It should also be said that the Seattle Times doesn’t know a thing about the movies in the guide; most if not all of the copy is provided by SIFF. And assuming the print guide did contain this outrageous claim—I left mine at home today—it appears that they’ve fixed it for the web. Now it says only: “Gay zombie movie!” Indeed.
OK, now that we have cleared up the question of which zombies came first, how about this: Which movie’s zombies are gayer? Creatures…
or Otto…?
I don’t know. The Creatures have a balletic reach, but check out that bunny rabbit…
Otto was great at Sundance
Mr. Poe!? how could you do that to a helpless rabbit?
http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/03/behold_the_worlds_nicest_jerk
That rabbit is the size of a pony!
I'm going to catch the midnite showing of Otto with Purple Mark.
Should be fun!
Hmmm... Doesn't Queer As Folk, premiering in the U.K. in 1999 and in the U.S. in 2000, predate everything Chris mentioned, gay-zombie-wise?
That wasn't me, silly. That's DJ.
Variety: "SIFF tiff over miff"
The dead rabbit is not OK, but the zombie in the swim trunks looks pretty hot.
zombies confuse me. . .some eat brains, some eat flesh. . .I wondered why the ones that eat flesh don't eat each other. . . now gay zombies! I'll never understand them now., way too much confusion for me.
I want a gay Dracula!
Cage aux zombies, La (1995)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125028/
They might not be gay...I *think* they are, it's been a long, long time since I've seen (parts) of it. The director and most of the actors are gay.
That's not a zombie, that's a hipster. Blech.
@12: Is there a difference?
When did "meme" become accepted for common use? That's a "look, I'm smart" word if I ever saw one.
Anyone who uses meme in a sentence should be taken out back and pummeled with a bag of dictionaries.
1976. And, have you ever been on the internet before?
I asked when it became accepted for COMMON use. As in, among regular people. Not effete urban liberals who read Adbusters.
And the correct answer is: Never.
Dictionary beatings will commence at 1 p.m.
F*CK!!! I'm in NYC while it's screening. THIS SUCKS!!!
And meme is common on the internet. It's as much a part of commenting as NSFW or RTFM.
Which is to say, it can be obnoxious but it's part of the internet vernacular now, like it or not.
Chris Diani also had a gay cowboy movie out long before Brokeback Mountain.
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