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Movement is life! Welcome to the Third Edition of DEAD MAN STILL WALKING, where Dr. Walking Dead dares you to explore the depths of depravity found in this year’s notorious zombie flick, The Sadness (2022), a new Horror film from Taiwan written and directed by Rob Jabbaz. Dr. Bishop addresses the gore and violence and whether it is excessively or unnecessarily gratuitous. He describes how this new film fits into both 20th century and 21st century zombie narratives. Is “The Sadness” also a Romance? Is it an “Anti-Romance”? Is this film original or derivative? What other zombie narratives, if any, serve as influences? Kyle Bishop answers these questions and discusses the distinctions between “gluttonous zombies” and “wrath zombies” / “lust zombies.” In the beginning of his review, Dr. Bishop discusses some very mild, premise-based “spoilers.” But after providing a spoiler warning, he eventually covers full-blown spoilers for “The Sadness.” Listen!
Note: To view ALL of Dr. Bishop’s Dead Man Still Walking solocast episode can USE THIS LINK.
Dead Man Still Walking is a biweekly, short-form solocast hosted by Dr. Walking Dead Kyle Bishop, author of American Zombie Gothic and How Zombies Conquered Popular Culture. Dr. Walking Dead also presents a popular segment called The Dead Zone on regular episodes of this podcast. For his Dead Man Still Walking solocast episodes, Dr. Bishop will focus exclusively on zombie films, with the occasional exploration of zombie-related themes, zombie television, and other zombie media (e.g., comics, literature, etc.).
Dr. Bishop is an academic and professional scholar of zombie films and other zombie narratives. He has been teaching for 22 years. Dr. Bishop serves as an English professor, Film Studies professor, and he’s currently the English Department Chair at Southern Utah University.
You are welcome to reach out to Dr. Bishop with comments or questions via email:bishopk@suu.edu, Twitter: @DrWalkingDead, or by leaving him a voicemail: (801) 899-9798. You can also watch the documentary, Doc of the Dead (2014), which features Dr. Walking Dead. Find more links below for Dr. Bishop.
Be sure to subscribe to Jay of the Dead’s new Horror movie podcast on:
You are welcome to email our show at HauntingYourHeadphones@gmail.com, or call and leave us a voicemail at (801) 899-9798. You can also follow Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies on Twitter: @HorrorAvengers
Dead Man Still Walking with Dr. Kyle Bishop is brought to you by Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies, an audio Horror movie podcast. It features seven experienced Horror hosts review new Horror movies and deliver specialty Horror segments. Your hosts are Jay of the Dead, Dr. Shock, Gillman Joel, Mister Watson, Dr. Walking Dead, GregaMortis and Mackula! Due to the large number and busy schedule of its seven Horror hosts, Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies will be recorded in segments, piecemeal, at various times and recording sessions. Therefore, as you listen to our episodes, you will notice a variety of revolving door hosts and segments, all sewn together and reanimated like the powerful Monster of Dr. Frankenstein!
SHOW NOTES
– Introduction
- Welcome to the third edition of Dead Man Still Walking with Dr. Walking Dead
- A word about violence and nihilism, along with Asian zombie films in general
Zombie Movie Feature Review
The Sadness (2022) (Mild Spoilers)
Dr. Walking Dead = 8 ( Strong Rental )
[ 00:05:44 ] – The Sadness as contemporary COVID commentary
[ 00:10:23 ] – The Sadness and its place in the zombie cinema tradition
[ 00:16:12 ] – Major Plot SPOILERS for The Sadness
[ 00:20:18 ] – Origins of The Sadness
[ 00:22:03 ] – Kat’s Story: Zombies on a Train and Psychoanalytic Theory
[ 00:28:21 ] – “That Scene” and the Role of Violence in The Sadness
[ 00:30:48 ] – The Final (Disappointing) Act
[ 00:35:51 ] – Wrap-Up: Coming Attractions
— Coming up in the fourth edition of Dead Man Still Walking: I Walked With a Zombie (1943)
Special thanks to website developer Jaxon Carroll and graphic designer Trump Widdop for their excellent work in helping Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies to have a nice, new website. Thank you! And big shout-out and thanks to Mister Watson and his son, Skylarr, for composing the music for Mister Watson’s Horror Hierarchy segment.
LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
– IMDb: The Sadness (2022)
– IMDb: Night of the Living Dead (1968)
– IMDb: The Crazies (1973)
– IMDb: 28 Days Later… (2002)
– Wiki: Crossed (comics)
Links for Dr. Walking Dead Kyle Bishop:
Email Dr. Bishop here: bishopk@suu.edu
Dr. Walking Dead’s Bio Page
Book: American Zombie Gothic
Book: How Zombies Conquered Popular Culture
— Kyle’s Amazon Author Profile
— Doc of the Dead zombie culture documentary
— Kyle’s re-animated Twitter: @DrWalkingDead
– Learn more about Dr. Walking Dead
– Faculty Friday: Meet Dr. Kyle Bishop, English
– TEDx SUU Talk on YouTube: Why Zombies Matter
– YouTube: Zombies: An idea worth spreading about how ideas spread
– YouTube: 50+ Shades of Gothic: Zombies, Bodies and Boundaries
– YouTube: Why zombie culture is so popular?
Jay of the Dead’s NEW HORROR MOVIES podcast links:
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Links for musician Frederick Ingram:
Website: FrederickIngram.com
Frederick Ingram’s new album Initial Exposure (includes “Voltairine,” the theme music for Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies)
Frederick Ingram’s YouTube Music Channel
Listen to Frederick Ingram on SoundCloud
YouTube Music Video: “Voltairine” by Frederick Ingram (the theme music for Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies)
Interview: Hear Fred Ingram on Jay’s Songwriting Podcast
Frederick Ingram’s Fish Bowl (Funky Margarita Mix)
Links for musician Nate Johnivan:
Spotify Playlist
Quarantine Dream iii
Thank you for listening to Dead Man Still Walking with Dr. Walking Dead, proudly brought to you by Jay of the Dead’s New Horror Movies, The Gold Standard of Horror Movie Podcasts.
Hey Dr. Walking Dead,
It came to mind that I shouldn’t be so negative. I ought to give a really positive example of violence and gore used in good horror storytelling, so here’s my positive example: “Hellraiser” (1987).
The reason why ‘Hellraiser’ works so well is because all the pieces are in place for a beautiful horror story. The monster designs are beautiful, great story, great characters, and the violence and gore are just decorating this great, innovative, original horror story. That’s why it works so well. We’ll see how the new ‘Hellraiser’ remake works out, as with all the remakes, I’m thinking bad, but it could be good! We’re trying to be positive here!
Sincerely,
Kaiju Nick
Great episode, Dr Walking Dead!
I’m still not convinced by this example. I’m totally on Projectile Varmint’s team.
Is straight up violence and gore really that scary?
Is it really that edgy?
I don’t think it is. I think it’s lazy and boring.
The making of real horror is so much more complex, layers and layers of atmosphere, emotion, characters and images–then the anxiety and fear blossom like a flower.
Best Wishes to you Dr. Walking Dead,
Kaiju Nick
No, violence and gore aren’t necessarily scary—they are revolting and disgusting and abject and nauseating. But academically speaking, that’s what “horror” is: that which horrifies us (and makes us want to turn away). TERROR is more about that which “scare” us, and that’s all about suspense and anticipation and dread and our imagination. A great “scary movie” needs both elements, but they can be presented in wildly different ratios. (I don’t find The Sadness to be very scary, by the way, but it is EXCEEDINGLY horrifying!).
For myself, as a viewer, when a film starts pushing the envelope this far it starts feeling more like parody than horror. It becomes less Conan the Barbarian and more like Conan the Librarian.
This kind of thing is also a problem with a lot of action movies. For example, ‘Rambo 5:Last Blood’; the final act ramps it up so hard that it becomes a truly ridiculous spectacle, impossible for me to take it seriously. My emotional reaction is the opposite of what the film intends.