The Maestro Of The Undead

Zombie: Composer's Cut
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
This was one of the coolest experiences I have ever had on or off of the Mahoning Drive-In Theater lot - a screening of a 1979 Italian horror classic with the composer of the score not only in attendance for the event, but performing the score with his band live as we watched the movie.

Before I get into what made this night such a special and unique experience, I'd like to clarify which movie we were watching on the lot.  If you familiar with what I'm about to say, you will likely find my explanation simplistic.  If you're not, there's probably a good chance you'll think that I'm making it too complicated.  In either case, here it is:

The production of the 1978 George A. Romero classic Dawn Of The Dead was co-financed by Italian director Dario Argento and producers Claudio Argento and Alfredo Cuomo in exchange for the international distribution rights for the film.  Argento re-cut the film and re-scored it with music by Goblin, after which the movie was released in Italy and across Europe under the title of Zombi.

In the United States, Dawn Of The Dead is considered to be a sequel of George A. Romero's 1968 horror classic Night Of The Living Dead, and the sequels continued with the third movie in the Night Of The Living Dead franchise, the 1985 film Day Of The Dead.  Night Of The Living Dead also served as the first film in the Return Of The Living Dead film series in the United States, so there are two completely separate film series in the United States which branch off from the original 1968 Romero classic.

I could be mistaken, but I don't believe that Zombi (aka: Dawn Of The Dead) was marketed as a sequel to Night Of The Living Dead in Italy.  What I am sure of is that it was a massive success which inspired its own series of Italian sequels, beginning with Lucio Fulci's 1979 film Zombi 2.  That is the movie that we watched at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater tonight.

Zombi 2 was an even bigger hit in Italy than its predecessor, and it was released across the world under several different names.  The name that seems to have been the most prevalent in the United States was simply Zombie, with the Americanized spelling and without the "2" as it was not marketed here as a sequel to Dawn Of The Dead.  It was also released as Zombie Flesh Eaters, The Island Of The Living Dead, and Sanguella, among other names that varied depending on when and where they were released.

The version of the film that we got to see at the Mahoning was made especially for this tour.  It's called Zombie: The Composer's Cut, which includes all of the dialogue and other sounds that take place in the movie, but with the score removed to allow for all of the music you hear at the screening to be performed live.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

The score for Zombi 2 was composed by Fabio Frizzi.  He and his band, which includes guitarists Riccardo Rocchi and Francesco Saguto, bassist Roberto Fasciani, keyboard player Paolo Castellani, and drummer Federico Tacchia, are on the Frizzi 2 Fulci tour, in which they perform the film score for Zombie: The Composer's Cut version of Zombi 2 live for audiences across the country.

To accomplish this at the Mahoning, a stage was set up on the lawn under the screen with speakers and a sound board set up by the digital projection booth to make sure that the dialogue from the movie and the live music were mixed so that both could be heard clearly and at the same volume.

Show poster designed by Justin Miller

It's not often that I spring for the VIP package for a show with a special guest at the Mahoning, but this is one that I couldn't resist.  This allowed for early entrance where we could listen to the sound check, and it included this very cool poster which was autographed by Mr. Frizzi.

 

The VIP ticket also included a photo op with Mr. Frizzi prior to the general admission gates opening.  He was an incredibly kind man who talked with everyone who came up for a photo.

Quite a few of the folks in attendance brought their chairs up to the lawn under the screen so that they could sit in front of the stage where Mr. Frizzi and his band were performing.  Gene and Ben came up from Philly for the show and joined me on the lawn.  I guess they thought it was cold.

In the weeks leading up to the event, I was wondering how they were going to pull this off, but it went off without a hitch.  The skies were clear without even a hint of rain.  The band didn't drown out the dialogue in the movie, or vice versa.  There was plenty of room for everyone on the lawn to spread out and enjoy the show without feeling squished together.  The band sounded incredible.  The movie was equally great.  The night really could not have gone any better!

As an added bonus, Mr. Frizzi and his band performed music from some of his other scores after the credits rolled on the film.  They had a strict 10:00 pm cutoff time for the sake of our neighbors in Lehighton (it was a Sunday night during school, after all), but that is absolutely understandable.  The post-credits concert was an unexpected and awesome bonus to end the night.

I'm really trying not to live my life behind a cell phone screen, but I had to take some video.  This is a compilation of clips that I took throughout the day, including the full post-credits performance.

And if all that wasn't cool enough, Mr. Frizzi stayed after the show to meet fans in the snack bar to take pictures and sign autographs for the fans at no charge.  The man is 73 years old. it was cold out, and he has to get on the road for his next show in Baltimore on Tuesday, but he looked like he was enjoying the night as much as the rest of us were.  What an amazingly cool man!  I got to shake his hand and tell him how much we all loved the show, and he autographed my Zombie score on vinyl.  I've had a lot of fun on this lot over the years, but this is definitely one of the best nights of them all.