Post by Todd Tjersland on Jun 17, 2006 2:39:29 GMT -8
LEGION OF THE NIGHT (1995)
aka DEAD CITY
Starring Bill Hinzman, Ron Asheton, Jeff Rector, Tim Lovelace, Heather Fine, Don Ruem, and Todd Tjersland
Music Composed by Paul McCullough
Executive Producers Todd Tjersland and Dan Sales
Written, Produced and Directed by Matt Jaissle
Summary: Dr. Bloom (Bill Hinzman, Night of the Living Dead) and his assistant, Russell (Ron Asheton, Hellmaster), have invented a secret process to reanimate the dead, merging them with cybernetics to create the ultimate weapon: C.Z.A.s (Cybernetic Zombie Assassins)!
Unfortunately, their financing runs out and they must turn to Detroit Mob Boss Frances Vansemmie (Jeff Rector, Star Trek: TNG) to fund their experiments... Francis demands the good doctor use his undead killing machines to "rub out" his competition. Once his underworld rivals are eliminated, there's no need for the doctor and his assistant, so Francis orders his goons to kill them and destroy the lab and C.Z.A.s.
Coming home from Europe, Dr. Bloom's son, Taylor (Tim Lovelace, Mosquito), discovers that his father has been murdered. It seems the goons failed to kill Russell or completely destrpoy the lab and the C.Z.A.s. Together, Taylor and Russell bring the zombies back online and send them out to get revenge on Francis and his mob.
When the zombies break from their programming and embark on a psychotic killing spree, Taylor tries to stop them before more innocent lives are lost. He fails and begs Russell to reanimate him as a Super-C.Z.A., the only thing that can stop the rampaging zombies.
The zombies manage to kill Francis, but he has had his own people working on the Bloom reanimation process; he is brought back to life, allies with the remaining C.Z.A. (Todd Tjersland, The Necro Files), and kidnaps Russell. Taylor is lured into a trap and must fight to save his friend and destroy the man who killed his father!
AN INTERVIEW WITH TODD TJERSLAND
Q: There are some striking similarities between the cast and crew of Mosquito (1994) and LEGION OF THE NIGHT...
Todd Tjersland: That's true. There was a lot of crossover between the two productions. The director of my film was the art director for Mosquito, so he called in some favors and that made preproduction a lot easier.
Q: What is the difference between the film's original release, LEGION OF THE NIGHT, and the 1998 retitle release, DEAD CITY?
Todd: The director and I reedited the film, removing most of the romance subplot between Tim Lovelace and Heather Fine, and some of the other boring bits from the first half. This dramatically improved the picture's pacing, getting us back to the villains much sooner.
We added in a new CGI main title sequence and a quick (maybe 30 second) scene showing Tim Lovelace escaping from the parking garage rooftop battle in an elevator. New end titles were also added. Thus, the 85 minute run time stayed the same.
Q: What was the script's original title?
Todd: The script came to my office under the ridiculous title BULLETS FROM THE GRAVE. I demanded it be changed prior to preproduction to something--anything--else.
Q: Is the Paul McCullough who did the music the same Paul McCullough who scored the Night of the Living Dead remake?
Todd: Yes; Paul is Bill Hinzman's cousin, IIRC.
Q: You had some other ideas for casting the Dr. Bloom role but ultimately went with Bill Hinzman, the graveyard zombie from the original Night of the Living Dead. Who were the other George Romero actors you considered?
Todd: Our first choice was Richard Liberty, who played Dr. Frankenstein in Day of the Dead. The problem was, we couldn't find him, LOL. Next, we tried to get John Amplas, the star of Martin, but he proved too difficult to deal with. Next, we got Russ Streiner, who was Johnny in the original Night of the Living Dead. Then he suddenly flaked out on us... So then we got in touch with Bill Hinzman, who proved to be both amenable and available. He was a pleasure to work with.
There's nothing more surreal than driving through the ruins of old Detroit in a limo with your childhood boogeyman drinking champagne, LOL. I mean, I saw Night of the Living Dead when I was 10 years old and it gave me zombie nightmares for three months straight! I kept looking out of the corner of my eye at him, afraid he was going to bite a chunk out of my arm! ;D