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BryanBaugh — Tina and the Tarman
Published: 2011-04-10 00:09:34 +0000 UTC; Views: 33392; Favourites: 531; Downloads: 558
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TINA AND THE TARMAN:On my list of favorite movies, "Return of the Living Dead" by Dan O'Bannon, is way, way, way up there at the top. This film came out in 1985. I was in the seventh grade and saw it at the theater. I went in with average expectations. Based on the TV commercials, it looked like it should be a decent zombie movie. Instead, what I got was a horror paradise.
Its incredible mix of genuine freaky scares, good humor, exaggerated comic book style zombies, punk rockers, gory violence, great characters, memorable dialogue, excellent special effects, and a believable feeling of Midwestern American goofiness really, really hit me and charged my imagination into overdrive.
Since then I have seen it many, many times and over the years my love for this movie has only increased. I have often wondered if it might just be my number one favorite horror movie of all time. I hate to say any horror film is my #1 favorite cause there are so many I love so much. But this film is certainly in my top three.
My favorite scene in the entire film is when nice-girl Tina leaves her group of punk-friends, wanders off by herself, and gets attacked by the hideous Tar-Man zombie.
A couple of years ago, I did an illustration of the Tar-Man scene, which you can also find in my Deviant Art Gallery. But afterwards never thought much about it.
So imagine my excitement when I woke up one crisp October morning and found the following e-mail waiting for me:
“Dear Bryan,
I just saw the artwork you did for "Return of the Living Dead - Tarman." Do you sell your original art? If so how much do you sell it for? I played Tina in the movie. Enough for now... thanks for making me look sooooo cool in your artwork. I am so honored.
Beverly Randolph-Hartley
~Tina from Return of the Living Dead”
That sure knocked me out. I emailed Beverly back and we got talking online. She is a wonderful, sweet lady. I had to tell her I’d already sold my previous Tar-Man illustration but would be happy to create a new one for her, and she agreed. I couldn’t believe it. An actress who starred in one of my all-time favorite horror films, a movie I’d been watching repeatedly since I was 13 years old… wanted to commission me to do an illustration of her, in her most famous horror movie moment?? I was amazed and flattered. Well it took a little while to squeeze it into my regular work schedule. But here it is. Since then Beverly and I have kept in touch and I’m proud to say she’s become a friend.
UPDATE: MORE BRAINS!
I am excited to announce that a brand-new, feature-length documentary about the making of this film, has just been released on DVD. It's called:
"MORE BRAINS! A Return to the Living Dead"
Naturally, I would be excited about "MORE BRAINS", because cult horror films don't usually receive this level of in-depth behind-the-scenes documentation, with such candid, no-holds-barred interviews, featuring almost every single cast and crew member...
...But another reason I am so excited about this documentary - is because it features two of my illustrations!! Yes, you heard that right! Watch for my artwork to appear during the behind-the-scenes discussion of the famous Tar-Man sequence!
This wonderful opportunity came about thanks to Beverly Randolph, the actress who was menaced by the Tar-Man zombie in ROTLD (and who was also a producer on the doc). It's a long story but I met Beverly a couple years ago and we became friends. I knew nothing about "MORE BRAINS" until she let me in on it, while it was in production, about 9 months ago. It was she who requested my artwork to appear in the documentary. ...And I've been biting my tongue about it ever since! Haha.
I can't express how hugely excited and flattered I feel, to have my artwork connected, in even the smallest way, with a movie that I have loved so much, for so long. Not to mention - seeing my name in the credits of an official Return of the Living Dead - thing...? THAT was a trip! ...I wish I could be all cool and laid back and professional about this... But that would be a lie. I am just too big of a fan. Thanks a MILLION Beverly! Thank you thank you!
...And finally - speaking purely as a fan - I highly recommend all you zombified wierdos out there, track down a copy of this DVD as soon as possible, before rigor-mortis sets in! "MORE BRAINS" is one of the best behind-the-scenes docs, about one of the best zombie movies, you'll ever find. Watching it will... make the pain... go away... the pain of being DEAD... Can't you feel yourself... ROTTING???
Here's the Amazon link: tinyurl.com/6tqpsom
ORDER IT NOW!!!
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Comments: 201
Thank you!! Yes the movie is great because it is so funny WITHOUT turning the zombies into a joke. The zombies are truly scary, and it is the (very natural and believable) reactions of the human characters that is so funny.
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Too true. The Zombies were terrifying! People think that 28 Days Later was the film that made zombies fast (also a great film) People don't remember that they ran, spoke and were utterly unkillable in this movie!
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Hahahahah this is great i love how you added the half dog
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Fantastic work as always, it's also nice to hear that it has such an endearing story attached to it. The Tar-man Zombie was one of the influences to a character from my student film 4 years ago. He gets around.
Great stuff.
P.
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Haha, cool, and thanks for your comments.
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By the way tar-man looks Wicked sweet !
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Amazing ! Within the past few weeks Ive seen this movie at least 10 times and has grown to be my favorite ! I LOVE this one ! It rocks ! If you do another returm of the living dead picture you should put Trash in it
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Yes, I have been thinking it would be cool to do a whole series of illustrations for this movie, each one featuring a different character.
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that would be amazing ! I'D LOVE TO SEE THEM !
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Another great piece of art and a great movie too...and that is really cool that she contacted you and you have become friends...great story.
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Thank you! Yes it has been a very rewarding experience.
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cool! i agree! this is an amazing movie!
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Haha, yes it is one of my favorites.
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Awesome artwork, and a great story too!
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your welcome.
Also, this has made me want to watch Return of the Living Dead again. Gonna have to get that out tomorrow.
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That's an awesome story to go with an awesome picture - I'm going to have to look this movie out now. I love her '80s outfit!
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Yeah she's the coolest. Then and now. haha!
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Brutal. Would you be able to clear something up for me? Is return of the living dead part of the 'dead' series by Romero?
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cheers. thanks man, been curious about that for ages.
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I might be wrong, but I believe that the director or someone of the Return series did have some contact with Romero, maybe worked on one of his zombie films with him in some capacity, though continuity-wise you're right, in Return Of The Living Dead Romero's films are just that, films, though based on true events linked to the source of the zombies in Return.
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Yes. What happened was, John Russo and George Romero were friends. They mutually decided to make a movie together. Russo wrote "Night of the Living Dead" for Romero to direct. But after they made the movie together, they had some kinda falling out and went their separate ways. When they split, both Russo and Romero gave each other permission to continue forward with zombies if they wanted to. But with the understanding that if they did so, their future creations would be unrelated.
Romero put zombies on the shelf for ten years and went off and made other kinds of movies including "Martin", "The Crazies", and a couple of ordinary drama films, before finally deciding to take another shot at zombies with "Dawn of the Dead".
Russo wrote a script for an unofficial sequel to "Night of the Living Dead", and called it, "Return of the Living Dead". I believe Russo's script included the dialogue about how "that movie Night of the Living Dead was based on a true case, but the guy who made it changed all the facts around"... as a way of separating "Return" from "Night".
My understanding is, that script floated around for years until 1984 when it finally got to Dan O'Bannon who agreed to make the movie. But O'Bannon, being a writer himself, wasn't crazy about much of it and changed Russo's script heavily. He did keep in the dialogue that clearly separated it from Romero's films, however. But the bulk of the plot was re-written by O'Bannon. He has discussed his reasons for this in detail in various interviews.
On a side note, I met, and had a friendly conversation with, John Russo once, on an escalator at the Columbus Ohio Convention Center. He seemed like a really nice guy.
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Great Picture
Great movie.
And even greater becoming friends with the Actress!
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Thanks for your kind words on my art... And - Yes this illustration will bring back special memories for years to come.
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She emailed you! That's so cool! I remember watching this scene on youtube, and it was aweosme, but always grossed me out.. I have to watch the whole thing sometime.
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Great job! Tarman gave me nightmares for so long! You really nailed it!
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Haha, awesome! Thanks for sayin so!
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Thanks for sharing. It's cool to hear things like that.
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No problem - thanks for commenting!
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That is so cool that she contacted you out of nowhere! Looks wonderful too. Love the dog
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Thanks! Yes she is a cool gal.
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MORE BRAINS!
Return of the Living Dead was certainly a classic, STILL not sure if it's the film that either created or popularized the notion of zombies eating brains, as Romero's films certainly didn't do that, his zombies were always tearing people's bellies open.
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Right. As it was often stated in the films - Romero's zombies "ate the flesh of their human victims." They didn't care which part.
Return of the Living Dead was the first movie to specifically feature zombies eating brains. In the immortal words of the half-corpse female zombie: "Not people... Brains... the pain of being dead... eating brains... makes the pain... go away..."
And for some reason this is the ides that stuck with the general public... even people who don't care about horror movies, tend to think of zombies as brain-eaters.
Another big difference was: the only way to kill a Romero zombie was to shoot em in the head. Destroy the brain and you destroy the zombie. But to kill ROTLD zombies you have to completely destroy them. Cut up the parts and the parts will still come after you. You have to completely destroy every little piece of a ROTLD zombie to totally eliminate the threat.
Yet strangely people are more likely to remember - "shoot 'em in the head" - the rule of thumb in Romero movies - as the surefire way to destroy zombies.
People who either don't care about - or only take a passing interest in - horror movies, get all the rules mixed up. Haha.
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It's rather odd that this combination of traits is the one that is most popular in people's minds, but I suppose they ARE kinda linked by a common theme and thus stick to mind better paired up. They eat brains, they need their brains intact to function.
Personally I tend to prefer the brain-death rule, though the pretty much utter invincibility, save for when the plotline called for eradicating the zombies in the later films, worked well for Return, I'm not so sure it would work as well in the hands of a LOT of other writers. As for eating brains, well, even the Return zombies did have a tendency for biting anything they could, even though it WAS made very clear why they had a very specific target for their hunger. I'd like to think of the brains being like the best part for zombies, but they're gonna eat whatever they can. lol
I think the faster moving zombies that have become fashionable after 28 Days Later (which didn't even have zombies, just infected people) kinda got started with Return as well. Most other older zombie films I can recall all have the classic shambling style of zombie movement, but Return zombies seemed no less capable physically than a living person. Then again some fuck it up by having them scale walls or jump dozens of feet or stupid crap like that. -_-
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Yes ROTLD was the first movie with fast-moving zombies. On a side note it is interesting to consider that the "Resident Evil" video game went back to the old fashioned, Romero and Fulci style slow moving zombies. But then the cheesy, soulless "Resident Evil" movies tended to use CGI zombies that were more fast-moving, acrobatic (and in my opinion annoyingly fake) than the ROTLD zombies ever were.
I prefer either the slow moving zombies (ultra creepy) or zombies that are capable of natural, fast human movement, but no more.
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