I was hunting through an old four-drawer filing cabinet in my studio for something that eluded me and has now completely escaped me when I came upon this old snapshot of me under heavy zombie makeup and my niece Jessica playing a hapless victim unconvincingly.
Brian Bubonic & the Plague
Brian Bubonic probably snapped the shot with a Kodak 110 and helped me apply the latex and greasepaint to my face. We were obsessed with horror movies, and I think we got the zombie recipe from a couple of different stage makeup books. We were inspired by the works of horror auteur George A. Romero and his regional, can-do spirit, and figured if he could slop around grease paint and fake blood in Pittsburgh, we could do the same at the Jersey shore.
This was the backyard of a place my family rented in Ocean City, NJ, and I figure it was probably 1982 or possibly ’83.
Brian and I had brought our 8mm movie equipment and the makeup kit in the hopes of throwing together a 4 minute horror opus with the beach and boardwalk as a backdrop, but it never did happen. I think we shot some footage and took a few pictures, but nothing resembling a monster movie with a real plot ever took shape. We did the makeup on me which was really uncomfortable and wandered the boardwalk in a desperate bid for attention.
Here’s a better photo of Jessie from around that time. She wasn’t much of a horror movie actress, but she was adorable.
