Zombies Make a Zombie Movie (Everyone Wants to Direct)
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Released
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July 2, 2021
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Running time
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19:25
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Video
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Doug: You know, ever since I started this show, the recommendations I think I've gotten the most have been from Courage the Cowardly Dog. So much so, I'm dedicating a whole month to them. So, all throughout the month of July, we're doing Courage the Cowardly Dog Month. And one of the ones that got the most recommended is this one.
(The title card comes up.)
Doug (vo): "Everyone Wants to Direct" was released in 2000.
Doug: It gets down exactly how film making is done. Let's take a look.
(The cartoon opens with the farmhouse under the light of a full moon.)
Doug: Like I said, with many of the Courage cartoons, it's a wonderful mix of really dark shadows, but really bright colors as well. I'm sure I've made this comparison before, but it's very similar to Dick Tracy. You don't usually see combinations like that. The only other one I can think of off my head is maybe, uh, Suspiria, where there's really vibrant colors but really, really dark, harsh shadows, too. And it's very difficult to pull off and make look natural -- like that very natural sentence I just said. Uh, so I think in something like this where it can look very surreal and it's animation and you can pretty much do whatever you want, it works really strongly, and it is a kid's show, but it's a darker kid's show, so it's a good...combination of the two.
(Muriel is sitting in her rocking chair, with Courage in her lap, when there is a knock at the door. Courage reacts.)
Doug (vo): I like that at this point...
Doug: ...just a knock at the door is enough to get him afraid, and justifiably so.
Muriel (voice of Thea White): I wonder who that could be?
Doug (vo): I'd just like to point out: As creepy as this upcoming character is...
Doug: ...he never looked quite as creepy as through that screen door.
(The camera moves in on the screen door.)
Doug (vo): That alone, I think, is more frightening, even though when they open it...
Doug: ...he is pretty creepy looking. But that...that alone is gonna give me nightmares!
Eustace (voice of Lionel Wilson): Who the heck are you?
Benton Tarantella (voice of Peter Fernandez): I'm Benton Tarantella.
Doug (vo): Benton Tarantella...
Doug: I think is a satire of Quentin Tarantino, but I'm not positive because nothing else about him really...screams Quentin Tarantino in terms of the look of how he acts, but, uh, just the name. I think they just needed a random name and they're like, "Okay, let's do something like him. He's a big thing right now."
Doug (vo): Even as this show goes, this is a pretty gruesome design.
Doug: You know, very clearly kind of half dead. You can see his, uh, skeleton arm.
Doug (vo): What I love is that even though you can see his teeth, like, almost over his skin...
Doug: ...and everything, and the hair rotting and everything, he puts on this "Groucho Marx"...
Doug (vo): ...glasses and nose. And suddenly he's human...
Doug: ...because these two just aren't that bright and they pretty much fall for anything, as you'll see more in this episode.
Doug (vo): With the colors here, too. Good contrast of, uh, the blue against red.
Doug: They kinda gave, uh, the house a little bit of a red look. Almost a purple look, too. And it really goes well with sort of that blue-green sky in the background...
Doug (vo): ...and then immediately contrasts with the super-bright yellow vibrant colors...
Doug: ...on the inside. Just a great contrast of the very cold outside and that warm inside.
Doug (vo): As you've heard me say a million times on here, contrasting colors...
Doug: ...really, really pop, and they really, really leave, uh, an impact on your memory.
Muriel: You've been on television, haven't you?
Tarantella: Yes...
Muriel: He's famous, Eustace.
Eustace: Big deal.
Doug (vo): What I like about this couple is...
Doug: ...even though they're very polar opposites -- one is very optimistic and cheery and the other is very much a downer and cynical -- uh, neither of them are very bright.
Doug (vo): And they're both kind of stupid in their own unique way.
Doug: (chuckles) Maybe that's why they're married to each other, Maybe that's the common ground that unites them.
Tarantella: Scouting locations for my latest blockbuster.
Doug (vo): I must admit, I haven't seen enough of these episodes...
Doug: ...to remember whether or not this wallpaper is always in the kitchen, but...among the hideous wallpaper that's in this house, this is probably my favorite...
Doug (vo): ...because it's the most inconsistent. It, like, almost starts to form a pattern and then just kind of gives up halfway.
Doug: It's the kind of wallpaper where splotches of blood were thrown on the wall and nobody would notice, which...take that for what it's worth.
(Tarantella holds out the script for the blockbuster he plots on filming. It's entitled "The Return of the Zombies from Beneath the Farm".)
Tarantella: I want to make my movie here...
Doug (vo): What I enjoy about this story, too...
Doug: ...is that obviously you know this guy is up to no good. I mean, everything from how he's acting to the fact that he's very clearly a zombie and he wants to make a movie about zombies. But you can't put together exactly what he wants to do.
Doug (vo): That there's kind of layers to his plan that have to be discovered, and so I like that.
Doug: It's not obvious from the beginning. Actually, a lot of these episodes are kind of like I thought about "The Mask", too. (A shot from the episode is shown in the upper right corner.)
Doug (vo): There's a lot of elements to be discovered that aren't made clear at the beginning...
Doug: ...and that makes the story a lot more interesting.
(Tarantella unrolls a contract.)
Tarantella: We'll pay tons of cash.
Doug (vo): Even though it does say clearly the amount of money (5 trillion) that's gonna be given to him...
Doug: ...that this...creature...clearly doesn't have, I love how they always verbally refer to it as "tons". How much? Tons.
Eustace: What's the pay?
Tarantella: Tons.
Eustace: Deal!
Tarantella: And we start shooting...tonight.
Doug (vo): This is something I always loved...
Doug: ...growing up in Saturday morning cartoons. When they show "how they make a movie" and it's always...really, really off. But that's part of the fun. It's...
Doug (vo): ...it's kind of how a child would imagine a movie is shot. So, with this, they sign the paperwork and they're shooting...
Doug: ...that night and be done in the morning, because that's how it works.
Tarantella: This is great. Great!
(Tarantella's right hand drops off. Courage screams.)
Doug (vo): I like this because it kind of took me a second.
Doug: The first time something falls off, it's to show it's not...
Doug (vo): ...who he really is. It's the nose and glasses.
Doug: But the second time, it's because he's literally...
Doug (vo): ...falling apart. So the first thing that falls off...
Doug: ...is fake. The second thing that falls off is real. Both are equally terrifying to Courage.
Eustace: What's my role?
Tarantella: Your role is digging the zombie's tomb.
Eustace: Now you're talking!
Doug (vo): And I like that the farmer's role...
Doug: ...is actually like just doing grunt work. It's not really a "role" like in the movie, but...it is helping with the movie, so if you just call it a role, he suddenly thinks he's famous.
(Courage is on the internet. He is trying to look up records for Tarantella.)
Computer (voice of Simon Prebble): Sorry. No record of Benton Tarantella in the independent film database.
Doug (vo): Here's this attic again.
Doug: Any time it goes to this attic...I love it, because it's just some of the best colors and shadows in all the show.
Doug (vo): Every time they get a shot up here, it just looks sooo good.
Computer: Hey, you want to sing a song I know?
Doug: And of course, in 2000, this is how the internet works. You type something in, and it just tells you everything you need to know. It's totally 2000s internet.
Doug (vo): It also has a very proper voice like (deep voice) "Ask Jeeves"...
Doug: ...which is definitely somehow going to be huge back then and clearly is today.
(Courage has finally found what he's been searching for. It is a newspaper article about Tarantella and his partner in crime, Errol Van Volkheim.)
Courage (voice of Marty Grabstein): "Amateur filmmakers slay twelve."
Doug (vo): Now, you see the word "slay" there...
Doug: ...and, I don't know, maybe nowadays I don't know if that scene is like a big deal, but, uh...in a lot of kids' shows back then, they would say "people missing" or "vanished", "disappeared". You actually see "slay"...
(Courage has found more articles. Tarantella and Volkheim have been sent to prison, and Volkheim has been released for "good behavior".)
Doug (vo): ...on there. That's indicating they flat out murdered people, and a lot of people. Twelve.
Doug: So, again, there's something that was kind of neat about Cartoon Network back then because they really would kind of push the envelope a little bit more about what you could bet away with in a kids' show. I'm not sure if they do now. They might. I haven't seen a ton of 'em, but, uh...uh, it was definitely something that they did a lot more back then.
(The articles are shown again. Though it isn't shown in the review, Courage finds another article saying Volkheim has been sent to prison again, and Tarantella has died while in prison.)
Doug (vo): So you see, it's these two directors that would murder people, making them look like it's a movie. And they were captured...
Doug: ...and both are dead, and one is trying to bring the other one back as a zombie.
Doug (vo): And, again, look at the designs of these two. These two just have such personality...
Doug: ...and they're already...very creepy, even before they're zombies. Uh... So, honestly, I kind of...I don't know if they appear more in this show. I'd like to see more of them. I -- I would actually love to know the backstory of these two. Like the whole episode just dedicated, uh, to them. Not sure if that exists, but, uh, it'd be pretty cool to see. Maybe in the Courage and Scooby-Doo crossover.
Courage: (reading script) "Scene Three: When planets align, dead partner rises from the grave. Scene Four: Eat old lady."
Doug (vo): I enjoy, too that in his [Tarantella's] plan...
Doug: ...only the lady was gonna get eaten in this because the farmer probably doesn't have much meat on him.
Doug (vo): But she does.
Doug: Maybe they'd have him as an appetizer. Or a toothpick.
Eustace: Stupid overacting dog! (Eustace locks Courage in the trunk.) And quit stealing my scenes!
Doug: Stealing his scenes, even though the camera's not rolling or anything. Again, just really plays into how they really have no idea how this works.
(The planets align, and an eerie light shines down upon the farmhouse.)
Doug (vo): Tell me how this makes sense.
Doug: You have a white planet and a red planet creates a green light. Makes no sense, but man, it looks awesome!
Doug (vo): That image alone, with the green against the red and then against the blue, and also the vibrant, uh, shadows...
Doug: I mean, you can say vibrant shadows in this show. That's how amazing it looks.
Doug (vo): I mean, you could frame that. It's just it...
Doug: ...it really looks great.
(Volkheim rises from the hole. He appears even more grotesque than Tarantella.)
Doug (vo): So the brother (actually, partner) comes to life...
Doug: ...and I will admit this isn't quite as good a design as the other one. I mean, he looks good. I mean, he's still a pretty, you know, menacing-looking character.
Doug (vo): I maybe want a little bit more with him.
Doug: But I'm sure he appropriately gave some kids some nightmares, so I should be happy.
(Tarantella and Volkheim gather at the table Muriel is upon. They start salivating.)
Doug (vo): Okay, I take it back.
Doug: On the close-up shots...it looks pretty good. Far away, it doesn't look that menacing.
(Volkheim's close-up shot is shown again.)
Doug (vo): But close-up, that's...
Doug: ...yeah, okay, that's pretty creepy!
(Though it isn't shown in the review, Courage has taken the script and has rewritten it.)
Eustace: (reading script) The big zombie lets the dog out of the box.
Tarantella: What? (looks at the script) Well, if it's in the script...
Doug (vo): And this is right out of a...
Doug: ...Looney Tunes vaudeville act where, because Courage...
Doug (vo): ...rewrote the script, they feel bound to it.
Doug: So they have to follow it, even if it's not doing what they originally set out. I mean, that's...pure cartoon logic and...I don't know, it always makes me laugh.
Eustace: (reading script) The zombies go back in the hole and the dog buries them.
Tarantella: It's not my work!
Volkheim (voice of Paul Schoeffler): You have always been a lousy writer. [I never want to work with you again!]
Doug: Of course, being in entertainment, they take this opportunity to make fun of the other for being so bad at what they do.
Doug (vo): You know, one of those "if I was doing this, it'd be a lot better". Yes.
Doug: You see, a lot of people in entertainment say.
(As Tarantella and Volkheim bicker among themselves, Courage buries them both.)
Doug (vo): So, he (Courage) buries the zombies, and the camera keeps rolling, and they're watching the film later, which...
Doug: ...I'm very curious what that footage looked like. I mean, did Courage edit it or how'd that work? And, uh, we end on this line...
Doug (vo): ...clearly from, uh, Sunset Boulevard.
(Courage puts on a glasses-and-nose disguise.)
Courage: I'm ready for my close-up now.
(We are shown the scene from Sunset Boulevard.)
Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson): All right, Mr. DeMille. I'm ready for my close-up.
Doug: Which...no little kid ever gets that quote, but when the grow up, they want to see the movie. Which is good. It's a good movie.
(The episode ends.)
Doug (vo): And that's the end. Good stuff.
Doug: Um...I like this episode. I don't think... Out of the ones I've seen, it's not one of my favorites, but I can see why people did recommend it. It is still funny.
Doug (vo): The, uh, zombies are adequately creepy-looking.
Doug: I think the idea of how to make a movie of a TV show or whatever when they're shooting something in a cartoon and they make up how it goes. I always love that. I think that's so much fun.
Doug (vo): It's usually imaginative, too. And it's always really, really quick.
Doug: Like they shoot a scene that would take weeks like in a minute. I love that stuff. And yeah, it still looks great. The colors are still wonderful. The shadows, of course, are wonderful.
Doug (vo): And it's a funny set-up and there are, in terms of telling the story...
Doug: ...there is layers to it. There is something to be discovered. It isn't just like a zombie coming and trying to eat them or something, or it's just a zombie director. There is a purpose to what he's doing.
Doug (vo): There is a goal, and they have to find it out in order to defeat him.
Doug: So, a good episode. I like it. Again, not one of my favorites, but I do really like it. Uh, so what did you guys think? And more importantly, uh, what do you want to see me review next for Courage Month? I did a poll on, uh, my Facebook and I also did one on, uh, you know, here on YouTube. But, uh, if there's any that you think, uh, I -- I should do and hasn't been mentioned, uh, bring it up in the comments below. I'd love to hear what you recommend. Now here's me saying...you know, tell me what you recommend even though I just asked you to recommend. Just connect it all to Courage.