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The Behind the Scenes Pic of the Day is under arrest. It has the right to remain disgusting.
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with today’s Behind the Scenes Pic!
So today I’m featuring Dead Heat. You might not be aware that this movie exists. I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t know this movie… I knew of it from its VHS cover, but didn’t see it until my 20s, so I don’t have the nostalgia for it that my friends do, but boy do I appreciate just how fuckin’ nutty it goes.
The premise is actually pretty good… I imagine the pitch was something like “Beverly Hills Cop meets Return of the Living Dead.” It’s a buddy cop horror comedy starring Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo where the undead go on a crime spree and it’s up to a cop and his recently resurrected partner to put a stop to it.
This film is actually pretty ripe material for a remake. The original is about as clunky and cheesy as you’d think a zombie cop movie starring Joe Piscopo would be and I think someone could do a great reimagining of that basic premise of a supernatural crime spree being stopped by a couple of odd ball partners… one of whom happens to be recently undead himself. It if it wasn’t so on the nose, it’d be perfect Edgar Wright material… it as essentially combining Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, afterall.
I mentioned earlier that it’s fucking weird and boy howdy is it. There’s a scene featuring an undead chicken and that, believe it or not, is the subject of today’s behind the scenes image.
Thanks to the folks at the Practical Effects Group for the image. Click to enlargen!
If you have a behind the scenes shot you’d like to submit to this column, you can email me at quint@aintitcool.com.
Tomorrow’s pic will freak you out.
-Eric Vespe
”Quint”
quint@aintitcool.com
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Click here to visit the complete compilation of previous Behind the Scenes images, Page Two
Readers Talkback
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I have never even heard of this film until just now. I must see it. I love Piscopo. A very underrated talent, especially from his SNL days.
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Oct. 17, 2012, 5:21 p.m. CST
Love that crazy flick!! Great Shane Black..perfect time for a remake
by oliphantman
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I wanted to like it. Saw it in the theater back in the day. Tried it again on home video. Bad then, bad now. But Quint is right, THIS kind of misfire is what should be remade.
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I used to love this movie when I was a kid. I saw it recently, and it didn't hold the same mystique, but what can you do?
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Oct. 17, 2012, 5:23 p.m. CST
And if you love Joe Piscopo, give a listen to his album New Jersey.
by vic twenty
Provided you can find it anywhere. His Honeymooners rap with Eddie Murphy is dated, but epic nonetheless.
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Has a few moments of pretty bad, but does have a certain cheesy charm that only 80's films can pull off.
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Collision Course.
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Oct. 17, 2012, 5:28 p.m. CST
I watched this as kid. I always thought that was a duck.
by kindofabigdeal
It was before Piscopo fell into his black hole. I still say the perfect comedy match up would be Joe Piscopo and Howie Mandel. How about an Expendables for comics who never became popular. It can be called the Forgettables. Joe Piscopo Howie Mandel Carrot Top Dan Cook Sarah Silverman AJ Johnson Pauly Shore and Ralph Macchio can play the villains.
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I think that was one of Treat Williams' lines. Anyway, I do have a huge soft spot for this movie. Such an oddball flick, yeah, sure, why not a remake? Funnier, gorier, car-chasier. Could be epic.
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Oct. 17, 2012, 5:42 p.m. CST
Speaking of Joe Piscopo, what the heck happened to that guy?
by Danny Boil
All the bodybuilding and all the craziness and stuff? Remember that weird comedy "special" he did, with the urine test to prove he wasn't juicing, or whatever? Man, some of his early SNL stuff was gutbusting... sad.
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Cheesy as hell, but entertaining, with incredible effects (the decomposition scene is a particular standout).
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I agree that the movie is very clunky at times but it does have a very odd charm and is actually pretty fun for the most part. I remembered how this film literally was savaged by everybody when it first came out and it's unfortunate that Treat was never able to really rescucitate his career after this misfire as he can be quite a good actor when given good material (which isn't the case anymore as I just caued him in the horrible "Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader). I also agree that it's ripe for a proper remake and I would love to see somebody like Edgar Wright get his hands on it.
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Oct. 17, 2012, 5:48 p.m. CST
Joe got the Big 'C', survived.. but it crushed his spirit
by James Robinson
He withdrew from Hollywood, staying with off-Broadway theater. He seems content, if somewhat melancholy about walking away from the 'Big-Time'
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So glad you had a picture of Dead Heat. A True Forgotten Gem. For the record, Treat Williams LOVES this movie! Almost as much as I do.
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Oct. 17, 2012, 5:59 p.m. CST
You forgot to say that Vincent Price in the big baddie in this
by frank
who is killed twice in the end of the movie. Also in the kitchen scene, the evil butcher is played by Professor Toru Tanaka.
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Oct. 17, 2012, 6:03 p.m. CST
*oliphantman The film was written by Shane Black's brother, not himself.
by frank
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Oct. 17, 2012, 6:28 p.m. CST
How do we kill this thing? Maybe we can drown it in A-1 sauce!
by iamatroll
I was a movie usher back in the day when this flick came out. I kinda liked it, despite all it's cheesiness. It's not really "Beverly Hills Cop" but more like "Lethal Weapon meets Retun of the Living Dead" but your analogy was close! Almost stealing the movie is Karl Kolchak himself, Darren McGavin, who may or may not be more involved in the zombie goings on then he seems... BODYDOC (That's a clue, see the movie, you'll get it...)
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but because of this and a couple other movies with "heat" in the title, they changed it.
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Terry Black, Shane's brother, wrote the script.
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One of the most insane endings EVER. There's that last 15- 20 minutes, where people start melting and everything just kinda starts going nuts. It's like towards the end they just said "fuck it, lets just kill off the whole cast" and they did it. Love that movie!
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One of the most insane endings EVER. There's that last 15- 20 minutes, where people start melting and everything just kinda starts going nuts. It's like towards the end they just said "fuck it, lets just kill off the whole cast" and they did it. Love that movie!
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Oct. 17, 2012, 9:28 p.m. CST
Great 80s B movie (RIPD sounds similar). Piscopo should've had a better career - he's really funny in this.
by Gary Makin
Lindsay Frost should've had a better career too - what a hottie.
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Someone is actually recommending a remake!?! I suppose next you will suggest it all be done with CGI! It boggles the mind ; )
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Oct. 17, 2012, 10:15 p.m. CST
Dead Heat is great. Really fun, and I agree that it would be a perfect remake...
by ThulsaBoom
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Oct. 17, 2012, 10:18 p.m. CST
Also, love me some Treat Williams. Between this and 'Deep Rising', you can have a nice double fisting of camp.
by ThulsaBoom
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Oct. 17, 2012, 10:23 p.m. CST
Also, this is the pinnacle of Joe Piscopo's film career. He was supposed to be Shane in the '80's 'Walking Dead' movie though...
by ThulsaBoom
...what if? Piscopo from his Dead Heat era as Shane in The Walking Dead? That would be so awful! One can only dream.
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Wow this really got me thinking. I remember as a kid going to the video rental store with my parents to rent a NES game and while my brothers would argue over what game to get, I would browse through the aisles of movies. Now as an adult, I cant believe how many of these movie covers I recognize from seeing them getting life on netflix, dvd's, etc. It's like..."Oh yeah its that movie I remember that I never saw."
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I mean yeah, it's cheesy, and a bit clunky in spots, but when it gets it right its also a lot of fun. Makes for a nice double bill with The Hidden too.
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...I've been telling people about this flick for years! Gonna have to try and order it tonight. Great pic, Quint!
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It kicks ass for the lord!
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Remake should have Ron Perlman and Jason Bateman.
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I saw this one years ago and it's one of those films I just gotta throw in the machine now and then...at least, if nothing else, to watch the beginning up to where Treat becomes a "zombie cop". Don't get me wrong, the whole movie's great, the opening stuff with the Joe and Treat is my favorite part though. Joe and Treat as a sort of "odd couple" style pair of cops, Darren McGavin, Robert Picardo, and VINCENT PRICE!! There's just so much fun stuff in this one!
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Oct. 18, 2012, 7:54 a.m. CST
I can pass on the film...but I want an undead chicken marionette like, now!
by Randall Luttenberg
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Like to watch my copy with a Night of The Comet chaser.... Just sayin'
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Oct. 18, 2012, 8:55 a.m. CST
Fun? This is the only movie I've ever demanded money back for.
by impossibledreamers
What possessed me to even buy a ticket I will never know. Wretched... Wretched... Wretched... A funny horror cop film would work but God this was painful.
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I swear I thought I was the only person left alive who had seen Night of The Comet. I absolutely loved that movie. It epitomized everything that was great about the eighties with extra cheese.
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Oct. 18, 2012, 9:21 a.m. CST
@gutshot: That casting is perfect. But they would probably end up casting Vin Diesel and Zach Efron.
by kindofabigdeal
Actually The Rock and Justing Timberlake could be interesting.
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but i do agree the premise is cute.
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but, he makes this movie a chore to sit through. @cavejohnson, I believe it is Darren McGavin that is killed twice at the end. The zombie steer carcass always made me chuckle.
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Oct. 18, 2012, 11:15 a.m. CST
I have fond memories of Wise Guys, the DePalma comedy with Danny DeVito.
by openthepodbaydoorshal
Wonder how it holds up today....
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You didn't hear about R.I.P.D., coming out next summer? From IMDb: A recently slain cop joins a team of undead police officers working for the Rest in Peace Department and tries to find the man who murdered him. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790736/
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Oct. 18, 2012, 11:35 a.m. CST
Not sure a remake is needed. From what you wrote sounds a lot like what The Revenant looks like from it's trailer..
by moonlightdrive
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I, too, grew up only knowing this film by the VHS cover. Never saw it til last year on Encore Mystery or one of those channels... anyway, being dissapointed by it AND having a bad case of writers block on my novel... I actually spent a week writing a script based on what I had imagined this movie would be like all these years. Any serious filmmakers/producers want to take a look? email me at shlock1077 at gmail dot com yeah... despite my name here... the email is correct, no C between that first S & H
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