We made zombie history in Portland on Zombie Day

Julie preparing for Zombie Day

On Labor Day, tons of zombies converged on an industrial part of Portland to shamble on screen as movie extras for a short film for the Portland Film Festival.

Weeks ago, Julie and I found out about the need for zombie extras, and we jumped on it.  Anticipation built as the days drug by while we waited for another chance to bathe in latex and corn syrup.

In the days before, we tried to decide what we were going to be, but had to scrap most of those ideas because we didn't want to be anything the movie people would have to get permission to use...like Julie's awesome Breaking Bad costume idea and my zombie Princess Leia.

Night Night

We decided to take it back to basics after watching Fido and falling in love with Tammy's simplistic zombie look.  Then we added veins.  Big black and red ropy veins.

The night before, we stuck our veins on with latex and slept in them so we wouldn't have to get up at 4am to zombie up.  It sounds like a terrible idea, but really, a towel and some powder make it super easy to keep the universe from sticking to you.  Even though we slept in our latex to save time and gain sleep, I couldn't seem to settle down.  After all, we were about to be part of zombie history in Portland.

No blood on the car please

The morning of, we got as zombified as we could before we climbed in the car and headed straight for the nearest coffee shop where we scared the holy crap out of the barista, which shocked us too because we forgot we were zombies for a minute.  Still, we chose not to eat her brains, caffeinated ourselves and headed down to find the nearest parking to the set as possible.

Finding parking was no easy task in one-way land, but we did, then we bloodied ourselves up using our reflections in the car window as mirrors, even though we couldn't see anything we were doing (Putting blood on each other didn't even come to mind.  I blame the decision not to eat the Dutch Bros barista's brain).

javajavajavajava

From there, we shambled in the general direction of the set, but not before scaring everyone at a gas station because we could...and we wanted mints.  Zombies need fresh breath too.  A diet rich in flesh will give you some nasty halitosis if you're not careful, and we wanted to impress our new zombie friends.

Soon we found ourselves accidentally wandering through a spot under the bridge with overturned cars and garbage all over the place...which we determined was either the set or one of our kid's bedrooms.  Then we found the line.  We were an hour early because we didn't want to miss registration, which was supposed to start at 9, so we were only about 20th in line, which would have been great if registration started at 9...or 10.  Still, we happily signed a waiver so it wasn't the film company's fault if we died and we wouldn't get mad about our likenesses being used...uh...I was pretty sure it was a movie....so if we didn't want our likenesses being used, I don't think we'd be standing in line melting our latex appliances off in the sun...

mmmm...brains from Fiji....

Next came the waiting.  Then came the realization that not only were we checking being extras in a movie off the list with a big gold star for it being a zombie movie, but we learned that it was a ROMERO ZOMBIE MOVIE!!! As in George C. Romero, son of George A. Romero, the father of all things zombie!  My heart pounded through my chest as I thought about the type of history we were making!

So, the point of a mega zombie short film was not only to make a super awesome zombie sort film, but it was to attempt to break the world record for most extras in a short film.  The word is still officially out as far as I know as of conformation that we broke the record, but rumor has it that we did.  Suddenly, all the waiting was worth it.  Would we meet him?  How close would we get him?  Could we check meeting a famous person off the list too?

wait wait wait wait

Then there was more waiting.

Anyway, we made the best of it in true ZomMob fashion, spending the time cracking up our fellow zombies with new renditions of every song ever made.  Soon, we were joined by some other members of the ZomMob, and we decided to write a movie while we were waiting to be in a movie.....wait for it......a zombie musical called Zombie Jazz Hands 2.  Not because it was part 2, but because we had 2 hands.  Like it or not, keeping both hands is something of a blessing in the zombie world.

The famous sock

Then registration began, they rolled out the tiny red carpet for us to stand on and take our photographs.  A joke started about how the only part of us you'll see in the movie is our socks, so we took a sock-and-shoe red carpet photo, just in case.  We wanted to prove that the famous zombie socks belonged to us.

Then there was more waiting.  Everyone horded through the food carts and the honey buckets, then were herded into an area with a barrier.  There we waited, melted, and continued working on Zombie Jazz Hands 2.  It was actually in this period of waiting that the name was born.

Filming!!

Soon, Romero himself climbed to the top of a ladder and started yelling about what a great morning it was and giving us some insight as to the next phases of waiting.

That's what making a film is, right?  Do some stuff, then wait, then do it again.

The featured zombies and fleeing citizens who paid to be there were taken to the set first and given instruction.  Then we were in the next group and the filming began.  First we shambled through the movie set, waited, did it again, rinse repeat a few times, then we shambled through and stopped when the man playing the director yelled, "CUT!"  and they played out that scene....wait, do

The star of Zombie Jazz Hands 2

it again.  After a few times of that, they brought out the rest of the zombies and the fleeing citizens and we all were one big happy zombie mob chasing down the non-zombs.  Besides, it was late into the afternoon, and we were getting hungry!

Next was the finale when we ate the man playing the director.

I did stand right by Romero and we cheered about the success of the scene and made eye contact, , and I did get a high 5 from the guy yelling through the megaphone all the time telling us what to do.  I suppose that qualifies for meeting someone famous. Sorry Reedus, you had your chance.

Near the set

When it was over, we were stoked to have been there.  Be on the lookout for Zombie Jazz Hands 2.  I'm sure it will be coming to a Snapchat story near you.  In the meantime, the latex has been peeled, blood has been scrubbed, and a deep detox mask applied.

XOXO-Sunshine and Julie

"Wear this where we can't see it."......

Wait, rinse, repeat.

Arrrrrr

Red brains and rice