Doc’s hopes of a musical comedy were swiftly being dashed upon the unyielding rocks of commerce.
“Most disturbing. When was this film made?” the old man asked.
The ticket salesman paused for a moment and closed his eyes, as if accessing a bank of data files stored on the hard drive of his brain.
” Dawn of the Dead . 1979 predark calendar. A Laurel production. A United Film Distribution release. Full color. Running time of 126 minutes uncut, or significantly shorter in the cable edit, and who the fuck wants to see the censored version anyway, so it doesn’t count.”
“A full two hours plus,” J.B. said approvingly as a man who loved a bargain. “Not bad.”
The ticket seller continued to speak, unaware or uncaring of J.B.’s approval. “Written, directed and edited by the great George A. Romero, who also gave us Stephen King’s Creepshow, Martin, Day of the Dead and many other fine horror pictures. Cinematography by Michael Gornick. Music by the Goblins with Dario Argento. Sequel to the classic Night of the Living Dead , which is pretty good, but it’s in black and white, and the only version I’ve seen was fuzzy as hell, so the blood and guts look all fake.”
“For Christ’s sake,” Mildred said to her two companions, “I can see this kind of crap on an all-too-regular basis in Deathlands. Why would I want to go to a movie and pay good money to experience it?”
“Nothing else better to do,” J.B. replied.
“Aren’t you showing anything else?” she asked Boston.
The man shook his head. “Lady, at this moment we only have four movies in complete enough condition to screen Dawn of the Dead, Mannequin 2 on the Move, Spy Hard and Escape from New York . This theater rotates them on a monthly basis. Every once in a while, I’ll pull out chunks of other flicks I’ve spliced together from stray film cans just so we can offer something different, but most of our customers want a complete show, and I can’t blame them. Plenty enough vids with a beginning, middle and end to keep their interest at home. We have to try and make coming to a movie theater a special experience.”
“Ironic, isn’t it, Doc?” Mildred said.
“What?”
“Back in the fifties, television nearly ran movie theaters out of business. Producers had to come up with all kinds of gimmicks and sensationalism to keep attendance levels high. Wide screens. Quad sound. Fake insurance policies sold at the door in case you or a loved one dropped dead of fright while watching the film.”
“Sounds like a sideshow to me,” Doc said.
“Show business is show business,” Mildred replied. “Until the advent of home video in the late seventies, the movie industry had become a mere ghost of what it once had been. Once home vid players come into vogue, there was money all around. Financially a profit could be made not only on tickets sold, but also on vid rights, cable, network-television rights and so on.”
“I think I understand. Here we are, one-hundred-plus years later, and most physical films capable of being viewed on the big screen have been destroyed”
“But videotapes of the movies survive. Exactly,” Mildred finished.
“So, we going or not?” J.B. asked.
Mildred looked at the fellow manning the ticket booth. “This place sell popcorn?” she asked.
WHILE MILDRED, DOC and J.B. were preparing to enjoy a movie, Ryan, Jak and Krysty were on duty in the small sec headquarters in the back of the mall. The monitor board in the sec room burst into vibrant color, with an incessant warning alarm.
“What the fuck is that?” Ryan asked, instantly alert as he leaped to his feet.
“Motion sensors,” a techie in a blue jumpsuit replied. “We’ve got intruders up on the roof.”
“Show me.”
When he tapped into the same vid system Ryan had seen earlier in Morgan’s administrative office, two screens lit up, and what they revealed was smoke and flame.
“Roofs on fire,” Ryan said. “Think the stickies are using another catapult?”
“Don’t see how. There has been nothing on the group level outside within the sec circle.”
“Muties must be behind this somehow,” Ryan murmured, standing behind the techie and gazing at the scene.