ONE CUT OF THE DEAD is a not-really horror film that was made for $30,000 by a director whose ethos was: you need to make 200-300 movies before you can make a single good one!
We do argue whether that’s actually necessary, certainly at that nutty number, but one thing is certain: Ueda made something AMAZING with One Cut off the Dead.
It’s a zombie movie. Except it isn’t. Many turn the movie off before the half-hour mark; don’t do that. The first 30 minutes are somewhat odd and off on purpose. They’re fun, but not deeply interesting or life changing. Don’t bail; there is a massive payoff for those who keep the faith.
The film soon reveals itself, and it is a celebratory, life-affirming, wild, comedic, charming, unforgettable filmwatching experience by the time the second (?) credits roll.
That’s all you need to know. Go watch it. Currently streaming on AMC+ or SHUDDER in America. Watch it especially if you’re not a horror movie person. And watch it if you are. It broke records at the box office in Japan when it was originally released and it’s not hard to see why.
If you’re the kind of person that adamantly refuses to watch a “horror movie”, then listen to our podcast first, it will likely convince you. But if you’re already interested, don’t you dare listen to our spoiler-heavy discussion. Go watch the movie. Then come back here to revel in its wonderfulness with us.
Listen up above, or on your podcast platform of choice, just search “Vintertainment”.
Screenwriter Mark Palermo
We are joined today by special guest Mark Palermo, writer of one of my all-time Top 5 favorite films, seriously it’s been on my Letterboxd Top 4 since I joined Letterboxd an obscene number of years ago and I’ve never taken it off - DETENTION (2011).
Detention is a meta-horror, sci-fi comedy that follows a group of eccentric high schoolers in Grizzly Lake whose prom night turns deadly when their classmate is murdered by “Cinderhella” an iconic movie killer brought to life. The teens are trapped in a school-wide detention and must figure out the killer’s identity before they-and the world- are destroyed. Think of it as a genre mash-up treatise on teen pop culture in a post-Donnie Darko world and it is brilliant.
Mark is also the co-host of the podcast MOVIES AND CHAOS (also follow their IG here) alongside Serena Whitney; he’s a director of the Halifax cult film screening series Thrillema; and most recently Mark began writing for The Retroscope zine all about repertory, art house & indie film film scene in Nova Scotia.
The Wine (and Hard Float) Pairings
Dave’s Piquette Pairing
FINAL GIRLS WINE 2023 “Frankenfizz” Piquette of Sangiovese
I wanted something fiercely independent, yet also somehow connected to a “team”, relating to the teamowrk aspect of the film. So likely a “negociant”, a winemaker who purchases fruit in small quantities from multiple vineyarrds and makes small batches of wine outside the “estate” system. The multiple vineyards = the team, the co-conspirators. But the vision and making of the thing is in the hands of the artist.
So that + something different, odd, light andd fresh to match the lightheartedness of the full story, from a small lot artisan team working with multiple vineyards. And I was also able to make it horror themed, too!
Enter: FINAL GIRL WINE
Anna Lancucki has been making wine for over 20 years, though she didn’t come from a wine family. Inspired by the Meg Ryan rom-com “French Kiss” which she saw at the age of 13 and which has a whole subplot about a guy starting a vineyard and she decided that’s what she wanted to do. Slightly ironic as she didn’t start a vineyard, but rather became a negociant winemaker, but I digress.
Educated at UC Davis, the top Enology & Viticulture School in the USA, Anna went on to work in Napa, Sonoma and a number of harvests in New Zealand, where she met Peter Lancucki at a party and their first conversation was about what skills they would bring to the zombie apocalypse. And Peter, in his spare time, wrote horror screenplays and podcasts.
Thus Final Girl Wines was born, and the wine in specific that I chose was what they once called their “Piquette”, but now has been renamed their “Frankenfizz”. Not very zombie, but let me explain.
Piquette is a style of wine where you take the used grape skins - the “pomace” - after it’s already been used to make one wine, and then rehydrate them, add water and let the fermentation still happening in the pomace continue. This creates a low alcohol, lightly colored and lightly fizzy flavored wine that’s a stitching together of all these component pieces. The ultimate in recycling.
This is a Piquette of Sangiovese from the Coquelicot Vineyard, certified organic grapes. Native yeast fermented, 6 month barrel aged, and only 6.5% ABV!
This has the lightness, the oddness, the down ‘n dirtiness of that pomace maceration, the creativity, the tart fruitiness, and that low ABV is actually best for a film like this, where you want to pay attention to all the little details as it goes.
Mark’s Pairing
Vodka Root Beer Float
One Cut of the Dead is nostaligic, sweet, and also bitter. And across the street from Mark in Nova Scotia is a Brewery called Propeller Brewery that makes their own Root Beer. They can a drink using blended craft vodka, the root beer, and vanilla and call it a “Hard Root Beer Float” which checks all the above boxes.
Propeller is only avilable to Halifax-based Canadians, but you can craft your own Vodka Root Beet float with the following!
Instructions
Split a can of soda between two large glasses and then add a shot of vodka to each.
Carefully drop two scoops of either dairy dairy-free ice cream into each glass (if you have an ice cream that is cinnamon or coconut flavored - or both! - it makes it even better), and then top off with remaining can of root beer.
Slurp, scoop, and enjoy.
Dallas’ Pairing
2014 Fiddlehead Cellars “728” Pinot Noir, Fiddlestix Vineyard, Sta. Rita Hills
In “Kathy’s Corner” - the section of the winemakers notes devoted to the founders musings about the vintages - she speaks of wines that reflect their unique sense of place and personality.
And our film, One Cut of The Dead mirrors this in the approach taken in creating this film. The film takes a very simple but unique locale and turns it into a place of myth and legend resulting in a product that many consider pure gold. Not unlike Fiddlehead Cellars.
This cool climate Pinot Noir, coming from the fog-heavy Santa Rita Hills and it’s rooted in ancient sedimentary soils that contribute both minerality and spice. Its clusters are hand sorted and given an expert’s touch like the script and subject matter in the film.
The grapes are aged in 37% French Oak (air dried for slower more elegant integration).
ONE CUT s just fun to watch. And while it certainly gives a behind the curtain peak into independent film making, I think its greatest feat is that it leaves many who watch vibrating with Saturday morning “I could go out and do that with my friends” energy.
And with that, I imagine that energy and wanted a wine that expressed the flavors or notes of Saturday morning. Notes like cola, cranberry, black cherry, vanilla, and the baking spices found in root beer which, by the way, are all notes expressed in this wine.
In One Cut of the Dead Ueda makes a world within a world within a world look easy by relying on intuition and copious amounts of practice. And this wine shines in this way as well. Both are satisfying, bold and compel you to revisit it in order to appreciate them more deeply.
