On October 20th The Massacre will bring 24 hours of horror to Chicago’s beautiful Portage Theater. The marathon will screen more than a dozen features and host special guest Scream Queen Linnea Quigley. Linnea will appear in person at The Massacre to present Return of the Living Dead in 35mm and talk about what it was like to play the iconic punk zombie, Trash.
Midnite Ticket had the chance to speak with Linnea about Return of the Living Dead and more:
Midnite Ticket: The Massacre will be presenting Return of the Living Dead on the big screen in 35mm. What details should the audience look for while they’re watching the movie the way it was intended to be seen?
Linnea Quigley: If you’ve seen it before look for new things. I notice something different every time I watch it. There were things that I didn’t catch that if I hadn’t listened to the commentary I wouldn’t have seen. There’s so much happening in the background and in the foreground. Look for little things that are funny in the background. The butterflies start going when things start to happen, they come alive. That’s a little detail that Dan put in there that was brilliant.
MT: What was the biggest challenge you faced during the production of Return of the Living Dead?
LQ: Definitely all the cold wetness of the nights into mornings everyday. That was definitely a challenge. Being buried in mud, not being able to hear or see, not to slip when you’re coming out of the mud. Definitely the coldness and the horrible white body makeup that had to stay on during all the wet scenes.
MT: Did that full body makeup make you feel sick or lightheaded while shooting?
LQ: What got me woozy was when I was dancing on the tombstones and they had the road flares. The sulfur that’s in them was coming right up into my face. I was breathing that in while I was dancing. The sulfur, combined with the fact that we were a week and a half into my filming, got to me.
MT: Do you meet fans dressed as your character?
LQ: I actually met a girl, not that long ago, she had the red wig and the costume on. When I was living in Los Angels for all those years I would see girls with that kind of outfit and hair which freaked me out. I was like “Oh my god, that’s so weird!” A couple brought in a picture, they went on Halloween as Trash and Suicide. They showed me the pictures and they were great. They really did it up.
MT: What was it like working on USA Up All Night with Rhonda Shear and Gilbert Gottfried?
LQ: That was so much fun. It was like a little family. I did Rhonda’s show mostly but I did do Gilbert’s show in New York and knew Gilbert and things like that. It was really fun to do those wrap arounds. There isn’t a show like that anymore. I’ve ran into so many people that saw the movies like The Girl I Want, Murder Weapon or Creepazoids on Up All Night where they wouldn’t have necessarily been able to see them anywhere else.
MT: The cover of your Chainsaw & Bio book has a great photo of you with a chainsaw that was reproduced in a lot of magazines and elsewhere. Was that a fun photo shoot?
LQ: I remember going to a store, because I didn’t have a chainsaw handy, and borrowing the chainsaw for the day and then brining it back the next day. I have a cute picture of my cat that stepped into the shot and sat by the chainsaw.
MT: The Horror Workout video you did was also a lot of fun. Are there any plans to re-release it?
LQ: We are going to re-release it! When I was in L.A. a few weeks ago we did the commentary audio and a video commentary. It’s going to be re-released on DVD. In Canada I just saw a battered VHS copy of it so it’ll be nice to have it in DVD form with a commentary looking back on it.
MT: Where can we look for you next?
LQ: Celluloid Bloodbath is coming out October 4th. It’s got trailers from all the exploitation films and I do a couple of intros. William Forsythe and a bunch of people do some wrap arounds also. There are a lot of celebrities in it. Disciples, which I co-produced with Angus Scrimm, Tony Todd, Bill Moseley, plus a lot of celebrities is going to be out within a year. It deals with the old Hollywood scene. Hopefully I’ll co-produce some more things. I just did one in L.A. called The Trouble With Barry, which had Brinke, Michelle and I in it. Of course they just released Screaming in High Heels: The Rise and Fall of the Scream Queen Era. It’s a documentary about myself, Brinke Stevens and Michelle Bauer. It’s been playing on the Chiller Channel but you can get it through Amazon or Netflix. Also Girls Gone Dead just got released. It’s a great movie. On Youtube I’m giving away a hat that I wore. I play a crazy Australian bartender.
............................................
Linnea will be appearing in person at The Massacre on October 20th and will be available to sign autographs and take photos with fans for free. Be sure to get your tickets now to catch all the great vintage trailers, shorts and cool surprises. The current line-up of features includes:
- Spider Baby (1964) with legendary exploitation director Walter Hill in person!
- The Black Cat (1934)
- The Witchfinder General (1968)
- Frenzy (1972)
- Return of the Living Dead (1985)
- Dead Snow (2009)
- Halloween II (1981)
- Nightmares (1983)
- Prince of Darkness (1987)
- Phantasm II (1988)
- Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
- HAUSU aka "House" (1977)
- A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors (1987)