(Hamish McEwan): Before I get to the specifics of your respective questions, I'd like to just give some basic background about myself and Zombie Nightmare (ZN), and relate some of my faded memories. After all, it's been almost twenty years.

ZN was shot in Montreal in 1985. At the time, I had just moved to Toronto, but still had an agent in Montreal and traveled back and forth frequently on the train.

I arrived in Montreal late for the audition.  I was flustered and tired.  By the time I got to the casting session, the director and the casting director were getting ready to leave.  I stumbled in, apologized, and was ushered into the room.  I then proceeded to give possibly the worst audition of my career.  Not only did I screw up my lines, I started mistakenly reading the lines for the other characters in the scene, and then gracefully covering my errors by swearing, repeatedly.

When I had finished, the director shook his head and asked me if I played tennis, to which I confidently replied, "I can get it over the net...". He laughed and said, "Get him a contract!".

No lie. I knew right away that these guys were aiming high.

So, to the questions...

Q (Detective Mitchell): What was it like working with Adam West?  Do either of you keep in touch with the cast and crew?

A (Frank Dietz): Adam was a lot of fun.  Since we were playing the cops investigating the zombie killings, I was in almost all of his scenes.  Adam has a sharp, sly sense of humor, which made the endless waiting for "action" easy to deal with.  We've gotten together from time to time since for a dinner or cocktail.  He's helped me out more than once with projects I was involved in.  I'm always happy to see Adam again.

Q (Dave Walker): Following up on Detective Mitchell's question about Adam West, how about working with Tia Carrere?  What was that like given what I assume would be relative inexperience for her at the time?

A (Frank Dietz): I didn't have any scenes with Tia, although I did rehearse some of her scenes with her prior to filming.  She was quite nice, but was far from inexperienced.  She had already been a regular on General Hospital.  Later on, of course, she got her big break with Wayne's World.

A (Hamish McEwan): Tia was a real treat to work with. At that point, she had been working very briefly on a soap opera out of New York, and already fancied herself a bit of a star amongst us locals.

One evening, Shawn Levy (hair guy) and myself went to the hotel where Tia was staying to meet for drinks.  She sashayed into the lobby wearing a full-length gold silk robe, like she was Bette Davis or something.  I laugh about it now, but at the time, I think we both thought, "Wow!".

Q (gproopdog): What, if any, movie projects are you working on right now?

A (Frank Dietz): I turned to screenwriting a few years after Zombie Nightmare.  I've had several films produced and some optioned by studios.  I continue to write films for production companies here in Los Angeles.

A (Hamish McEwan): I just finished a pilot for a series for the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.).  Hoping it will go to series in February, in Montreal.

Q (ChibodeeCrocket): So how did you guys like the MSTed treatment of Zombie Nightmare?  Also on the set did anyone make any Batman jokes at the expense of Mr. West?

A (Frank Dietz): I loved it.  I think MST3000 did the film justice.  They turned it from a crummy horror film into a hilarious comedy.  I always recommend people watch the MST version.  As far as Batman jokes at the expense of Mr. West...well, we were a little nervous about that at first.  You can't be sure how someone will react.  But it turned out that Adam himself was willing to make jokes at his own expense.  John Fasano (who actually wrote the script) had several funny remarks about the Caped Crusader, and I recall Adam cracking up.  He told us some great stories about making the series, too.

A (Hamish McEwan): I laughed so hard, I thought I was going to pass out.  It really deserved it.

Unfortunately, I had no scenes with Mr. West, and only saw him in passing. A friend, David Gow (one of the cops), said he was pretty grumpy most of the time. Oh, that was his performance... sorry.

Q: Hamish, do you still play tennis?  Was this a fun movie to work on?

A: I think that it is plain to anyone watching the movie that I never did play tennis. It took hours of filming just to get a couple of passable action shots. To this day, I stink at tennis.

Yes, it was a blast to make this movie. There were times that it felt like we were creating something really cool, and others where we just shook our heads wondering what the heck we were up to.

Q (otr): For Hamish, underwear guy, Did you ever consider passing behind the camera?

A (Hamish McEwan): I know, it was obvious from this performance that I certainly shouldn't have been in front of it. Underwear guy... nice. I went out and bought that underwear specially.

I directed and produced theatre for a while here in Toronto, and I've dabbled in writing for film but, frankly, I need to be told what to do, or I just wouldn't get out of bed.

Q (Dr. Forrester): From Dr. Forrester, What's your favorite 60's Batman episode?

A (Frank Dietz): My favorite is probably the very first one, with Frank Gorshin and Jill St. John.  I also like the GREEN HORNET crossover episode.  And any episode that has Julie Newmar as Catwoman!

A (Hamish McEwan): Anything with The Riddler.  I'm a big fan of Frank Gorshin.

Q (Dr. Forrester): What was the director of Zombie Nightmare like?

A (Frank Dietz): To say Jack was a "minimalist" would be an understatement.  I understand he was previously a director of adult films, which would explain a lot.  I think he wanted to make a good movie, but didn't really have the vision to see it through, especially which such a low budget.

A (Hamish McEwan): Apart from the audition, I have no recollection of the director, whatsoever. Weird, eh?

Q (Dr. Forrester): What was the most fun thing while filming Zombie Nightmare?

A (Frank Dietz): The whole thing was fun.  It was my first real movie, and I was acting with my childhood hero, so I was thrilled.  Most of the American cast and crew stayed in a cheesy hotel during the 3 week shoot, so we had lots of fun even when we weren't shooting.

A (Hamish McEwan): The most fun had to be the day that we shot the scene in the car when we ran over Tony.  We had just finished that appalling bar scene, and moved outside to shoot the exterior of the bar entrance where we stumbled out.  Of course, in order to get into the bar, we had to shoot during the day.  But instead of shooting the rest of the sequence at night, we just went ahead and continued working.  So we were, in fact, stumbling out of the bar into the bright midday sun.  They somehow made it look like it was night.

After that, we went across the street into the parking lot where the Mercedes was parked.  It was covered in sound blankets to make it look dark, and with the director yelling things like, "OK, you just hit him!!!!", and, "You just backed over him!!!”, we pretended to drive over Tony, freak out, back over him, and in a panic, drive away.  All of this actually happened in a blacked-out car in a sun blinded parking lot.  It was completely absurd.

Q (Dr. Forrester): What was the least fun part about it?

A (Frank Dietz): Realizing that it was not going to be the high quality production I had first imagined.  When I saw the film cut together, I had to convince myself it wasn't awful.  But of course, that's how it finally achieved this minor cult status.

A (Hamish McEwan): My least favourite part was walking around in that ridiculous underwear.

Q (Dr. Forrester): What advice would you give to anyone seriously wanting to become an actor?

A (Frank Dietz): You have to be absolutely sure that's what you want, and you have to be extremely aggressive in your pursuit of it.  And you have to be prepared for and willing to accept rejection...there's an awful lot of it in this industry.

A (Hamish McEwan): As to any advice for prospective thespians:  watch Zombie Nightmare.

Q (Van Hagar): How was Jon Mikl Thor on the set?  This movie seems something of a vehicle for him.

A (Frank Dietz): Jon was such a good-natured guy, always smiling and ready for whatever was needed.  He actually came aboard about half-way through the production, replacing Pee Wee Piemonte as the Zombie...which is why the character appears to be played by a different actor in the second half of the movie.  It was a different actor!  Ironically, Pee Wee now lives down the street from me.

Q (Van Hagar): Mr. McEwan, do you have any interesting stories or experiences from working on Radio Free Roscoe?

A (Hamish McEwan): I loved working on that show. The best thing was working with those kids. They are all amazing.

Q (Nerd Groupie): On Radio Free Roscoe, what happened with you and the teacher that you hooked up with?  They covered it in one episode and never covered it again.

A (Hamish McEwan):  Between the first 26 episodes, and the last 26, there was a major change in direction for the show.  The broadcaster, The 'N', wanted to concentrate more on the kids relationships with each other, and less on their relationship with Principal Waller.

I think that there had been some hope of a follow-up with Ms. Mitchell, but with the new direction, that became impossible.

However, in February of this year, that actress (Tracey Hoyt), and I went on to play husband and wife, parents to a sixteen-year-old son in an episode of Kevin Hill for UPN.  We had a good laugh.

Q (Skyroniter): Can you suggest the director add a misunderstood zombie with a baseball bat as a character on Radio Free Roscoe?

A (Hamish McEwan): That was Principal Waller!!!

Q (Van Hagar): Mr. Dietz, you were also in Rock N' Roll Nightmare which seems even more of a vehicle for Thor (as he produces and writes it).  How does that experience compare to that of Zombie Nightmare?  For those who have never seen the movie, how does the quality compare?

A (Frank Dietz): R&RN was most definitely a vehicle for Thor, although he didn't really write it (John Fasano again) and he was barely involved in the production end, as I recall it.  We shot that film for something like 50 grand, which as unheard of back then, before digital video. It was a real labor of love, and we worked and froze our butts off getting it done.  I played Roger, was a 2nd Assistant Director and created a lot of the weird creatures that inhabit the film. We all did that, at least the American crew.  We prepped most of the film in New York and then went to Toronto to shoot.  As far as quality, R&RN looks as good as Zombie Nightmare, but is lacking any "name" actors to give it any legitimacy.  Still, it has a goofy kind of charm that lots of people enjoy.  It's being released to DVD soon, so it should be interesting to see how it does.

Q (Van Hagar):  Both Zombie Nightmare and Rock N’ Roll Nightmare feature the main character trying to get revenge for the death of their parents.  Did someone (Thor, Fasano, etc.) have some motivation to put this in the movies?

A (Frank Dietz):  I don't think so, or at least not that I know of.  Revenge is just a common catalyst in horror movies, especially those that involve voodoo.  Actually there's a film called Pumpkinhead which came out a few years after Zombie Nightmare and has a plot that is similar in many ways.  A child is killed by callous youth, so the distraught parent seeks black magic to settle the score.