Episode 3: “I Walked With a Zombie” with Danny Peary
A podcast about the great movies.
We’re back with our latest episode of Guide for the Film Fanatic! In each episode, Jason Bailey and Mike Hull invite a guest from the world of film (including filmmakers, authors, critics, actors, and more) to select one of the 1600+ “must-see movies” collected in Danny Peary’s seminal 1986 book, Guide for the Film Fanatic. Bailey, Hull, and their guests deep dive on each film, discussing its history, themes, style, performances, initial reception, and legacy, taking a fresh look at some of the most beloved titles in cinema history.
In this week’s edition, we are joined by our dream guest—the one and only Danny Peary, our guiding light, the author of our Bible, Guide for the Film Fanatic (and Cult Movies, and Cult Movie Stars, and Alternate Oscars, and and and…). Mr. Peary joins us to discuss I Walked with a Zombie, the 1943 horror classic directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton — as well as his very personal reason for selecting it, among the 1600+ movies in “Guide,” for a deep dive.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’re partnering up with One Heat Minute Productions on this show, so we’re migrating it over to their feed; subscribe now if you haven’t already.
We’re also putting our new episodes up on YouTube! Watch the show on our YouTube channel, @guideforthefilmfanatic, for visual accompaniment and bonus stuff and who knows what else:
I Walked with a Zombie is streaming on Tubi, the people’s streamer. It’s also available for digital rental or purchase, or on the 4K and Blu-ray we mentioned from the Criterion Collection. You can also watch the trailer here. You can read Tom Pryors’s New York Times review here, and you can check out the full New York Times from the movie’s opening day here.
Mr. Peary’s books are mostly out of print, but you can find them on AbeBooks or Ebay or wherever you get used books, and the re-organized Cult Movies ebooks are here. If you’d like to check out the YouTube page for Mike’s other podcast, Black Diplomats, it’s here. And if you’d like to pre-order Jason’s new book Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend, you can pre-order it from Bookshop and Barnes & Noble.
Last but not least, if you’d like to make a little donation to support us and the show, you can do that at Ko-fi!