I first became aware of Anthony Oberbeck as he played “Doggy Daddy,” in the short film “Visualization Exercise: Walking Your Dog in the Park.” He has mastered the art of the straight man, just as he had mastered the art of petting dogs as doggy daddy, where no dog owner can dare compete with his compassion for pups, nor earn the associated “doggy daddy” memorabilia.

Later I saw his short film, “Seven Dreams,” where he again pushes absurdity while testing us with sad eyes, and a childlike eagerness to become a stand-up comedian. His character shows up at movie theaters to test jokes on a trapped audience, which, of course, the actor had to do as well.

After this I contacted Anthony to see if he would be interested in creating a film for the Charm City Fringe’s experimental short film block, where the filmmaker receives a complete score and has to construct a film to match the score. Anthony was all in, and “Six Messages” was the result of that. *The score was composed by Rick Szybowski.

Night of the Living Dead Original Poster.jpg

"Night of the Living Dead," the movie that launched zombie movies (and comics) into fandom, left its mark on me many years ago, especially once I realized that it was made by a normal dude in Pittsburg and not made in some magic far off place. I first saw “Night of the Living Dead” as a pre-teen in the mid 80s, when our Uncle Billy (Thanks Uncle Billy!) was left to babysit my brother and I. His care included handing off two VHS rental tapes and a bag of popcorn. The two movies were "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead." We were glued to the TV for close to four hours.

Horror movies were popular in our house anyway, so this is not as awful as it may sound. The first movies I remember going to were Jaws 2, The Boogins, and Creepshow (also Empire Strikes Back and The Black Stallion.) When American Werewolf in London was released on HBO, our Uncle Billy invited us upstairs for a screening of that was well. At an early age, these were all important movies in laying the foundation to that personal mythology. Of course I can’t say that without noting that March of the Wooden Soldiers/Babes in Toyland was also watched a number of times each holiday season and is still a favorite.

But, of all of these, “Night of the Living Dead” was the only one with a filmmaker and story attached - which plants that important seed, “you can make movies too.” Of course it took many years for this seed to germinate, but none the less, if you have not seen it yet - check it out. One of the first DIY indie films on a low budget, and the first zombie classic. (*For you youngsters - at this time, you could not shoot a movie on your phone and edit it on your laptop. You needed to shoot on film, on a film camera, and you had to cut the film strips and tape them together to edit. I know that in this era Youtubers, etc., are the choice influence.)

Written by George A. Romero and John A. Russo, directed by George Romero, and starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman. “Night of the Living Dead” was released in 1968.