My colleague Brian Detrick, who works in our library's Technical Services Department and is a true horror buff (check out his awesome blog, Were80s Horror), recently showed me a copy of a screenplay he purchased of the recent horror flick George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead; he told he was shocked to see a reference to Scranton, PA in the dialogue.In Diary of the Dead (a continuation of the zombie film series that Pittsburgh native George A. Romero began with 1968's Night of the Living Dead and continued with Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead), a group of young film students run into real-life zombies while filming a horror movie of their own.
The Scranton reference occurs early in the scripy (pages 18-19), when the filmmakers are riding in a van and filming introductions of themselves. The script is dated July 2006:
DEBRA
Debra Moynihan. I'm just trying to get home, too. Like Mary.
JASON (O.S.)
Where's home, Debra? Where are you trying to get to?
DEBRA
You know where I live.
JASON (O.S.)
Say it.
TONY (O.S.)
Say it, Debra. For the camera.
Tears well up in Debra's eyes as she SHOUTS...
DEBRA
SCRANTON! (Then, calming down) Scranton, Pennsylvania. That's my home. My parents' home, anyway. And my little brother's.
However, I'm not certain this was the final version of the script used in the 2007 film. According to the Internet Movie Database, the character of Debra--who actually says Scranton in the screenplay--is not listed as a character in the film.
If there are any readers of the blog out there who has seen Diary of the Dead and knows for certain if the Scranton reference was included in the actual film, please email me.
Thanks again to Brian Detrick for this truly terrifying Scranton reference. And check out Brian's Were80s Horror blog.
Check out the trailer for Diary of the Dead below:
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