- Director: Greg Nicotero
- Writers: John Esposito, Rob Schrab
- Stars: Brock Duncan, Tyner Rushing, Jana Allen
- Run Time: 52 Minutes
Model Kid: Synopsis
“Gilman Meets the Mummy” is a silent movie-within-a-movie wherein the mummy beats up Indiana Jones until the Creature from the Black Lagoon intercedes. The monsters fight while the heroes escape. Turns out it’s just a kid painting his model monsters in 1972.
Joe is a monster-obsessed kid. He dresses up as Dracula for pizza dinner when his Aunt Barb and Kevin come over. Uncle Kevin’s an idiot, but Joe knows way more about horror than he does. Barb and Kevin are coming to stay since Joe’s mom is starting another round of chemo. Mom dies that very evening while watching a movie with Joe.
Three months later, Joe lives with Kevin and Barb, and Kevin is not supportive. Kevin wants to get rid of all the horror memorabilia and breaks Joe’s Grim Reaper figure. Kevin also hurts Aunt Barb.
That afternoon, Frankenstein kills the bully that picks on Joe. No, not really, but Joe imagines it. Things get worse between Kevin and Joe. That night, Joe sees “a movie” with his dead mother crawling out of the grave. She says “His friends are watching over him,” and then he wakes up. She has given him a comic book, and Joe orders something from one of its ads.
The package soon arrives. It’s an Uncle Kevin voodoo doll. He torments Kevin for a bit, and then Kevin gets the baseball bat to smash up Joe’s room. The Gill Man then throws him down the steps. Then the mummy joins in, and between the two of them, they rip Kevin into pieces.
Commentary
The creature effects are clearly men in rubber suits, but it’s still appropriate to the story and looks good. Kevin is an abuser, but he does it in an over-the-top comic-book way. It’s a good one!
Public Television of the Dead
Kids are watching the Pittsburgh Public TV Channel. It’s getting to be pledge drive again. Mrs. Bookberry has the hit show, and she’s a real jerk. She wants the time slot from the “Love of Painting” guy. Claudia the producer comes down and cancels the painting show. The host, Norm, is freshly back from Vietnam, and they think he had to do terrible things over there. Nowadays, he’s always calm.
“On the Appraiser’s Roadshow,” they have Ted Raimi with a flesh-bound Necronomicon. The host opens the book and reads from it. Raimi then goes all Evil Dead and kills the host.
Meanwhile, in the other studio, Norm is recording his final Love of Painting show. The Ted Raimi comes in and throws the cameraman across the room. The Evil Dead learns not to screw with the calm painter. He really will “Beat the Devil of it.”
Meanwhile Mrs. Bookberry has a long argument with her possessed bear doll until Raimi walks in and eats her face. Now, Mrs. Bookberry is going to read the book of the dead on live TV. Norm and Claudia have to get the Necronomicon away from the reading show hostess. The final battle is shown on live TV.
Weeks later, as the only surviving show host, Norm the painter is going national.
Commentary
The camera angles and sound effects are right out of the Evil Dead films, as is the Necronomicon prop and Ted Raimi.
Bob Ross vs. Evil Dead is the crossover we didn’t know we needed. Someone has been watching a lot of public TV and Evil Dead movies. This is clearly the best episode of the series so far.