The classic shooter 'Mystic Midway: Rest in Pieces' was developed in 1991/1992 by Philips POV in USA. The host in the game was Dr Death, played by Randy Polk. Mystic Midway: Rest in Pieces was followed up in 1993/1994 with the sequel Mystic Midway: Phantom Express, also starring Randy Polk as Dr. Death. Now that the first game was recently re-released through Steam thanks to Pixel Games UK, Randy polk shared some memories about his experience with the shooting of this game. Randy Polk: "Wow! 28 years ago I had a blast on a one day shoot portraying the creepy curmudgeon Dr. Dearth. Unbelievable people are still playing it.
Hope you all have as much fun playing it as I did in acting in it! The RIP shoot was cool; it was so thrown together and loose. Phantom was much more organized, more scripted, better tech and better production values. But the best part was I got to play like 10 or so different characters!...Or at least Dr. Dearth playing different roles! It was exhausting, though! A long day and I was the ONLY performer on set. No chance to kick back during someone else’s scene. I was either in front of the camera or changing wardrobe and make-up all day long.
Only time I ever did something like that. Quite an experience! Been trying to remember where we shot RIP. It was either a studio or at a theatre somewhere in the Valley. Green-screened, of course. I remember when we were doing the insults that happen during the game play, the writers were going through a joke book. That was for adolescent boys and coming up with horrible puns! The costume, I came up with from my closet, mainly pieces that I kept from a movie I was in years earlier. I think I still have the tux shirt somewhere.
Pixel Games UK even thinks about a new third version, now that they hold the license of the Mystic Midway franchise. "Fancy doing a follow up? Number 3? We might also if your up for it? Socially distanced / recorded and all that but are you willing to consider it for the fans?"
Randy Polk: "Sure… I’d be willing! I’m an old ham and up for most anything, but I doubt there would be much interest in revisiting this whole milieu these days!"
[Thanks, Randy Polk]