Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things: Winns the Zombie

Sometimes you become so familiar with something that you don't even really see it anymore. I had an unusual moment like this last night while watching my Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things VHS tape for like the 25th time this week. Don't panic, I don't literally sit down and watch the movie 25 times in a row, I just put it on in the background while I go about my other daily business.

What happened that caused me immediate distress is I saw in the credit an actor name Bruce Solomon got a top billing as a character named Winns. But there is no character named Winns in the movie, I thought to myself. Certainly not a main character. 

So, I did what any rational person would do in a situation like this: I found Alan Ormsby's profile on Facebook and wrote him a message asking who Winns was, then I watched the movie three more times almost frame-by-frame to see if I had missed a character named Winns.

It turns out I had. It was a You Tube video that gave me the answer. Winns is a zombie. Specifically the zombie whose coffin is broken open by a root. I confirmed this by reading the headstone.

Winns the Zombie

The name is far more easily visible in the movie than in this screen capture, but it says Winns.

Also, the actor who played Winns, Bruce Solomon, went on to work more than any other actor in the movie.

Actor Bruce Solomon

CSPWDT was his first role, but he played roles in Barney Miller, Love Boat, Mary Hartman, Eight Is Enough, and was in Night of the Creeps. 

So, if Alan Ormsby reads this, please disregard my email. Although I may write you with a question about the shotgun later.