The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse

The pre-Romero history of zombie film is a litter of dull, sleepy films studded with the occasional gem. Revolt of the Zombies is not one of the gems. Revolt is the second zombie film from White Zombie director Victor Halperin but it lacks even that film’s somewhat dated charms and plays like a third rate ripoff of it. Clearly Halperin was out of ideas and hoping to capitalize on his previous success (he even “borrowed” the effect of superimposing Bela Lugosi’s eyes over certain scenes, despite the fact Lugosi is not in this movie).

Supposedly, Revolt is the tale of an expedition to discover the source of a zombie-creating agent to make an army of zombie super soldiers. There is one cool early scene of a horde of Cambodian zombie soldiers getting shot at and not dying or even reacting. Neat! In reality, the rest is a turgid, melodramatic love story about a guy, the girl he loves, and his best friend. Who she loves, naturally. Blech. Anyway, the guy who loves the girl learns the zombie secret and uses it to … try to get the girl. Really?

He controls everyone around him but the girl, creating a massive zombie army. And uh, does nothing with it. Then he realizes she will never love him, he releases his zombies (they aren’t dead, just hypnotized into a mindless, obedient state) and they turn on him. The end. Lame. Next time, more zombie army, less retarded love story, please.

Revolt of the Zombies/US/1936

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

Get a sneak peek of the graphic novel version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. (Pop Candy)

Coming May 5 from DC Comics, I, Zombie is an intriguing zombie comic that features a zombie gravedigger/private detective protagonist who has to eat brains once a month and feels compelled to fill the requests she gains access to by doing so. Wacky. (Dread Central)

Get inside the head of Brian Keene, author of The Rising and other zombie novels. (Fangoria)

Some Trekkies got a bit more info on the zombie/Trekkie mashup book Night of the Living Trekkies, due out September 4. (Trek Today)

New Jersey gets Monster Mania from March 12 through 14. It’s a convention chock full of zombie-esque guests including Thom Mathews (Return of the Living Dead), Bruce Abbott (Re-Animator) and Bill Moseley (Night of the Living Dead 1990) among many more. Get the deets on Dread Central’s involvement, or head straight to the con’s website. (Dread Central)

Everyone’s making a zombie movie these days. Read all about one student at an art school in Kansas City, Missouri and her zombie film project. (Louisburg Herald)

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

The University of Tulsa is turning March 24 through April 1 into Zombie Apocalypse Week. Events include a session to brainstorm ways to protect the campus in case of zombie outbreak, a zombie-preparedness training session with a Red Cross instructor, a LAN party, movie marathon and more. (The Collegian)

Need to blend in with the undead masses in post-apocalyptic zombie USA? You’ll want to start by learning the language apparently and naturally, there’s a book to teach you how: How to Speak Zombie. (January Magazine)

Two self-proclaimed “horror nerds” debate the merits of Night of the Creeps in video embedded for you below. Or visit Horror Squad for a little background and a disclaimer before watching it. (Horror Squad)

The great science fiction blog io9 reports that there’s a really, really weird sci-fi story about “quantum zombies” in the latest issue of Rudy Rucker’s webzine Flurb. (io9)

There’s a Resident Evil clone game coming for iPhone called Zombie Infection. (Kotaku)

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2009 was a great year for zombie fans, with releases like Pontypool, Dead Snow and Zombieland at the movies, Left 4 Dead 2 in games and lots of other great stuff. 2010 has the potential to be even better. To get you up to speed on the year to come, I’ve compiled a list of ten of the most exciting zombie projects I expect to see in the coming year. Note that I only included things that I think have a solid chance of being released in 2010, so things like Zombieland 2 or The 4th Reich haven’t been included, as cool as they might be. Without further ado, I present my top ten picks for cool zombie shit coming in 2010. Make sure ot vote in the poll or leave me a comment with your thoughts!

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

The American Quarantine was a shot-for-shot remake of the Spanish REC. Despite this, the sequel Quarantine 2 will have nothing to do with REC 2. I believe we’d already heard this, but it seems more official now. Also, Q2 will reportedly be penned by John Pogue (U.S. Marshals, Ghost Ship), will take place in an airport and looks to be headed for a direct-to-DVD release. (Shock Till You Drop)

The sequel to last year’s young-adult, post-apocalyptic zombie tale The Forest of Hands and Teeth (review here) is called The Dead Tossed Waves and it hits stores today. Author Carrie Ryan talks about it, and more, to her hometown paper. (Charlotte Observer)

A new anthology of zombie short stories called The Living Dead 2 is coming out this September, with contributions from Max Brooks, Robert Kirkman and David Wellington, among others. (John Joseph Adams)

If you’re getting hyped about the new zombie-starring cartoon Ugly Americans, debuting on Comedy Central March 17, this PDF guide to its world will probably entertain you. (Comedy Central)

Tired of shooting at Nazi zombies in your video games? Try shooting at some in the real world. (Kotaku)

Some people who are really into MMORPGs compiled a list of six things they’d really like to see in a zombie MMORPG. (MMORPG)

Kill zombies! Irritate the living shit out of your Twitter followers and lose them by the handful! It’s Tweet Defense, a game that utilizes your twitter activity to power your zombie-killing ability. (Kotaku)

If you’re in or near Belleville, Canada (sorry, can’t be more specific, my knowledge of Canadian geography is woefully inadequate), you can dress up as a zombie (or other monster) and march to support cancer research this July 17. (The Intelligencer)

Alternately, if you’re in or near Louisville, Kentucky, you can sign up to get in on the March 25 meetup of future survivors of the zombie apocalypse. (Palmyran Rebels)

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

The mashup trend takes a hard left into total nerdom with Night of the Living Trekkies, a book about a group of hardcore Star Trek fans facing the zombie apocalypse. (The Independent)

Left 4 Dead and its sequel are both coming to the Mac platform. (Left 4 Dead Blog)

There’s just not enough theater centered on zombies. A Toronto play called Dead End is thus a welcome ray of light in the darkness. (The Strand)

If reading a whole book is just too hard, perhaps this cartoon-pictorial guide to surviving the zombie apocalypse is more your speed. (Ned Hardy)

Some thoughts on the ongoing zombie invasion of the iPhone platform, much of which is generalizable to the pop-culture/media world at large. (Macworld)

In the realm of very specific zombie tips, how about this list of house plants you’ll want to cultivate in the case of zombie apocalypse? (Plants Are the Strangest People)

Practice your zombie-killing skills and win serious apocalypse cred/bragging rights in Cheaper Than Dirt’s latest contest (note: this contest requires/uses real guns). (Cheaper Than Dirt)

The case to change Valentine’s Day to Zombie Awareness Day. (The Hawk Eye)

Today in Denver the weather turned gray and cold after a week’s stretch of nice days lured me into a false sense of warm-weather security. The nasty outside my window got me thinking about my dire need for a fashionable zombie hoodie and lo and behold, today’s Fashion Zombie entry. It’s from the ever-amusing minds at Think Geek, who offer this lovely zombie-rights protest hoodie. It’ll set you back about $40, but you’ll look good and zombie-aware and stay warm. It’s also available on a T-shirt (see the image below, which also shows the design a little better).

I’m attempting to assemble an all zombie-themed wardrobe. Fashion Zombie is my weekly post detailing the coolest zombie-themed clothes and accessories I can find. Check back every Monday for another look at the hottest zombie apparel.

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

Go behind the scenes of Zombieland and get an update on the status of Zombieland 2 in this extensive interview with director Ruben Fleischer. (IconVsIcon)

It looks as if Pet Sematary is being revived for another go-round. The remake will be scripted by Matthew Greenberg, who handled the adaptation for 1408, a movie I was thoroughly unimpressed with. I am unenthused. (Hollywood Reporter)

Strike a zombie pose, photograph it and send it to Michael Moreci and you could be immortalized as a zombie in his upcoming graphic novel Quarantine (no relation to the film of the same name). And win an autographed copy of the final book, of course.

Details emerge on the DVD/Blu-ray release of I Sell the Dead (review here), coming March 30. The only extra is a trailer (are you fucking kidding me?) and you can see the cover now. (DVD Active)

If you’re in Philadelphia, you can catch a zombie double feature tonight featuring One Dark Night (never heard of it) and Bruno Mattei’s Night of the Zombies (aka Virus, aka Hell of the Living Dead, aka a terrible piece of shit that ranks as one of the worst zombie movies ever). Better hurry though — it starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time at the International House. (Geekadelphia)

That's a zombie climbing on the ceiling. Because apparently, zombies do that.

There is so much wrong with the 2008 Day of the Dead remake it is hard to know where to start. For one thing, it has nothing to do with the 1985 George A. Romero film apart from a couple of similar character names and some really fucking stupid references. For another, it’s horribly written and poorly acted. But the biggest problem might just be the spider zombies.

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead. Got news tips? E-mail me at cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com.

Creation’s Weekend of Horrors convention Re-Animator reunion just got a little sweeter as Bruce Abbott, who played Dr. Dan Cain, has joined the guest list along with already announced Re-Animator alumni Barbara Crampton, Robert Sampson, Stuart Gordon, Jeffrey Combs and Dennis Paoli. (Dread Central)

There’s a new redband trailer out for George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead. You can find it embedded below. (Bloody Disgusting)

Supposing you can find a place to charge it, your iPhone could be handy during the zombie apocalypse, as long as you use this guide to six apps essential to your survival. (Macworld)

Comedy Central’s new cartoon Ugly Americans, about a social worker who helps monsters integrate into normal New York City life and his zombie roommate debuts March 17. In the meantime, Dread Central has some more info and clips. (Dread Central)

The supposedly awesome REC 2 (I haven’t seen it yet, much to my great sorrow) is coming to Blu-ray … in Japan and Spain. God damn it, Sony, release the fucking thing here already! (Horror Squad)

Check out the inside scoop on Plague, a short film about the horror that occurs in the interim between being bitten by a zombie and turning into one. (Fangoria)

Drawing of your favorite Hollywood stars, rendered as the undead? Sure, sounds like fun to me. (A World on Fire)

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