The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse

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.

Author Carrie Ryan (Forest of Hands and Teeth and the just-released The Dead Tossed Waves) is interviewed about about why zombies are so popular, whether the genre has peaked and more. (Tor.com)

The new Left 4 Dead 2 DLC “The Passing” will add new game modes (plural!) to the existing survival, scavenge and versus. Cool. If I ever manage to replace my now-dead Xbox 360 I will be excited. (Kotaku)

A blogger points out that a zombie apocalypse helps you put life’s little setbacks and frustrations into perspective. (Theme Park Experience)

Penn State reports on its campus’s Humans vs. Zombies game. (Daily Collegian)

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.

One of the original Left 4 Dead survivors won’t survive much longer! The new Left 4 Dead 2 DLC episode “The Passing” will feature just three survivors, one having given up his (or her?) life to let the others live. Then, in a follow-up prequel DLC episode for the original Left 4 Dead will let you play out those events yourself. There’s also a comic coming to stitch the story together. (Gametrailers TV)

It looks like my prayers (see here) have been answered! Rumor has it (nothing official, yet) that REC 2 is coming to US theaters in July and hitting DVD in October. Hurrah! (Bloody Disgusting)

Nashville is having a zombie prom called Promocalypse April 24. Put on a tux and nice throat wound and relive your undead high school glory!

There will be a Return of the Living Dead reunion at this year’s Monsterpalooza, April 9-11 in Burbank, California. Clu Gulager, Lianna Quigley, Dorothy Randolph, Thom Mathews, Don Calfa, John Philbin, Brian Peck, Allen Trautman and William Stout will appear. (Dread Central)

The After Dark Horrorfest IV movies hit retail tomorrow, including Zombies of Mass Destruction (review here) which is definitely worth seeing and one I expect many people will want to own. (Bloody Disgusting)

Get the details on the final issue of the Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency comic. (Dread Central)

Enjoy this report on a Zombies vs. Humans games at CU Boulder. There’s also video, which you can find embedded below. (Daily Camera)

A flash mob of zombies hit Daley Plaza in Chicago. (TimeOut Chicago)

An advice columnist gives some half-decent advice on what to do in case swine flu turns out to be the first stage in a zombie apocalypse. (Daily Evergreen)

A fellow zombie blogger asks, “What’s a good first zombie movie?” For his three-year-old. But don’t worry (or call Child Protective Services!), he’s going to save it for later. He just wants to start planning. (A World on Fire)

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It’s not every day you can combine two of your great geek loves into one great package. This shirt does the trick for me. Long before I ever got into zombies, I was a big, huge Star Trek fan (yes I know I just lost a cool points in some of your eyes. I can deal with that). These days, I don’t follow it much (though I did see the new movie) but it will always be a part of me. So combining zombies with Trek and managing to shoehorn not one, but two Trek references/jokes into the shirt? I’m sold.

It will run you $16 from Think Geek, which isn’t bad. A little more than I prefer to pay for a T-shirt, but not ridiculous. Next time I’ve got a spare $20, I’ll probably pick it up. Live long and prosper, then continue as an revivified corpse.

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.

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.

Author Carrie Ryan is doing a lot of press for her latest zombie novel, The Dead Tossed Waves. The latest interview covers her outlook on the series (that’s right, a third book is coming), her inspiration and lots more. (Publishers Weekly)

The director of Zomblies talks about inspiration, how to maximize a tiny budget and the importance of zombies evolving in this interview. (Zombie Command)

An intriguing essay on what zombies mean, a topic I plan to tackle myself sometime. (True/Slant)

Bostonites can go see some Pom Pom Zombies on stage this weekend. Toxic hot dogs turn a cheerleader into a zombie-making machine, chaos ensues. (A World on Fire)

Stay warm at night with a Resident Evil quilt. (Zombie Command)

As I mentioned in this week’s feature, Pontypool is a movie that stretches and tests the boundaries of what can or can’t be considered a zombie. It’s set in a radio station in the small town of Pontypool in rural Canada on a particularly cold and snowy day. Strange reports of rioting and bizarre behavior start pouring in to the radio station. For a town where the typical crime consists of public drunkenness and maybe the odd domestic disturbance, this is obviously a very strange day. It’s about to get a lot stranger.

It’s hard to talk about the rest of the film without getting a little spoilery. if you are extraordinarily sensitive to spoilers, haven’t yet seen the film and have managed to somehow avoid any of the other spoilers out there online (the main plot point is “spoiled” everywhere, from the ads to the back of the box to every interview and probably every review out there) STOP READING. I’ll spoil the review and tell you I thought the film is excellent and a must-see — you can come back and read the rest when you’ve seen it.
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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.

Author Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Death Tossed Waves) talks about her influences and favorite zombie works and lots more in this interview. (Books for Sale)

There’s a new zombie film called Zomblies (no typo, that’s an “l” there) about a team of rookie zombie hunters who go missing, the mission to bring them back and the new breed of zombie discovered along the way. It’s from Realm Pictures, it debuts March 27 at the Exeter Odeon Cinema (that’s in England) and it promises “all of the big budget action” delivered for a fraction of the cost. The trailer, embedded below, looks good! More info available here. (Zombie Command)

This list of jobs that will be in demand during the zombie apocalypse is probably required reading. How’s that English degree going to help come Z Day? (The Beachwood Reporter)

A zombie blogger asks if gore is necessary to make a good zombie film. (A World on Fire)

EDIT: Managed to screw up the date on the header. Fixed that.

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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.

Actor Mark Pellegrino confirms he’s up for a role (presumably Rick) in the Walking Dead TV adaptation. Scroll to the end of the interview, it’s the last question. (TV.com)

More details emerge for the just-announced Zombie Diaries sequel. The second film (working title Zombie Diaries 2) will focus on the UK’s military response to the outbreak as they face everything from zombies to bandits. And supposedly, the budget is “big.” (Dread Central)

Director Bill Plympton’s animated film Hair High, a tale of high-school revenge that has some zombie action, is coming to DVD. Not impressed yet? Wait until you take a look at the list of voice talent, which includes Eric Gilliland, Sarah Silverman, Dermot Mulroney, Beverly D’Angelo, Keith and David Carradine (RIP David), Tom Noonan, Justin Long and Simpsons creator Matt Groening. (Fangoria)

The UK is getting another deluxe Blu-ray/DVD edition from Arrow. This time it’s Lucio Fulci’s City of the Living Dead and it’s packed with extra features. Oh, and it’s region free if you are into importing stuff. Incidentally, City of the Living Dead has one of my favorite horror-movie scores of all time. I listen to it on a regular basis. (Dread Central)

It’s St. Patrick’s Day. Need an Irish zombie movie for the holiday? Horror Squad wants to tell you about Dead Meat. (Horror Squad)

Learn about the about the “survival comedy” iPhone game Zombie Smash in an interview with Matthias Hoechsmann of German developer Gamedoctors. (Joystiq)

Is this a zombie movie?

I saw The Crazies this weekend. I liked it pretty well. It wasn’t a zombie movie. It did contain some very zombie-movie like themes and ideas, and the infected were somewhat zombie-like, but it wasn’t a zombie movie. Director Breck Eisner does a good job of explaining why in this interview. Here’s the key point, for my money:

They don’t lose their personalities and persona completely. It just lets loose this monster within and it does it differently with each person. That’s what makes it different from a zombie movie.

Now, arguably the same could be said about certain Romero works, especially Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead, but even in those movies, the creatures were zombie first (eat the flesh of the living above all else), remaining persona second. The Crazies had some of its infected do nothing more than just mill about aimlessly, while others actively sought revenge on those they perceived to have wronged them. Some worked as a team, some drove cars — does that sound very zombie-like to you? Compare that to other “infected” movies that, to me at least, are zombie movies, such as 28 Days Later. The infected in 28DL act like zombies — they seek out and attack the uninfected. They have lost all vestige of their previous personality, mind or soul. They can’t open a door, much less drive a car or operate a firearm. That’s a zombie.

Time will tell whether Eisner’s The Crazies is considered a zombie movie or not, despite his explanations and intentions. Ultimately, it’s the film’s audience and history that decides how a film is classified (never forget, Romero never considered his creatures zombies until audiences classified them as such and he went with it!). And that definition can be fairly arbitrary. For reference, here’s a look at five movies that utilize zombie-like ideas and creatures, yet alter the zombie mythos in fundamental ways. Some are considered zombie films, some are not.

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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.

A sequel to the promising yet disappointing film The Zombie Diaries is in the works at Dimension. (Bloody Disgusting)

The hyper drug zombies of The Devil’s Playground are one (fast) step closer to being done. Producer Jonathan Sothcott reports the film has wrapped. (Fangoria)

If you can’t wait a whole day for the official premier of Comedy Central’s new cartoon Ugly Americans, which features zombie and other monsters, the first ten minutes of it are online. Because I love you, I’ve embedded it below, even though I disapprove. I’ll watch it in its entirety tomorrow. (Bloody Disgusting)

One of Foreign Policy‘s bloggers continues his series looking at how the zombie apocalypse might be dealt with from various international relations models. (Foreign Policy)

If you need a quick fix of space-zombie RTS action, check out Attack of the Paper Zombies. (A World on Fire) Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Some Survival of the Dead clips have hit the net, supposedly of “big” moments from the film. I haven’t watched them, since I hate seeing clips of movies I intend to watch in full, but you can find one embedded for you below, and three more at Bloody Disgusting (or on YouTube). (Bloody Disgusting)

Even better than the clips, there’s a Survival of the Dead zombie identification field manual to help you identify those pesky zombies. Helpful hint: they’re the ones trying to bite your face. (Dread Central)

It’s still weird to me that books get trailers now, but the new trailer for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, the prequel to the Jane Austen mashup, is pretty kick ass. It’s embedded below. (Zombie Command)

Need some reading material? Here’s a look at four newish works in the zombie field. (Suvudu)

This past weekend in my hometown of Denver, there was a zombie fashion show. Prior commitments prevented me from attending, but here’s a slide show of the fashionable zombies. (Westword)

There’s a third entry in the infamous Deadlands film series coming from creator Gary Ugarek. This one focuses on three groups in the zombie ravaged world, including a man with a death wish who’s the leader of an elite commando unit. While I was no fan of either of its predecessors (first review here, and second review here), you can’t say Ugarek lacks ambition. Perhaps the third time will be the charm. (Fangoria)

An op-ed asks the vital question: Will global warming exacerbate the zombie apocalypse? (The Day)

On a similar(?) note, a blogger shares her theory that those that bust a sag — that is, those who wear their pants below their ass — will be the first to be eaten when the zombies come. (Tara Lynn Childs)

GDC attendees are getting zombie vaccinations courtesy of Zombrex, as a promotion for Dead Rising 2 apparently. (Kotaku)

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