The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse

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

Goddamn you Toronto for being so awesome and so far away. The Toronto International Film Festival’s Midnight Madness program has been revealed and it includes the new George A. Romero film Survival of the Dead (which is the new, apparently official title) and REC 2. Okay, who wants to fly me to Toronto to cover this? Anyone? (/Film)

And if you want a bunch of stills from the movie, a poster and a press release (including a synopsis!), how about TIFFs page for Survival of the Dead? (TIFF)

In case you forgot, Left 4 Dead 2 in incoming and some more info has been revealed in a new, exclusive preview. In summary: new boss called a Spitter with a ranged, damage-over-time, area-of-effect attack; level-specific “common” infected including “mud men” in the Swamp level; pills and first aid supposedly replaced with adrenaline and ammo packs, which is poorly explained, although adrenaline sounds to make you run faster for a while. There’s more tidbits, but that’s the big stuff. Oh, there are also three clips, one of which is embedded after the break. (GameSpy)

Some intriguing discussion of the role of zombies in fiction, and the books The Way of the Barefoot Zombie (upcoming) and Dawn Over Doomsday by Jasper Bark. (Forbidden Planet International)

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

Good ol’ Entertainment Weekly went geek and posted some preview images for San Diego Comic Con, and Bloody Disgusting was nice enough to pull out the relevant good stuff, from Zombieland, and post it. I have to admit, the first Zombieland image, of a little zombie girl, is kind of awesome. (EW/Bloody Disgusting)

In other Comic Con/Zombieland news, there’s a zombie walk planned for Thursday, July 23 and Sony Pictures will be doing makeup for would-be zombies, gratis. Get the details here. (Dread Central)

If you like blowing up zombies and using yourself as bait, check out Zombies and Me for your iPhone (and read all about EA’s new mobile development studio, too). (G4)

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

Additional details emerge about I Spit on Your Rave, a post-apocalyptic tale of a world where zombies rule and humans are only food — or sometimes entertainment. And you can still get in on that world-record “zombies on camera” attempt, too. Read about it here.

It looks as if the film adaptation of World War Z is headed for one of the early circles of development hell, as in addition to the recently announced delay while director Marc Foster does something else, it’s also got a new screenwriter. Hope for the best. (Fangoria)

In the meantime, maybe you will enjoy the upcoming short film The Hell Patrol, said to be heavily influenced by World War Z. Quiet Earth has details, trailer is embedded after the break. (Quiet Earth)

Director Bruce LaBruce (Otto; or Up with Dead People) isn’t done with zombies and porn — he’s working on a new, hardcore gay zombie porn and there are some images and details available. Do NOT click that link at work (unless you work at a bathhouse or something…) and/or if you aren’t comfortable with male nudity and lots of blood. (Ponystep)

If you’re a fan of Re-Animator (and really, who isn’t?) you should have a look at the cool new poster Alex Pardee did over at Mondo. They’re available for $30 if you want to own one… (AICN)

Speaking of posters, this Deadgirl poster is pretty damn cool. (Horror-Movies.ca)

PC gamers need not feel left out of the Resident Evil 5 fun much longer — they get the game September 15. oh, and iPhone users won’t have to feel left out of the Resident Evil 4 fun much longer either.  (Kotaku)

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

The next batch of info on Left 4 Dead 2 will come from the San Diego Comic Con. There’s going to be an EA Gaming Lounge showing one of the game’s new levels and some new items. There’s also a new image at that link, if you get excited about those sorts of things. (Kotaku)

In other Left 4 Dead 2 news, the cricket bat melee weapon supposedly revealed Tuesday may in fact be a joke. Good one, guys (The Escapist)

The awesome PopCap game Plants vs. Zombies is coming to other platforms — none specified yet, but consoles and portables are a good bet. (Kotaku)

Some time in the distant future, you may be playing an Xbox 360 game called Dead Island, about being trapped on zombie-infested tropical island. It is apparently in the works. (Endsights)

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

Need a little Christmas in July update? How about an update on the progress of Xmas-themed zombie flick Silent Night, Zombie Night? (Dread Central)

As the October release date for Zombieland nears, the media machine will ratchet up to insane speed. Get an early start with this set report and cast interview. (Bloody Disgusting)

And in an utterly bizarre twist, if you need more Zombieland update, here’s another feature on it. By the same writer. From the same visit. For a different website (how does this guy get away with collecting two paychecks for one job?). (Dark Horizons)

Or try this Zombieland set report one, from Fangoria (hey, at least they have a different writer!) Still not sure how this is an “exclusive first set report” as they call it, since it seems to be from the same April visit. Just because it’s a different writer? Anyway, like I said, the press machine is ratcheting up! Stand back, you could lose an eye! (Fangoria)

A new Left 4 Dead 2 weapon is revealed: the cricket bat. Shaun of the Dead reference, ahoy! (IGN)

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

Be on the lookout for the upcoming novel Feed, about a zombie outbreak as documented by the online community when the mainstream media ignores it. The author Seanan McGuire says, “It’s an unholy cross between Transmetropolitan and Night of the Living Dead, with a little Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on the side.” Sounds good to me. More details here. (Media Bistro)

If you’re excited to see the micro-budget English zombie flick Colin, you’ll probably also be excited to hear that Fangoria is doing a live webcast with writer/dirctor Marc Price next Tuesday afternoon, July 7, at 4 p.m. EST. (Fangoria)

First I’ve heard of the book, but here’s an interview with author E. Van Lowe about Never Slow Dance with a Zombie (damn good advice, by the way!). (Popin’s Lair)

Gangster and zombies go together like fish and chips, so The Horde should be tasty. Cops go after gangsters for revenge, but get zombies instead. Awesome. Trailer after the break. (Quiet Earth)

More details continue to trickle out about Wii zombie killers Dead Space Extraction (control scheme details) and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (character details). Now they need to come out, already. (Kotaku)

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

If you’re going to be in Montreal July 9 through 27, consider checking out the Fantasia festival. Almost 200 genre films will screen, including zombie movies such as Dead Snow, Deadgirl and I Sell the Dead.  There’s a partial list at Fangoria or you can visit the festival website. Canada gets all the cool festivals! (Fangoria)

Here’s a brief report on zombies in the streets of NYC in another zombie crawl. (Fangoria)

If you subscribe to Official Xbox Magazine, you’re going to get a free Left 4 Dead theme for your Xbox dashboard. Lucky you. (CVG)

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

Friday, July 10 zombies in San Francisco are protesting for equal rights. This awesome event is a promotional stunt for S.G. Browne’s book Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament. There’s a signing after the protest. (Undead Anonymous)

Fans of the zombie epic Planet Terror rejoice, because rumor has it that the complete theatrical Grindhouse experience — both films, all the trailers, etc — is coming to Blu-ray August 11 and DVD December 31. Blu-ray.com broke the story, Fangoria corroborated and expanded it via WalMart’s website (isn’t living in the future awesome?). (Fangoria)

If you are in Waco, Texas this weekend, a new, locally produced zombie movie is premiering Saturday, June 27. Check out a brief piece about the movie, called Risen, with a link to info on when and where to see it. (Waco Tribune-Herald)

Augmented reality (overlaying graphics onto real-life stuff) gets nice and zombified in ARhrrrr, a prototype game from Georgia Tech Augmented Environments Lab and the Savannah College of Art and Design. Get more details at Joystiq, find a nice clip after the break. (Joystiq via Dread Central)

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

The biggest news of the day, by far, is that Michael Jackson is dead. How is that zombie news? Ever heard of a little thing called “Thriller”? It’s probably behind only Night of the Living Dead and maybe Dawn of the Dead in terms of popularizing zombies. TMZ broke the news earlier today, but it’s pretty much everywhere. (TMZ)

PC gamers get official support for custom campaigns in Left 4 Dead with an update today. Lucky bastards. (Kotaku)

And that’s it, because today is the slowest zombie news days ever. But to salve the pain, there’s a silly Resident Evil claymation clip embedded after the breka (thanks to Kotaku for the find).

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So, Onechanbara. Yeah. Based on a video game, and if you somehow didn’t know that, I think you’d figure it out pretty damn quickly. You’ve got a wafer-thin plot (mad scientist creates zombies to take over the world, now with 70 percent more sibling rivalry subplot!), lots of bad acting, bad characterization and god-awful CGI. The lead character was a samurai chick in a bikini, with a fat, bumbling sidekick, a leather-clad hottie gunslinger as a quasi-partner and a rival/sister who is somehow fueling the creation of zombies. Yeah, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me either. Most of the fight scenes were sped up and it was hard to tell what was going on, and you could all but see the lead character’s special attack powering up. The zombies weren’t half bad looking though — nothing special, but not terrible.They dissolved into spurts of blood when they got killed by our hero, a little like the vampires in Buffy the Vampie Slayer when they got staked, which almost has to be an inspiration.

Honestly, it was kind of okay. I can’t imagine ever sitting through it again (yet I probably will at some point) but it wasn’t really too bad — I’ve seen many, many worse movies. And gratuitous nudity fans, you get two quick boob shots here, and one simulated sex scene.

Next we get JUNK. I really liked JUNK a lot when I saw it before. We’ll see if that is still true.