The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… News post by Johnathon Brock and Cory Casciato. Got news tips? E-mail them to cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com. Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead.

Hello fellow lovers of the zombie apocalypse! I, Johnathon Brock, have returned from PAX 2011 with only minimal sickness due to being contained in a small area with seventy thousand people for four days, and I’ve got a lot to report. On with the news…

So there was a good bit of video game news to come from PAX this year, and some of it was zombie related.

• I did get to see Lollipop Chainsaw up close and personal. They were giving away awesome foam chainsaws and I wanted one. Sadly I did not take this amazing gameplay footage (after the break), but I thank whoever did. (Platform Nation)
• I did however get some hands on time with Rise of Nightmares, which looks pretty amazing. It uses the Microsoft Kinect and puts you in direct control of a guy put in a horrifying situation as you try to survive a mad scientist’s lair filled with zombies and other horrifying creatures. Even the early beta had pretty good control.

The Walking Dead was also pretty popular while I was away.

• Laurie Holden, who plays bad ass Andrea on The Walking Dead, told fans during an interview that there was a possibility that Andrea and Shane would make an attempt to leave the group in an effort to stay alive. Personally I’m loving the deviation from the comic so far. (Daily Blam)
• It’s also been reported that AMC is looking to produce a zombie themed talk show to air after The Walking Dead, in sort of a “behind the scenes” fashion. The rumor mill says Chris Hardwick, of The Nerdist fame, will host the show. (io9)

Not to be outdone by those television zombies, World War Z was pretty popular this week.

• Principal shooting has wrapped in Glasgow, so World War Z will now move to post production and pick up shoots, leaving a near perfect replica of Philadelphia where Scotland used to be. (STV)
• After some pretty serious fan backlash over the direction the World War Z film would take compared to the novel, author Max Brooks quickly chimed in to defend the movie. (IFC)
• Perhaps the most awesome story of the filming of World War Z is the one in which Brad Pitt apparently saved an extra from being trampled in a sea of zombies and fleeing citizens during the filming of a stunt which quickly got out of hand. (The Scottish Sun)

Funnyman Rob Corddry will play one of the undead in the upcoming zombie romantic comedy (a zombromantic comedy?) Warm Bodies. (Cinema Blend)

If you’re still having problems getting your basement zombie movie started, then Rob Durick’s new book Filming the Undead: How to Make Your Own Zombie Movie is just what you need to make your special effects and camera lighting go from no budget to Hollywood caliber. (Dread Central)

Daybreak is a comic book about zombies, told in a really, really cool art house style with a lot of tension and more focus on great storytelling than flashy images. It’s an older comic, but it’s finally available as a collected trade and you should definitely check it out. (io9)

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… News post by Johnathon Brock and Cory Casciato. Got news tips? E-mail them to cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com. Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead.

To follow up that amazing trailer for yesterday, here’s a cool little hands on review for Lollipop Chainsaw which focuses on some of the bosses and combat mechanics. (Kotaku)

The Xbox live marketplace game Zombie Apocalypse 2 has changed it’s name to Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone. So either it’s gonna involve DMX or it’s just a dumb title. (True Achivements)

Special effects guru turned show runner Greg Nicotero talks about making zombies real on The Walking Dead. (Fangoria)

After the break, check out this video which shows just how dedicated Call of Duty is when it comes to studying the undead horde. They’re like zombie scientists. (Kotaku)

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… News post by Johnathon Brock and Cory Casciato. Got news tips? E-mail them to cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com. Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead.

Bruce Campbell recently said a few words about the “non-remake remake” that is Evil Dead 4 and his other secret project Bruce vs Frankenstein, which will be The Expendables of horror movies. (Coventry Telegraph)

Want to see the set of World War Z? Well you can, because they’re showing it off on webcam and you should definitely check it out. I hope this is something that more movies start doing. (Dread Central)

The much hyped horror flick Cockneys vs Zombies finally has a deadline for production wrap up. Unfortunately it won’t be until next year, so we’ve got a while to wait. (28 Days Later Analysis)

I know it was a slow news day, so to help out with that, here’s the JESUS AMAZING trailer for Lollipop Chainsaw, a new action game written by the amazing James Gunn (Slither, Super, etc) and developed by the studio that brought us No More Heroes. Seriously, it’s about a chainsaw wielding cheerleader who dismembers zombies by the dozen. Check out the trailer after the break, and go ahead and give that evil game company their lousy five bucks for a pre-order. (Buzz Focus)

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… News post by Johnathon Brock and Cory Casciato. Got news tips? E-mail them to cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com. Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead.

Finally we’ve got the news everyone has been waiting for. It seems that Frank Darabont was indeed fired from The Walking Dead, and the rumor mill (which is currently still anonymous sources) says it’s because of his difficulty to work with AMC regarding show notes and budget discussions. (FEARnet)

World War Z caught some bad publicity this week when it was revealed that the movie wouldn’t really follow the spirit of the best selling book. Instead it would be more of an action adventure film centered entirely around Brad Pitt’s character and not multiple stories from the battlefront. (The Celebrity Cafe)

Ving Rhames, who is by far one of the best zombie killers on film, will once again be thrust in the middle of an undead outbreak in the upcoming Asylum production Zombie Apocalypse. (Dread Central)

While it erupted onto the scene with an immediate fan base and a possible movie deal, the actual Dead Island video game has been getting some lackluster early reviews lately. Let’s hope for the best. (Kotaku)

Every now and then people make me realize just how possible it would be to survive a zombie outbreak. One such person posted a detailed write up on how to make your own MRE (Meals, Ready to Eat) packages for less than half the price of those stale military grade goods. (Lifehacker)

We stumbled across this awesome trailer for Zombie 108 and had to share it with you. It’s a Japanese zombie flick that looks like it’s part 28 Days Later, part Battle Royale, and very, very cool. Check it out after the break. (Buy Zombie)

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… News post by Johnathon Brock and Cory Casciato. Got news tips? E-mail them to cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com. Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead.

Let’s start off the new week with a boatload (you’ll get the joke later) of World War Z news…

• Despite earlier reports, it looks like Lost star Matthew Fox will be joining the cast of World War Z after all. (Falmouth Packet)
• Also Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston will be joining the cast as well with a currently unknown role. (First Showing)
• Here are some nice set photos that really show off the scale of World War Z. Notice the big boat? See, I told you that would be funny later on. (Den of Geek)

The author of Warm Bodies, soon to be the first true zombie romance movie with a wide theatrical release, gives a few tips for dating the undead. (FEARnet)

Valve is once again asking its rabid fan base to do the impossible. If 60,000 people complete the re-release of “Dead Air” then they’ll ship the next map out early for Left 4 Dead 2. (Kotaku)

While the teaser image was really entertaining, here’s a few more actual details for the upcoming video game based on The Walking Dead. (Dread Central)

The most important thing about zombies is that they give back to the community. These zombies organized a walk for charity and donated food and money to the Fredericton Food Bank. (Daily Gleaner)

Fearing the CDC article wasn’t enough to properly warn the public, the crew over at Off Duty (a respected military magazine) decided to further enlighten the public on how to survive the zombie apocalypse. (Federal Times)

Michael Moreci, the author of the graphic novel Quarantined that we reviewed earlier this year, sent us the trailer showing off his book. Check it out after the break, and it’s now available on ComiXology for .99 cents an issue if you haven’t picked it up yet.

Webseries legend to-be Jon Dixon let us know that episode 8 of his series …And Then Everything Changed is now online as well. Check out the episode after the break.

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… News post by Johnathon Brock and Cory Casciato. Got news tips? E-mail them to cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com. Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead.

Even if you already know how pretty it looks, here’s another batch of fresh screen shots for the upcoming game Dead Island. (Cinema Blend)

Also there’s another hands on preview for Dead Island, which does a good job at pointing out some of the shortcomings with the single player experience. (Gamespot)

After the break, check out a nice “best of” video from The Walking Dead Comic Con panel, as well as a good “How to kill a walker” clip. (Dread Central)

Also we’ve got a gameplay trailer for Desert Zombie: Last Stand which is hitting the iOS devices soon. Honestly this game looks pretty slick, and I’d love to see a PS3/Xbox 360 port in the near future. (Buy Zombie)

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… News post by Johnathon Brock and Cory Casciato. Got news tips? E-mail them to cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com. Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead.

It looks like Kevin Bacon will be the next actor to grace the cast of R.I.P.D. (Hollywood.com)

Well, it might have taken five years, and the movie was already in production (as you know), but A Little Bit Zombie finally reached its million dollar goal that it needed for production. Congratulations! (Net News Ledger)

Here’s another good hands on preview with some more multiplayer details and storyline development for Dead Island. I can’t wait for the game to come out so I can make “…well the book was better” jokes. (Digital Spy)

After the break, watch this video of Garth Ennis, the comic writer extraordinaire, talk about his latest short film Stitched. (Dread Central)

I guess the only thing you can do to a sad franchise is add boobs. That’s what the House of the Dead series decided to do when they added a LOT of boobs to their new game. (Kotaku)

Top commenter and indie webseries creator Jon Dixon sent us a message to let us know that the latest episode of his series …And Then Everything Changed is now online. Check it out after the break.

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… News post by Johnathon Brock and Cory Casciato. Got news tips? E-mail them to cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com. Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead.

Pittsburgh, the home of the Living Dead series, is opening up a new attraction called Pittsburgh Zombies, which will be a zombie survival “scare house”. Sounds like a good time. (PR Newswire)

We found a really good writeup on Bryan Goff’s zombie horror trilogy Bloody Border, which is currently in production of its first film. It’s cool to see an indie zombie trilogy and I hope it pans out. (Flagstaff Live)

After the break, check out some details and a nice behind the scenes video for A Little Bit Zombie. (Buy Zombie)

We’ve got some more details about the upcoming video game based on The Walking Dead. (Lazy Gamer)

Yet another Walking Dead interview from Comic Con, this time with both Frank Darabont and Greg Nicotero, has surfaced. Still no news as to what happened just a few days later to produce Darabont’s surprising exit from the show. (Dread Central)

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A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… News post by Johnathon Brock and Cory Casciato. Got news tips? E-mail them to cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com. Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead.

We’ve got some new screenshots and info for Zombie Apocalypse 2, the follow up game to the popular first entry which will be available soon on the Xbox Live Marketplace. (Examiner)

In relatively dumb news, it looks like Dead Island, the video game with more hype than a Tyson fight in the 90’s, is getting made into a book. That’s right, one of those things with paper that you read. (Kotaku)

It looks like the wait for season two of The Walking Dead will get a little bit shorter. They’re going to make some webisodes to tide over the fans until the October premiere. (Bloody Disgusting)

Gale Anne Hurd recently gave an interview about filming during season two of The Walking Dead, but nothing was mentioned of Frank Darabont. (Buy Zombie)

Speaking of Darabont, it looks like it didn’t take long for him to be replaced as showrunner. Glen Mazzaara, who penned a season one episode and is one of the remaining writers that stuck around for season two, will be taking the throne as the man who keep the show going. Good luck sir! (Deadline)

A daily roundup of all the undead news that shambles into view… News post by Johnathon Brock and Cory Casciato. Got news tips? E-mail them to cory.casciato[AT]gmail.com. Bookmark the home page or add the RSS feed to your reader for your daily dose of walking dead.

UPDATE: Executive producer Frank Darabont has left the staff of The Walking Dead. No word yet on who will replace him as the showrunner, but let’s hope it’s someone good. We’ll deliver additional info as it becomes available. (Deadline)

Well I thought I had it all but apparently I missed a few Walking Dead tidbits from Comic Con.

• During the main panel the cast, while tight lipped, still managed to answer a few questions and give some hints at the upcoming season. (io9)
• Steven Yeun, who is by far my favorite cast member after last season, talked about how his new romance would affect his character. (Digital Spy)
• The Walking Dead television series wasn’t the only thing that was a hot ticket item. The first screen shot of the upcoming game was also released and it looks great. (FEARnet)

Check out the first shot of one of the infected from the upcoming REC 3: Genesis. (Dread Central)

After the break, check out the trailer for the Mexican zombie film Los Infectados. It’s directed by Gareth Edwards, who brought us the awesome indie flick Monsters last year, which I highly recommend. (Twitch Film)

The first reported zombie case has finally been made public. A South African man has awoken after being pronounced dead and placed in the morgue for over 20 hours. These are truly the end times… or not. (Cincinnati.com)

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