Happy Halloween!

Hi folks! Here's a happy Halloween surprise, if you haven't already heard the news. Some of you may have been patiently awaiting the announcement of the second Undead zombie anthology. Well, the folks over at Permuted have finally been able to complete the long, long process of reading submissions and have come out with a title list...but not just for Undead 2! We're all set up for Undead 3 as well! My own happy news comes in the form of my very own zombie story, "Wall-eyed", being accepted for publication in the third installment! Yay for me! And yay for Permuted! Here's the full title and author lists:

The Undead: Skin and Bones (aka The Undead 2)

• “Cyclopean,” by David Wellington
• "Casual Friday," by Matthew Shepherd
• “The Wranglers,” by Eric S. Brown
• “The Hill,” by Eric Shapiro
• “Alive Eye for the Dead Guy,” by Ryan C. Thomas
• “The Abbot and the Dragon,” by David Dunwoody
• “Food For the Dead,” by Meghan Jurado
• “Till the Lord Comes,” by Scott Standridge
• “The Traumatized Generation,” by Murray Leeder
• “Ravenous Angels,” by Kiwi Courters
• “Second Evolution,” by Sam Hawken
• “Something Fishy This Way Comes,” by Joel A. Sutherland
• “Agent Red,” by Philip Hansen
• “The Finger,” by Matt Hults
• “Skin and Bones,” a novella by D.L. Snell

The Undead 3 (tentatively titled The Undead: Flesh Feast)

• "Fetalfied-Gigolo" by Andre Duza
• "Spoiled Meat" by Ryan Thomas
• "Brownlee's Blue Flame" by David Dunwoody
• "Under an Invisible Shadow" by David Bain
• "Street Smarts" by Steven Cavanagh
• "Ile Faim" by Eric Turowski
• “Killing the Witch,” by A.C. Wise
• "Adam Repentant" by Matthew Masucci
• "Deadtown Taxi" by Matthew Bey
• "Memory Bones" by Michael Stone
• "As the Day Would Quake" by Kevin Boon
• "Wall-eyed" by Kriscinda Meadows
• "Basic Training" by Richard Moore
• "If You Believe" by Scott Standridge
• A novella

• 
  

If you haven't been privy to the first Undead, you can buy one right here. It's an attractive publication full of all sorts of short zombie story goodness! Don't hestitate! Treat yourself to some holiday fun!

Romero Interview

From Dead-Central:

On a grey, damp day on the outskirts of Toronto's west end, amid the ruins of an industrial warehouse space, a slender, impossibly tall, silver-haired man weaves through a crowded soundstage, taking a long drag on a du Maurier cigarette. He sits down, alert but somewhat troubled, his eyes beaming behind a pair of bifocals that threaten to take over his entire face. It's somewhat difficult to believe that this kindly, quirky looking character is the man who in 1968 almost single-handedly changed the face of horror cinema.

A towering exercise in Grand Guignol excess (with elements lifted from Richard Matheson's popular mid-'50s pulp novel I am Legend) that doubled as a deft commentary on Vietnam-era America, the movie witnessed the advent of a nationwide zombie plague that turned its unsuspecting victims into relentless cannibalistic killing machines. Originally called The Night of Anubis, but later re-titled Night of the Living Dead, the iconic, deceivingly benign looking writer/director behind it was none other than George A. Romero, recently minted Toronto citizen and the undisputed archduke of the undead.

The 6-foot-5, 66-year-old film veteran is currently spleen deep in the thick of a four-week shooting schedule for Diary of the Dead, his latest foray into socially volatile flesh-eating mayhem. On this dismal October afternoon, Romero is stowed away in the bowels of the grimy back-alley set, struggling to wrap his head around a difficult (though, unfortunately for this bloodthirsty scribe, carnage-free) scene while attempting to suppress a deep, lingering cough.

Read the rest here.

Scientist Becomes Zombiebuster

From Philly Burbs:

There are no such things as ghosts.

Really. I'm not kidding.

Ghosts aren't real. Neither are vampires or zombies.

But don't take my word for it. Ask a scientist.

Costas Efthimiou is a physicist and professor at the University of Central Florida. According to an Associated Press story, he's concerned about surveys that show that many Americans believe in supernatural beings like ghosts, vampires and zombies.

Read it all here.

Zombies Enchanting for Witches

From TheStar:

Two witches walk into a bar.

No. Really.

Wiccan high priestess Karen Dales, 37, and her student Samantha Wu, 23, joined me for a drink last week as Samhain (Halloween to most of us) approached.And what could be more fitting to mark the Oct. 31 Wiccan holiday than to sip a Zombie?

Samhain is like New Year's for Wiccans, a time to remember the dead and get a few messages from those who have passed on, look to the future, and enjoy some feasting. But while mead or wine is the usual tipple, some Toronto covens will be mixing up Zombies for today's Samhain feast, judging from the reaction of Dales and Wu to the powerful rum punch. (The feast is being held a couple of days before Samhain/Halloween.)

Read the rest here.

Pretty Girls Make Graves

From the Charleston Daily Mail:

It's a classic love story with a horrible twist.

A rich man and pretty young woman meet and marry.

The husband is later killed but comes back as a zombie to haunt his wife and her boyfriend.

"But that's just the beginning of, ‘Pretty Girls Make Graves,' " said Tim Davis, who produced and directed the film with Rodney Harper.

The film, shot entirely in and around Spencer, will premiere at the town's Robey Theater on Halloween night. The Robey is the oldest theater that's still in continuous use in the United States.

Davis, who is a graphic designer, photographer and videographer and Harper, who owns a tattoo business called Horrorink.com paid for the film out of their own pockets.

"This is a very low-budget picture," he said. "We used local actors, all citizens of Spencer, and they all did a great job.

Read the rest here.

Random Zombie Article

From the timesunion:

Sure, we know they're relentless, senseless, soulless and probably don't smell very good. We know that they like to chow on human flesh, and that we wouldn't want them on our relay team, for multiple reasons.

But zombies are much more than gutteral groans and bad personal grooming.

We would argue that they can serve as the modern Monster of Record -- the monster we can turn to in order to better understand the mind-set of the times, in the greater context of world events. Given that, the message today's zombies are delivering is a rotten one, indeed:

Society is just one zombie mob -- or a massively destructive hurricane, or a bird flu epidemic -- away from total breakdown.

In the past six years, a throng of successful zombie movies have hit theaters, including "28 Days Later" (not technically undead-zombie-type, but mindless and flesh-noshing nonetheless) and the hit 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead," George A. Romero's 1978 film. Romero himself served up "Land of the Dead," his first zombie movie in two decades.

Read the rest here.

Sioux Falls Zombie Walk

From Argus Leader:

He's not an official member of the walking dead, but Kerry Roberts (pictured at left) is pretty sure he could transform you into a zombie in five minutes - and he won't even bite.

Despite the hordes of zombie horror flicks that teach us these brain-hungry, moaning automatons increase their population by biting humans and spreading the disease, Roberts says he only needs some makeup and a willing face to distort your humanity.

First, he'll pale your mug with some white base and use a dark rub to lend the area under the eyes a ghastly appearance. Then, he'll rip your clothes, spray them with fake blood and voila, fresh zombie.

Shuffle slowly, moan the word "brains" and you're ready to join the ranks of the walking dead.

Read more.

Zombies at the Art Gallery

From the Edmonton Journal:

It was Oct. 14, just before midnight, when scores of zombies crashed through the doors, hungry for tender flesh and succulent brains.

The Art Gallery of Alberta's swish fashion show suddenly became a horror show of putrefied flesh, oozing scabs and blood-soaked garments.

Just as suddenly, the priss was taken out of the place -- fun broke out. Lesson: There's nothing like the living dead to liven up a party.

The undead invasion was organized by the art gallery in conjunction with Edmonton's most mortifying club, the River City Zombie Committee. Its mission statement: "RAaaARRRGHHH."

Read the rest here.

First Footage from Dead and Furious

From Pocketgamer:

It was only a couple of weeks ago that we were getting all stewed up about on-rail first person shooter Dead And Furious. So it's with excellent timing that gamemaker Dream On has posted the first video footage of the game in action.

Don't know about you, but what we notice when we watch that is some pretty gory gameplay, thanks to an arsenal of pistols, machine guns, shotguns and most viscerally a Half Life-inspired crowbar, which are all used to knock chunks off the assorted collection of zombies, killer birds, crocodiles, and grotesque bosses who head menancingly towards you.

And it's all backed by what can only be described as a sub-garage metal soundtrack. Still we do like the bit where the zombies start throwing their heads at you.

Click here to view it.

Night of the Living Dead Onstage in LA

From Fangoria:

There’s something new rotting in Los Angeles, and it’s not that spoiled Big Mac you might’ve seen tarnishing Britney Spears’ star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Following in the gore-drenched footsteps of EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL’s stagebound Deadites, zombies are invading Tinseltown—good ol’-fashioned Romero-style ghouls, and they’re about to make their premiere when the Stella Adler Theatre (6773 Hollywood Boulevard) hosts a live production of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.

Adapted by Leon Shanglebee, directed by Christian Levatino and brought to you by the Gangbusters Theatre troupe, NOTLD the stage show makes its official bow tomorrow, October 26 and runs through December 3. The ensemble cast includes Mancini Graves, Sierra Fisk, Trent Hopkins, Matthew Heron, Erin Cummings, and Laura Liguori. Tickets are $20 at the door and $15 in advance (or if you bring a flyer), with a student/senior price of $12; best of all, free beer is included! For a trailer, showtimes and advance ticket ordering, visit the Gangbusters website here.

Duo Tapped to Write 'The Cell' Adaptation

From Bloody-Disgusting:

Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewsk (The People vs Larry Flynt, Ed Wood) have been tapped to write Dimension Films' Cell, an adaptation of a Stephen King novel, according to Aint it Cool News. Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) is set to helm. King's novel is a throwback to his early apocalyptic horror novels. In a single moment, a pulse sent out through cell phones around the world turns every phone user into a crazed, murderous zombie.

Day Remake Trailer

From MoviesOnline:
The first Trailer for the upcoming "Day of the Dead", which is directed by Steve Miner ("Friday the 13th Part 2", "Lake Placid", "Halloween H20"), went online at the official Nu Image site. The movie is a remake of George Romero's classic 3rd part of his zombie movies. The script was written by Jeffrey Reddick ("Final Destination"). To watch the Quick Time Trailer click right here.

Fido Coming March 9th

From MoviesOnline:

Lionsgate Films let us know that the upcoming Zombie movie "Fido" has a release date. The film, directed by Andrew Currie, will come to cinemas March 9th, 2007. Welcome to Willard, a small town lost in the idyllic world of the 50's, where the sun shines every day, everybody knows their neighbour, and rotting zombies carry the mail. Years ago, the earth passed through a cloud of space dust, causing the dead to rise with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. Terror spread across the land, until a collar was invented that made the zombies docile, even useful.

Read the rest here.

Diary of the Dead Cast News

From MoviesOline here:

According to Variety Shawn Roberts will star in George Romero's upcoming "Diary of the Dead" which is being filmed in Toronto. The actor already worked with the director for "Land of the Dead" in which he portrayed the character Mike. The movie is being produced by Romero-Grunwald Productions together with Artfire Films. Worldwide sales rights have been picked up by Voltage Pictures. So be prepared for the dead will walk again very soon.

The story will follow a group of college students shooting a horror movie in the woods who stumble upon a real zombie uprising. When the onslaught begins, they seize the moment as any good film students would, capturing the undead in a "cinema verite" style that causes more than the usual production headaches.

And here:

...Besides Shawn Roberts "Diary of the Dead" also will star Joshua Close ("The Exorcism of Emily Rose", "K19: The Widowmaker"), Michelle Morgan ("Alien Fire"), Joe Dinicol ("Weirdsville"), Phillip Riccio ("Rent-A-Goalie") and Scott Wentworth ("Elizabeth Rex"). The film is represented for U.S. Sales by John Sloss' Cinetic Media and foreign sales by Nicolas Chartier's Voltage Pictures, with several foreign deals already closed.

Read the whole thing here.

Toronto After Dark Film Festival: Zombies Always Win

From torontoist:

...Across the weekend and following days however is a smorgasbord of films you almost certainly wouldn’t be able to see in theatres otherwise, including Saturday’s ninja spectacle Shinobi and midnight screening Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell (featuring Arrested Development’s Buster!). Sunday is a packed day, featuring Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman giving a Movie Masterclass, and a Zombie Walk starting at Nathan Phillips Square at 3pm followed by a screening of the German zom-com Night of the Living Dorks.

Monday features a couple of strong Japanese films, both featuring the wonderful Tadanobu Asano; Tokyo Zombie and Funky Forest, and the festival closes on Tuesday with Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon and a closing night party at The Bovine Sex Club (542 Queen W.) where they held their raucous launch party.

Those are the screenings we'll (at least) be hitting, but there are more films to be found on the full schedule.

Read the whole thing.

Zombies invade the Miner's Theatre

From Belleville News-Democrat:

If you feel the need to fiddle with the color contrast while attending the Miner's Theatre over the next two weeks, restrain yourself.

Director Shelly Steuart says the haunting monochromatic shades of "Night of the Living Dead" are just the way she wants them.

"The 1960s movie was made in black and white, so we're doing the entire show in black and white, which has been a bit of a challenge," said Steuart. "We've found that black and white isn't just black and white -- it's every shade of gray in between. In order to make the set look anything but boring, we've done a lot of paint mixing. If you look closely, you'll see the sublte differences."

The stage remake by Lori Allen Ohm of the cult classic runs today, Saturday, Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 at the historic theater in downtown Collinsville.

Read more here.

Undead leave comfort of their homes to join 'Thriller' parade

From Lexington Herald-Leader:

Zombies lurched down Main Street last night -- blood oozing from their mouths and torn skin dangling from their faces. The event -- staged by dance studio Mecca -- re-created Michael Jackson's Thriller music video, which came out in in 1983. This annual parade of the undead began in 2002, and has always drawn big crowds to join in either as zombies or to cheer their progress from the sidelines. Rough estimates last night for the living and undead combined were put at more than 500.

Zombie Walk World Record Attempt/Food Drive

From PittsburghLive:

The It's Alive Show (airing Saturdays at 10 PM on WBGN) is organizing an attempt to set a Guinness record for the world's largest zombie gathering. The event will take place on Sunday, October 29, 2006 from 10 AM to noon at Monroeville Mall, site of George Romero's classic film, Dawn of the Dead.

All participants will be encouraged to bring non-perishable food items which will be donated to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Zombies will walk through the mall and exit into the parking lot for a photo to be submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Sunday the 29th of October 2006

10:00am to 12:00pm

Location

Monroeville Mall Business Route 22 Monroeville, PA 15146

An Excellent Evening at the Zombie Disco

From Seattlest:

The intimate, comfortable, hanging-with-friends aura this created was translated directly into Amy O'Neal's choreography for Mockumentary, which was simultaneously languid and fierce, meshing traditional modern dance with hip-hop, funk, and, well, zombie moves. While zombies are used metaphorically and realistically within the many narrative themes woven throughout Mockumentary--including the line between horror and comedy, fear of losing control of one's own body, and the desire to be accepted and loved even when you are very different from everyone else--one truism was predomoniantly clear: if you fail to comprehend that hip-hop and funk can and should co-exist with traditional modern dance onstage, you are rapidly becoming a zombie of the dance world.

Read the rest here.

New ZAGG Review and Interview

Check these out, folks!

A review of Travis Adkins' Twilight of the Dead by Wayne Simmons.

An interview with Bizarro zombie author Carlton Mellick III by Dr. Boon.

Zombies, BMX Bikes, and Cacti

From Seattlest:

Prepare yourselves to drown in dance, fabulous dance this weekend. Locust debuts the world premiere of their new work "Mockumentary" Thursday at On the Boards, which OtB is billing as "Part documentary, part horror film, part hip-hop video and part rock show." There will be singing, live music, and dancing; but most importantly there will be zombies and BMX bikes and that is why Seattlest is attending.

Locust
On the Boards, 8pm
Thurs 10/19-Sat 10/21

The $60 Zombie Movie

From the DesMoines Register:

An invasion of zombies on the city's south side Saturday included a teenage budding movie producer who debuted his 16-minute film "The $60 Zombie Movie."

The cold and windy night helped set the scene for the outdoor showing of the picture that was part of third annual Zombie Fest, held at Cup O' Kryptonite, 4521 Fleur Drive. Saturday was the premiere for the independent zombie movie, shot locally.

Read the rest here.

Zombie #1

From the Comic Book Bin:

Cash stolen from the botched bank job: $125,000.
Two loaded shotguns keeping the hostages quiet: $675.00.
A 1/2 tank of gas in the getaway car: $27.50.
Smashing through a police roadblock and fighting for your life against hundreds of flesh eating Zombies: Priceless.

Welcome to Zombie action, MAX style. In this four-issue limited series by Mike Raicht and Kyle Hotz, the dead roam the earth, a small town in New York State is under siege, and human flesh is what’s for dinner! And humanity’s last hope is hiding out in a little rest-stop on Interstate 90. Barricade your doors and windows and get the guns loaded...hell is on Earth, and it just might be up to a man named Simon Garth to stop it...

RE 3: Behind the Scenes Videos

From MovesOnline:

THX to YouTube we can show you 2 great Behind the Scenes Videos for the upcoming "Resident Evil Extinction". This is part 1 and after watching it you'll find part 2 right here. The second sequel to the $100 million hit, "Resident Evil: Extinction" is again based on the wildly popular video game series and picks up where the last film left off. Alice (Milla Jovovich), now in hiding in the Nevada desert, once again joins forces with Carlos Oliveira (Oded Fehr) and L.J. (Mike Epps), along with new survivors Claire (Ali Larter), K-Mart (Spencer Locke ) and Nurse Betty (Ashanti) to try to eliminate the deadly virus that threatens to make every human being undead... and to seek justice.

Zombies! Zombies! Zombies! Trailer Online

From MoviesOnline:

The trailer for the upcoming Zombie comedy "Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!" went online at MySpace. The movie features sexy girls, shot guns, chainsaws and of course Zombies. Allthough this also is a comedy be warned because the trailer is unrated and very graphic. It is for a mature adult audience only, and definitely not for the kids. To view the trailer click right here.

A drug experiment gone wrong produces a league of blood-thirsty zombies. It is up to a small band of exotic dancers trapped in a gentlemans club to fight back. Together they must rely on their wits and skills to survive the night, and pray that they don't become victims of the flesh-eating zombies!

Bruce Campbell to Attend Evil Dead: The Musical

From Fango:

As EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL screams, sings and splatters its way through previews at New York City’s New World Stages (340 West 50th Street), Fango has learned that DEAD film series star Bruce Campbell will be making special appearances at the show’s first two regular performances, Wednesday, November 1 and Thursday, November 2 at 8 p.m. The actor will attend the shows and take questions from the audience as part of the Stages’ “Talk Back” sessions. In addition, Tom Sullivan, creator of the “Book of the Dead,” will be on hand for the Monday, November 6 performance, and the Ladies of THE EVIL DEAD (Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker and Sarah York) will attend on Monday, November 27.

Eat Your Heart Out

From Fango:

Writer/producer/actor Joshua (AUNT ROSE) Nelson gave Fango the first few photos (see more below) from his new movie EAT YOUR HEART OUT, which he first told us about here. Directed by James Tucker, the movie is about a lonely guy (Jack Dillon) who meets what he believes is the woman of his dreams (Melissa Bacelar), and then discovers her nasty habit of eating human flesh. The cast also includes Ed Avila, Richard Sargent and filmmaker/actor Alan Rowe (THE BLOOD SHED) Kelly (pictured at bottom with Nelson). “We’re currently in postproduction, and should be finished in early 2007,” Nelson tells us. “We hope to get EAT YOUR HEART OUT into as many horror film festivals as we can, especially the New York City Horror film Festival. Our last film, AUNT ROSE [recently released on DVD by Anchor Bay], taught us what we should and shouldn’t do, and believe me, this movie delivers! It’s a brutal horror film and sweet love story wrapped in one—and you can’t go wrong with a zombie prostitute running wild in New York City!” You can find out more about EAT YOUR HEART OUT at its MySpace page.

Doomed Zombie Love

The Web's finest zombie soap opera...

Click here for the first five episodes!

Romero's Dairy of the Dead SET TO ROLL.

From Dead-Central:

Uncle Creepy, who is currently at Rock & Shock, gave me a call on my way home with some amazing exclusive news straight from George A. Romero's mouth: Contrary to news from other websites, Romero's newest project Diary of the Dead is not starting in a couple months. In fact, it is starting principle photography within 48 HOURS!!! That's right! Either Monday or Tuesday of this week Diary of the Dead is going to start rolling big time.

Read it all.

Pakistani Zombie Film: First Muslim Zombies!

From Bloody-Disgusting:

Zibahkhana (Hell's Ground) might not be Pakistan's first horror movie, but it's almost certainly the first featuring midget zombies and produced by an ice cream mogul, according to Variety, which first reported on the story this evening. The film tells the story of a gang of teens heading to a rock concert whose path is blocked by a protest against polluted drinking water. Cutting around the protestors on a little-used country road, they run afoul of a family of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"-style psychopaths who slaughter them with relish.

Read on for the announcement.

Zombie walk celebrates Pittsburgh’s horror history

From The Tartan Online:

Zombies face great obstacles when trying to breach a city like Pittsburgh. With its three rivers, Pittsburgh becomes almost zombie-proof — for everyone knows that zombies cannot swim... or so goes the lore of George Romero’s 2005 film Land of the Dead. But as fans of the movies know, we may not be as safe as we think.

The Monroeville Mall, which was the set of Romero’s film Dawn of the Dead, will again be home to a host of undead on October 29.

Mark Menold, who hosts the local horror program The “It’s Alive” Show on WBGN, will lead what he hopes to be a record-breaking number of zombies into the mall — if all goes well, the place will be swarming with them. He is attempting to gather enough zombies together to break a Guinness World Record for most decaying corpses gathered in one place; so if you were planning on a new pair of Pumas to go with your Halloween costume, you may want to bring along your AK-47.

On second thought, leave the arsenal at home. The zombies in the mall this time around will be relatively harmless — just a group of horror fans dressed to kill. Or rather, dressed to eat brains. This will be the second zombie walk to take place in Pittsburgh lately; the last was in the South Side on September 22.

Read More.

You can't miss with teenage zombies

From Dallas Morning News:

Caution: Teens at work

Like the flesh-eating zombies that prey upon the living in Night of the Living Dead, a handful of teen actors and a teen set designer have infiltrated the stage adaptation of George Romero's 1968 black-and-white classic at Dallas Children's Theater through Nov. 4.

And they're doing a deliciously horrific job with it.

Read More.

Through Nov. 4 at Rosewood Center for Family Arts, 5938 Skillman St. Runs 66 mins. $12-16 For ages 13 and up. 214-740-0051, www.dct.org.

Wellington's First Walking Dead

From Scoop:

Friday 13 october 2006, a dark day in the history of the capital. It was bloody, there were guts and screams were heard!

Wellington's inaugural "Zombie Walk" saw a large number of citizen-ghouls roaming the streets in search of salvation and something to feast on. The event was organised by by Robbie Neilson via the internet website "myspace". It echoed the similar overseas zombie gathering of San Francisco or neighboring Brisbane.

At 12.30pm, several dozen zombies started a long, drawn out lurch towards the recently refurbished Glover Park. For the unsatiated walking dead, an after party was held at Massey University's student hall in the afternoon.

HUMANS vs. ZOMBIES

From NorthernStar Online:

It's the closest thing students can get to a "Resident Evil" or "28 Days Later" environment, outside of a full-fledged zombie attack.

From Oct. 23 until Oct. 27, a group of students will engage in a 24/7 battle on campus for control of mankind between humans and zombies.

"The idea is 'survival of the fittest,'" said sophomore anthropology major Emily Sturnfield, who is heading the endeavor. "I mean, haven't you ever wondered if you could outrun a horde of zombies?"

Read More.
Click HERE for more information on HUMANS vs. ZOMBIES

Project Necrosis

Here. Go play with this.

Universal's Zombie School

From LAist:

The Universal lot is teeming with the Undead. I should know, I saw two innocent people attacked and eaten at a press junket. A press junket, people!!

We had been invited to witness "Zombie Zchool", a training course where students learn how to walk, talk and twitch like a real, honest to goodness Zombies. The class was being held in front of the old Bates Motel, which, while still an ominous place, is slightly less formidable with Whoville looming just behind it.

Read More.

Fido Article

From The Vancouver Sun:

They're green, rotting and crawling with maggots, but for Andrew Currie, there's nothing like a zombie to make you stand up and cheer.

It may sound like an odd emotional equation, but for Currie, the Vancouver director and one-third of the writing team behind the zombie comedy Fido, zombies are a precious 20th-century resource that should be exploited with care.

Read More.

Zombie Diaries Article

From The Comet:

A SWARM of zombies is heading for Letchworth GC.

The undead, victims of a strain of bird flu, will be seen in Wilbury Hills picnic area, the Wynd, and Leys Avenue.

Fortunately the horrifying visions will be confined to the big screen as they are characters in a new horror film shot in the town, which will have its world premiere at the Broadway Cinema later this month.

The Zombie Diaries was written, directed and produced by Kevin Gates and Michael Bartlett, 30, who both live in Marmet Avenue.

Read More.

Awakening: Zombie Night 2 Premiere in Toronto

From MoviesOnline:

Scooper Tony just let us know that "Awakening: Zombie Night 2" will be having its premiere Sunday October 28th at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto. There also will be another showing at the Empire Theater in Belleville with the date and time to be announced soon. The Toronto show will be 8$ at the door and will start at 8pm. Be sure to get there early just in case there's a huge line up like at "Zombie Night".

Read more.

Xombie: Chapter Eight Now Available

From Fango:

Fans of James Farr's on-line Flash horror cartoon XOMBIE, take heart (and other organs, too). As of this week, Chapter 8 in the long-running series is finally available for viewing at Farr's website, Xombie Online. Like previous installments, Death Under Wraps is only a few minutes long, but packed to the brim with startling new developments concerning the cynical zombie Dirge; Zoe, the little girl he's determined to escort to a safe human haven; Cerebus, his faithful undead canine friend; and Nephthys, an enigmatic,and deadly,Egyptian beauty.

Read More.

Zombie Powder

From IGN.com:

From the very first page of Zombie Powder, I knew it would be a book I was going to enjoy. As manga-ka Tite Kubo puts it in the introduction: "Mainly, it's all battles. It's completely OK to just read through it without thinking about anything." You have to love a book that starts out by telling you not to look for hidden meanings, deep philosophical introspection or the idea that you'll come away from it a better person. Mark Twain did that with one of his books, so anytime I can draw the parallel to a manga, I know I'm going to enjoy the read.

If you take Kubo-san's advice, you're still in for a great shonen tale, with all the trappings of the genre - battles galore, big weapons, a variety of villains, allies and damsels, and of course a protagonist who wields a lot of power and hides a dark secret. Gamma Akutabi, a criminal with a fairly high bounty on his head, scours the countryside for legendary rings that will provide him with zombie powder, a substance that will, as the name implies, raise the dead. A chance encounter with reluctant pickpocket Elwood gains him a sidekick. Unfortunately Gamma's notoriety makes him a prime target for bounty hunters, which causes Elwood's sister to be caught in the crossfire. Determined to bring her back from the afterworld, Elwood joins Gamma in the quest for the restorative powder.

Read more...

ZombieCon 2006 - NYC!

From Preston:

On Saturday, October 21, Zombiecon will commence in Midtown NYC, with hundreds of people dressed as brains-hungry zombies terrorizing innocent tourists, children and the rich as they search for Bloody Marys, brains, and braaaands. All horror and zombie enthusiasts are invited to join in on this ghoulish spree of shopping, bar-hopping, and street theatrics. Spectators will be eaten--all are encouraged to dress and make-up in their bloody, oozing, putrid, undead best. Any interested zombies MUST RSVP to zombiecon@gmail.com for secret updates and locations. You can also check out the website www.zombiecon.com.

"My Week with the Dead"

From Fango:

The scriptwriter of the new DAY OF THE DEAD talks from the gut about remaking the George A. Romero classic.

My Week with the Dead Part 1
My Week with the Dead Part 2

NOTLD 3D Poster/CD

From Fango:

Director Jeff Broadstreet, whose NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 3D remake opens November 10 in both the U.S. and Canada, shared with Fango the art for the final one-sheet poster as well as details on the film’s companion soundtrack CD (see cover below). “The MPAA required that we tone down the blood on the shovel,” the director says of the poster, “and we also had to make several changes to the film’s trailer [which can be viewed on the film’s official site here], including muting the color red in any shots that had blood in them.”

Plans currently call for the movie to open in over 300 theaters in the southwestern U.S. as well as across Canada, with a regional rollout in other parts of the country to follow. As for the NOTLD 3D soundtrack, Broadstreet says that the music was “composed and performed by Jason Brandt, [and the CD] is being released by Lakeshore Records on October 31. It will also be available to download at the iTunes Music Store.”

George A. Romero’s Legacy of the Dead

From PopMatters.com:

He didn’t invent the zombie movie, but his entries in the genre have clearly defined and mythologized it. Some would even say that he is the only undead auteur that understands the cinematic category. As important to horror as any filmmaker before or since, advertising executive turned director George Romero single-handled lifted the living dead film from its voodoo roots and reconfigured it as a stunning social comment on the shifting state of America. From 1968 until now, the Pittsburgh icon has forged a unique career, mixing styles and subject matter to touch on almost every aspect of the macabre. He’s taken on vampirism (Martin), madness (The Crazies) - even a tribute to one of the founding facets of post-modern horror, EC Comics (Creepshow).

Read more...

Zombies Represent National Fear of Terrorism

From The Daily Athenaeum:

by Kevin Shap
The Pitt News (U. Pittsburgh)

Lousy, good-for-nothing terrorists. As if it isn't enough that al-Qaida do annoying stuff like blow up train stations and fly airplanes into buildings, they've now decided to hit us where it hurts: in our horror movies.
This was a hypothesis I read in The New York Times Sunday Styles section - their motto being, "Look at these rich, rich, socially connected people who are getting married. Envy them! Envy!" The argument was that horror movies are a sort of a Rorschach test for the national unconscious, and this test is coming up positive for terrorist influences.

Seriously, let's look at the evidence we have before us. Horror movies are a cyclical thing. Certain themes tend to dominate. What this theory suggests is that the monster that dominates the box office is the monster that represents the national fear.

The vampire, always my favorite, enjoyed a brief blood-soaked reign in the late '80s/early '90s. Perhaps there were other horror films at the time - probably dreary sequels with terrible one-liners and half-naked teenagers - but the undead were enjoying a moment in the pop culture spotlight.

Look at what Americans were afraid of and obsessed with in the late '80s/early '90s. AIDS, a blood-borne and incurable virus that was striking the young and turning sex into death, was raging uncontrolled in this time period, still stigmatized as a gay disea se and still viewed as a death sentence. Androgyny was falling off Calvin Klein billboards to appear in malls, transforming the hearts and minds of the American youth. And the combined 12 years of two Republican regimes had produced an angry alternative generation that demanded a different lifestyle than that of the noxious money- and cocaine-addled yuppies of the '80s.

The vampire boom had to happen because the vampire image - bloodsucking, overtly sexual, frequently homoerotic and decadent in a decidedly non-bourgeois manner - dovetailed perfectly with that period in time. It's just like the big werewolf movie boom of the '80s. Everyone then was obsessed with money - greed was legendarily good - and yet everyone felt bad about being greedy. The '80s were a time when no one felt comfortable with what they were doing, so a monster that lived in a constant state of duality was born, one part good human, one part raging id that did whatever it needed to, no matter what the circumstances.

Terrorism is what we worry about nowadays - the exterior threat instead of the interior. No one cares about AIDS - Bill Gates will come up with a vaccine, right? - so what do we worry about? We worry about terrorists. And that's why we have zombie movies.

Zombies, as the article pointed out, are the ultimate stand-in for terrorism because they do not signal that the system is under attack, they symbolize that the system has been destroyed. If you call the police, there is no response. The police can become the zombies. The ability to survive the zombie lies mostly in how many boards one can use to reinforce the doors of the house in which one is making a last, desperate stand. Zombies are fear and, as such, are a lovely stand-in for the forces that menace our society.

Bollywood Thriller!

Bollywood - Thriller - video powered by Metacafe

This is awesome.

Update on Romero's Condition

Good news! I just heard directly from Romero's personal assistant, Chris Roe, that George is fine. Word is that the media took something minor and blew it way out of proportion. George is alive and well and working on Diary of the Dead, which, according to Roe, starts filming in a few weeks, as opposed to the rumors of it being pushed back two months. So...that's what I know. George isn't ill and Diary isn't pushed back. I'll let you know if I hear anything different.

Return of the Living Dead Screening with Cast in Texas

From Fango:

Do ya wanna par-tyyyy? If you’re a fan of the original RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, Austin, TX’s Alamo Drafthouse is giving local residents the opportunity to celebrate with the cast of Dan O’Bannon’s 1985 zombie favorite. The movie screens Saturday, October 21 at 10 p.m. at the Alamo’s Downtown location (409 Colorado Street), with Linnea Quigley (who made her star-making “Trash” turn in ROTLD), Don Calfa, Jewel Shepard, John Philbin and Beverly Randolph in attendance. The actors will have merchandise available for sale after the show; click here to order advance tickets.

Dutch Zombies: Horizonica

From the official site:

Jenny, a young woman, seems to run through the forest aimlessly. A passing car stops and its driver helps her. The girl is pretty beaten up and speechless...

Then the story leaps back in time. In light of their initiation, two groups of sophomore students are dropped in the forest. Among them is Jenny. With a minimum of supplies they have to find their way back to the civilized world. What they don't know is that a strange disease is being spread in this civilized world. Not just a common 'flu, but a terrible virus that's infecting everyone in a rapid pace. A side effect is that it enleashes all evil in human beings.
The students are facing hardships as well; slowly they start to realize what's going on and what started as an innocent adventure seems to end in a horrifying nightmare.

Click here for the trailer.

Romero Collaspes!

Unhappy news, folks.

From Bloody-Disgusting:

We've received confirmation from two separate sources that Night of the Living Dead Director George A. Romero collapsed last week and was hospitalized. No word yet on the reason for the collapse, but it doesn't look good as the start date for Diary of the Dead has been pushed back two months. In addition, he has also canceled his personal appearances for the next couple of months, therefor he won't be appearing at Eerie or Shock and Rock. Inside we have a little note from Chris Roe that gives a little more confirmation to this horrible news. All of our best goes out to George and his family. Get well soon!!

Let's wish him well...

New Night of the Living Dead

From MoviesOnline:

I loved Night of the Living Dead. Romero's classic and especially Tom Savini's remake. Tom Savini needs to direct more movies I keep saying. Anyrate there is a brand new Night of the Living Dead movie coming. This one is a pure hommage to Romero, no cash in. An indie filmmaker has stepped up to make a great Night of the Living Dead film on next to no budget. Naturally we want to get behind him and spread the word! The FilmMakers talked to HorrorMovies.ca and I strongly encourage you to go check it out : New Night of the Living Dead Movie, and show this filmmaker some support. He is casting too so if you want to be in the film , you can!

Plane Dead

From Fango:

Fango was alerted by makeup FX artist Brian Wade that the official website for the zombies-in-the-air opus PLANE DEAD (which you can find here) has recently been updated with a bunch more pics like the one above. Directed by Scott Thomas from a script he wrote with Mark Onspaugh and Sidney Iwanter, and produced by David Shoshan, PLANE DEAD is set on a 747 onto which a scientist fleeing the CIA has smuggled a coffin containing a cadaver infected with a genetically engineered virus. When the airliner hits storm turbulence, the corpse winds up being reanimated and spawning a plague of flesheating ghouls that terrorize the passengers and crew. The cast includes David Chisum, Kristen Kerr, Kevin J. (VAN HELSING) O’Connor, Derek Webster, Raymond J. (THE X FILES) Barry, Dale (PET SEMATARY) Midkiff, Erick Avari and Richard (SIN-JIN SMYTH) Tyson. Wade and others with John Vulich’s Optic Nerve company, no stranger to the undead after work on the 1990 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD remake and the recent RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD sequels, handled the ghoul and gore work. Check out the site to see a trailer, cast/crew information and more.

Yay! Optic Nerve!

Deadlands Zombie Infection

From Fango:

Washington, D.C.-based filmmaker Gary Ugarek gave Fango the word that he’s self-distributing his first horror feature, DEADLANDS: THE RISING, on special-edition DVD beginning October 23. The 72-minute movie covers a 17-hour period during a zombie outbreak, and intercuts between three separate character stories that eventually intertwine at the end. On the DVD, which you can pre-order here, the unrated movie is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen with stereo sound, and is accompanied by Ugarek’s commentary, a behind-the-scenes featurette with producer/actor Brian Wright and a trailer. In addition, “the first 50 DVDs ordered will be signed by myself, Brian and actress Michelle Wright,” Ugarek tells Fango.

Read more...

From MoviesOnline:

When an indie filmmaker needs help, and our sister site asks us to chip in we naturally say hell yes. Specially when its something fun. So with that said, you are now infected with the Deadlands Zombie Virus! Now that you are infected you must spread this infection and in turn win some kick ass autographed DVD's!

If you infect people you can win 1 of 5 AUTOGRAPHED copies of Deadlands on DVD. the film has gotten acclaim from many including Fangoria, and HorrorMovies.ca. If you spread this infection you will win. For more on the contest and "how to infect" go here: Spread the Deadlands Zombie Infection

You are now Infected: Spread the Deadlands Zombie Virus!

Bitten! A Zombie Rock Odyssey

From The Austin Chronicle:

Dougherty Arts Center, through Oct. 14; Arts on Real, Nov. 2-8

This show is impressively bad, but it's got one hell of a soundtrack.

Several days after seeing Bitten!, an original rock musical written by the Unbearables (a band) and produced in conjunction with Loaded Gun Theory (a theatre company), I am still singing the songs. Still chuckling over some of the ideas. Though ridiculously simplistic, they were excellent fodder for the stage. A zombie lover sings to his girl, "Though I am now undead, my feelings are still true/When I'm not thinking about brains, I'm thinking about you." A church group, excited to see the zombies, sings, "Hip-hip-hooray/Three cheers for Judgment Day." The aliens, though I couldn't understand a word they said, were doing some funny geometric dancing.

Read more...

Groundbreaking Zombie Magazine Gets Resurrected

From Star-Gazette.com:

In the early '70s, the Comics Code Authority had finally relaxed its restrictions on what was considered acceptable fare to impressionable young readers. Yet there still were limitations on what could and couldn't be portrayed on the four-color page.

Marvel Comics decided to experiment with a new black and white magazine format that catered to an older reader. Titles such as "Savage Tales," "Vampire Tales," "Dracula Lives" and "Monsters Unleashed," hit newsstands across the country. Since these mags were printed in magazine size, they didn't have to adhere to Comics Code restrictions. Blood flowed a little more freely and villains often peppered their talk with "hells" and "damns." And every so often the reader was exposed to a brief glimpse of female nudity. Obviously the books were still geared towards the hormonal teenage male reader.

Marvel has just reprinted all 10 issues of its black and white "Tales of the Zombie" magazine in one collectible trade paperback as part of their "Essential" series.

Read more...

Zombie hunters in demand in Sweden

From The Local:

If you have a Swedish hunting certificate and a medical background then you may have an unusual opportunity to combine your skills in Stockholm and Norrland. A TV channel has advertised on the Swedish employment service web site, AMS, for zombie hunters.

The interest in the vacancies has been enormous, according to press officer Mona Holmquist at Canal+.

"We've had over 200 applicants," she told The Local.

Among them are a bodyguard, soldiers, doctors and hunters - as well as one person who claims to have been seeing the living dead since childhood.

The successful applicants will take part in an expedition in the north of the country before heading to Stockholm's Stureplan on Friday, said Holmquist.

But why the sudden need for zombie hunters?

"We think zombies should be caught. And we happen to know that there will be a lot of zombies in Stockholm on Friday the 13th. That's when they traditionally appear, you know," said Mona Holmquist.

But she was vague about the salary - and about whether there would be a bonus for landing one of the undead.

"I think that's something for our HR department to decide," said Holmquist.

Riiiight.

Watch Night of the Living Dead

I've looked and looked for some zombie news this morning, but alas, could find none. So, instead of leaving you with nothing at all, you can go here to watch Night of the Living Dead in its entirety. If you haven't seen it in a while, there's no time like now!

2 New Reviews and an Interview

If you haven't seen these already, check them out!

-Kim Paffenroth’s Gospel of the Dead

-Jamie Russell’s Book of the Dead

…and…

…and interview with Jamie Russell!

Panama's First Zombiewalk

From Butterfest:

Well, im proud to anounce that our HALLOWEEN event will be a ZOMBIE WALK.

But what is a ZOMBIE WALK? Well let’s see the WIKI-entry for it HERE.

Drag your corpses over to PORTODIAO, who’s in cahoots with Butterfest, to SIGN UP for the ZOMBIEWALK 2006.

I’ll make it easy: to SIGN UP just Click HERE.

And keep your eyes peeled for the updoming tutorials we will be hosting…

These tutorials will lllustrate how to ZOMBIE UP yourselves for the event, ZOMBIE behaviour and speech… and nifty things like that…

Now… What are you waiting for?

Special Edition Twilight of the Dead now Available

From Permuted Press:

The special edition of Travis Adkin's hit zombie novel Twilight of the Dead is now officially available and can be purchased immediately from many sites including:

• Amazon US
• Amazon UK
• Amazon Canada
• Amazon.de
• Barnes & Noble
• Shocklines
• Many Others
  

Twilight of the Dead follows a group of survivors living in a compound five years after the zombie outbreak. When a newcomer arrives claiming a cure for the zombie plague has been found an expedition strikes out to retrieve it. But is the cure real? And is it worth the cost?

Words on World War Z

From ContraCosta Times:

BACK IN THE DAY, when I had a job reviewing rock 'n' roll, I used to periodically get promotional packets with such goodies as guitar pins, CD case openers, notepads and even whistles. The sci-fi gig doesn't deliver nearly the freebie package, so when a publisher sent out a bunch of stuff with Max Brooks' "World War Z" (Crown, $24.95, 342 pages), I was impressed.

In fact, I was impressed enough to forgo my usual boycott of the horror genre to give this zombie book a shot. If I hadn't enjoyed those rock 'n' roll days quite so much, I might have remembered that usually the quality of the album was in inverse proportion to the amount of promotional material, and sadly, the same holds true here.

Read more...

From TCS Daily:

The latest and greatest blend of zombie and doomsday is Max Brooks' wildly entertaining World War Z, which purports to be an oral history of mankind's war against zombies. Set a few years in the future, Brooks depicts a world in which a mysterious plague rises out of China (perhaps due to the deliberate flooding of a holy city?) and soon spreads to every corner of the world, borne on a wave of totalitarian dishonesty, human desperation, and Western indifference. The plague causes the infected to die and reanimate as nigh-indestructible zombies ("Zack," as the survivors call them), seeking to eat the flesh of the living.

Read more...

First Pics from ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES!

From Fango:

First-time filmmaker Jason Murphy checked in with Fango to provide us with some photos (see more below) and news from his currently lensing horror/comedy feature ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! (which we first reported on here)—and if the pics are any indication, horror fans are in for a titillating and gory good time. “We are almost done with principal photography,” Murphy tells us of his strippers-vs.-ghouls opus, “and so far, if the weather cooperates, we should finish up pretty much on schedule—although it’s going to take us weeks to clean up all the blood!”

Lensing in Orlando, FL, ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! is written and produced by Tony Giordano, and revolves around a cadre of exotic dancers holed up in a gentlemen’s club under siege by the undead. “Having Tony on set has really come in handy,” Murphy says. “We’ve been able to add a few really cool scenes on the fly.” Working with a cast comprised of FHM, Maxim and Playboy models and FX by Rick (AUTOMATON TRANSFUSION) Gonzales, Murphy says that the final round of shooting will not only feature a lot of skin, but also will be “big zombie days, so stay tuned for some more pictures.” In the meantime, content yourself with the pics above of actor Gregory Landon Ashworth (“After a long day killing zombies!”) and below of actresses Jessica Barton (“Getting ready to kick some ass!”) and Lyanna Tumaneng (“Cutting to the point!”) and FX artist Gonzales prepping co-star Christina Daoust for a scene. For more info on ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES!, visit the film’s MySpace page here.