Uncle P is a Zombie?

A quickie tonight, and a note that there will be no Zombie Zone post next Saturday. That's performance number 2 of the play I am directing and I will be in attendance at both the performance and whatever takes place after. If I'm lucky, I'll be conscious enough to post on Caliban's Revenge, come Monday, the 28th. UNtil then, I am a Theatre Zombie...

Since I posted this movie poster (which I suppose is meant to appeal to the Twilight crowd, what with the Sultry Native American, Blonde Temptress and Brooding Stubbly White Hero), I suppose I'm going to be talking about Zombie Films. The ghouls at i09 posted this story about The Dead and the Damned, the latest alt-history zombie flick involving the California Gold Rush and the living dead.

The movie is premiering at some obscure film festival and while I admire the film's creators' attempt to instill something new into the genre, the trailer embedded below leads me to believe that The Dead and the Damned could probably have benefited from both a higher budget and some more experienced talent. The three leads are pretty, if nothing else. Take a look at the trailer and let me know what you think:

I'm not quite convinced...

Then there's this much more promising movie The Killing Strain, from San Antonio director Daniel Maldonado. Here's a report from San Antonio's KENS Channel 5:

The trailer and additional clips can be found here. I think I'd rather see that than the first one.

And in Zombie Toys: it was bound to happen. I am very pleased to announce that I have found Zombiesandtoys.com, a place where Uncle P's friends and family can shop for his upcoming Eleventieth birthday in July.* Of course, nothing would make me happier than owning the Dawn of the Dead Hare Krishna Zombie action figure.

I'll be back in two weeks, with plenty of Red, White and Blue imagery to convince that zombies (despite their Haitian origins) are as American as apple pie.

More yummy brains, in two weeks.
Prospero

The Games Zombies Play?

The last time Uncle P seriously played video games, they came on two, three or even four floppy discs and were little more than a series of puzzles to solve to get to the next level. By the time fighting games came out, I had moved on. The last arcade video game I can remember enjoying was "House of the Dead," which my sister and I played both in Florida and at the Jersey Shore on one of her rare visits home. I am almost ashamed to admit that I have a Wii system, still in its box (though on a shelf in the entertainment center) since Christmas of 2008... I am hopeless when it comes to electronics. Hell, I'm lucky I can figure out how to blog... Still, a new category is born: Zombie Games. The image above is from Capcom's DeadRising 2, due this August:

Worth Playing has their review, here. And while searching images for DeadRising 2, I came a curious little game from Destineer, called Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie Bar-B-Que, which seems to be about zombies ruining Red Riding Hood's Cookout, or something. It's an old game, but one that looks ridiculously complicated and therefore entirely uninteresting to Yours Truly.

Of course, Zombie Films are always interesting to me, even when major newspapers give them terrible reviews, as the Washington Post's Michael O'Sullivan gave Survival of the Dead, here. Brutal. While Romero's zombie movies have always been about so much more than gruesome effects, his earlier films are much better at conveying that. While I will defend Diary of the Dead as the best in the series since Dawn... (Come on - I dare you), nothing comes close to the social satire (and ground-breaking effects) as 1978's Dawn of the Dead. Personally, I can wait until it is OnDemand for $4.99.

And transitioning in to Zombie TV, there's this deceptively titled article from E!Online about zombies on one of Uncle P's favorite new shows. Zombies on "Glee?" Only if they're doing their own version of "Thriller" (which they should totally do). In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see an entire MJ episode next season. And what the hell? Just for kicks...

And since we're already on TV, my Zombie Clip of the Week is the latest from AMC - a little behind-the-scenes footage from this coming October's "The Walking Dead." I give you, Zombie School:

Is it any wonder I'm going nuts over this series? If anyone can breathe new life (all puns intended) into the genre, it's Darabont. This clip actually gave me a 'zomb-on' (eeeewwwwww!!!).

More necrocannibalsim, soon.
Prospero

The Creepshow Must Go On....

That's Toronto-based band The Creepshow* in the photo above, which must mean tonight's post starts with some Zombie Music! I found The Creepshow in an odd way. I was looking for images of traditional Haitian zombies (there aren't many that don't look like horrible racial stereotypes), I came across a photo of this band, Voodoo Zombie, a Chilean psychobilly band. Intrigued by that rather startling photo, I searched for them on YouTube and came across the first video posted below for their song "Amor Psycho." Musically, it's okay and the zombies all seem to be having a mighty fine time. My chief complaint is with the vocals.

But a suggested video on that page led me to The Creepshow and their "...country-tinged, psycho punk rock 'n roll..." (via). This is a video for the song "Zombies Ate Her Brain," from their 2006 debut album "Sell Your Soul:"

I will definitely be checking out more from this very amusing band. The Creepshow's website is here.

Let's move on to a bit of Zombie Nonsense, shall we? Total Film has this story about Miss Zombie Queen UK. I wish there was a video of it, somewhere. I searched YouTube, Vimeo and Flcker...

And segueing ever so-smoothly into Zombie Films, Miss Zombie Queen UK coincides with the DVD release of the positively wretched-sounding (and looking) Zombie Women of Satan, whose very unappealing tag-line is: 'It really was the wrong time of the month!' Really? The trailer says it all...

Is it just me, or does that look painfully bad in non-ironic way? I've seen better acting in David Decoteau's homo-erotic vampire movies and better special effects in a Sid and Marty Krofft TV show.

Also in Zombie Films, Salon.com is marking the release of Papa George's* 6th entry in his film Zombieverse, Survival of the Dead, with this well thought-out list of "10 Essential Zombie Movies." The list is interesting, though I would have made a few changes. Peter Jackson's outrageously over-the top Brain Dead/Dead Alive would have gotten a higher ranking, 28 Days Later, a slightly lower one and Lucio Fulchi's Zombi 2, with it's infamous Zombie vs. Shark scene, would not have made the list at all. For its sheer fun, I would have included Black Sheep, because it certainly fits the criteria, even if the zombies are sheep and the result of their bite is a were-sheep and for even more fun, I would have added Canadian director Andrew Currie's hilarious take on zombies and the coldwar, Fido. I would have replaced Romero's original version of The Crazies (an overrated, preachy and very talky picture) with last year's Zombieland and Dellamorte Dellamore with Evil Dead II, but that's just me.

Moving to some Zombie TV news, Rabid Doll shares the news that AMC has released a promo video for the their new series, "The Walking Dead," based on the very good comic of the same name. Directed by no less than one of few directors to make Stephen King *movies the way they should be made, Frank Darabont.*

Wow. I can't wait.

Almost finally, this week's Zombie Clip of the Week, Episode 2 of the web-based film, Universal Dead:

And I couldn't end without letting you know I finally decided on a title for my latest screenplay, formerly known under the working title, Redneck Zombie Nightmare. But I'm going to end on a tease and make you wait until the final draft is completed, before revealing the title.

*I'd rather like to think of all these King/Romero/Darabont references as synchronistic, as so many things in my life seem to be, but I suspect they are simply the result of of related information and have no other impact on anything other than this post. And there I go, getting all existential again. Uncle P needs to stop over-thinking, I think.

More unprocessed Soylent Green, soon.
Prospero