Shake it out, baby!
March 31, 2009
March 30, 2009
EXCERPT: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
I am very skeptical that Seth Grahame-Smith's mash up of zombies and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice will result in a good novel. More likely, it will be not so much a good novel as simply a novelty. Injected into Austen's original text, Grahame-Smith has interspersed his own scenes of zombie attacks that feature the novel's protagonist, Elizabeth Bennett, as some kind of Kung Fu ninja.NPR has an excerpt from the novel:
A few of the guests, who had the misfortune of being too near the windows, were seized and feasted on at once. When Elizabeth stood, she saw Mrs. Long struggle to free herself as two female dreadfuls bit into her head, cracking her skull like a walnut, and sending a shower of dark blood spouting as high as the chandeliers.Read the full excerpt and listen to a brief interview with the author HERE.
The whole endeavour will succeed based on the writer's ability to insert these scenes into the period language and style of Austen, but I'm doubtful from this description that this will offer anything worth reading.
I'm all for postmodern twists on canonical literature, but I'm not down with such twists being turned out purely to cash in on a pop culture trend. Doing the heavy lifting of reinterpreting or adapting a classic is different from riding on literary coat tails.
Grahame-Smith will have to convince me he has something unique to say in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and is not simply cannibalizing a classic for media exposure.
March 28, 2009
Odds 'N Ends (Extended Edition)
A DOUBLE SIZED round up of zombie-related news hitting the web
SAFTEY AND SECURITY
SAFTEY AND SECURITY
- The good people at the North American Zombie Defense Service have parsed text from the Bible that may hint at prophecies of a zombie uprising. Evidence of Christian belief in the resurrection of the body, or proof of a forthcoming zombie menace? Insert Zombie Jesus joke here.
RETURN OF THE ZOMBIE ROAD SIGNS! After several months of no activity, road signs are once again warning of zombies. This time, the slackjaws have reached the Quakertown area of Philadelphia, PA. Philly may be the city of brotherly love, but the The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has no love for citizens tampering with roadsigns. [via NBC2 News]
- BEST BUY ZOMBIES A HIT: Perhaps there are "zombies ahead" in PA because they were working at the Stroudsburg, PA Best Buy that turned it's store into a zombie-themed haunted house for the launch of Resident Evil 5. Kotaku is reporting that the launch event was a hit, attracting over 400 people! Presumably all but their credit cards made it out alive.
- In other videogame news, developers of CAPCOM's upcoming Dead Rising 2 are setting high expectations for the sequel to the popular (but frustrating) Dead Rising. It is being suggested that Dead Rising 2 will render the greatest number of characters ever seen in a videogame at one time. At least, according to a product manager for the software used to create the game, they are "preparing to have as many as 6000 characters on the screen." [via Kotaku Australia]
- Trailers are now online for Call of Duty's zombie map-pack downloads. [ via Dread Central]
- Ending our news on videogames, NIGHTZERO.com has created a series of real-life Left 4 Dead cosplay photographs featuring models who are spitting images of the digital survivors in Valve's successful co-op zombie shooter. [full set via Pixelated Geek]
- In movie news, Ryan Rotten has the lowdown on upcoming zombie pictures from Paramount, such as the start of pre-production on World War Z and Paramount's interest in releasing an adaptation of Dark Horse Comic Damn Nation. [via Shock Till You Drop]
- Shifting focus from cinema to the stage, we recommend reading Samuel Zimmerman's interview with Bill Connington, the writer and star of the one-man play Zombie. In Zombie, adapted from the novella by Joyce Carol Oates, Connington plays a pedophilic serial killer obsessed with with enslaving a victim and brainwashing his victim into a zombified state. [via FANGORIA]
March 22, 2009
PONTYPOOL AFTERPARTY!
WIN free tickets to a private screening of Pontypool at Silvercity Ancaster on March 26th!
Then come to the official afterparty presented by Horror in the Hammer and Daniloff Productions!
FEATURING: HORRORBIZ and SO SICK SOCIAL CLUB
9:30pm Thursday March 26
Absinthe (233 King St. East / Hamilton, Ontario)
$10 dollars at door
Then come to the official afterparty presented by Horror in the Hammer and Daniloff Productions!
FEATURING: HORRORBIZ and SO SICK SOCIAL CLUB
9:30pm Thursday March 26
Absinthe (233 King St. East / Hamilton, Ontario)
$10 dollars at door
March 19, 2009
Pontypool (Review)
REVIEW
Director: Bruce McDonald
Writer: Tony Burgess
RATING:4.5 / 5 zedheads
[FREE TICKETS to a screening of Pontypool in Ancaster, Ontario]
Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will CHEW OFF YOUR FACE!
Bruce McDonald's Pontypool is hinged on a wild premise:
What if the English language could transmit a virus to people through infected words? Furthermore, once those words are understood by listeners, what if they drove people insane and turned them into ravenous cannibalistic murderers?
Based on the book Pontypool Changes Everything (1998) by Tony Burgess, this Canadian film by Bruce McDonald (director of Hard Core Logo and The Tracey Fragments) is not a conventional horror film. Although it delivers finely executed suspense and terror, it is not afraid to diffuse the tension with an ironic jab or joke. Pontypool excels as a psychological thriller with humor and a restless metaphor crawling under its skin about the way language shapes our identities and the extent to which communication and words hold a hidden power in our lives.
In the small town of Pontypool, Ontario (east of Toronto), Grant Mazzy (played by Stephen McHattie) is a disaffected talk-radio show host broadcasting out of a claustrophobic church basement known as The Beacon. We get the sense he's used to the big-city controversial style of radio; he is clearly not happy with his work reporting school closures, traffic news, and local obituaries. He also hates the winter, and if one thing can kill your spirits in rural Ontario it is definitely the winter. Unfortunately, things begin to get much worse as Mazzy and his skeleton crew - his producer Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle) and sound technician Laurel Ann (Georgina Reilly) - begin to receive calls about citizens rioting, attacking and mutilating oneanother. Reports indicate they are all talking in a strange form of infectious English gibberish. The film's narrative is more or less told through an objective camera that rarely ever leaves the small studio set. At first, the audience and the characters learn of the horrifying details of the infection from callers and reporters outside the studio Then, the threat ends up at (and then through) their front door.
McDonald is one of Canada's most interesting independent filmmakers. Making his mark with the punk-rock road movie Hard Core Logo, every McDonald film since has been an interesting experiment in movie making. One of his earliest films, made in High school, was a zombie film. He explains the power of zombies:
Shot on a privately financed budget around or under half a million, and filmed on a shooting and post-production schedule that only ended a week or so before the film debute at the Toronto Interntaional Film Festival in 2008, Pontypool nevertheless looks professional and polished. This is due in great part to McDonald's skill as an editor but also because it was shot on the new Red One HD camera.
On screen and in script, McDonald makes excellent use of the limited budget and his few actors and sets by allowing the most extreme horror to take place off-screen in the audience's imagination. Hearing the events unfold and seeing the look on the character's faces while the horror itself remains unseen heightens the suspense. It reminds me of a classic scene from George Romero's Night where Ben describes a scene in which a truck plows through a mob of unfeeling zombies with " . . . ten, fifteen of those things chasing after it, grabbing and holding on. . . . I realized that I was alone, with fifty or sixty of those things just standing there, staring at me! . . . . They didn't move! They didn't run, or - they just stood there, staring at me! I just wanted to crush them! And they scattered through the air, like bugs."
Although we never see this scene, Ben's description is so vivid and genuine that it becomes one the most spectacular images of the film even if it is only in our minds. Pontypool uses the same technique, but it ratchets up the terror with the use of eerie sound editing. There is no way to depict the actual violence on screen that would ever be as effective as what McDonald leaves our imaginations to provide.
Georgina Reilly in Pontypool
The film moves along with strong pace. McHattie's forceful personality and voice in the role of Grant Mazzy is the core of the film. This is perhaps some of the best work I've seen him do. The film could not work without his character's struggle to come to terms with such a bizarre situation. While the film does try to depict its premise with a straight face, there is the occasional tongue-in-cheek aside. Most of this humour derives from a specifically Canadian cultural context from which the film takes shots at the BBC's pomposity, the animosity and conflict between Anglophones and Francophones, and Canada's "history of violent separatist terrorist movements," etc. The audience I sat with ate this up instantly, though I suspect the nuances might not play to a non-Canadian crowd. I think the true heart of the film, which separates it from other films of this kind, is that it is a product of Canada. Even though it does not appear to be overtly concerned with saying something grand about our national identity and history (unlike TIFF's other big Canadian film: Passchendaele), the issue of language and how/what we communicate is incredibly pertinent to the bi-lingual and multicultural Canadian identity.
The only criticism of the film that I do have is the inexplicable appearance of Dr. Mendez (Hrant Alianak) who seems to appear only to spouse theories about the nature of the virus. When he appears, the cohesive tension and pacing skips a beat and becomes too focused on exposition. The film never seems genuine or on track until the character exits.
Pontypool may not be your traditional zombie film (the zombies are not the undead, nor are they the raging infected of 28 Days Later). Pontypool may not be your traditional horror film. Pontypool may not be your traditional film. Period.
It is, however, a successfully odd mixture of horror, dark comedy, psychological suspense, linguistic metaphor, and gross-out effects hinged on a fascinating premise that will leave you fearing the power of words.
Live in the Ancaster area? WANT TO SEE PONTYPOOL?
The Zed Word is giving away four free tickets to see a special screening of Pontypool on March 26th at Silvercity Ancaster courtesy of HORROR IN THE HAMMER and MAPLE PICTURES
Click HERE for details on how to win.
PONTYPOOL MEDIA
CLSY: MAZZY IN THE MORNING
Trailer
Pontypool (2008)
Director: Bruce McDonald
Writer: Tony Burgess
RATING:4.5 / 5 zedheads
[FREE TICKETS to a screening of Pontypool in Ancaster, Ontario]
Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will CHEW OFF YOUR FACE!
Bruce McDonald's Pontypool is hinged on a wild premise:
What if the English language could transmit a virus to people through infected words? Furthermore, once those words are understood by listeners, what if they drove people insane and turned them into ravenous cannibalistic murderers?
Based on the book Pontypool Changes Everything (1998) by Tony Burgess, this Canadian film by Bruce McDonald (director of Hard Core Logo and The Tracey Fragments) is not a conventional horror film. Although it delivers finely executed suspense and terror, it is not afraid to diffuse the tension with an ironic jab or joke. Pontypool excels as a psychological thriller with humor and a restless metaphor crawling under its skin about the way language shapes our identities and the extent to which communication and words hold a hidden power in our lives.
In the small town of Pontypool, Ontario (east of Toronto), Grant Mazzy (played by Stephen McHattie) is a disaffected talk-radio show host broadcasting out of a claustrophobic church basement known as The Beacon. We get the sense he's used to the big-city controversial style of radio; he is clearly not happy with his work reporting school closures, traffic news, and local obituaries. He also hates the winter, and if one thing can kill your spirits in rural Ontario it is definitely the winter. Unfortunately, things begin to get much worse as Mazzy and his skeleton crew - his producer Sydney Briar (Lisa Houle) and sound technician Laurel Ann (Georgina Reilly) - begin to receive calls about citizens rioting, attacking and mutilating oneanother. Reports indicate they are all talking in a strange form of infectious English gibberish. The film's narrative is more or less told through an objective camera that rarely ever leaves the small studio set. At first, the audience and the characters learn of the horrifying details of the infection from callers and reporters outside the studio Then, the threat ends up at (and then through) their front door.
McDonald is one of Canada's most interesting independent filmmakers. Making his mark with the punk-rock road movie Hard Core Logo, every McDonald film since has been an interesting experiment in movie making. One of his earliest films, made in High school, was a zombie film. He explains the power of zombies:
Technically, these people [in Pontypool] aren't really zombies, they are infected people. But zombies were powerful cinematic engines in my world. When I saw Night of the Living Dead, I was eight years old. When I saw Night of the Living Dead, it felt like we could do something like that. It's like when people saw the Ramones for the first time. It's like 'I could do that.'And Pontypool goes to the heart of what made George Romero's Night so inspiring: fascinating characters, simple production, a claustrophobic sense of dread, and a thoughtful premise.
(qtd. in "Hard-Core Horror" by Eric Volmers)
Shot on a privately financed budget around or under half a million, and filmed on a shooting and post-production schedule that only ended a week or so before the film debute at the Toronto Interntaional Film Festival in 2008, Pontypool nevertheless looks professional and polished. This is due in great part to McDonald's skill as an editor but also because it was shot on the new Red One HD camera.On screen and in script, McDonald makes excellent use of the limited budget and his few actors and sets by allowing the most extreme horror to take place off-screen in the audience's imagination. Hearing the events unfold and seeing the look on the character's faces while the horror itself remains unseen heightens the suspense. It reminds me of a classic scene from George Romero's Night where Ben describes a scene in which a truck plows through a mob of unfeeling zombies with " . . . ten, fifteen of those things chasing after it, grabbing and holding on. . . . I realized that I was alone, with fifty or sixty of those things just standing there, staring at me! . . . . They didn't move! They didn't run, or - they just stood there, staring at me! I just wanted to crush them! And they scattered through the air, like bugs."
Although we never see this scene, Ben's description is so vivid and genuine that it becomes one the most spectacular images of the film even if it is only in our minds. Pontypool uses the same technique, but it ratchets up the terror with the use of eerie sound editing. There is no way to depict the actual violence on screen that would ever be as effective as what McDonald leaves our imaginations to provide.
Georgina Reilly in Pontypool
The film moves along with strong pace. McHattie's forceful personality and voice in the role of Grant Mazzy is the core of the film. This is perhaps some of the best work I've seen him do. The film could not work without his character's struggle to come to terms with such a bizarre situation. While the film does try to depict its premise with a straight face, there is the occasional tongue-in-cheek aside. Most of this humour derives from a specifically Canadian cultural context from which the film takes shots at the BBC's pomposity, the animosity and conflict between Anglophones and Francophones, and Canada's "history of violent separatist terrorist movements," etc. The audience I sat with ate this up instantly, though I suspect the nuances might not play to a non-Canadian crowd. I think the true heart of the film, which separates it from other films of this kind, is that it is a product of Canada. Even though it does not appear to be overtly concerned with saying something grand about our national identity and history (unlike TIFF's other big Canadian film: Passchendaele), the issue of language and how/what we communicate is incredibly pertinent to the bi-lingual and multicultural Canadian identity.
The only criticism of the film that I do have is the inexplicable appearance of Dr. Mendez (Hrant Alianak) who seems to appear only to spouse theories about the nature of the virus. When he appears, the cohesive tension and pacing skips a beat and becomes too focused on exposition. The film never seems genuine or on track until the character exits.
Pontypool may not be your traditional zombie film (the zombies are not the undead, nor are they the raging infected of 28 Days Later). Pontypool may not be your traditional horror film. Pontypool may not be your traditional film. Period.
It is, however, a successfully odd mixture of horror, dark comedy, psychological suspense, linguistic metaphor, and gross-out effects hinged on a fascinating premise that will leave you fearing the power of words.
Live in the Ancaster area? WANT TO SEE PONTYPOOL?
The Zed Word is giving away four free tickets to see a special screening of Pontypool on March 26th at Silvercity Ancaster courtesy of HORROR IN THE HAMMER and MAPLE PICTURES
Click HERE for details on how to win.
PONTYPOOL MEDIA
CLSY: MAZZY IN THE MORNING
Trailer
March 18, 2009
WIN: FREE PONTYPOOL SCREENING TICKETS
E-mail zedwordblog@gmail.com for your chance to win one of four tickets to see a special screening of Bruce McDonald's Pontypool at the Silvercity Theatre in Ancaster, Ontario (March 26, 2009) courtesy of HORROR IN THE HAMMER and MAPLE PICTURES
With a screenplay written by Tony Burgess based on his novel, Pontypool is about a zombie-like virus that travels through the English language. Shock jock Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) has been kicked off his last job in the big city and now works the early morning show at CLSY Radio in the small basement of the only Church in Pontypool, Ontario. What begins as another boring day of winter-related school bus cancellations quickly turns deadly when reports start piling in of people developing strange speech patterns and committing horrendous acts of violence as a result of this impossible virus. Mazzy and his radio crew only have one option: shut up or die.
Also starring: Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly, and Hrant Alianak
PRIZE: One ticket (admits two) for Pontypool
SCREENING DATE: March 26, 2009
TIME: 7:00pm
PLACE: Silvercity Ancaster (771 Golf Links Road)
HOW TO WIN:
E-mail your entry to zedwordblog@gmail.com.
Please include “PONTYPOOL TICKETS” in the subject line and your name and full mailing address in the body of the e-mail (address must be in Ontario and at the address you wish your tickets to be mailed).
Contest will end on Monday, March 23th at 12:00am (Eastern Standard Time). Four winners will be drawn at random, alerted by e-mail, and mailed their tickets on the afternoon of March 23, 2009. One entry per name/address please. Contest open only to residents of Ontario.
Read more for further details.
Official Contest Rules and Regulations
This Contest is open to all residents of Ontario, Canada but void where prohibited by law.
How to Enter
Valid entrants must e-mail zedwordblog@gmail.com with “PONTYPOOL TICKETS” in the subject line and a body that includes the entrant’s full name and mailing address.
Entry is limited to single email sent from a valid, unique, individual e-mail address. Multiple e-mails including the same name and address sent throughout the contest period count as one entry. One entry per name/e-mail/postal code. Contest open only to residents of Ontario, Canada. Tickets will be automatically mailed to the address given in entrant's email.
Prizes
There is a total of four (4) prizes available to be won; one (1) per winner. A random draw for the prize will be made on March 23, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time. Valid entrants will be compiled and four entrants will be selected at random. The four (4) prizes to be awarded are: four (4) tickets [one per winner] for the ticket-holder and a guest to attend a 7:00pm (EST) screening of Pontypool (Dir. Bruce McDonald. Maple Pictures) on March 26, 2009 at the Silvercity theatre in Ancaster, Ontario: 771 Golf Links Road.
Eligibility
Selected entrants will be notified by email and automatically mailed their tickets via Canada Post at a rate to be decided by The Zed Word. After the prize is mailed, all entrant e-mails will be deleted on March 27th. No correspondence will be entered into except with potential winners and no private information about entrants will be kept or sold to or shared with any other party.
In order to win, each selected entrant must e-mail zedwordblog@gmail.com with his or her full name and full mailing address in Ontario at which they wish to receive their tickets.
The prize must be accepted as awarded and is not transferable.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THIS FREE TICKET
Maple Pictures has overbooked the theatre in order to ensure capacity. Winners are advised to arrive early and understand that seating is not guaranteed. The theatre and staff are not in any way responsible for the overbooking of this theatre. This is a private event that has been organized exclusively by Maple Pictures.
With a screenplay written by Tony Burgess based on his novel, Pontypool is about a zombie-like virus that travels through the English language. Shock jock Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) has been kicked off his last job in the big city and now works the early morning show at CLSY Radio in the small basement of the only Church in Pontypool, Ontario. What begins as another boring day of winter-related school bus cancellations quickly turns deadly when reports start piling in of people developing strange speech patterns and committing horrendous acts of violence as a result of this impossible virus. Mazzy and his radio crew only have one option: shut up or die.Also starring: Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly, and Hrant Alianak
PRIZE: One ticket (admits two) for Pontypool
SCREENING DATE: March 26, 2009
TIME: 7:00pm
PLACE: Silvercity Ancaster (771 Golf Links Road)
HOW TO WIN:
E-mail your entry to zedwordblog@gmail.com.
Please include “PONTYPOOL TICKETS” in the subject line and your name and full mailing address in the body of the e-mail (address must be in Ontario and at the address you wish your tickets to be mailed).
Contest will end on Monday, March 23th at 12:00am (Eastern Standard Time). Four winners will be drawn at random, alerted by e-mail, and mailed their tickets on the afternoon of March 23, 2009. One entry per name/address please. Contest open only to residents of Ontario.
Read more for further details.
Official Contest Rules and Regulations
This Contest is open to all residents of Ontario, Canada but void where prohibited by law.
How to Enter
Valid entrants must e-mail zedwordblog@gmail.com with “PONTYPOOL TICKETS” in the subject line and a body that includes the entrant’s full name and mailing address.
Entry is limited to single email sent from a valid, unique, individual e-mail address. Multiple e-mails including the same name and address sent throughout the contest period count as one entry. One entry per name/e-mail/postal code. Contest open only to residents of Ontario, Canada. Tickets will be automatically mailed to the address given in entrant's email.
Prizes
There is a total of four (4) prizes available to be won; one (1) per winner. A random draw for the prize will be made on March 23, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time. Valid entrants will be compiled and four entrants will be selected at random. The four (4) prizes to be awarded are: four (4) tickets [one per winner] for the ticket-holder and a guest to attend a 7:00pm (EST) screening of Pontypool (Dir. Bruce McDonald. Maple Pictures) on March 26, 2009 at the Silvercity theatre in Ancaster, Ontario: 771 Golf Links Road.
Eligibility
Selected entrants will be notified by email and automatically mailed their tickets via Canada Post at a rate to be decided by The Zed Word. After the prize is mailed, all entrant e-mails will be deleted on March 27th. No correspondence will be entered into except with potential winners and no private information about entrants will be kept or sold to or shared with any other party.
In order to win, each selected entrant must e-mail zedwordblog@gmail.com with his or her full name and full mailing address in Ontario at which they wish to receive their tickets.
The prize must be accepted as awarded and is not transferable.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THIS FREE TICKET
Maple Pictures has overbooked the theatre in order to ensure capacity. Winners are advised to arrive early and understand that seating is not guaranteed. The theatre and staff are not in any way responsible for the overbooking of this theatre. This is a private event that has been organized exclusively by Maple Pictures.
March 16, 2009
THE GOON: First movie pictures
Ain't It Cool News has dropped the first exclusive pictures from Blur Studio and producer David Fincher of the CG animated adaptation of the comic series The Goon
The Goon is a hilarious, wacky, and sometimes touching Eisner award-winning comic series by Eric Powell. Blending pulp horror, slapstick comedy, and blatant, nostalgic crime-worship, the series follows the ongoing misadventures of a thug crime boss called Goon and his spastic sidekick Franky as they protect their town and battle the legions of the undead and other eccentric threats. While the comic series has turned somewhat more series after 10 years of publication (first in 1999 by Avatar Press before moving to the realm, of self-publishing through Albatross Exploding Funny Books in 2002 before finally landing with Dark Horse comics in 2003), the series is at its best absurdly brilliant. Besides zombies (aka "slackjaws") the Goon and Franky have contended with such enemies as exploding orangutans, jungle hobos, robots, harpies, and a lusty man-mincing sea-hag to name a few.
The man known as Goon is a hard-hitting, plain talking, brute of an everyman. Claiming to be the enforcer of the Labrazio crime family, he sets up stakes in a 1930s-era small town as its criminal protector. Although he’s a mob thug, Goon and his high-strung partner, Franky, protect the town from a collection of demons, ghouls, zombies, monsters, and other assorted evils that plague it. Their protective services are given in exchange for the townpeople's loyalty and money; however, Goon and Franky are essentially good men although criminals. Just like in noir, they are guys doing dirty work and all the while trying to deny that they are heroes. Usually at the center of the evils they face is the nameless man - the Zombie Priest - and his gang of the undead. The Goon could be a serious horror/crime book, but Powell’s situations are often silly and ridiculous while his writing is punchy and sharp, so the book has traditionally been a horror/comedy.
In his introduction to Nothin' But Misery collection of issues, William Stout (the production designer for films such as Return of the Living Dead) likens Powell and his work to the drunken, unholy union of Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, and Graham Ingels. The comparison is wholly deserved as The Goon is, as Stout puts it, a "mini-masterpiece of urban debris ... [that] drops '30s and '40s pop culture references ... amongst Texas chainsaw hillbilly hilarity". With the humour, versatility, and wonder of Wood; the scale of Kirby; and the horror-comic stylings of Ingels, Powell adds his own favour of absurdism that makes the whole project crackle with originality. In very little space, Powell can tell stories in sequential visuals that are exciting, funny, horrific, and touching all at once.
I've been following the comic since it moved to Dark Horse, and I eagerly await this film.
For more information about Eric Powell and The Goon check out the official website:
http://www.thegoon.com
The Goon is a hilarious, wacky, and sometimes touching Eisner award-winning comic series by Eric Powell. Blending pulp horror, slapstick comedy, and blatant, nostalgic crime-worship, the series follows the ongoing misadventures of a thug crime boss called Goon and his spastic sidekick Franky as they protect their town and battle the legions of the undead and other eccentric threats. While the comic series has turned somewhat more series after 10 years of publication (first in 1999 by Avatar Press before moving to the realm, of self-publishing through Albatross Exploding Funny Books in 2002 before finally landing with Dark Horse comics in 2003), the series is at its best absurdly brilliant. Besides zombies (aka "slackjaws") the Goon and Franky have contended with such enemies as exploding orangutans, jungle hobos, robots, harpies, and a lusty man-mincing sea-hag to name a few.
The man known as Goon is a hard-hitting, plain talking, brute of an everyman. Claiming to be the enforcer of the Labrazio crime family, he sets up stakes in a 1930s-era small town as its criminal protector. Although he’s a mob thug, Goon and his high-strung partner, Franky, protect the town from a collection of demons, ghouls, zombies, monsters, and other assorted evils that plague it. Their protective services are given in exchange for the townpeople's loyalty and money; however, Goon and Franky are essentially good men although criminals. Just like in noir, they are guys doing dirty work and all the while trying to deny that they are heroes. Usually at the center of the evils they face is the nameless man - the Zombie Priest - and his gang of the undead. The Goon could be a serious horror/crime book, but Powell’s situations are often silly and ridiculous while his writing is punchy and sharp, so the book has traditionally been a horror/comedy.In his introduction to Nothin' But Misery collection of issues, William Stout (the production designer for films such as Return of the Living Dead) likens Powell and his work to the drunken, unholy union of Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, and Graham Ingels. The comparison is wholly deserved as The Goon is, as Stout puts it, a "mini-masterpiece of urban debris ... [that] drops '30s and '40s pop culture references ... amongst Texas chainsaw hillbilly hilarity". With the humour, versatility, and wonder of Wood; the scale of Kirby; and the horror-comic stylings of Ingels, Powell adds his own favour of absurdism that makes the whole project crackle with originality. In very little space, Powell can tell stories in sequential visuals that are exciting, funny, horrific, and touching all at once.
I've been following the comic since it moved to Dark Horse, and I eagerly await this film.
For more information about Eric Powell and The Goon check out the official website:
http://www.thegoon.com
March 12, 2009
AUTUMN CONTEST WINNER
Congratulations to Randy V. for winning our AUTUMN novel giveaway!
Randy will be getting an Infected Books edition of David Moody's AUTUMN, which has since been out of print as the series waits re-release by Thomas Dunne Books. The original Infected Books editions will be a rare item in the future.
Keep your eyes here for our own review of AUTUMN and another contest coming up soon!
Randy will be getting an Infected Books edition of David Moody's AUTUMN, which has since been out of print as the series waits re-release by Thomas Dunne Books. The original Infected Books editions will be a rare item in the future.
Keep your eyes here for our own review of AUTUMN and another contest coming up soon!
March 8, 2009
Odds N' Ends
A round up of zombie-related news hitting the web
- Bruce McDonald's Canadian zombie flick Pontypool opened March 6th in Toronto, Ontario and is currently playing at the Varsity Cinemas (55 Bloor Street West). Pontypool will be opening soon in selected cities across Canada and next month internationally
- The official trailer for Zone of the Dead is now online. Zone of the Dead is an independent zombie film made in Serbia (but in English?) by directors Milan Konjevic and Milan Todorovic. Zone of the Dead stars Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) as an Interpol agent supervising a prisoner's transport to Belgrade when they cross through an ecological disaster that has turned people into zombies.
- According to Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster, his adaptation of Max Brooks' World War Z is still in development at the script level and may not be his next movie [via Dread Central]
- Larry Carroll at MTV Movie Blogs has posted some quotes from Tony Gardner, the special effects "wizard" working on the upcoming zombie comedy Zombieland starring Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone. Gardner talks about balancing horror with humour and drops some hints of what we'll may see in the movie, such as " 160 zombies, in prosthetics, on set in an amusement park” [via MTV Movie Blogs]
March 3, 2009
John Harrison Talks . . . OF THE DEAD Score [Fangoria]
Chris Alexander at Fangoria has posted an exclusive interview with John Harrison, composer of Day of the Dead (1985) and George A. Romero's upcoming ... OF THE DEAD.
An excerpt:
An excerpt:
What can you tell me about your score for George’s new movie?[via
Well to be frank, I’ve been struggling with the theme a bit. My approach is always to do something counterintuitive, which is why the DAY score must have flipped some people out. I don’t want to write a score for …OF THE DEAD by starting off with ominous horror movie music, atonal , even pseudo-industrial sounds that are cliché in horror films today. To do that would deliver what everybody expects…this is not that kind of movie. This is something entirely different.
March 1, 2009
CONTEST: WIN AUTUMN by David Moody!
Enter your chance to win a free copy of David Moody’s novel AUTUMN courtesy of The Zed Word.Synopsis
In 24 hours, a mysterious disease wipes out 99% of the human population. As the few survivors cope with the devastation and pick their way through the dead, something horrifying begins to happen: the dead rise. The first in a four-part series, AUTUMN explores new approaches to the zombie genre and was recently adapted into a movie by Renegade Pictures: http://www.autumnthemovie.com/
To win an Infected Books edition of AUTUMN, e-mail us your name, mailing postal code, and the answer to the following question:
In the Spotlight Pictures trailer for the movie Autumn, name the former Quentin Tarantino actor who appears in the film
E-mail your entry to zedwordblog@gmail.com.
Please include “AUTUMN CONTEST” in the subject line and your name, answer, and postal code in the body of the e-mail.
Contest will end on Tuesday, March 10th at 12:00am (Eastern Standard Time). One winner will be drawn at random and contacted for his or her mailing address. One entry per name/e-mail/postal code, please. Contest open only to residents of Canada and the United States.
Read more for further details.
Official Contest Rules and Regulations
This Contest is open to all residents of Canada and the United States of America but is void where prohibited by law.
How to Enter
Valid entrants must e-mail zedwordblog@gmail.com with “AUTUMN CONTEST” in the subject line and a body that includes the entrant’s full name, postal code, and the correct answer to the following question: In the Spotlight Pictures trailer for the movie Autumn, name the former Quentin Tarantino actor who appears in the film
Entry is limited to single email sent from a valid, unique, individual e-mail address. Multiple e-mails including the same postal code sent throughout the contest period count as one entry. One entry per name/e-mail/postal code. Contest open only to residents of Canada and the United States. Postal code must directly match the entrant’s mailing address postal code.
Prizes
There is a total of one (1) prize available to be won. A random draw for the prize will be made on March 1o, 2009 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time. Valid entrants will be compiled and one entrant will be selected at random. The one (1) prize to be awarded is an unread copy of the novel AUTUMN by David Moody (Infected Books, 2007).
Eligibility
Selected entrants will be notified by email. In the event that a selected entrant cannot be contacted or does not reply by email after three (3) attempts within seven (7) days of the draw in which the entrant was selected, or for any other reason the prize cannot be awarded, the selected entrant forfeits any claim to the prize. The forfeit entrant will be removed from the list of valid entries and a new entrant will be randomly drawn. The process will be repeated until the prize is awarded.
When the prize is awarded, the entrant must provide a full mailing address. The Zed Word will ship the prize at no cost to the winner via Canada Post at a rate to be decided by The Zed Word. After the prize is mailed, all entrant e-mails will be deleted. No correspondence will be entered into except with potential winners and no private information about entrants will be kept or sold to or shared with any other party.
In order to win, each selected entrant must correctly answer the trivia question (In the Spotlight Pictures trailer for the movie Autumn, name the former Quentin Tarantino actor who appears in the film) and provide a postal code that corresponds with the entrants mailing address for shipping of the prize.
The prize must be accepted as awarded and is not transferable.
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