THE DEAD trailer

It's been a while since a trailer for a zombie movie from outside the major Hollywood system has made me perk up in interest. The Dead, however, or at least its trailer, has an immediate engaging quality about it. I'm very interested in seeing this film.

After crashing off the coast, Lt Brian Murphy battles for survival across the vast terrains of Africa in search for a way to get back to his beloved family. Joined by local military man Daniel Dembele who is also searching for his son, together both men join forces all the while battling against the ever present threat of the living dead!

http://thedead-movie.com/

The Soldier (Nazi Zombie Short)

One of the films I'm keeping a quiet eye on is the upcoming 3D Nazi zombie flick The 4th Reich from director Shaun Robert Smith.

Concept art for The 4th Reich was released earlier this week from Britfilms.tv, and if IMDB can be believed shooting is due to start in April 2010.

Until the film is released, you can get your Nazi zombie fix by watch Smith's short film The Soldier (2007). Described as a cross between Saving Private Ryan and 28 Days Later, the short film is on Youtube (embedding disabled, unfortunately) and you can watch it at the following link:

WATCH THE SOLDIER

The 4th Reich will be a feature-length version of the short. Stylistically, the short shows promise for the feature.

Dead Rising: The Movie

This news kind of came out of nowhere. While we've all been awaiting Capcom's Dead Rising 2  videogame, Capcom has gone ahead and created a Dead Rising movie.

See the trailer HERE

Unfortunately, the movie does not appear to have any of the elements that made the game interesting. None of the characters from the first game look like they'll appear, and from what I can tell by the trailer the story doesn't even take place in a mall.

According to Kotaku.com, "The movie is set in an alternative reality in which areas effected by outbreaks are strictly quarantined, and those living in the area are coordinated off from the rest of the country. Two brothers George and Shin, hatch a plan to escape. . . . The movie will be released this year on Xbox LIVE and via the official site."

The film is directed by Dead Rising game designer and Mega-Man creator Keiji Inafune.

Trailer Tuesday: Semi-Dead

Semi-Dead: The Horror/Comedy Webseries

'Survival of the Dead' Release Plans

Bloody-Disgusting is reporting that release plans have been set for George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead

Magnet Releasing has secured their distribution plans for George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead, his latest zombie flick . . . . Magnet has locked down a VOD, Amazon and Xbox Live premiere for April 30, with plans to open in limited theaters on May 28th.

The Video-On-Demand debut sounds like an interesting route to take -- I just hope Romero and his people are getting more bang for their buck from the distributor's decision to pursue a digital distribution strategy rather than a theatrical one.

MY REVIEW of SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD from TIFF!

Trailer: Death of the Dead

AMC orders Walking Dead pilot

Yesterday, Variety reported that AMC has optioned a pilot for The Walking Dead.

Based on the comics series by Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead will be written and directed by Frank Darabont who will also produce alongside Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Motion Pictures and David Alpert of Circle of Confusion.

The Walking Dead comics tell the story of survivors of the zombie apocalypse, focusing on police officer Rick Grimes, who travels in search of his family and a safe and secure home.

Will The Walking Dead find the same critical success as other AMC original programs such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad? I hope so. I've read a number of The Walking Dead trade paperbacks, and Darabont's films always impress me, so I'm excited at the prospect of the story's adaptation for TV.

If The Walking Dead survives development and goes to air, it will be one of the only broadcast zombie TV series in existence.

Deadgirl (Review)

REVIEW

Deadgirl (2009)

Directors: Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel

RATING:
4 / 5 zedheads



Rape is never about sex.

Rape is always about power, control, and domination. It's not even about feeling pleasure; it's about violently bending another person to your own will for your own selfish gratification. It's a concept that has always seemed fitting for exploration in the zombie genre but was never depicted because of its shocking and taboo implications.

However, Deadgirl, produced and directed by Marcel Sarmiento and Gadi Harel from a script by Trent Haaga, uses the conventions of the zombie genre with morbid astuteness to tell a story that explores the dark and predatory nature of masculine culture and the depths to which disaffected young boys and men can sink in their desperate struggle to control their own little worlds.

The film begins quite appropriately with shots of empy classrooms and an empty library and gym, suggesting a high school is an empty, lonely, alienating experience. Suitably, the first teens we see are two jocks tormenting another student by withholding his asthma inhaler. Watching this all unfold with complete apathy are out two main characters: best friends Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and J.T. (Noah Segan). You've probably met kids like Rickie and J.T. before. They don't care about school, they're crude, homophobic, cocky, straining to appear macho. Rickie, however, seems more mature and likable as a character than J.T. In fact, Rickie has a hidden depth of feeling and moral sense that makes him the narrative's focus.

Of importance to the plot is Rickie's infatuation with JoAnn (Candice Accola). Ricki thinks he's in love with her, an old school crush, but J.T. derides him and convinces him to skip school to go hang out at an abandoned mental asylum instead of mooning over her. At the asylum, they can smoke, drink, and tear shit up for fun. J.T is clearly the instigator of the pair's most destructive behaviors, but Rickie is a willing participant. While exploring the tunnels beneath the asylum, they open a rusted that leads to a boiler-room. Inside, they find, gagged and bound to a table the body of a beautiful naked woman (played by Jenny Spain). Assumed dead, she soon awakens under a grimy plastic sheet, writhing on a stained mattress.

PATIENT ZERO being developed for TV

According to author Jonathan Maberry on Twitter, his zombie novel Patient Zero is being developed for TV.

He writes:

PATIENT ZERO is in development for TV. Waiting on word about a pilot.

In Patient Zero, Joe Ledger is a Baltimore detective who has just been secretly recruited to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can't handle. His first mission: stop a group of terrorists from releasing a bio-weapon that can turn ordinary people into zombies.

I just started reading Patient Zero and think it would make for some exciting television, especially if a Patient Zero series or mini-series ended up on a network such as HBO.

Zombie Fans: Please Support Haitian Disaster Relief!

Zombie fans: you have a special obligation to support the disaster relief efforts in Haiti.

On Tuesday, a devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, ravaging the city. Well over 100,000 may be dead and more remain trapped under rubble and unable to be rescued. Although international organizations are mobilizing to aid the country, Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere and therefore one of the least equipped to deal with such a disaster.

I believe that zombie fans have a special obligation to support disaster relief in Haiti. Why? The whole zombie genre that we enjoy is historically based on the exploitation of Haitian culture. It's time to give something back.

The zombie genre began with exaggerated and sensational written tales about Haitian "voodoo" such as the 1929 book The Magic Island by W.B. Seabrook. From the beginning of these exploitive colonial tales, Haitian culture and Vodou has been misunderstood and vilified in North American popular culture. The figure of the zombie, a product of this exploitive vilification, has morphed into the flesh-eating ghoul of George A. Romero's films and further evolved into the violent crazies of films such as 28 Days Later, but the beginning of the zombie was built on the backs of the economic and cultural exploitation of Haiti.

We've enjoyed these films, whether genuinely when they are as rare, respectful and subtle as Val Lewton's I Walked with a Zombie or we've enjoyed them ironically when they are as crass and exploitive as Voodoo Woman. Either way, the zombie genre we love originally came out of the exploitation of Voodoo culture for Hollywood thrillers. Many generations have grown up fearful of Haiti and Vodou based on the stereotypes in these films.

Because the genre we love came out of historical and economic exploitation, an economic exploitation that has left Haiti to become one of the poorest nations in the world, I think we need to give something back in the country's time of need.

If you have ever enjoyed a zombie book, comic, or film -- I hope you will think very seriously about donating to your country's Haiti disaster relief efforts.

The following organizations are accepting cash and in-kind donations:

• Canadian Red Cross
• UNICEF Canada
• Salvation Army in Canada
• Médecins Sans Frontières Canada
• World Vision 
• UNICEF (1-800-4UNICEF)
• Direct Relief
• Yele Haiti
• Partners in Health
• Red Cross
• World Food Program
• Mercy Corps (1-888-256-1900)
• Save the Children
• Lambi Fund
• Doctors Without Borders
• The International Rescue Committee
• Care 

The following organizations are accepting SMS donations in the US only:

• SMS text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts
• SMS text “YELE” to 501501 to Donate $5 to Yele Haiti’s Earthquake Relief efforts

Cody still looking to breathe life into BREATHERS

Diablo Cody, writer of Jennifer's Body and Juno, is still talking about making a film adaption of the comedic zombie romance novel Breathers.

In a recent interview with iF Magazine, Cody stated:

We have a script and I am thrilled with it and hope we can go into production with it soon. . . . It’s a zombie love story. Zombies are so hot now, but I like to think it’s about the personal side of being a zombie and being ostracized.

Breathers by S.G. Browne was released in 2009 from Broadway Books.

Voodoo Island (REVIEW)

REVIEW

Voodoo Island (1957)

Director: Reginald Le Borg

RATING:
1 / 5 zedheads



In my post "Zombies: The Karloff Connection," I wrote that Karloff's depiction of Frankenstein's monster inspired the representation of zombies in future films, yet Karloff never starred in a proper zombie film. In the comments section, Brother D, friend and esteemed host of the MAIL ORDER ZOMBIE podcast, reminded me that Karloff did star in the 1957 feature Voodoo Island. Now, Brother D is a man I respect. His knowledge of horror music scores and zombie media is praiseworthy, and his insightful reviews always impress me. In this case however, I disagree. Voodoo Island is NOT a zombie movie.

Rather, Voodoo Island is a mess of a movie that makes little sense. It begins with Boris Karloff as Phillip Knight, professional skeptic, who is hired by a wealthy industrialist to investigate an island the industrialists plans to develop into a luxury vacation getaway. Knight is eager to get to work and assemble his team to debunk the supposedly supernatural occurrences on the island. Knight's team includes the only crew member to return alive from the last surveying team sent to the island, but this crew member isn't very useful as he returned in a catatonic, "zombie-like" state.




This character, we presume because of the title, has been turned into a zombie by the power of voodoo. At first, he seems to be under some kind of spell, reacting oddly to music and the sight of psuedo-voodoo dolls seen along the way. He may be under some kind of spell, but the movie is so convoluted and disorganized that his character and purpose is never explained. There's not enough here to say he is, in fact, a zombie. At the end of the film, another character falls into the same catatonic, "zombie-like" state, but this is clearly not the work of magic but rather the trauma of witnessing the horrors on the island. As far as I'm concerend, there's not enough to suggest either is a zombie.

What does the rest of the movie have going for it? Very little. It's poorly paced and the voodoo angle makes no sense. In fact, voodoo barely plays a role in the picture. When it does, it looks nothing like genuine voodoo or even the bastardized movie version of voodoo. For one, the film clearly takes place on the Pacific Islands and not anywhere where voodoo exists. Second, voodoo is never really a presence in the film. Characters spend more time fighting with goofy-looking and oddly-sexual carnivorous plants. The plants, created by special effects out of inflatable tubes and balloons, kill most of the trespassers on the island as well as some of the "voodoo"-practicing natives. Voodoo Island can't figure out if it wants to be an uncanny mystery, voodoo exploitation tale, or monster plant movie. As a result, it becomes a whole lot of nothing.





There's some unintentional hilarity in watching actor Rhodes Reason lay on some thick machismo in the awkward love story between his character Matthew Gunn and Knight's assistant Sarah Adams (Beverly Tyler), but the majority of the movie is a sad bore.

A poor film in Karloff's career and and even poorer attempt at a voodoo zombie film.

Life with the Undead -- Zombie Fiction Blog

Life with the Undead is a new series of blog fiction by writer Simon Weathers. Each week, the narrator in Weathers's tale of the zombie apocalypse posts entries describing the start of the outbreak and struggle to survive in a world overcome by the undead.

Right now, the story is just getting started, but as the story progresses Weathers suggests that readers may also have the chance to influence the story at key points in the narrative.

The story of the end of the world begins at www.lifewiththeundead.com

Trailer Tuesday: L.A. Zombie

L.A. Zombie, a new film coming from director Bruce La Bruce (Otto; or, Up with Dead People)

Z.E.O Author to Talk Zombies on Internet Radio

Scott Kenemore, author of Z.E.O: The Zombie Guide to Getting A(Head) in Business will be on internet radio to talk zombies as a guest on Pagans Tonight -- Friday, January 15, at 9pm CST.

Read the ZED WORD review of Kenemore's inventive and unconventional guide to business!

I am a Zombie Filled with Love

Ohio college student Michael Winn performs a theatrical monologue of the short story "I Am a Zombie Filled With Love" by Isaac Marion.

Marion's new zombie novel Warm Bodies was just picked up by Vintage. Check out his blog Burning Building

Vintage buys Warm Bodies -- a zombie romance novel

According to Benedicte Page of The Book Seller.com we will see a new zombie love story in October, the film rights to which have already been sold to Twilight producers Summit Films.

Zombie love story to Vintage

06.01.10 Benedicte Page

Frances Macmillan, assistant editor at Vintage, has bought a "funny and charming" debut novel, Warm Bodies by Seattle-based writer Isaac Marion, for which film rights have already gone to Twilight producers Summit Films.

Macmillan bought UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada) from Lauren Pearson at Regal Literary in London.

Warm Bodies is the story of R, a zombie who yearns for a better life, and who begins to transform after he falls in love with a young human woman.

Macmillan described the book as a "brilliant modern day Romeo and Juliet with zombies", predicting it would charm fans of Stephenie Meyer and 'Shaun of the Dead' alike. The book will be published as a Vintage Original in October.

Before you scoff, know that zombie romance novels can work depending on the tone. For an example, check out my review of Generation Dead by Daniel Waters (4.5 / 5). 

DOWNLOAD: 8-Bit Left 4 Dead

I wrote about Eric Ruth's 8-Bit version of popular zombie-shooter Left 4 Dead back in November, but now you can finally play it! Eric Ruth has released his remake of Left 4 Dead as a top-down, directional action/shooter via his website. Hunt the Hunters, smoke the Smokers, and boom the Boomers in glorious 8-Bit graphics!

DOWNLOAD 8-Bit Left 4 Dead

Game-play Video