Bloody Disgusting debuts new trailer for WAR OF THE DEAD

As I posted yesterday, the WWII zombie film WAR OF THE DEAD will be making its world premiere at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. Today, Bloody-Digusting.com gives us the first look at the new poster and trailer.

Click for poster. Trailer embedded below.

Toronto After Dark: War of the Dead Joins Final 10 Films

Yesterday, Toronto After Dark revealed the final ten films for its 2011 festival lineup running Oct 20-27. Aside from the first eight films I spotlighted earlier this month, which included zombie movies Deadheads and Exit Humanity, Toronto After Dark announced it will be hosting the world premiere of Lithuanian zombie flick War of the Dead, by director Marko Makilaasko.




The festival will also include screenings of these other exciting genre films:

THE INNKEEPERS

Ti West (House of the Devil) directs this horror-thriller centered on the last two employees at a haunted hotel that's going out of business.

THE WOMAN

 

When a successful country lawyer captures and attempts to "civilize" the last remaining member of a violent feral clan that has roamed the Northeast coast for decades, he puts the lives of his family in jeopardy.

VS




Four superheroes abducted by their Arch Nemesis (James Remar) and are forced to compete in a series of challenges in order to save an abandoned town full of kidnapped innocent civilians.

MIDNIGHT SON

 

Jacob is a young man confined to a life of isolation due to a rare skin disorder that prevents him from being exposed to sunlight and forces him to drink human blood for sustenance.

MANBORG

 

In the future, Hell has taken over the world, and the evil Count Draculon holds Earth in his grasp. Three human rebel fighters are aided by the cyborg Manborg in an attempt to defeat Count Draculon and his demonic minions.

A LONELY PLACE TO DIE

 

In the isolated mountains of the Scottish Highlands, a group of hikers discover a young kidnapped girl, but when they attempt to rescue her they are pursued by the deadly abductors.

THE CORRIDOR

 

During a male-bonding weekend, a group of friends discover a spectral corridor through the woods that leads them into fear, into betrayal, and perhaps to their deaths.

SOME GUY WHO KILLS PEOPLE

 

Ken Boyd, a lonely man fresh out of the loony bin,  sets out to kill those he deems responsible for his miserable life in this dark comedy.

ABSENTIA




A woman and her sister begin to link a mysterious tunnel to a series of disappearances, including that of her own husband.

"Be Wise, Shoot Between the Eyes" - Zachary Levi's Zombie PSA

Zachary Levi (Chuck) imparts some down-home, undead wisdom in this public service announcement about zombies.

The Limousines - Internet Killed the Radio Star (Sexy Zombie Music Video)

Even though Hot Zombie Nights, our month long feature on sexy zombies, ended in August, it's always a good time for more sexy zombies. That's why Nug Nahrgang - actor, comedian, and sexy zombie contest judge - sent me a link to this zombie-filled music video for The Limousines song "Internet Killed the Radio Star".

In this darkly whimsical video, two kids attempt to survive a zombie attack using homemade weapons, and some of the zombies are pretty hot.

ZOMBIE BALL: October 1 @ Doors Pub

Hey Hamilton, kick off the Halloween season by having a Zombie Ball at The Doors Pub!

Time	Saturday, October 1 at 8:00pm
Location	The Doors Pub  56 Hess St. S  Hamilton, ON

CJtv Media Presents Zombie Ball, Kicking off October with the Undead!

Admission: $4.00

$3.50 SHOTS

Performing live on this night; Canada's Wicked Sh!t King...J RENO

 EVERY ZOMBIE ON SITE RECIEVES 1 FREE COPY OF J RENO 'THE LUNATIC IS BACK' UPON ENTRY

Plus Arch Angel Photography the #1 Underground Photographer will be setting up a full prom style photo booth to snap your pictures. Prints available on spot for your needs.

Raffle tickets; 2$ each 3 for 5$

Also bring a canned good for to donate to charity: 1 raffle ticket per canned good, Max. 5

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

Trailer Tuesday: Days of Darkness

ZOMBINLADEN: The Axis of Evil Dead (Trailer)

It's gory. It's offensive. It's funny as hell. Check out this trailer for the fake film Zombinladen: The Axis of Evil Dead in which Osama Bin Laden returns to life to wage zombie jihad on a small French island. This trailer is a mini-movie in and of itself.

 ZOMBINLADEN The Axis Of Evil Dead from Clement Deneux on Vimeo.  
Zombinladen was written and directed by Clément Deneux. As has happened with Hobo With a Shotgun and Astron-6's Father's Day, I really hope that Zombinladen becomes a feature film some day.

SEXY ZOMBIE FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

You've seen the contestants. You voted for your favorites. Now, The Zed Word is proud to announce the reader's choice for Sexiest Female Zombies.

And they are:

#1.) COURTNEY (279 out of 1342 votes)

#2.) STACY (226 out of 1342 votes)

#3.) ROXIE (191 out of 1342 votes) 

Thank you to all who entered, voted, and helped spread the word about this contest.

Now, we enter the final stage. Courtney, Stacy, and Roxie will go before our panel of zombie sexperts but only one of these lovely undead ladies will be crowned the SEXIEST FEMALE ZOMBIE.

Please join me in wishing each of them good luck. The final winner will be announced October 1st. Stay tuned, zombie fans.

Epic Zombie Meal Time: Now You're Cooking with Brains

Looks like all that hard-eating done by the boys over at Epic Meal Time has finally caught up with them. They've died and come back as zombies, but they're still hungry. Hungry for real brains.



In what is, without a doubt, one of the most disgusting episodes of Epic Meal Time ever, the boys find creative ways to use brains, bacon, and liquor to cook up some ghoulish grub.

If the makeup reminds you of The Post-Lifers trailer posted this week, it's because the filmmakers of The Post-Lifers helped put together this very special episode of Epic Meal Time.

Now who's hungry?

LAST DAY TO VOTE: Sexy Zombie Contest

Today is the absolutely very last and completely final day to vote in our Sexy Zombie Photo Contest.

Tomorrow, the three sexy zombies with the most votes will advance to the final round of voting. Make sure to have your say.

Scroll down to see contestants and VOTE TODAY



CONTESTANTS



#1.) STACY

 -----------------------------------------------

#2.) BLOODY BORIS

 -----------------------------------------------

#3.) ROXIE

 -----------------------------------------------

#4.) NICOLE

 -----------------------------------------------

#5.) SARAH

-----------------------------------------------

#6.) SHANNON

 -----------------------------------------------

 #7.) COURTNEY

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#8.) RED HERRING

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#9.) JENNY

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#10.) MEG

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#11.) Malicia

Trailer Tuesday: The Post-Lifers

Community: The Zombie Episode

If you don't watch Community on NBC, then you're a fool. A dang'ed fool! \

All insults aside, you're missing one of the funniest shows on television. One of the best episodes was the Halloween episode from season two: "Epidemiology." In it, some bad food at a Halloween party turns everyone into zombies. Here are some clips for your enjoyment.

Zombies of the World (Review)

REVIEW

Zombies of the World:
A Field Guide to the Undead

By Ross Payton

Slang Design: 2011

RATING:
4.5 / 5 zedheads


Zombies of the World is a relief from everything that's wrong with most zombie guides. Unlike many other guides that are tedious and dry attempts to cash in on the undead, Zombies of the World is sharply written, wonderfully illustrated and designed, mercifully concise, and deeply influenced by zombie culture. And most important of all: it's really fun to read.

Zombies of the World offers itself up as a guidebook written by researchers from a parallel universe in which zombies are an accepted fact of life, history, and culture. It's a quirky universe based on zombie movies, literature, mythology, and Hollywood's output of B-grade theatre fare. In the universe of Zombies of the World, there exist twenty species of undead, including "zombies" inspired by such well-known films as Night of the Living Dead, Return of the Living Dead, and 28 Days Later. There are also undead based on other tangential "zombie" genres like Italian zombie films and slasher films featuring undead killers, such as Jason Voorhees. The guide even draws inspiration from international mythology and literary fiction (especially the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft). Who would expect there to be profiles of zombie species inspired by even the smallest niches of the zombie genre, such as the dancing zombies of Thriller? The dancing zombie gets a whole page devoted to its physiology, behavior, and reproduction! How cool is that?

This is a universe where dancing zombies exist because, in our reality, Thriller exists. This is a universe where time-traveling robots from the future completely wiped out the world's population of ancient Aztec mummies because, in our reality, there's a cheesy movie called The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy. Payton has devised a world in which every type of fictional undead creature (except vampires) is real, and he's described this world in rich, outlandish detail full of sly references and Easter eggs for zombie and horror fans to identify. Accompanying Payton's chapters on zombie species, zombie science, the cultural history of zombies, and zombie survival are marvelous full-colour illustrations by artists like Tom Rhodes.

Now, some hardline zombie fans may be quick to point out that Mummies are not zombies. Revenants like Jason Voorhees are not zombies. New England Ghouls (the dog-faced monsters described by H.P. Lovecraft) are not zombies. Normally, I'd be first to agree, but within the fictional world Payton devises, he offers a compelling reason why all these different undead creatures belong under the title of "zombie." Is has less to do with our preconceived notions based on movies and more to do with their shared genetic connection to mysterious (fictional) force Payton calls the Omega Anima. Within the world Payton constructs, I'm more than happy to call a Mummy a zombie.

The only point at which Zombies of the World lost my attention was in the chapter relating to zombie survival. We've had too many zombie survival books on the market lately repeating the same information. I wanted more exploration of this quirky pop-culture world that Payton was playing in because it felt fresh and new. However, even when the survival section felt most dry, it was accompanied with great illustrations and written with a knowledge of zombie films often lacking in other books.

Zombies of the World is a lot of fun. It's tongue-in-cheek but feels like it could be an authentic text from a silly universe of dancing zombies, hopping Chinese corpses, and time-traveling robots that use Aztec Mummies for fuel. And I want to see more of this world.

Find more information and how to order your own copy from www.zombiesoftheworld.com

[REC]3 Genesis Trailer: Less POV. More Chainsaw.

The trailer for [REC]3 has dropped. Although I wasn't a fan of [REC]2 (review), I'm actually looking forward to Paco Plaza's first solo film in the demonic [REC] franchise because it leaves behind the POV style of the first two films.

FREE PREVIEW- Avery Nolan: Private Dick of the Dead

New York: 1959. On the hot streets of the Big Apple, private detective Avery Nolan is on the trail of a missing scientist whose work on experimental regeneration and reanimation technology may have gone too far.

This is the premise of Avery Nolan: Private Dick of the Dead, a new mystery/thriller by Tony Faville (Kings of the Dead) written in the pulpy style of Hard Boiled Detective stories, but with a zombie twist.

How does Nolan, a gum-shoe accustomed to snapping shots of cheating husbands, get himself caught up in a dangerous game of intrigue and the living dead? Read on for a special preview of the first chapter. Then experience the thrilling conclusion by picking up Avery Nolan: Private Dick of the Dead on Smashwords or Amazon.

CHAPTER ONE
September 22, 1959
New York, New York

It is a quarter to six on a Tuesday afternoon as I
walk out of the 42nd Street movie house. I just
finished watching the latest singing cowboy movie
to come out of Hollywood and I had hoped that the
last hour and a half would help to ease half a
lifetime of pain and suffering.

I should have known better than to expect a
miracle.

It is late September, and the skies are dark with
a storm front blowing in from the northwest. I pull
my fedora down low over my head and pop the
collar of my overcoat up to shield my neck from the
now blowing winds and cutting rain. Stepping
around the corner and into the partial shelter the
alleyway provided, I pull a half-empty pack of
Lucky Strikes from my pocket, shake out a smoke,
and tap it against the side of my zippo.

Rolling the dented and scratched hunk of brass
around in my hand, I watch it as it moves in the
quickly fading daylight. I can't help but remember
its former owner, a Navy Corpsman, who lit my
smoke for me as I lay there bleeding into the black
sands of Iwo Jima. Of course I can never forget, for
just as he flipped it shut, he took a Jap round in the
neck. When he fell over dead across my body, the
lighter must have fallen into my gear because it was
with me when I finally got home. I have carried it
with me every day since.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies (Review)

REVIEW

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies

By Matt Mogk

Gallery Books: 2011

RATING:
5 / 5 zedheads


Whether you're new to zombie culture or you've been a diehard zombie fan for years, there's one book you need that's even more important than Max Brooks's classic Zombie Survival Guide. You need Matt Mogk's Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies. Why? Because it lives up to its title completely.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies is the perfect summary of everything that's developed in modern zombie entertainment and popular culture since the 1968 release of Night of the Living Dead. In this accessible yet comprehensive guide to everything zombie, Matt Mogk (founder and director of The Zombie Research Society) tackles zombie basics, zombie science, zombie survival, and zombie popular culture with the attention and love the subject deserves. Never have I read a non-fiction zombie book from a major publisher that manages to cite obscure zombie films like Raiders of the Living Dead while demonstrating an insightful understanding of the academic thought that real researchers are giving to the theoretical zombie apocalypse. At the same time, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies remains accessible enough for readers whose only zombie experience extends to a few rounds of Left 4 Dead or staying up late once to watch the Dawn of the Dead remake.

As someone who has immersed himself in zombie culture, I didn't find that Matt Mogk's Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies presented me with much information that I didn't already know, but that's okay. I still devoured this book in only a few sittings. Mogk's enthusiasm and love of the zombie genre is embedded in every page. As you read, Mogk's snappy style synthesizes developments in theoretical zombie science and zombie survival by digesting a flooded market of other zombie guides into their most vital and essential points. A lot of zombie survival books are overwrought, but Mogk's section on zombie survival is concise and hits you with the cold, hard, reality of a potential zombie apocalypse with more impact than even Max Brooks's Zombie Survival Guide.

Even though a lot of information wasn't new to me, that's not to say that Mogk's book isn't original. It is equal parts summary of zombies in popular culture and exposure of myths and inaccuracies that infest the glut of poorly researched zombie books on the market by authors who can't tell a zombie from a mummy. No one I've read until Matt Mogk has been able to lay out every important development in zombie media so clearly without simply rehashing the books and movies that have come before. I am thoroughly impressed.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies is now THE required text in the world of zombie studies. With Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies, Matt Mogk has put a cap on the last 43 years of zombie entertainment and fan culture. Most importantly, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies is more than a guide book. It's the best summary of what zombies are in fiction, what they could be in reality, and exactly why our society would collapse in the zombie apocalypse.

If you're an author currently working on yet another zombie survival guide or zombie guidebook like the ones that already flood the market, you should just give up now. Mogk has closed that door. If you want to contribute something new to zombie culture, you have to contribute something that Mogk doesn't write about in Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies, because if Mogk did write about it, chances are it's already been done to death. The future of zombie culture starts with Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies.

So start making the future already and stop rehashing the zombie survival guides of the past.

Four Reasons to Buy Dead Genesis: Special Edition

If you've been reading The Zed Word for any time, you've probably seen me praise the virtues of the film DEAD GENESIS (review). It's smart, it's gory, it's steeped in Romero-isms, and now it's available on DVD in Canada with special features.

I've reviewed the film. I've seen the special features. And I have four reasons why you should buy Dead Genesis on DVD. Right. Now.

1.) The first five minutes of Dead Genesis hits like a machete to the stomach that leaves you standing wide-eyed and clutching at your unspooling intestines.

2.) There is a blooper titled "The Violent Humping of Producer Justin Dmitruk" that is as funny as it sounds.

3.) It contains the zombie segment from Fright Bytes, which is itself an amazing web show hosted by Lianne Spiderbaby. The segment is directed by Dead Genesis writer/director Reese Eveneshen, and it reunites members of the Dead Genesis's cast. It's almost a mini-sequel.

4.) Both the director and producer/cast commentaries proves that director Reese Eveneshen is a zombie fan through-and-through. It's also clear that he and his team are some of the brightest and most resourceful talents in the independent film scene. You're going to learn a lot about making good indie movies just by listening to Eveneshen and his producers describe the making of Dead Genesis.

So, for the price of only $19.95 (including shipping), you get all this and a feature-length movie for less than some of the bare-bones new releases at your local Wal-Mart.

Unfortunately, the special edition is only available in Canada at this time, but if you're a fellow Canuck who loves good zombie movies, put your twoonies where your mouth is and buy your copy of Dead Genesis today.

Zombie PSA from THE GOON

The Goon is a great comic by Eric Powell, and for the last year or so David Fincher and Blur Studios have been trying to adapt it into an animated feature. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to secure the funding despite releasing amazing proof-of-concept footage.

Apparently, this hasn't stopped the animators from whipping up some more test videos, like this PSA about what to do when you encounter a slack jaw.



If this film doesn't get made, it will be the greatest crime against cinema since Twilight.

Trailer Tuesday: Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!

TODAY: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies -- A Live Twitter Chat

Make sure you hope on Twitter this morning. I (@thezedword), will be live chatting with author Matt Mogk (@mattmogk) on the release of his new book EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ZOMBIES.

The zombie talk begins at 10:00am EDT. We will be using the hash tag #thezedword so you can follow along. You need this information to survive, people.

Conceived as the most comprehensive zombie handbook ever published, the book covers every aspect of zombie science, survival, history and pop culture. In one indispensable volume, Matt Mogk busts popular myths and answers all your raging questions about the living dead.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies goes on sale today where all pro-active zombie books are sold.

Matt Mogk is founder and head of the Zombie Research Society and author of the zombie children's book That's Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale

Donate to Deader Days: A New Dark Comedy Web-Series.

An aspiring group of young actors and film-makers are trying to get their pet zombie project off the ground, and they need your help!

Deader Days is the proposed zombie comedy web-series about Daryl, "just another Zombie trying to make it in the real world full of tasty humans, asshole co-workers, pot-head roomies, and sexy love interests. Life was hard, being Dead is harder."

Metronome Pictures is looking to raise $7, 500 to shoot a movie-quality first season independently and with the freedom to bring you something fresh and new. If you'd like to get involved and support independent horror and zombie media, please donate at http://www.indiegogo.com/Deader-Days.

 

Walking Among the Dead (Review)

Walking Among the Dead (2010)

Directors:
Mickey Cardoni
Ionas von Zezschwitz

RATING:
3 / 5 zedheads

 

If you embrace the rebel spirit of guerrilla film-making, there are going to be challenges.

Directors Mickey Cardoni and Ionas von Zezschwitz of She-Died Productions found this out while making their super-indie zombie saga Walking Among the Dead. Going forth without permits or permission to shoot their violent film on a MiniDV, they found themselves hunted by the police, questioned, and occasionally arrested. After four years of production on Walking Among the Dead, shot all over Southern Ontario, they've finally finished. And was it worth all the run-ins with the law?

If you're going to go Walking Among the Dead, you're going to get bloody

For the most part, Walking Among the Dead is an achievement in ultra-low budget independent film-making. It's a simple story about a group of survivors attempting to make it to the town of Roanoke while picking up others along the way. Except for a back story about a religious cult, there's not much to the characters, and the movie feels more episodic than theatrical at times. As such, Walking Among the Dead can't hold a handle to films with higher production value, but given what Cardoni and von Zezschwitz had to work with, I'd say that Walking Among the Dead remains an achievement in indie horror film. I won't lie: the makeup effects are cheap, the acting is rough, and the dialogue is preachy, but there's an incredible sense of consistency, continuity, and DIY spirit throughout this film lacking in others of its type. While shooting on the MiniDV gives the film a very digital appearance in which details are washed out, ironically, the creative use of the same camera and the lack of flashy CGI or effects gives the story a surprisingly realistic and raw touch.

Walking Among the Dead won't make you want to blow your brains out like other low-budget stinkers

So what does Walking Among the Dead do well? Namely, gore. Despite its ultra-low budget (which compelled the filmmakers to take liberties with retail return policies to get money back on props), Walking Among the Dead has some excellent blood and gore effects. The zombies in Walking Among the Dead only rise after death. Their bites are not infectious and do not spread a zombie disease. But the undead are still incredibly hungry, so we get to see several scenes of evisceration and gut munching on par or surpassing that of other low-budget zombie efforts.

It's all-you-can-eat in the zombie apocalypse

 Unfortunately, the makeup is not on par with the gore effects. The zombies look terrible and cheap. Without a budget or timetable for advanced makeup or prosthetic appliances, the zombies in Walking Among the Dead are essentially covered in pale grease paint and black smudges around the eyes and cheek bones. They are the worst kind of quick n' dirty Halloween costumes. Some of the hero zombies (ones who get close ups) are given more attention, but most of the zombies look like brain dead mimes. While I understand that shooting guerrilla style neither affords the filmmakers a budget nor time to create more realistic zombies, I can't get over how bad these ghouls look. Zombie films are a haven for low-budget zombie films, but audiences come for the zombies, so if careful attention isn't given to crafting the zombies, everything else looks cheap as a result.

Trick or Treat

George A. Romero got lucky with his low budget Night of the Living Dead because it was shot on film and in black and white. Low-budget digital video is very harsh on bad makeup; it brings out the worst details and tends to distort even good makeup. Film, however, is richer and smoother. Also, colour video is much less forgiving than black and white. Bad makeup becomes even more apparent. Walking Among the Dead might have been able to avoid these problems with a black and white conversion.

There. That takes the edge off.

 Makeup aside, I was more impressed by Mickey Cardoni and Ionas von Zezschwitz's use of real-word spaces as sets. Filming in houses, basements, sewers, storm drains, tunnels, forests, rocky lake shores, and city streets, Cardoni and von Zezschwitz are not afraid to take the zombie apocalypse out of the home and into the real world. Too many low-budget features confine the action to a house or small location because it's easier to manage or light, but Walking Among the Dead takes you on what feels like a very expansive and real journey in the survivor's quest to reach Roanoke. Along the way, actors do their own stunts (some of which looked pretty dangerous). This raw realism held my attention through much of the film's languid points.

A safe haven or a prison?

Speaking of languid, I can't recommend this film for the acting. It's flat, emotionally atonal, and the script suffers the same problem that crippled Romero's Diary of the Dead: it's preachy and ham-fisted. Characters aren't so much characters as they are mouthpieces for espousing different philosophies about humanity and survival. The characters in Walking Among the Dead don't talk like any real person I've ever heard, especially in a crisis situation. Outside of pretentious Grad Students, I've never talked with anyone who waxed this philosophically, as if reading a pre-scripted lecture or from cue cards. I can forgive hiring non-actors or even poorly trained actors, but let them talk like people! Leave the social subtext in the subtext. It becomes less interesting when you pull it out and stick it in the character's mouths.

As you can see, Walking Among the Dead is not a smooth ride. The quality of the visuals and acting is rough and amateurish. At the same time, the scope of the film, the editing, the effects, and the raw, DIY realism are really impressive for a guerrilla production. On The Zed Word, we give 3/5 zedheads to movies that are FLAWED (Worth a look but flawed, or good ideas poorly executed.). Walking Among the Dead is certainly flawed, but it's also interesting. Admittadly, most of my interest comes from the way it was produced as opposed to the story itself, but I still think Walking Among the Dead deserves to be seen if you know what you're in for.

If you are interested in what two talented filmmakers can do with next to no budget and only the barest of resources, then check out Walking Among the Dead. It's far from a perfect film, but it has heart.

Live Twitter Chat: EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ZOMBIES -- Sept 13 (10:00am EDT)

If you're not following me on twitter (@thezedword), you should start. It's a matter of life or death.

On Sept 13th, I will be joining Matt Mogk (@mattmogk), the author of EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT ZOMBIES, for a live Twitter chat from 10:00-11:30EDT. We will be using the hash tag #thezedword so you can follow along.

Conceived as the most comprehensive zombie handbook ever published, the book covers every aspect of zombie science, survival, history and pop culture. In one indispensable volume, Matt Mogk busts popular myths and answers all your raging questions about the living dead.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies goes on sale September 13 where all zombie pro-active books are sold.

Matt Mogk is founder and head of the Zombie Research Society and author of the zombie children's book That's Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale

DO NOT miss this Twitter chat. You need this information to survive, people.

Saturday in Hamilton: Spooky Stuff at Supercrawl and Locke St. Festival

This Saturday was a busy day in Hamilton, Ontario. Among the many events happening all over town, I stopped in at the Pagan Harvest Festival at Gage Park, the annual Locke Street Festival, and the Supercrawl on James Street in search of spooky and horror-themed offerings.

Can I offer you some bullshit?

The Pagan Harvest Festival turned out to not be my scene. I don't like to judge anyone's beliefs or faith, but I have a very low tolerance for supernatural hokum and psychic flim-flam. So, to me, the Pagan Festival looked like a Fantasy convention had thrown up all over a new age renaissance fair. I can only take so many booths selling magic crystals, Tarot card readings, and fairy wings before I have to get the hell out of there. Luckily, there was a garage sale nearby where I scored a copy of the crazy and dystopic Australian New Wave film Dead End Drive-In. That made up for it.

Beauty!

So, my next stop in search of the spooky was the Locke Street Festival where I ran into none other than the Gothic Gourd Girl herself and sexy zombie contestant, Stacy of Gothicgourds.com. Stacy's booth was an oasis of spooky stuff amidst the usual vendors on Locke Street. She had creepy soaps, zombie-themed t-shirts, and her trademark carved pumpkins and floral arrangements.

All the gourds that are fit to gore

Sweet Candy Body Parts

Fall arrangements

IN THE EVENT OF A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
REMEMBER TO SEVER THE HEAD

Spooky Carvings

Spooky Carvings

Spooky Carvings

After chatting with Stacy, I moved down the street and found the booth for Miss Belle's Handmade Accessories. Among all the awesome handmade crafts, buttons, and mustache-themed t-shirts (which you can see at her Etsy Store), I settled on a Bloody Bone catnip toy.

Oh, dem bones.

Do you think my cats will like it?

Apparently

After lunch, I left Locke to check out the James Street North SUPERCRAWL. And who likes to crawl? Zombies like to crawl. Representing the zombies, we had directors Phil Pattison (Vs. The Dead) and Chris Harrison (Devil's Night) of Nictophobia Films as well as blog-regular Carlos Henriques, local effects and gore whiz from The Butcher Shop. The guys were set up selling copies of the indie zombie film Vs. The Dead, which I reviewed back in 2009.

 While on James Street, I stopped in to chat with the good folks that run Hammer City Records, but while leaving I made an unexpectedly cute yet gruesome crochet discovery at the booth for These Loving Hands.

Apparently, it glows in the dark

I love its pink little nerves. These Loving Hands offers a number of cute yarn creatures, including crocheted versions of kids' crayon drawings called Crayarns.

So that was my Saturday seeking out the spooky in Hamilton. I left with a zombie DVD, an Australian exploitation film, gory cat toys, and a headless eye. Not a bad haul, I think.

Walking Dead Garners Scream Award and Emmy Nominations

Both the Scream Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards have announced their nominees, but whereas the Scream Awards gave The Walking Dead much love, the Emmys have all but ignored the show except in areas of makeup and special effects achievement.

At the Scream Awards, AMC's The Walking Dead is nominated for:

• The Ultimate Scream 
• Best TV Show
• Best Horror Actress (Sarah Wayne Callies)
• Best Horror Actor (Andrew Lincoln)
• Best Supporting Actress (Laurie Holden) 
• Breakout Performance - Male (Jon Bernthal)

while the comic got some nominations of its own.

• Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel
• Best Comic Book Writer (Robert Kirkman; The Astounding Wolf-Man, Haunt, Invincible, The Walking Dead)
• Best Comic Book Artist (Charlie Adlard; The Walking Dead)
     

The Emmys however, only gave The Walking Dead three nods, and only in technical categories:

• Outstanding Makeup For A Miniseries Or A Movie (Non-Prosthetic)
• Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series
• Outstanding Sound Editing For A Series 

What do you think? Did the Primetime Emmy Awards snub The Walking Dead?


You can catch the Emmys on 9/18  FOX at 8ET/5PT. The Scream Awards air on Spike TV on 10/18 at 8/9C.