Backwoods Horror

Frank Darabont (THE MIST, SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) will be writing and directing the mini-series version of the Image Comics hit ‘THE WALKING DEAD’ created by Robert Kirkman for AMC.

This from Shock Till You Drop:

AMC and Frank Darabont (The Mist) are inching ever so close to teaming up to adapt the Image Comics graphic novel series “The Walking Dead,” written by Robert Kirkman.

Darabont will write and direct! Incredible. It’s been rumored that the series would go to Showtime  or HBO, however, Darabont could make this work for AMC.

Variety says that Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Motion Pictures and David Alpert of Circle of Confusion are also on board to executive produce.

The story is set among a group of zombie survivors of an apocalypse who are led by a police officer, Rick Grimes, in search of a safe place to live.

AMC Senior Vice President of Programming Joel Stillerman said the series will stay faithful to the tone of the original novels. “This is not about zombies popping out of closets. This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world (in ‘Walking Dead’) is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way.”

I know I’ll sure as hell be looking forward to this one!  It’ll be fuckin’ awesome.  Forget the shitty CGI in THE MIST, Frank Darabont is one of the few directors who could really breathe life into this comic and make it a badass fuckin’ flick!

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

George A. Romero’s new zombie epic, formerly titled …OF THE DEAD, has now received the title SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD.  The film will be premiering at the TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.  For pics from the flick, check out TIFF’s page for the film HERE!

This from SHOCK TILL YOU DROP:

Survival of the Dead follows a war-weary band of soldiers who are lured to a remote island that promises to be the last paradise on earth, only to discover that even here there is no escape from the appetites of either the living or the dead.

Says Romero, “We’re in the final stages of post-production and it’s great to come up for air and find out the film’s been chosen to appear at the Festival. It’s just a terrific honor.”

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

So…I’m not exactly sure how this film is being marketed.  It seems like a pandemic flick, a mass plague wiping out mankind; chaos, brutality, and hilarious hijinks ensue.  But then, towards the end of the trailer, it almost seems like an American 28 DAYS LATER as it looks like the infected, or, “Carriers” can still move around like crazy, rabid zombies.  Because Chris Pine’s in it, the film will more than likely hit the big screen as opposed to a direct-to-DVD route.  Here’s hoping it’s more 28 DAYS LATER than DISEASE FLICK.  CARRIERS may be one to watch.  Here’s the Trailer:

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

See, here’s the thing, I’m torn on this one.  On one side, I’m REALLY FUCKING STOKED ABOUT ZOMBIELAND, coming to us October 9th, 2009.  I mean, it’s Zombies and Woody Harrelson (who I dig in just about everything he’s done).  But then there’s that aspect of a rather high budget which always, for me anyway, seems to spell disaster for any zombie flick.  LAND OF THE DEAD anyone?  Ah, fuck it, you say ZOMBIES and I’m there with my Shotgun, Machete, and sixer of beer!  Here’s some information about the flick from the good boils ‘n ghouls over at Shock Till You Drop:

Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin play band of survivors who team to fight the living dead in the post-apocalyptic Southwest after a zombie plague ravages America.

The official synopsis: Columbus (Eisenberg) has made a habit of running from what scares him. Tallahassee (Harrelson) doesn’t have fears. If he did, he’d kick their ever-living ass. In a world overrun by zombies, these two are perfectly evolved survivors. But now, they’re about to stare down the most terrifying prospect of all: each other.

Fuck Yes, I’m seein’ this one!

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

Just came across this story over at Dread Central:

Rejoice zombie fans! Word has it that the godfather of the zombie genre, George A. Romero, is gearing up to bring us more of his pitch-perfect brand of undead mayhem in a startling new form.

Romero is in the final stages of negotiations with Grand Central Publishing of New York to bring fans two original novels that take place within the Dead universe.

To say that Romero is an authority on the modern-day zombie is a bit of an understatement. In fact I’d hazard to say there’s no one else on the planet more qualified to write a zombie book than George. The debut novel will brings fans exactly what they’ve been craving as it will feature Romero laying down the ground rules of the zombie epidemic right from the beginning of the end. Looks like we may even get a chance to find out why these things got up and started feasting.

Grand Central is set to publish the first book in the summer of 2010, with a second book to follow sometime after that. Look for more details on the books as soon as we get them.

Looks fucking sweet!  Better get my readin’ eyes out for these!

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

Ok, took a look at the new ...OF THE DEAD trailer over at Fangoria (see below).  What can I say…  this movie looks like it’s going to blow as much as DIARRHEA OF THE DEAD .  Come on Romero.  I love ya, I really do…but…you know…this is starting to get embarrasing.  Check the trailer to see what I mean.  Looks like a Sci-Fi Original.  Damn, I really was hoping for a return to form, some last hurrah, but this thing looks like ass.  DAMN!

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

Happened to be sent a link from a friend of mine about a zombified version of “tag” goin’ around the college campuses.  Check it out:

By Matthew Daneman, USA TODAY
ROCHESTER, N.Y. –

Al Palmer has a slim build, an easy smile, and a near-insatiable hunger for human flesh.

Palmer, 27, of Litchfield, Maine, is an industrial-design student at Rochester Institute of Technology. He wears in his headband the IDs of 17 students who had been humans until he tagged them, turning them into zombies.

“I get the biggest kick out of walking up behind someone who’s looking all around except behind them,” he says as his group prepares to head out into the night. “It gets your heart pumping, that exhilaration.”

Welcome to the world of Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ), a tag-like game that is the latest trend in campus entertainment. An HvZ game typically involves hundreds of students and runs 24 hours a day for days on end; dwindling numbers of humans try to fend off and outlast growing legions of zombies.

The rules are fundamentally simple: Zombie tags human, human becomes a zombie. Unlike movie zombies, with shambling walks and undead makeup, zombies in the game just wear headbands to distinguish them from armband-wearing humans. And they are free to sprint.

Humans ward off zombies with Nerf guns or by hitting them with a balled-up sock – a defensive move that stuns the zombie, usually for 15 minutes. The goal is to still be a live human at the end.

A group of students at Goucher College in Towson, Md., is credited with starting the game, which has spread across the USA. Addicted to the first-person shooter video game Splinter Cell, the students wanted to create a live version of it on campus; it turned into tag and then became zombie-fied, says Goucher graduate Brad Sappington, one of the creators.

“It just unfolded like that: ‘We like zombies. Let’s find a way to make real zombies at college.’ It was alcohol-induced, I’m sure.”

The Internet has played a big role in the spread of the game. Goucher students created a website (hvzsource.com) that is a repository of information about and rules for the game. And YouTube videos of the game being played at Goucher have found fans at other schools.

Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., hosted its first student-organized HvZ game last fall after one student stumbled across online video footage of the game and brought the idea there, says Jason White, 23, a senior from Indianapolis who is organizing a tournament there this week.

RIT hosted its first HvZ game last fall after Zack Bessler, 21, a computer science major from Lyman, Maine, said he came across information about the game.

“It just sounded like ridiculous amounts of fun,” Bessler says. “Does it get any better than zombie-themed tag?”

That’s fuckin’ sweet.  Check THIS LINK for more on the game….  Sounds like a cool-ass Halloween party game to me…. Once again…sweeeeeet…

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

One of my continuous sources of creamy horror goodness, Shock Till You Drop, released some info. on the upcoming George A. Romero Zombie flick…and guess what, it’s not a sequel to the abysmal Diary Of The Dead.  Seems like it’s gonna be an entirely original flick in his Zombie canon.  The most information they’ve got thus far is that it’s going to take place on an island.  Not a huge scoop, but stay tuned boils ‘n ghouls because as soon as I know more, you’ll know more!
This probably explains why he postponed his visit to Charlotte, NC (nearby stompin’ grounds for yours truly). 

Keep It Creepy!

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

The indy pic Zombie Strippers is coming to haunt video store shelves on October 28th.  For those not in the know:

“The film opens with a news montage explaining that it is set in the near future where the Bush Administration has been elected to a fourth term, shut down the United States Congress, instituted a ban on public nudity, and is embroiled in a war with Iraq, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Canada, and an independent Alaska. To support the war effort, a secret laboratory in Sartre, Nebraska has developed a virus to re-animate dead marines and send them back into battle. However, the virus has broken containment and infected test subjects and scientists are at risk of escaping the lab. A team of marines codenamed the “Z” Squad is sent in to destroy the zombies, but one of the marines named Byrdflough (Zak Kilberg) is bitten and escapes. The infected marine ends up in an alley outside an underground strip club named Rhino. The marine dies and awakens as a zombie that goes into the club.

Rhino is run by Ian Essko (Robert Englund). A new stripper named Jessy has arrived at the club to save up enough money for her grandmother’s operation. She is introduced to the club’s star dancer, an intellectual stripper named Kat (Jenna Jameson). Kat begins her dance on the stage, but is attacked by Byrdflough, who ends up biting and infecting her. Essko is concerned about losing his best dancer, so he lets her go back on stage as a zombie. To everyone’s surprise, Kat is a better and more popular dancer as a zombie than she was as a human.

The other strippers now find themselves faced with the prospect of losing their customers, since the men now prefer zombie strippers instead of human strippers. One by one, the human strippers become zombies, some by choice in order to compete or (in the case of a Goth stripper Lillith played by Roxy Saint) for fun. During private dances, the zombie strippers bite and kill their customers. Essko tries to keep the zombies hidden in a cage in the club’s cellar, but eventually, the zombies escape and overrun the club. The strippers fight each other for supremacy, which includes a moment where Kat shoots ping-pong and billiard balls out of her vagina at her opponent.

The remaining humans in the club struggle to survive until the “Z” Squad burst in to destroy the zombies. But they discover that the zombies were allowed to escape by the Bush administration, who hoped that the ensuing zombie plague would distract the population from the war and the economy.”–From Wikipedia

Sounds like this flick is going to be full of horror comedy cheese.  I mean, Zombies AND Strippers…how can it go wrong?  We’ll see on October 28th.  Check out the Trailer below:

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites