Dead Snow was a fun, campy movie about Nazi zombies in Norway. It was never going to win many awards (especially in subtitle-adverse America), but it was certainly worth a watch. Now the sequel is on its way: Dead Snow: Red vs. Dead. It’s not going to be just more of the same, though. One of the survivors lost his arm, and one of the Nazi zombies lost his arm. Apparently the doctor didn’t notice that the Nazi arm was dead, because he reattached it to the survivor, meaning we’ve got that wonderful cliche of the evil hand on a good guy’s body. And from this first teaser trailer, it looks like the good guy can use it to dish out some serious damage. It looks like more campy fun, and I’d definitely like to see the finished product. Read more…
Way to get our hopes up, Bruce. Two weeks ago, Bruce Campbell confirmed that Army of Darkness 2 would be made by Sam Raimi. Now, he’s backtracking on those “random comments,” saying that the film isn’t happening until the production company says something, like a movie release date or a start date for production. He also predicts bad news for fans of Fede Alvarez’s remake of Evil Dead, saying that Alvarez has moved on and not to expect a sequel. It’s a bit grim for fans who wanted more, but this is all to be expected when dealing with rumors and information given through unofficial channels. Read more…
Have you heard of this “walking dead” thing? If you’ve been living under a rock, The Walking Dead is a critically acclaimed comic series by Robert Kirkman that has been adapted into a very successful TV series on AMC. Last year, Telltale Games released a episodic adventure game called The Walking Dead: Season 1 that went on to win untold Game of the Year awards based on its strong design, writing, storytelling, and characters, despite competing with games with far bigger budgets. If you haven’t played it yet (or its short expansion 400 Days), go do that now before even thinking about watching what many fans have been waiting for: the reveal trailer for Season 2. Read more…
Evil Dead reboot director Fede Alvarez has said that Sam Raimi is trying to make a sequel to Army of Darkness, the third film in the original trilogy starring Bruce Campbell. While that is tantalizing, it’s far from official. However, at Wizard World Nashville Comic Con, Campbell came out with his own confirmation. Though he joked at first about nothing happening for over 22 years and how Ash might have to fight deadites with a walker and cane, he finally responded “Alright sir, the answer is yes” to the question of whether Army of Darkness 2 would happen. Read more…
On July 19, Universal will release their movie adaptation of the comic R.I.P.D., a story about an afterlife police force. Ryan Reynolds plays a man who has just died and is assigned to the Rest In Peace Department, an organization that makes sure dead things stay dead and don’t interfere with the living world. To this end, he’s teamed up with Jeff Bridges to help him learn the ropes. Read more…
So, how about that World War Z? After a long and troubled production cycle, it’s finally coming out. The first trailer didn’t look very appeal, at least to fans of the book, and sadly I’m here to report that the new Super Bowl ad will do nothing to change your mind. It seems even the marketers are aware that people are sick of zombies, as they don’t even clearly show the zombies, and when asked about what’s happening a character simply says “we don’t know.” Sounds like a motto for the whole movie. Watch the clip below. Read more…
Zombieland has had a long and storied past. Initially it was going to be a TV show, but when stations passed on it due to “zombies not being ‘in’ right now” it was turned into a film. Then, the zombie fad began, and the movie arrived at the perfect time, riding the wave of popularity. So what do you do now? Grab those old Zombieland TV show scripts, rough them up a bit, throw in a few references to Twitter, and you’ve got yourself a hit series. Maybe. Casting calls have gone out, so possibly, we may see different actors in the character’s roles, which might throw people off. i09 has several more details about the casting call, but in my opinion, we don’t need to revisit our friends in Zombieland anytime soon. Read more…
Weren’t zombie games played out a while ago? At the start of this console generation, the world was experiencing a zombie renaissance, with the previously cult creatures starting to appear all over the place. But a few years back, it seemed like the zombie market was over-saturated. Zombies were just getting tossed in anything, showing up even in unexpected games like Call of Duty and Red Dead Redemption. There have been less zombie games lately, since anyone not experiencing zombie burnout is playing DayZ or The Walking Dead, but that won’t stop Microsoft from tossing another zombie game out there! Read more…
Given the popularity of zombies, I simply must bring up the recent ARMA II mod: DayZ. It’s a hardcore, permadeath online game that almost forces the player to take on a role-playing position. Set in a post-apocalyptic world in which an infection has wiped out most of the population and turned the rest into zombies, you must survive and scavenge using only your wits. Anyone can kill and steal whatever they want, leading to most players playing as roving solitary bandits. However, some people band together with friends or even strangers to survive for longer periods. However, once you die, you must start a new character back at the very beginning, with nothing. This fan-made trailer, while overly-dramatic, will give you a good idea of how the mod works. Read more…
Need the perfect weapon for dealing with a few zombies? You’d need to have the foresight to own one of these things, but let’s face it, chances are you want one, zombie apocalypse or not. This gun combines an AK with a chainsaw – attempting to make all your Gears of War fantasies come true. It sure looks cool, but if zombies are getting close enough for you to need to use your chainsaw, you’re probably already screwed. And I wouldn’t put too much faith in it: that chainsaw sounds pretty cheap. Maybe you could slice some butter with it, though. Check out the video below. Read more…
I can’t believe these are actually a thing, but here they are — Tactical Bleeding Zombie Targets. It’s true, Zombies are totally played out, but you never know when an outbreak may occur, so why not be prepared? Nevermind that Zombies are entirely fictitious and that we would never stand a chance should a supposed outbreak ever occur. Still, if firing weapons at semi-realistic targets is your thing, Zombie Industries might just what you’re looking for. The offer a whole range of zombie targets from paper to busts that actually bleed when shot. What’s more, the sale of the busts have actually been banned from the Crossroads Gun Shows. Apparently they feel the targets pose a threat to the second amendment as they’re “too graphic, offensive, and ghoulish in nature,” hilarious, right? The products range in price from as low as $12 for paper sheets to ~$115 depending on the model and are available via their official website.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Oct 11, 2011 in Cinema, Horror
A SWAT team takes on a horde of zombies? Not quite, but that’d probably be fun to watch. Instead, an actual SWAT team recently raided the set of Brad Pitt’s upcoming horror flick, World War Z — the highly anticipated film adaptation of Max Brooks’ New York Times best-selling novel of the same name. Apparently the team seized and confiscated 85 fully-functional guns capable of firing live ammunition, many of which were fully or semi-automatic in nature. For whatever reason, the production company decided to forgo the use of prop weaponry in favor of real ones without filing the appropriate paperwork. Amazing, right?
Earlier this year Deep Silver decided to release a trailer for the upcoming title Dead Island that critics hailed as both stunningly visceral and emotionally-engaging. The artistic nature of the trailer had many of us excited about a game that we all thought would take the survival-horror genre in a bold new direction. Unfortunately, what many of us had the chance to finally play at E3 and, more recently, San Diego’s Comic-Con hardly seemed bold, or new. Instead, we were treated to what amounted to little more than a clone of Valve’s Left-4-Dead franchise — albeit a shiny one. Initially this bothered me, but now I wonder, is that really such a bad thing?
I admit that I loved Joel Schreiber’s Death Troopers. It certainly wasn’t the most original concept I’ve ever come across, but the idea of taking Star Wars and adding a bit of horror to the mix seemed to work well enough. Better yet, the story gave us a familiar setting without relying too heavily on established characters — aside from a well-scripted cameo which I refuse to spoil for any of you. Unfortunately, I don’t think I could ever bring myself to read it again. Since its release, there has been an unfortunate increase in zombie fiction. So much so, that I feel it’s over-saturated the market — a shame since Schreiber just released his Death Troopers prequelRed Harvest. It looks interest enough, set in the Old Republic and centered around the Sith and the origins of the virus from the first novel. A few years ago, the very concept of zombie Sith would have sold me on the novel alone, but these days I can’t even bring myself to read a proper summary, let alone recommend it anyone else. I suppose if you’re big on zomibification, you’ll want to check out a copy at your local bookstore, or pick up the ebook online. There’s also an Audiobook for those of you who’re too lazy to read. At least it might have some creepy music in the background to help you through it.l
When I heard about this news, I went over to the U.S. SyFy Channel’s schedule and saw that the cable network is showing the three original Indiana Jones flicks, National Treasure, and six hours of Hollywood Treasure, a reality show about a team of Californians who acquire and resell props and other memorabilia. Blech. Meanwhile, Canada’s Space TV is getting a reality show spotlighting actual fans.
Music fans— and horror fans — will doubtless nod knowingly when they hear that Michael Jackson’s trademark red and black leather(-that-looks-like-vinyl) jacket from the music video for “Thriller” has sold for US$1.8 million dollars at auction. That’s nine times the initial estimate of “at least $200,000.” That’s a damn high price, even if you factor in that the jacket is signed. Read more…
Our friends at Neatorama have launched their very own line of zombie themed goodies! Their first offerings include two very clever zombie doorstops (one of which is shown above) and there’s also a set of zombie refrigerator magnets: Read more…
Oh sure anybody can read a zombie novel or watch a film — but how many zombie fanboys (and fangurls) are will to take their love of the undead up to the next level? Well if you want to let all your neighbors know that you’re pro-zombie a great way to get started is with the Garden Zombie which is much more entertaining than one of those sappy happy-go-lucky looking garden gnomes: Read more…
San Diego Comic Con is happening this week, and each year, like clockwork, I end up catching some form of illness from interacting with the masses who attend the event. I haven’t quite turned into a zombie just yet, but it’s certainly a possibility — or so this novel would like me to believe. Night of the Living Trekkies, from the publishers of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, tells the story of some uniform-clad, prosthetic-eared fanboys who happen to be attending their annual Star Trek convention when suddenly aliens decide to unleash a zombie plague. Needless to say, their pseudo-Starfleet training suddenly comes in handy. The book is supposedly littered with countless references to the show, and fanboy culture, making it a must buy for people like you and me. Best of all, the book goes on sale just in time for the con. It’s scheduled for release on July 22nd.
No, I’m not talking about Left 4 Dead 4 Wii– I’m talking about ZombieFit, a new program at a gym in St. Charles, IL where you basically learn how to be a movie badass by assigning yourself an even harder target: be able to survive a zombie apocalypse. Read more…
Awhile back, Del Rey published the novel Star Wars: Death Troopers, and ever since I’ve been wanting to sit down and read it. The concept sounds absolutely fantastic, take Star Wars and mix in a bit of good old fashion horror — how could you go wrong? I’ll be honest, I’ve been holding out for the paperback which is due out in October, but after seeing this fantastic bust, I’m about ready to just give in and by a copy of the hardcover. The bust is actually a 1/6th scale model of the zombie Stormtrooper as depicted in the upcoming graphic novel, based on the book. If you’re looking to obtain one of these bad boys, Entertainment Earth has them for about $75 and is currently taking preorders and will ship in November. Read more…
Here’s the first full trailer for the latest addition to the Resident Evil film franchise, Resident Evil: Afterlife. I’m sure some of you might be cringing after reading that headline, after all, Resident Evil: Extinction — the last entry in the series — failed on so many levels. After its predecessor ended with so much promise — at least, as much promise as a Hollywood video game adaption could — Extinction simply delivered more of the same, and as a result, many people, myself included, weren’t exactly looking forward to a fourth. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 11, 2009 in Videogames
Being the pivotal historic event of the 20th Century up until now I thought World War II had it all — but obviously that isn’t good enough for today’s consumer market so Activision went ahead and improved it by adding zombies! I honestly couldn’t complain about Call of Duty: World at War Map Pack 2 but my understanding of the franchise was that it prided itself on being historically accurate. I mean why not go all the way and add some werewolves and vampires too? Read more…
