“Highest Possible Recommendation.” The statement still stands.

From the opening sequence I was already sold. Somehow I knew I was going to love it. And with so many disposable movies coming out of Hollywood, that’s a rare occurrence. If you’re the type of person that would give this a chance, you probably have already seen a hundred zombie attacks. In the intro you just know this is going to be something special when Metallica’s “From Whom the Bell Tolls” guitar chugs start thundering in with the zombies themselves.

Zombieland isn’t just a fun movie. It’s a funny movie. It’s hysterical, in fact. The entire audience guffawed throughout and you have to kind of be a pretty hip crowd to laugh at some of the things that happen. That’s kind of the beauty of it because the characters have heart and fantastic actors playing them. Woody Harrelson is brilliant as a southern zombie-slaying good ol’ boy. He meets an unlikely hero: the nerdy unassuming narrator and zombie apocalypse survivalist played by Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland). The two of them hook up with a pair of imperiled sisters played by Emma Stone (Superbad) and Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). The foursome trek through the undead wasteland in a fairly linear storyline not uncommon to every other zombie flick. What sets this apart is what they do at their stops along the way. In a beautiful and twisted way, Zombieland becomes a hybrid of Dawn (Shaun) of the Dead, Superbad and National Lampoon’s Vacation.

The bottom line is that it’s obvious that the filmmakers had fun making it and the audience will have fun watching it.

This particular piece really stirs something within me. Sure, I love zombies and that’s part of it but it’s more than that.  The look on the kid’s faces, the thought of being trapped at the top of a playground set as hordes of undead children swarm, wondering if they’ll make it with their improvised weapons.  It could also be that one of the children bears a passing resemblence to my own.  It makes me want to go out and write young adult zombie survival fiction.  A group of children, seperated from their parents just at the breaking point of an undead uprising.  How would they survive? What would they have to do?  Would they ever see their parents again?

Definitely stop by Jason’s site and have a gander at his gallery. It will be worth your time.

Technorati Tags: zombies, playground, art, painting, jason chan, braaaaaains

Combining zombies, action figures and The Thing – that’s a geek triumvirate of amazingness right there.

Technorati Tags: Zombie zombie, the thing, carpenter, video, movies, tribute, gi joe, action figures, geek films

That’s the premise behind Day by Day Armageddon by J. L. Bourne.  The book follows the first person narrative of our protagonist as he learns of a growing threat to humanity and keeps an almost daily journal of the rise of a huge zombie population and the fall of humanity.  This book has been out for a bit but I’ve just recently gotten my hands on a copy.

I should say before continuing on with this review that I’m a big fan of Zombies.  I love a good zombie movie but it’s rare that I find a decent book about the subject I can sit down and enjoy.  To be a decent book about zombies, it can’t just be a smattering of gore and horror – it’s got to be fun, interesting, though provoking and like the presence of the undead themselves, should hold a mirror up to our society.  A previous exception would be World War Z.

Day by Day Armageddon does a decent job of hitting my high points and it’s an enjoyable and fairly quick read.  Bourne’s protagonist is likable and I found him taking actions that I approved of, rather than the horror norm of hear-a-noise-in-dark-basement-go-investigate-in-swimsuit.  This guy’s a survivor, who makes smart choices when he can.  We meet a few other survivors as well, some we cheer for and some form antagonists to both the narrator and the undead.

The author draws from the ‘traditional’ modern zombie lore.  Slow moving undead with little intelligence bent only on finding and devouring living folk like you and me.  Bourne does throw in a few twists when it comes to the undead but you won’t find it a huge departure from the shambling horde.

There are a few sticking points – mainly the images included in the book and the large number of typos encountered by the reader.  The images are grainy at best and in my opinion serve to detract focus from the story.  I’d find myself constantly glancing at them when they appeared, to my annoyance.  They typos were another niggling annoyance.  There are quite a lot of them which would jump off the page just when things were heating up.  These are however just annoyances and really didn’t detract too much from my overall experience of the book.  The story is tight and fast paced.  I found myself staying up a bit later than I normally would to finish the book, which took me perhaps four hours to read.

The ending isn’t really an ending, as this is supposed to be the first of several books.  You are left hanging.  I do hope that another novel is forthcoming as I’d be glad to find out what happens to our Navy man and his small band of survivors though I understand that Bourne is currently on active duty in the real world military so we may have to wait a bit for this to happen.

If you’re a fan of horror fiction, particularly that features zombies, the folks who fight to keep their lives and a good bit of detail about how they do this, then you’ll enjoy Day by Day Armageddon.  At $15 I’d recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read.

Technorati Tags: zombies, armageddon, braaaaaains, books, self published, reviews

It has me staring at my kids playdoh and wondering. . . .

If you like zombies, like short films of a horror nature and don’t mind some fairly prevalent clay organs, then you need to watch this.  The soundtrack leaves a little to be desired, but that’s forgivable. If any of that isn’t appealing to you, you have been warned!

Anyone got any other zombie claymation flicks?

Technorati Tags: zombie, claymation, movie, art, video, braaaaaaaaaains, chainsaws, maids

Enter in the “No-Rinse Shampoo/Conditioner Cap”. No, it’s not a shower cap, it’s a shower cap that has a special chemical inside that after 20 seconds in the microwave (or room temperature), you place it on your head, massage your hair for 1-3 minutes depending on length and voila- CLEAN. No rinsing required.

I was both skeptical and impressed so I bought one for $4.99 (I searched it online and found it cheaper). My hair is relatively thick, medium long and colored. If it could pass the test on me, it was a winner.

• Seriously, think of all the possibilities should it work:
  Camping/hiking
• Long trips on planes, trains, cars, space shuttles, buggies, boats, being locked in a trunk…
• Late nights out and you don’t have time for a shower in the morning (pop on the cap and presto- clean hair… just pull it back in a ponytail or use a dab of gel).
• If someone uses the excuse “Sorry, I have to wash my hair…” just toss them a cap and say, “I’ll pick you up at 8!”
• Power outage
• Bed ridden due to illness/broken leg/awesome new video game
• A zombie uprising
• You plan on visiting Chicken, Alaska

The results are in. My picky hair that also has my scalp itchy from most products actually has me feeling refreshed. It seems clean, conditioned and light and I found no hair dye in the cap (which is a good thing!)

Combine this with the No-Rinse Bath Cloths and you can face the apocalypse feeling fresh!

This brings me to my Star Wars Trilogy (V, IV, and VI) marathon this weekend. Sunday morning I popped in The Empire Strikes Back. I woke up and nixed the coffee before viewing the Lucas treat and surprisingly I was awake enough to enjoy it. A few hours and an energic lunch later I put in Return of the Jedi. 30 minutes into the movie I was completely out in slumber land. I woke up to the fire works and little Ewok celebration and realized that this is what happened the last time I watched it. The movie knocks me out regardless of the time of day or coffee quota met.

Do I like the movie or do I hate it? I’m not sure of anything except it’s a great sleep aid.

SO, if you hear an awesome ColdPlay song on the radio that makes you relaxed, pull along the side of the road and enjoy your nap.

1. The survey only consisted of 2,248 people.
2. The people were British.
3. It was done at a hotel chain (where most people on holiday would probably crash if the re-runs of the Headbanger’s Ball was airing).
4. I really love the Star Wars Trilogy… well, I guess I really love 2 of the 3… I can’t really recall the the middle part of the third, and evey time I try, I yawn and wake up 8 hours later.

Original Article from Reuters: Survey finds rockers Coldplay help you sleep
LONDON (Reuters) – Britons like a dose of music from the rock band Coldplay to help them fall asleep, a survey from hotel chain Travelodge found on Monday.

The band, whose frontman Chris Martin says he avoids caffeine and alcohol and is known for a lifestyle that is anything but rock ‘n’ roll, topped a poll of music choices to help listeners nod off.

Other artists chosen for their slumber-inducing qualities were James Blunt, Snow Patrol, Take That and Norah Jones.

But those who prefer to be tucked in with a book at night judged celebrity autobiographies as the most effective sleep aid, with the life stories of glamour model Jordan, soccer star David Beckham and Sharon Osbourne ranking at the top.

I love zombies.   Combine them with strippers and you’ve got yourself a movie I may just have to go out and watch.  It’s been billed as “so bad, it’s good”.

Technorati Tags: zombies, strippers, freddy guy, jenna jameson, entertainment, movies, horror

Here is the full length version of Thriller which is zombielicious!


Online Videos by Veoh.com
You know you’re going to do a few of the moves… you just gotta!

This is for all of you out there who have *real* weather and enjoy poking fun at us who live in weather wimp areas.

My area grasps for any kind of weather news. Take today for instance; I woke up early and checked the school website “Closed”. I was confused at this announcement as I merely saw a dusting outside. It almost looked like frost as the pavement was clear, yet there were traces of snow or frost on cars. Certainly nothing that could shut down an entire school district which caused me to stay home from work today. It had to be worse elsewhere. It just had to.

Pictured is what I took as soon as the sun finally rose above the horizon around 7:15 am (PST), literally shedding light on the situation.

I turned on the news and a female reporter moved her foot across half an inch of snow “As you can see, if I move the snow around, it could almost act like ice, which could be very dangerous in traffic” And behind her the road itself had nothing on it and people were driving as normal. She looked at the vehicles who moving along like “business as usual” and commented, “Thankfully I’m in an area where people are driving with more caution than normal.”

Read more and see the zombies!

As the day progressed, what little frost was on the ground soon melted away as the sun broke through the clouds (OH NO!!! FIERY ORB!). It seemed like a typical non-eventful January day, yet the captions still read on the new sites “January Storm 08″

“Snow and ice make travelling a challenge in the valley.

Numerous snow-related car crashes are occurring in the Salem-Keizer area, police dispatchers said.

Nearly every on-duty Oregon State Police trooper is at the scene of an accident at this time, state police dispatchers said.

An Oregon Department of Transportation dispatcher said that conditions are “blown open” with crashes in many locations.

The dispatchers said there have not been any serious injury crashes, but several rollovers.

Morning commuters should slow down and drive safely, or delay their trip to work until later.” <-Just so you know, that was in a remote location, they changed it from the one they had earlier which was quite laughable and I guess didn’t capture the treacherous weather hazards they were trying to convey. I’m curious how long it took to shuffle through photos before they found this one.

As I sat in disbelief of the entire situation and trying to find logic in the closures, I decided to put a spin on the situation. This is what *really* happened in Salem Oregon this morning:

Zombies, Zombies, EVERYWHERE

“Schools are closed today due to an uprising of the undead. Local authorities are unclear how this army came to be as no mysterious forces have been detected as of late. Many families are being turned as we speak, so we ask each of you to barricade yourself indoors if you were not able to make it out of town in time. This new genetically mutated batch of the undead are quite faster than your a-typical zombies and also know how to drive automatic transmission vehicles. It is also rumored that a few are able to take the transit system.

To make matters worse, should you try to escape the infected areas, weather reports indicate partly sunny skies later in the day.”

Technorati Tags: photoshop, tutorial, howto, zombies, effects

1. Zombies eat brains. That’s just cool.
2. They don’t have to worry about their appearance. In fact, the more unkempt they look, the better!
3. Zombies make yummy noises even when the holiday meal is late. “Mmmmmmmmmmmm.”
4. AND even if your holiday meal sucks!
5. In the face of a massive zombie uprising which threatens all humanity, you don’t have to worry about what to buy your three year old cousin.
6. There are no guessing games as to what a zombie wants, their needs are pretty simple: brains.
7. Zombies won’t make you feel inadequate about how well your presents are wrapped.
8. At Yankee swaps, zombies are always willing to trade the liquor for human body parts.
9. With a zombie around, you needn’t be bored with dull family conversations.  They’ll eat all your relatives!
10. Guns suddenly become acceptable gifts for the whole family when a zombie uprising is occurring.
11. FINALLY you can put all of your Resident Evil game playing to use!
12. The more zombies there are, the less demand for Wiis

Technorati Tags: zombies, brains, holidays, I’m eating your brain

Technorati Tags: zombie, flash, game, online play, exploding barrels, braiiiiiins

I did a walkthrough of my dwelling, and all I can say is- it’s been nice knowing you. My front door is solid metal, which is good. My back door is glass, not good. I have one old dull collectors Knight of the Round Table dagger, one light saber, one TMNT plastic dagger, pots and pans, and a Pirates of the Carribean plastic sword. I do have a gun! Only it’s a plastic cap gun because caps are awesome, but useless in a zombie attack.

<- Zombie Slaying Inventory

My creature of protection is an elusive cat who could probably care less should my brains wind up scooped from my skull. In fact she’d probably lick up the remains.<- Elusive cat. She was there 1 second before I took the picture.

Times like these call for creative thinking. That’s when I looked over and saw my copy of Idiocracy! Zombies are idiots! Zombies want brains! Zombies are more than likely easy to fool- so perhaps we can all trick Zombies the Idiocracy way.

1. Brawndo. It’s got electrolytes, which is what plants crave and zombies too- actually I’m not sure about the zombie part, but probably. 2. Maybe put a sign on the door in case you have a literate zombie- “Sorry, out of brains” 3. Turn on the television set. There’s a 98% chance you’ll hit a reality tv show. Should a zombie see you watching any of these “shows”, more than likely they’ll lose interest and move on to t next dwelling. If not, then they’ll probably plop down in front of the set and while they’re entranced, RUN. 4. Try to bash their heads in with an enormous book. After you survive and save mankind, your teachers would be so proud that you own books heavy enough to kill a zombie, they’ll go back and change all of your grades to A+’s and throw out your permanent record. 5. As soon as the uprising starts, turn on your console and pop in a video game (if you ever turned off), they’ll think you’re one of them.

While fire is still not a proven way to kill zombies, I would say nix this idea all together. Just the thought gives me the shivers- is killing an army of zombies worth destroying my entire Buffy collection, my films, my Powerpuff Girl stuff and my computer? I think not. In fact I am willing to sacrifice my cranium to ensure that the Whedon legacy lives on.So if you’re like me and you’ve got an apartment full of geek stuff to defend; glass doors make you vulnerable as well as a lack of weaponry, hope for a vampire uprising instead. I have a ton of art pencils- I can use those!

My Vampire Protection

-Ghic Chic

Technorati Tags: zombies, vampires, zombie survival, brawndo, idiocracy

What ninja wouldn’t want to pimp their gear if they felt they were still keepin’ it ninja? If I were a ninja I would SO be into this. We at AG thought we’d throw the idea out there because bling is da bomb, ninja’s are da bomb; and yo baby, it’s all for profit… er… tradition.
From Tabi Boots to Star Pouches, we’ve got you pimped.

And while this is being designed, marketed and perhaps as we’re in hiding in fear for our lives because the ninja community may not appreciate the new line: Pimp your own gear and bring out the ninja in YOU!

	Ninja Gear Sale: $29.95 You Save: $16.04 (34%) From Youth to Comic Book Store Guy from the Simpsons sizes
	Grappling Hook Price: $18.99 You Save: $16.01 (46%) Seriously- how many times have you been in a situation in which you wished you had a grappling hook? If you’re like me… EVERY DAY!
	REAL Ultimate Power: The Official Ninja Book by Robert Hamburger List Price: $9.95
	Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead Price: $11.16 Okay, this may not be Ninja… but it’s cool and it’s needed as you never know when an uprising can happen.

Technorati Tags: ninja, ninja bling, zombies, ninja gear, pimp my ninja, tabi boots, grapple hook

USB Missile Launcher
Stir Up Some Mayhem to Break Up the Monotony — Is your 9 to 5 getting you down?
Ever find yourself bored and frustrated on the job? Take control of the airspace
in and around your cubicle for a fun way to break up the day. — This USB
Missile Launcher features a 15 foot range so you can conduct target practice, or
see if your missle can land just outside the corner office. — Use your PC to
aim and launch the three foam missiles to secure your borders and defend your
homecube. The missile is controlled left to right, and fired using your computer
controls.

USB Missile Launcher
Price $29.99

Dr. Freud’s Therapy Ball
Tired of being called unsympathetic? Give the gift that keeps on giving. For that friend, significant other or relative who keeps trying to get you talk about their feelings, Dr. Freud’s Therapy Ball will have you appearing heart felt and caring in no time with over twenty responses such as: ”How did that
make you feel?” and “Talk about your mother.”

Dr. Freud’s Therapy Ball
Price $8.95

Train Man : Densha Otoko (2005)

My absolute favorite film of the year, therefore who WOULDN’T appreciate this as a gift? You have geekdom, Japan, a great love story and quirky all wrapped up in 102 minutes!
“A supposedly true combination of a romance and a Pygmalion story, Densha Otoko began as an on-line tale that captivated audiences in Japan: there’s a novel, a TV show, and a manga series, in addition to this feature. The title character is a textbook otaku, an anime and video game nerd who divides his time between the electronics stores in Tokyo’s Akihabara district and the computer in his cluttered room. One day on a commuter train, he prevents an obnoxious drunk from bothering a pretty girl. She sends him a set of Hermès teacups as a thank-you and a tentative romance begins. Train Man has no idea how to behave with a girl, so an on-line posse tells him how to dress and what to say. Ultimately, his example inspires them to go out into the world. Director Masanori Murakami effectively uses a split screen to create the on-line community. Takayuki Yamada makes a wonderfully maladroit Train Man: when he calls Hermès for the first time, he holds the phone as if he were about to commit seppuku. Miki Nakatami infuses Hermès with a winning mixture of gentleness and independence. This touching romance will delight Gen-Y and -Z members, whose lives are bound to the Internet. (Unrated, suitable for ages 13 and older: minor violence, alcohol and tobacco use)–Charles Solomon”
Train_Man Densha Otoko
Price $19.99

Blood Feud in NY
Did you ever wish you were a part of a crime family or know someone who does?
At the end of the Millennium, the FBI, working with various state and federal
agencies managed to rid New York of the ruling crime families that had become
entrenched in the city over many generations. As the boss of one of these
families, you are competing with the other players to determine who will
ultimately rule the world of organized crime. As tensions flare, a full scale
Mob War erupts to determine who will become supreme Mafia Boss of New York. This
is a hard action, take no prisoners game. You are a Boss at the head of a
powerful criminal organization. You and your adversaries are currently based in
one of the five boroughs of New York or in New Jersey. Your goal is to build and
expand your underworld empire by any means necessary. This can include
corrupting precincts to increase your take, kidnapping opposing family members
for ransom, and the coup de grace, taking out the opposing families’ bosses,
thereby removing them from the game. To take control of the city’s underworld,
you will need to be a brilliant strategist, a careful planner and a skilled
negotiator. Knowing the exact moment to take the offensive will be necessary if
you want to take advantage of opponent’s weaknesses. In the end, your paranoia
may prove to be one of your greatest character traits: ALWAYS watch your back!
Blood Feud In New York Board Game
Price $24.95

Halo III Covenant Carbine Scaled Replica
Give that Halo lover something they can take with them when the Xbox is off.
Price: $19.88

Marvel Minimates: Marvel Zombies Box Set of 5
Do you know someone who likes Marvel characters? Do you know someone who likes zombies? Do you know someone who likes BOTH? The Marvel superheros have become the walking undead! A great add to any collection- and they’re ZOMBIES!
Set of 5
Price: $18.99

X-Finger Middle Finger Road Rage Device Placed strategically in any vehicle, you can get that road rage out to defuse itself by squeezing a little bulb and gesturing to that moron exactly what you think of them. Hopefully you place it in an area where any little passengers won’t see…
Price: $14.49

The Cubes- Ann
A great addition to The Cubes collection or a starter. Used as either a voodoo doll playset or perhaps placed on a desk decorated with whatever subtle message you’re wanting to give your boss or co-workers, The Cubes is a brilliant set for anyone who is stuck in Cubicle HELL
Price: $12.99

No I Will Not Fix Your Computer-Tee
Are you or a friend constantly getting sucked into using your talents for free by any of your not so close friends, co-workers, relatives or acquaintances? Save your voice and get your point across. You are a person who deserves your own free time damn it!
Price: $19.95 – $21.95

Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy (Hardcover)
Nothing beats a pop-book, unless it’s a Star Wars pop-up book! Sabuda and Reinhart Studios have created another spectacular pop-up book for George Lucas’s epic STAR WARS movies! Bestselling pop-up artist and engineer Matthew Reinhart has designed a thirtieth anniversary commemorative edition that comes packed with a variety of novelty features — pop-ups, working light sabers, pull tabs, and other interactive looks at the exciting and popular movies. This beautiful book will impress all fans of STAR WARS and gives a whole new perspective to the films.
Star Wars Pop-Up Book
Price $19.79

Mental Floss
Turn your friends and family into geeks by causing them to fall in love with learning and showing off their brain power. This game seriously caused me to give trivia/question games another chance when I was getting completely tired of the genre. You’re guaranteed to walk away a genius!
The Mental Floss Trivia Game picks up where every other party game stops. This mind-challenging game has taken traditional trivia and turned it on its side with more than 1,500 crazy questions. Try to make it through an “Enlightening Round,” stop a “Big Fat Lie” and play a “Mental Block” card to give your opponents a real setback. Includes game board, six movers, 250 floss facts, 200 Enlightening cards, Mental Block cards, Peace of Mind tokens, die, label sheet and instructions. Price $22.98

• Materials which will render the induction of hypnosis easier or otherwise enhance its usefulness.
• Substances which will enhance the ability of individuals to withstand privation, torture and coercion during interrogation and so-called “brain-washing”.
• Materials and physical methods which will produce amnesia for events preceding and during their use.
• Physical methods of producing shock and confusion over extended periods of time and capable of surreptitious use.
• A knockout pill which could surreptitiously be administered in drinks, food, cigarettes, as an aerosol, etc., which will be safe to use, provide a maximum of amnesia, and be suitable for use by agent types on an ad hoc basis.

The Discovery Channel is running a great but short article on MK-ULTRA.  Like all good conspiracies there is a Wikipedia article as well.

Technorati Tags: mk-ultra, mkultra, cia, super secret army of zombie warriors

Welcome to Zombies, a turn-based game where the only goal is to outlast and destroy the zombies before they do the same to you. Can you save humanity from being overrun?

Find out if you can hack it (nyuck nyuck!) by downloading it for Windows or OSX.

Technorati Tags: zombies, evil dead, headshot, oss, windows, osx, braaaaaaaaiiiiinnnnnnssssss

Technorati Tags: wacko, jacko, thriller, beat it, help me jesus, billy jean is not my lover

Well folks, I tried the new beta staged social networking and I have to say that after a little over a week in I’ve lost interest.

Due to the slaughter of gaudy weighed down profiles of partying strangers wanting to be my friend in which I sprained my finger from pressing “block”. I felt a de ja vu of MySpace… aka Idiocracy Central.

Granted it may have largely been due to the profile tag war with my friend that could have prompted the mindless morons to flock to me. Personally, I’m thinking it’s the general social networking mentality that did it all on its own.

There were fun features such as getting to edit your friends profile (hence the putting silly tags on your friends profile and editing their likes, pictures etc.) dubbing it “fugly” and reverting it back to its bare minimum when you view it and it gave you more control with the over all look and feel should you know CSS.

The downfall:
Any comment you write in someone’s “guestbook” appears on your own site without any option to NOT allow the world to see what you’ve written else where. It winds up pretty confusing to the viewer who is merely reading your one sided conversation.  “You’re welcome!, I know huh?, I fed it!” Sometimes it’s best not to leave things up to interpretation.

Unlike Multiply, it doesn’t allow you to upload your own library of music, videos etc. without bogging down your profile. There’s no organization at this point and the bugs are difficult to overlook: I’ve tried to add an arsgeek reader ten times now, and I keep getting a pop up error.

It’s awkward, sloppy and lacks any appeal that could possibly do more than herd the “Oooh, the more virtual friends I have, the more meaning my life has.”

I will stick with the underdog that has so many features that I find appealing (at one point I almost didn’t feel the need for my personal site… but narcissism and middle child syndrom prompted me to keep MY domain going).

Sorry folks but Mash is merely another version of MySpace that lacks the templates, photo album, and privacy options.

I think I’ll keep my original social network where I can create media libraries, write my own reviews with ratings, blogs, guest book, live conversation in the comment fields AND have access to thousands of templates, styles and designs that I can edit.

Maybe Yahoo will step it up, but from what I’ve witnessed, I highly doubt that it will be able to stand apart from the Idiocracy Central.

I will remain on Mash for a bit because the profile war is fun… and there’s no option yet to delete it.

The Girl Ghic

Fortunately (or unfortunately for you Romero fans) they’re talking about computer zombies, and not the undead who have risen to strip our flesh from our bones.

Ouch.

The blurb states “Even better than Shaun of the Dead!” which I have to disagree with but all in all, this is probably the best $2.00 I have ever spent on a movie.

Big budget aren’t words I’d associate with Hide and Creep. This film looks to have been shot on about $20,000 in a small southern town. It’s got the requisite blood, boobs and guns for any B grade horror movie but it has more than that. It has real charm and humor. I actually found myself engaged by this movie. I had expected to put it on in the background and get some work done but ended up watching the whole thing.

Opening with a naked man up in a tree with no idea how he got their, the movie grabs you with zombie cheese, out-of-frame aliens and of course, the dead rising again. But these zombies are different. For starters, the zombie budget was pretty low. They’re also able to feel a bit of fear in certain conditions. Throw in some characters that are really memorable, a bit of stiff dialog (nyuck, nyuck), parachuting government agencies, a slowly transforming village priest and a missing car and you’ve got a fun movie.

I found myself laughing, not at the low budget antics but along with the characters themselves. At 85 minutes long, it was just enough to stay with it and not enough to drag me down. This is one of those movies that may be destined for cult status. If you can find a copy to watch.

Technorati Tags: zombie, reviews, movies, low budget, mmmuuuurrrrrgghhhaaaaaaaaak

Zombie games, zombie plays, zombie you-name-its.

If it’s out there, and it’s undead, I’d love to hear about it.

I’m also interested in movie sites (i.e. the official Shaun of the Dead site or some such thing).

Technorati Tags: zombie, zed, zombies, moaning, undead, brains, run, why won’t you die!

First, there’s Urban Dead, a massive multiplayer browser based game.

If that ain’t enough for you, you can try All Hallow’s Eve – where you defend yourself against hordes of ravaging zombies and upgrade your defenses between assults.

Technorati Tags: zombies, more zombies, the dead have risen, what’s that smell

How about the original that inspired it? Or a downloadable (Windows) 3D version?

I’m a long time fan of horror movies of a special type that is, the zombie flicks. Those shambling, moaning masses of ex-humanity doing their unspeakable thing.

I can pinpoint exactly where my enjoyment in the antics of the undead came from. I was a teenager a year or two into high school and working at a store that sold tapes, records (yes, records), these new fangled CDs and movies. I got a decent discount and used this to bolster my music collection. Behind the sales counter there were lots and lots of movies. One in particular caught my attention repeatedly. The zombie on the spine of the box would stare out at me as I made change or chatted about new releases.

Finally, after several weeks of being stared at by a card-board imprint zombie, I broke down and bought the flick. I took Dawn of the Dead back home and over the weekend set aside time to watch it. I expected to be frightened and grossed out by the various underpinnings of an undead society and it’s effects on the living. To my surprise, I enjoyed the experience thoroughly.

Sure the movie is gross, in a Hollywood, Karo Syrup kind of way. Sure there were some frightening scenes. But the protagonists in the movie got to take over a mall! They spent time there living their lives while the dead thronged just beyond the tractor trailer reinforced plate glass doors. They fought, learned, argued strategy and tactics, and wondered at the world around them and why it had gone to hell.

It didn’t take me long, even at that age to realize that there was something of a commentary on our current daily lives going on here. Thousands of greenish, glassy eyed ex-shoppers still congregating at the mall even after a grisly death and reanimation. Inside the newly fortified shrine to consumerism, those few surviving members of humanity who had fought so hard just to live, found themselves enjoying everything they perhaps couldn’t have during life. Guns, music, consumables, jewelry. At first it was a respite from fighting for their lives but it soon became clear that they were desperately trying to recreate their past lives simply by wallowing in good old mass produced wealth.

Other zombie movies have come and gone and I’ve enjoyed my share of them. The Return of the Living Dead series was fun. Day of the Dead, Romero’s follow up to Dawn of the Dead was interesting but didn’t capture that feeling of desperation and survival that Dawn of the Dead held. Of course there is Night of the Living Dead as well, a classic on which many a zombie flick is based. The remake of Dawn of the Dead is more notable as a pure horror spectacle, which doesn’t quite capture the desperate bid to retain some shred of humanity as the original.

Recent favorites of mine, 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead take a different stab at the undead. These are more cautionary tales, taking two different avenues to arrive at the same destination. They poke and pry at our inability as a race to contain ourselves. 28 Days is a serious horror flick, while Shaun of the Dead takes a grimly humorous look at the living dead.

I’ve also seen a small influx of books on the subject lately, most notably from Max Brooks (yes, son of the mighty Mel) who’s How to Survive a Zombie Uprising and World War Z take a deeper look at humanity and how it would fall under and eventually triumph over a world wide infestation of zombies.

All of these tales, movies and books, are very interesting to me not just for my enjoyment of special effects and that eerie feeling the provoke. What are zombies, really but a reflection of ourselves? The living dead are no more than mirrors we can hold up to look at our society. The tales of those who survive are those of all of us, wading through a morass of indifference and neglect that we can find ourselves caught in. Do we escape from our ‘living dead’ existence of the work/sleep/work cycle by immersing ourselves in stuff? Sure, some of us do. While I certainly hope that no one would want to rebel against our workaday lives by reanimating themselves or partaking of human flesh, I can certainly see buried in many people the desire to say “to hell with the world” and go hole up in a mall somewhere and let the rest of the world batter against the doors.

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