Faced with a few dozen young people in ragged clothing, mumbling and shuffling, covered in fake blood, the bystanders had to ask: What ... is this? And why is this?
Well, it’s a zombie walk.
But people pretending to be zombies are not the best conversationalists, so mostly they just moaned and sometimes cried “braaaiiinsss,” as zombies are wont to do. And while this was a good hint for the first question, it doesn’t speak to motivation.
Organizer Ben Hodapp, 20, is a huge fan of zombie movies and learned online about people in other cities dressing as zombies and going for a walk.
“I thought it was pretty hilarious,” he said, and thought it would be fun to do himself.
Getting people to dress up like zombies and stumble around
In the end, between 25 and 30 people met in the Wal-Mart parking lot at about 5 p.m. Friday afternoon. By 5:30, they were off.
Jeremy Warden, 17, dressed up as a zombie for Halloween last year and came prepared. He even brought a cup with fake blood, corn starch mixed with food coloring, for his compatriots to throw on their face to simulate a fresh meal of blood. He even burned his jeans with a lighter and smeared the ashes over his limbs.
Each zombie had to decide for him or herself what “type” of zombie they’d play. Talking or moaning? Stumbling or sprinting? Flesh-eating or brains only? “Well, I figure zombies don’t remember how to talk, so I’m just going to groan a lot,” Warden said. Some of them walked for three hours under the hot sun but lacked a zombie’s infinite stamina, so a sprint was out of the question.
Hodapp cut his beard into a Fu Manchu mustache, bought a camouflage vest at a thrift store and went walking as a redneck zombie. Chris Menton donned a gown to be an escaped-from-the-hospital zombie. Amanda Kleist wore a blue-green dress, emulating a prom-night zombie.
Hodapp had planned some rules for the group. No harassing passersby. No scaring children. Don’t walk in the street. Don’t get drunk first. “I’d rather not get it shut down for a stupid reason,” he said.
Still, they were asked to stay as in-character as possible, to “keep somewhat of an illusion of a zombie horde,” Hodapp said. They had a route picked out that stuck to Madison Avenue, but in the end the temptation to wander through the mall was too great, just as it was for the zombies in John Romero’s 1978 zombie classic, Dawn of the Dead.
Onlookers’ reactions differed. One mother shielded her child from the group, while another asked for a photograph with her baby, said Kleist, the prom zombie.
Hodapp says he’d like to make the zombie walk into an annual event. There often isn’t much to do in
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This coverage was written by Dan Lineham, as posted online at Minnesota's "Mankato Free Press" website on July 25, 2009
The scripted online series, created by John Fascano, is being produced by Electric Farm, with Heder as a co-producer. The show marks Heder’s strut into the world of online programming.
"Woke Up Dead" was developed with Heder in mind as the lead. It will comprise 50 three-minute episodes for online and mobile distribution in the United States. (Does that mean those of us living outside the United States will not be able to watch the program or benefit the program's sponsors?)
The project will combines live-action with limited CGI elements, is a seemingly superb springboard for Electric Farm. The series is being made outside of a deal Stan Rogow, Brent Friedman and Jeff Sagansky’s Electric Farm signed with NBC Universal, which gives the conglomerate domestic rights to the company’s upcoming Internet sci-fi series "Gemini Division," starring Rosario Dawson. Sony Pictures TV International co-produces and internationally distributes "Gemini Division," (which features some elaborate 3-D art) as well as Electric Farm’s first online drama, "Afterworld," a 2.5-D-animated series, on mobile, broadband and traditional television.
Rogow said that "Woke Up Dead" was developed with Heder in mind for the lead. “He will be terrific,” he continued, “he’d always wanted to play a zombie.” "Woke Up Dead" is currently in pre-production and set to be released later this year.
This item taken from Collider.com
This item is taken from a "teaser" posted at the website for the Scunforth Telegraph newspaper in Britain. Local theater enthusiasts are putting together a zombie musical called Chomp. The puns in this article truly take a bite out of one's patience. Sorry, couldn't help that one. How interesting that this will be featured at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Based on the teaser below, I can't believe this play will amount to much. It seems more of the typical juvenile testosterone-driven drivel, but I admit that I might be surprised. After all, would the addition of music and, presumably, dance naturally incline the work towards something more mature?Aidan Savage, Harry Kelly and Tom Jackson, all 15, and Ciaran Savage, 18, all star in 'Chomp' which heads for the world-famous Edinburgh Festival next month.
'Chomp – A Zombie Musical' is the brain wave of Andy Evans, the staff development officer at Scunthorpe's John Leggott College.
Mr Evans, 42, who has also co-written all the songs along with his long-time friend Jack Pudsey, said: "Who doesn't love the idea of zombies doing a soft-shoe shuffle?"
He wrote the musical specifically last summer for the North Lincolnshire-based Fusion theatre company of which Tom, who plays the lead make role of 'Mac', and his three fellow Scunthorpe actors are all members.
Mr Evans, who has taught in Scunthorpe for 16 years, explained: "Mac is the leader of Surge, a group of resistance fighters, who fight back against the zombie mutants on behalf of humanity." The idea was to write a show that would guarantee an audience at one of the UK's largest theatre festivals."
"Our young cast inject an incredible energy," he added.
Tom, a student at the Vale of Ancholme School in Brigg, said of his lead role: "We're all really excited to be taking the production to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as well."
This book review/interview is available at the "Slice of SciFi" weblog, which had grabbed it from the "tor.com" weblog.“My intention had been to use science to (gently) knock down the backstory to most zombie movies and books,” Maberry told Tor.com. “However during the research I discovered that there was a lot more scientific validity to those monsters. It creeped me out, and anytime something creeps me out that much I think: ‘Man, that would make a great story.’”
The inspiration led to Mayberry’s new novel, “Patient Zero.” The story explores a Baltimore cop who is recruited by a secret government organization to help stop a group of terrorists who have a weaponized pathogen that turns people into zombies.
“I was trying to build a case for how the real world would react, research and respond to a threat as described in the George A. Romero’s Living Dead films, and in some of the better zombies (or zombie-like) films that followed,” Maberry said. “I was surprised to learn that science could explain a lot of what we saw in zombie films. That’s both cool and creepy, depending on where you stand. I listed the ‘symptoms’ of a zombie—lack of cognition, ability to walk, ability to bite and chew, reduced or absent blood flow, and so on. Taken separately, science can provide answers. It’s only when you put them all together in one organism that we move from scientific possibility into practical improbability. But only just.”
“A pathogen always seemed more likely,” he said. “I posed this to a range of scientists and doctors. The radiation theory was shot down pretty quickly; but the docs who work with diseases said that if zombies were suddenly a real fact of life then one of the first places they’d look would be prions. Prions are misfolded proteins that act like viruses and/or genetic disorders, which is crazy since they have no DNA and technically cannot be passed down generationally. But that’s science for you. For every item you prove there are a few new mysteries popping up. The creepiest prion disease is fatal familial insomnia, in which the sufferers cannot fall asleep, even when medicated. They remain perpetually awake until they go crazy and their bodies break down. It’s a horrible disease…but a perfect core pathogen for a zombie tale. I went a few steps along that dark road to have my villains bond it with an aggressive parasite (also based on things found in nature).”
The novel, which has just hit bookstores, is the first in a proposed series. The second installment, “The Dragon Factory” will debut next year.
“I speculated about how scientists could use cutting edge genetics to restart the Nazi Eugenics program and pursue the program of ethnic genocide,” Maberry said. “It’s all too possible.”
A couple of online (private blog) reviews of a Japanese Z-flick, "Tokyo Zombie," are offered below with links to the original blogs. This sounds like a typical Japanese romp-comedy. The idea of the zombies arising from the trash bin leaves the sound of the Python in my head: "Bring out your dead."Directed by Sakichi Sato.
Starring Tadanobu Asano, Sho Aikawa and Erika Okuda
Released by Madman Entertainment
Black Fuji is an impressive mound of rubbish in the middle of Tokyo where locals dump all kinds of unwanted material - anything from household waste to corpses (and in one memorable scene, an unwanted mother-in-law). So it's natural that when two blue collar workers accidentally bump off the boss, they would take him there to dispose of the evidence. What's not so natural is that their arrival coincides with a mysterious force which is reanimating the dead and producing a plague of zombies.
Fujio (Tadanobu Asano) and Mitsuo (Sho Aikawa) are an amiable pair who seem to be unfazed by the marauding herd of undead on their doorstep. The first half of the movie is a light-hearted romp as they stock up on supplies, talk about their lives and practise their beloved ju-jitsu. Oh, and fight off the zombies too.
However, after rescuing a surprisingly ungrateful woman, things go downhill for the pair. Because the plot contrives to separate the friends halfway through, the movie falls uncomfortably into two sections - the first is a light-hearted 'zom-com' and the second a dour, post-apocalyptic scenario. The 'love-interest' played by Erika Okuda only serves to irritate, though her daughter has one of the film's best lines. It's certainly directed with verve by Sakichi Sato but you get the feeling that some of the humor may have been lost in translation.
Stereotypes abound (the Japanese male as pervert looking up the skirt of young girls, housewives acting as screeching harridans), though it's hard to take offense as the whole film has such an oddball and strangely innocent feel to it. The special effects are cheap and cheerful - Industrial Light and Magic certainly have nothing to worry about. All in all, it's a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. Just don't expect any of the gravitas of a Romero film. And don't expect to always understand exactly what is going on.
To read Mark Smith-Briggs erudite comments on the same film look below.
Writer/director Sakichi Sato brings the much-loved Laurel and Hardy style zombie invasion Manga of the same name to the big screen with mixed results. Marketed as a Japanese Shaun of the Dead, and released hot on the heals of the British hit, it’s a film that shows loads of promise early, but ends up biting its own foot with a frustrating tonal shift half way through that undoes all its hard work.
I don't quite comprehend what this is, but it looks like a film company has put a lot of time and effort into creating an animated version of Night of the Living Dead. When I first stumbled upon this I thought it was a contest. Of course, a contest wouldn't be such a bad idea.
A blogger calling himself Gary Macabre at his "Blogue Macabre" site has posted his humorous reading of the CDC warnings about the H1N1 virus. While his comments are generally silly, what is worth noting is the blogger's intellectual connection between viral pandemics and zombie plagues. It's worth keeping as proof of an argument.
Travel Vermont's roads and you'll see signs that construction season has started -- literally.This one warns of work on the Interstate in Colchester. And this one ... Warns of zombies!? "I think it's pretty funny," said Christie White, a motorist that stopped for a second look.
Scofflaws targeted a digital construction sign on Route 7 near the Colchester-Milton town line. It once warned motorists about road work, and now advises people turn back due to a zombie invasion. The sign also mentions Swine Flu. Police suspect the culprits hacked into the sign's computer system to change it. "I had to take another glimpse at it and reread it," said Amanda Mobbs, who noticed the sign on her way to work at a convenience store. She says customers have been getting a kick out of it. "A lot of people are coming in and laughing about it and thinking its a joke."
It may have been a practical joke but police don't think it's that funny. Because hacking into the construction sign here could have serious consequences. "Tampering with that sign is not going to warn motorists there could be a problem up ahead until they are right into it," said Colchester Police Sgt. Jeff Fontaine.
Colchester Police tried to turn the sign off. But couldn't. Because it's password protected. The Agency of Transportation knows about the problem. And messages have been left for the construction company that owns the sign. Until the proper warning is back, police have a warning of their own. "If this leads to an accident," said Sgt. Fontaine, "then we would look into that as a contributing cause.
Police say potential charges against the perpetrators include making a false report. For now, the large sign is hard to miss. Generating a lot of buzz in town, and a lot of picture taking.
Darren Perron - WCAX News
Colchester, Vermont - May 3, 2009
The photos from the Melbourne Zombie Shuffle are pretty boring. But this item about an upcoming "zombie luau" in Florida seems interesting. Any excuse for a party? How zombielike is that kind of crowd-mentality thinking?
A prankster posted this faked BBC page about the H1N1 flu virus into a subtle warning about zombies. It is well-done, subtle enough to mimic what the real thing would look like. I have to admit that it gave a momentary shock to my rational mind.If there's a social hierarchy among monsters, zombies are not at the top of the list. They may not even be on the list. They're not cool like werewolves. There's no Warren Zevon song about them. They're not classy like Dracula and Frankenstein, who can trace their lineage back to respectable 19th century novels. All zombies have is a bunch of George Romero movies.
But the lowly zombie is making its move. For the past few years, vampires have been the It monster, what with Twilight and all, but that's changing. Diablo Cody, of Juno fame, is producing a movie called Breathers: A Zombie's Lament, based on a new novel about life (if that's the word) as one of the walking dead. Later this year, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin will star in the zom-com Zombieland. Max Brooks' best-selling zombie novel World War Z is being filmed by Marc Forster, the guy who directed Quantum of Solace. In comic books, the Marvel Zombies series features rotting, brain-eating versions of Spider-Man, Iron Man and the Hulk. The zombie video game Resident Evil 5 shipped 4 million copies during its first two weeks on the market. Michael Jackson's zombie video Thriller is coming to Broadway. (See the top 25 horror movies of all time.)
Apparently no one is safe from the shambling, newly marketable armies of the dead — not even Jane Austen. Seth Grahame-Smith is the author of a new novel called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, about a strangely familiar English family called the Bennets that is struggling to marry off five daughters while at the same time fighting off wave after wave of relentless, remorseless undead — since, as the novel's classic first line tells us, "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains."
It's surprising how easily Austen's novel succumbs to the conventions of a zombie flick. Much of Austen's work is about using wit and charm and good manners to avoid talking about ugly realities like sex and money. In Grahame-Smith's version, zombies are just another one of those ugly realities. "What was so fun about the book is the politeness of it all," says Grahame-Smith, who's a freelance writer in Los Angeles. "They don't even like to say the word zombie, even though their country is besieged by zombies. They're everywhere, and people are literally being torn apart before their very eyes, and other than the very few, like Elizabeth Bennet, who face this problem head on, they would almost rather not talk about it."
It's not easy to put your finger on what's appealing about zombies. Vampires you can understand. They're good-looking and sophisticated and well dressed. They're immortal. Some of them have castles. You can imagine wanting to be a vampire or at least wanting to sleep with one. Nobody wants to sleep with zombies. They're hideous and mindless. They don't have superpowers. Their only assets are their infectiousness, single-minded perseverance and virtual unkillability. (See pictures of vampires' 90 years on screen.)
Nevertheless, they seem to be telling us something about the zeitgeist. Once you start looking, you see them everywhere. Who hasn't had a high school acquaintance come back from the dead as a Facebook friend or a follower on Twitter? And what monster could be better suited to our current level of ecological anxiety? Zombies are biodegradable, locally sourced and sustainable — they're made of 100% recycled human. And look out for those zombie banks, President Obama!
Let's not forget that Night of the Living Dead, the founding film of the modern zombie tradition, made its appearance in 1968 as a commentary on the Vietnam War, evoking its extreme violence and the surreal dehumanization of the combatants. Now we're locked in another prolonged, sweaty, morally ambiguous overseas conflict, and — surprise — look who's at the door again wanting to borrow a cup of brains. "We live in an age when it's very easy to be afraid of everything that's going on," Grahame-Smith says. "There are these large groups of faceless people somewhere in the world who mean to do us harm and cannot be reasoned with. Zombies are sort of familiar territory."
If there's something new about today's zombie, it's his relatability. Sure, he's an abomination and a crime against all that is good and holy. But he exemplifies some real American values too. He's plucky and tenacious — you can cut off his limbs and he'll keep on coming atcha. And he's humble. You won't find zombies swanning around and putting on airs like some other monsters I could mention. They're monsters of the people. It was the beginning of the end for vampires when Lehman Brothers went under, those bloodsucking parasites. Down with vampires. Long live (or is it die?) the zombie: the official monster of the recession.
