Versailles Philharmonic Quintet - Zombie

There are many things that are called 'zombie' that may or may not be worthy of such a title. Zombie by the Cranberries for example, sure, why not--I like the Cranberries, and that song. But how about Zombie by Versailles Philharmonic Quintet?



I think this song deserves to be called Zombie. The video is from their DVD release "Chateau de Versailles" and the album is "Noble".

New addition: weekly polls!

Every Monday, you'll get your chance to vote on a zombie attack related question. This week's question is:

Which weapon would you choose?

Chainsaw, katana, shotgun, or sniper rifle?
There are obvious pros and cons to each of these, but what would you go with if zombies were eating your neighbors?

Box Head: The Zombie Wars

Box Head: The Zombie Wars is the best online, free zombie game I've played. You are a person with guns and grenades and the like, trying to kill waves of zombies. You set up barricades and explosive barrels and turrets and do your best to stay alive. The game moves quickly and it takes little time to upgrade your weapons. The art looks good. The game's weak point is it's repetition, but hey, it's zombies. What can you expect?

Box Head: The Zombie Wars at Newgrounds

George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead

George A. Romero is making a new movie called Survival of the Dead. MovieNews.ca has provided an interview from the Toronto film festival. In this great interview, Romero addresses what a zombie is, make-up, and the social fuel for his next movie. In a nutshell, Survival of the Dead should address what it means to disagree with civility... hopefully in a more direct way than his other movies, because they all address this.

Here is the trailer for Survival of the Dead:

Zombie movie crash course

Here is a list of zombie movies and my ratings for them.

• GG is good good: awesome
  
• BG is bad good: so bad that it's good
  
• GB is good bad: it is good, but it's not great
  
• BB is bad bad: awful

Stay tuned for in-depth interviews.

28 Days Later : GG
28 Weeks Later : GB
Dawn of the Dead : GG
Dawn of the Dead remake : GB
Day of the Dead : GG
Day of the Dead remake : BB
Fido : GG
Hell of the Living Dead : BG
Night of the Living Dead : GG
Return of the Living Dead : GG
Shaun of the Dead : GG
Tokyo Zombie : GG
Zombie Lake : GB

Zombies vs. Robots

If you've never read Zombies vs. Robots, at least look at it at a book store. Or at least search for images of it. Read a nice review here.

So what makes Zombies vs. Robots better than, let's say, the remake of Day of the Dead? Well, it should be obvious. How it looks. It's amazing in its painting and its in its composition as graphic fiction. ZvR is not a tale where zombies have been dropped into historical situations, classic literature, or your favorite super hero. ZvR is a tale where zombies exist in a pure, unfettered way... minus having to fight robots.

A fun game

Here's a game you and your undead loved ones should play:

With two people: one plays the role of the zombie. The zombie moves in a slow, clumsy manner, with only half his or her strength. It only goal of the zombie is to bite the other player. So, with zombie-like determination, try to bite your friend. The human player is free to run, hide, or whatever else he or she sees fit. Please don't hit each other with blunt objects, unless they're made of foam and you've already worked out some rules. A timer runs once the game begins. Once the zombie bites the human, the round ends and the roles switch. Whoever has the best time over X rounds is the winner!

With more people: same rules apply. Begin with one zombie. Once a human has been bitten, he or she then becomes a zombie after 10 seconds. The round is over when only one human remains.

Special note: if playing with only two people and the human locks his or her self in a room, and it appears impossible that one zombie would ever get in. Rock-paper-scissors, if the human wins, add 10% to the end time. It is, after all, just a matter of time before the zombies get you.

It's great to play when you're having a movie date, or when friends come over for a party! Don't even bother telling them the game's on!

Zombies, love to hate 'em

A lot of wonderful things catch a wave on the internet, expelling them to new heights of popular culture, and simultaneously sucking their truly awesome power down into an undertow. Simply think about ninjas and pirates. Zombies, too have grown immensely in popularity over the last 10 years, almost to a ridiculous points. No one should ever heart zombies. The power of a zombie is its similarity to us. It is a condensation of loathsome humanity. Of course, the pressure from a zombie trying to eat you alive also generates some wonderful energy.

Halloween Soundtrack

It's officially All Saint's Day, but if you're like me, it's takes a couple days to wash down a holiday. To help you in your Halloween withdrawal, here's the track list of my Halloween mix:

Toccata and Fugue in D Minor : Bach
Rite of Spring Act 1 : Stravinksy
La danse macabre : Saint-Saens
Poeme electronique : Varese
Night on Bald Mountain : Mussorgsky
Hall of the Mountain King : Apocalpytica
The Wizard Turns On … The Giant Silver Flashlight And Puts On His Werewolf Moccasins : The Flaming Lips
Snow Tip Cap Mountain : The Octopus Project
The Boogie Man : Gnarls Barkley
Ice Monster : Minus the Bear
Tooth & Claw : Robin Beanland and Greame Norgate
Ya Ha Haa : Robin Beanland and Greame Norgate
Dragula : Rob Zombie
The Munsters theme
The Addams Family theme : Mizzy, Vic
Alfred Hitchcock Presents theme : Charles Gounod
The Twilight Zone theme : Constant, Marius
Jaws theme : John Williams
Love Potion #9 : The Clovers
My Son, The Vampire : Allan Sherman
Monster Mash : Boris Pickett & the Crypt Kickers
I Was a Teenage Werewolf : Cramps
Haunted House : Jumpin' Gene Simmons
Ghostbusters : Ray Parker Jr.
I Put a Spell on You : Screamin' Jay Hawkins
The Purple People Eater : Sheb Wooley
Werewolves of London : Warren Zevon

Zombieland light review

I don't want to spoil anything (or rather too much) about Zombieland, as it's still in theatres, but I have to give you my rating.

--Zombieland 86%
1. Were the zombies actually Undead? 2.5/5 for ambiguity
2. Did the gore gross you out or make you yelp with joy? 4/5 for infrequence
3. Did the characters fight amongst eachother? 4/5 for mellowdrama
4. Did anyone have trouble executing a zombie for sentimental reasons? 5/5
5. Did it make you wish even more that zombies were real? 6/5 for awesomeness

I know, I know. I'm already breaking my own rules. But it deserves to be higher. Look forward to a full review (after Zombieland has left theatres).

Zombie Reconciliation

Unfortunately, I cannot provide you all of "Dial Z for Zombies" from which this segment comes, let alone all of The Simpsons Tree House of Horror III (1992). But this clip suffices to show a reconciliation of the two zombie archetypes as I've described. The zombies featured here are slow and dumb (although they are smart enough to realize that Homer doesn't have a brain), but they are specifically brain eating.

High Hopes for Zombieland

In case you didn't know, Zombieland opens Friday.

It stars Woody Harrelson (never forget Kingpin) and Jesse Eisenberg (admit it, you loved Adventureland). Also Bill Murray is in it somewhere, so you know it's going to be good.

I'm going to propose a new system for critiquing zombie films, which I would like you to print out and take with you to Zombieland. It's so easy a zombie could do it, simply place a check next to the question if it's yes, tally your checks at the end.

1. Were the zombies actually Undead? __
2. Did the gore gross you out or make you yelp with joy? __
3. Did the characters fight amongst eachother? __
4. Did anyone have trouble executing a zombie for sentimental reasons? __
5. Did it make you wish even more that zombies were real? __
6. Was Bill Murray in it? __

Okay, so I added that last one. This checklist is, of course, the bare bones of a good zombie movie, but if a movie lacks anyone of the first five, something's wrong. Hopefully we can give Zombieland six brains out of five.

Flesh vs. Brains, the Great Divide

A lot of people fight over what zombies and, naturally, zombie movies are. Zombies have evolved into their popular role from a specific Voodoo practice: Shamans who specialize in relating with the spirit of death are said to revive the recently deceased to do their bidding as a mindless slave, a zombi. Undeath and cannibalism have been addressed in many cultures, for a long time, but the gunshot which started this clumsy zombie race is certainly Night of the Living Dead, 1968. Here we were given the classic rules of zombie films: humans back from the dead are eating other people and a bunch of normal people who don't like each other are stuck to work it out. People often cite 28 Days Later as a zombie film, but why does anyone think that the 'ghouls' in 28 Days are zombies? They aren't slow and they aren't dead or undead. They living people who are infected with rage. And eat normal folks.
There are many reasons that these antagonists feed into our perception of what a zombie is, but one is called Return of the Living Dead, which isn't mentioned much.

If you can get your hands on the dvd of Return of the Living Dead, sink your teeth into the "Designing the Dead" featurette, and watch the movie with the commentary. If you do so, Director Dan O'Bannon shares that:

Night of the Living Dead was written by Russo and directed by Romero.
Afterwards, they split.
Romero went on to direct and write Dawn of the Dead.
Russo went to Warner Bros. with his screenplay, Return of the Living Dead.
This was given to Dan O'Bannon (screenwriter of Alien) to be directed.
O'Bannon felt that this RotLD screenplay was far too similar to Dawn of the Dead,
So, he made some changes: the zombies are fast, semi-intelligent, and brain-eating. Also the movie's more of a dark comedy.

There you have it. Two zombie archetypes from the 80s: slow, super dumb, flesh eaters; and fast, sort-of smart, brain eaters.

Toxins, lawnmowers, and chainsaws, oh my!

WARNING! GORY ZOMBIE GOODNESS


I know it's early for Halloween, but what a great homage to zombies.
The glowing canisters in the truck recall the Return of the Living Dead series.
The lawnmower recalls Dead Alive.
The leafblower recalls the Evil Dead series.
All of these movies are excellent.