Review: Shakespeare Undead

Lori Handeland, 2010, St Martin's Griffin

Zombies are stalking the streets of Elizabethan London, and celebrated playwright William Shakespeare is on the hunt. But where are the undead coming from? What is the true identity of the strangely-alluring boy now assisting Shakespeare in his quest? And how will Shakespeare's one true love react when she discovers that her lover is himself a necromancer...and a vampire?

Shakespeare Undead is a zombie novel falling more into the realm of paranormal romance than dark fantasy or horror, and with the focus accordingly upon romantic interactions between the two main protagonists. 'Fun and fluffy' just about sums up the contents; the central plot is so thin as to be almost nonexistent, and the action might just as well be taking place in modern-day downtown Sydney for all the sense of Elizabethan London conjured by the author, but the character-driven 'padding' and bouts of (admittedly somewhat self-indulgent) silliness make for pleasant enough, if not overly satisfying, reading. Think of it as providing downtime for your brain before the next Mira Grant novel comes along.

(Shakespeare Undead is distributed in Australia by Macmillan).

Review: The Loving Dead

Amelia Beamer, 2010, Night Shade Books

Kate and Michael, twenty-something housemates working at the same Trader Joe's supermarket, find themselves thoroughly screwed when their friends start turning into zombies, infected by an STD that transforms sufferers into shambling, horny, undead killers. Thrust into extremes by the unfolding tragedy, Kate and Michael are forced to confront decisions they've made and fears of commitment - but can they stay alive, or even human, long enough to benefit from such insights?

There's been a great deal of hype over the sexualising of zombies in The Loving Dead, with many people describing the novel as zombie erotica; I was a little surprised, therefore, to find that Beamer's novel really only contains about as much erotic content as the average Mills & Boon - very little of which directly involves the undead - and certainly far less than the average paranormal romance novel. That's not to say there isn't a focus upon sex in the novel; the zombie virus, after all, is sexually transmitted. But full-blown erotica? Not so much. I can only assume that the presence of any erotica whatsoever in a zombie novel provides a convenient point of difference to market.

That said, The Loving Dead is a rather brilliant piece of work; a slow-burn creepfest that examines in uncomfortable detail exactly what motivates people during a crisis. Beamer's highly-realistic, post-modern, Romero-savvy characters don't run for the hills upon realising that the zombie apocalypse is coming, but instead take short-term steps to minimise the personal inconvenience the disaster poses. As might be expected, such behaviour does as much to drive the plot as the unfolding epidemic, and Beamer additionally cultivates a real sense of impending doom that nicely contrasts the self-centred and largely ineffectual behaviour of her characters.

Joining a growing list of recent zombie novels that focus more upon analysis of the human condition than upon gore-for-gore's-sake, The Loving Dead is an engrossing and memorable read, and one that any zomlit fan who delights in the continually-expanding boundaries of the subgenre should devour.

Fashion: Zombie T-Shirts from Redbubble

At NecroScope, we pride ourselves on our fashion-sense; no rotting vestments here, only the best in undead couture! We were extremely pleased, therefore, to hear about Redbubble Art & Design, a company with offices in both Melbourne, Australia, and San Francisco, USA, that offers a great range of zombie-themed t-shirts, prints, stickers, and other items. Check out the link above, and advertise your zobsession wherever you go!

We'd be remiss if we didn't make specific mention of the Redbubble t-shirt designed by NecroScope contributor Gary Kemble (above): classy, simple, and - above all - pithy (linked here).

Pop Culture: io9: A History of Zombies in America

The early success of the AMC series The Walking Dead confirms it: though zombies have been hot for a while, they are now officially the new vampires. Why do Americans love zombies, and what does it say about us?

Read on at io9...

Review: Parade of the Dead

Dir. Richard Coburn, 2010, Golden Era

In 2010 a virus spread throughout the world population, killing millions and resurrecting the dead as flesh-hungry zombies. Around the same time, Adelaide-based hip-hop group Hilltop Hoods were due to shoot a DVD to promote their new album, State of the Art. Civilisation collapsed. People died in the streets. And the 'Hoods went ahead and made their DVD anyway...

Parade of the Dead is an unusual addition to the ranks of zombie cinema: part music-video, part zombie flick, part spoof, it doesn't include quite enough material on any of these three fronts to be labelled as one or the other, or to fully satisfy on that basis. That said, there's a great deal to like about Parade of the Dead; some great songs and energetic gig footage for fans of the 'Hoods; gore and zombie mayhem for the deadheads, not to mention some interesting and dark world-building; even much of the (admittedly fairly broad) comedy content - evident mostly during the faux-interview scenes supposedly being shot for the promotional DVD - works surprisingly well, with the 'Hoods amusingly casting themselves as amiable, if self-obsessed, morons.

All in all, Parade of the Dead is certainly worth viewing. Buy it for the music, enjoy the zombie content as an added bonus.

News: What's Coming Up at NecroScope

Hi there, Shamblers! Greetings from NecroScope's Keeper of the Dead!

For the information of all you zomlit fans who have visited us - and continue to visit us - since NecroScope's official disinternment just four short months ago, there's likely to be something of a lull in our review schedule over the next month or so, due to the recent addition of a brand new li'l flesheater to the Keeper's own corpse collective.

Fear not, though: NecroScope will continue to bring you all manner of good things in the lead-up to Christmas - our output will merely switch (temporararily) from Fast Zombie pace to Slow Zombie pace. Stick with us, though, and in no time at all we'll be back to our usual speedy selves.

So, in the meantime, what can NecroScope Shamblers look forward to?

* Upcoming reviews for Amelia Beamer's The Loving Dead, Bob Fingerman's Pariah, and Joe Schrieber's Star Wars: Death Troopers, among others.

* Your chance to win a pack of zombie-related goodies, just by signing up as a NecroScope Shambler (if you're not one already) and entering our Christmas draw.

* An exclusive, original short story - to be published here on Christmas Eve - by Australia's own award-winning zombiemeister, Jason Fischer!

Plus all the usual news and views. Tell your friends. Tell your enemies. NecroScope: temporarily slower, but no less dangerous...

Review: Biomega

Tsutomu Mihei, 2007, Madman Entertainment

The NSS virus has swept across the Earth, turning much of the population into zombie-like drones. Zoichi Kange, an agent of Toa Heavy Industry, must brave the depths of island city 9JO in search of Eon Green - a girl with the power to transmute the virus.  But a unit of Public Health Service Execution Agents are also looking for Eon, and unless Zoichi can find her first, nothing can stop the zombie apocalypse...

Biomega is a unique and pleasing fusion of dystopian Manga cyberpunk and good old-fashioned zombie action. The plot screams along at somewhat dizzying speed, leaving the reader to catch up as best they can, and the dark-and-dirty illustrations, together with the lean dialogue, create an atmosphere of pervasive gloom and dread that suits this tale right down to the ground.

If you enjoy graphic novels that swing to the dark side, Biomega will certainly appeal. Volume one of this series is currently available in Australia through Madman Entertainment.

Review: Wetwork

Philip Nutman, 1993 (TP reissue 2007), Overlook Connection Press

Black Ops agent Dominic Corvino is not having a good day. His latest mission has gone horribly wrong, with several members of his team dead and another suspiciously AWOL Plus, Corvino's just killed an enemy agent who appears to have already been dead. But then, there's a lot of that going around at the moment, as across the globe the hungry dead begin to rise...

One of the great things about the current massive popularity of zomfic is that many older, somewhat neglected classics of the genre are being given a second chance at finding the readership they deserve, and Wetwork certainly falls into this category. The darkly satirical plot, which reads as a savage indictment of the government, military, and society in general, follows the developing apocalyptic crisis through the eyes of various central characters, as well as through a series of stand-alone vignettes. Nutman's prose is almost poetic in places, an absolute joy to read, and additionally serves to contrast - and highlight - the extreme violence, brutality and gore that regularly punctuates the tale. His characters live and breathe (although generally not all the way through the novel!), and his take on zombies provides a major point of difference from other zompocalyptic tales, the risen dead portrayed as sentient flesh eaters, as damaged psychologically as they are physically; some anguished by what they have become, some revelling in their new found blood lust, others left subtly brain-damaged by their 'transition' - and if you think this makes them any less scary than the more traditional mindless cannibals, you're very, very wrong.

Wetwork is a bleak and nihilistic, yet thoroughly enjoyable novel that every serious fan of zomfic should read, and is available to purchase through Amazon.   

Review: Xombies: Apocalypse Blues & Xombies: Apocalypticon

Walter Greatshell, 2010, Ace Books

Lulu Pangloss has problems. She has no friends, her mom is difficult, and her absentee father is a deadbeat. Things can hardly get any worse...or so she thinks. Then the world comes to an end. It starts with Agent X, a plague that turns women into raving, demonic predators - Xombies - who then hunt down and infect anyone they can catch. Guns are useless; armies are helpless. With civilization collapsing all around her, Lulu hitches a ride with a crew of wary male refugees, and together they flee for the last place on Earth rumored to be safe. But what they find is as unexpected, and as terrifying, as the hell they've left behind.

A quick history lesson: back in 2004, with 28 Days Later making a major splash in cinemas around the world, and Shaun of the Dead generating pre-release buzz, Berkley Books quietly released a novel entitled simply Xombies, written by Walter Greatshell. To hardcore zombie fans, who were yet to enjoy the current and ongoing boom in zomfic that we all now take for granted, Xombies was a truly exciting publication; not just a proper zombie novel, albeit one in which the titlar monsters had more in common with the infected of 28 Days Later than with rotting corpses of George A. Romero, but a really good zombie novel, released through a mainstream publisher (Berkley being a division of the Penguin Group). Barely a year later, of course, Max Brooks' World War Z hit the bestseller list with the force of a speeding train, and was forever more (along with 28 Days Later) largely credited with kicking off the zombie boom. Yet it's worth noting (I feel, as a big fan of Xombies) that Walter Greatshell's work - along with a handful of other pre-Brooks zombie authors - contributed very strongly to the current mainstream popularity of the genre.

So, for myself, and on behalf of anyone who's read and enjoyed a zombie-related publication over the past few years: Walter Greatshell, thanks so much.

So - on to the review proper.

There's not much to be said about the plot of Xombies (retitled Xombies: Apocalypse Blues for the 2010 re-release) that isn't covered in the blurb above; at least, not without giving away some major, fascinating plot-points. The action rolls along at an unforgiving pace, aided by some wonderful (and often severely-flawed) characters. The Xombies of the piece, also, are suitably terrifying - viral psychotics (blue-skinned, due to cyanosis), that remain animated after death; a convincing amalgam of Rage zombies and the more traditional walking dead. Greatshell has been quoted as saying (to paraphrase) that he wrote Xombies as a sort of reverse-Romero take on the genre, and the conclusion to the novel (again, without giving too much away) certainly offers the mother of all reversals of the usual zompocalyptic tale. Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

Xombies: Apocalypticon -  a direct sequel to X:AB - shares all the strengths of the first book, and more than that I simply cannot say, as doing so would give away the ending of X:AB. Suffice to say, it's a nasty, gritty, and wholly engrossing read.

Both books are currently available in Australia through Penguin Books. Buy them. Read them, back-to-back. Enjoy two of the most solid contributions to the zombie genre as it exists today.

Competition: Die in a Jonathan Maberry Zombie Novel!

Zombiemeister Jonathan Maberry is currently holding a competition, via his Facebook page, to find folks to kill...

...in his new zombie novel, Dead of Night, that is. Simply visit the link below, tell Jonathan how you'd like to be killed by the walking dead, and your name could make it into the book as a zombie fatality.

 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=803028269

The competition closes soon, so you'll need to be quick.

News: Dymocks Southland Bestselling Zombie Titles for October 2010

Unsurprisingly - due to the increasing interest in Halloween in Australia, the major expansion and repositioning of our Paranormal Fiction display, and our well-attended October 31st 'Halloween HorrorCon' signing (featuring five local horror authors) - this month proved a bumper month for sales of dark fiction, and especially of zombie-themed publications. For this reason, the usual 'Top 10' of bestselling zombie titles for the month has been extended to 20 titles! Yep - we have that many zombie titles currently in store (plus many more that didn't quite make the list).

1. The Dead (The Enemy #2) - Charlie Higson
2. Alone (Chasers #1) - James Phelan
3. The Loving Dead - Amelia Beamer
4. The Zen of Zombie - Scott Kenemore
5. Z - Michael Thomas Ford
6. Patient Zero - Jonathan Maberry
7. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies - Austen / Graeme-Smith
8. The Proper Care and Feeding of Zombies - Mac Montandon
9. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
10. Breathers - S. G. Browne
11. Monster Island (Complete Trilogy) - David Wellington
12. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (Graphic Novel)
13. Dog Blood (Hater #2) - David Moody
14. The Zombie Combat Manual - Roger Ma
15. Passing Strange (Generation Dead #3) - Daniel Waters
16. Soulless - Christopher Golden
17. Handling the Undead - John Ajvide Lindqvist
18. Ex-Heroes - Peter Clines
19. The Zombie Handbook - Rob Sacchetto
20. Wetwork - Philip Nutman

Recent arrivals in-store include Shakespeare Undead (Lori Handeland), Zombiewood Weekly (Rob Sacchetto), Ten Little Zombies (Andy Rash), Pariah (Thomas Fingerman), and Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever (Joe Kane).

Review: Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever

Joe Kane, 2010, Citadel Press

To begin this review on a major tangent (but stick with me - there's a point to be made)...

It may surprise many to know that I am not, in fact, a particular fan of the iconic zombie flick, Night of the Living Dead. That's not to say I don't appreciate the movie - NotLD did, after all, set the template for the bulk of zombie media to follow. I certainly regard the movie as culturally, historically and socially important, in much the same way as I regard The Buzzcocks as being important to the development of punk music, or Renoir as important to the acceptance of Impressionism (that is, from a purely academic point of view). And I'm a huge fan of all of Romero's other 'Dead' films, But I've never really enjoyed NotLD.

I ascribe this major personal shortcoming to two things: firstly, that by the time I watched this movie for the first time (as a teenager, on VHS, in 1988 or thereabouts), I'd already seen so many cruddy rip-offs of NotLD on late-night TV that everything about this movie seemed old and tired. Secondly, to a teenager living in Melbourne, Australia, in the late 1980s, any '60s/U.S.-centric social or political commentary underpinning the movie simply didn't register. It's only as an adult that I've come to truly appreciate and understand all that Night of the Living Dead represents - but sadly, again, any genuine enjoyment of the movie purely as a piece of dark entertainment seems beyond my grasp.

So, what has any of this to do with my review of Joe Kane's behind-the-scenes look at Night of the Living Dead?

Just this: given that a non-fan of NotLD like myself was virtually unable to put down this fascinating tome - I devoured it in a single sitting, in fact - I have no hesitation in recommending Kane's book not only to zombie fans in general, but to anyone who simply enjoys a truly engrossing non-fiction read.

The book certainly seems to have been exhaustively researched, and Kane effortlessly infects the reader with his own obvious passion for NotLD without intruding overly upon the narrative. The author also strikes a near-perfect balance - often difficult to achieve in such guides - between detailing the production details of NotLD (as well as those of co-creators Romero's and Russo's subsequent movies), and delving into the personal development and lives of those responsible for the finished product, as well as clarifying some of the issues surrounding the movie that had previously drifted somewhat into the realm of urban legend (such as the matter of the 'lost copyright' of NotLD, and the nature of the wrangle between Romero and Russo over ownership of the 'living dead' moniker).

In short, Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever is an important, engrossing work, and one which informs and -  I'm happy to say - entertains on many levels. A must-read publication, available internationally through Amazon.com.

Review: Zombiewood Weekly

Rob Sacchetto, 2010, Ulysses Press

'Justin Timberlake: Hot Corpse Couture!'
'Britney Spears: Brit Snacks on Fans!'
'Lindsay Lohan: Career Rises from the grave!'

Hot on the heels of his brilliant Zombie Handbook comes Rob Sacchetto's Zombiewood Weekly: The Celebrity Dead Exposed, an amusing little exercise in satirical gore. Presented as an issue of a gossip mag, ZW is packed full of 'zombified' celebrity portraiture - from Elvis, to George W. Bush, to O.J. Simpson - complete with news snippets (penned by co-contributor Jeremy Wash), and even advertisements aimed at an undead readership. Sacchetto's ability to produce clearly-identifiable likenesses of famous faces, even through layers of advanced decay, is uncanny, and has deservedly earned him a character role in Jonathan Maberry's latest zombie novel, Rot & Ruin.

ZW is a fun publication certain to appeal to that section of zombie fandom who enjoy their zomcoms and zombie walks. And gossip mags.

(ZW is distributed in Australia by Scribo).

Review: The Walking Dead (AMC)

Dir. Frank Darabont, 2010, AMC

Small-town cop Rick Grimes pulls into an abandoned gas station. Nothing moves. Nothing makes a sound. Cautiously wandering between derelict vehicles and scattered personal possessions in search of fuel, Rick suddenly spots a small figure shuffling along in the adjacent row.

'Little girl..?' he calls out.

The figure stops. And then...

Well, any zombie fan can tell you what happens next. But if you don't recognise this as a scene from Robert Kirkman's cult graphic novel The Walking Dead, that's because it's not a scene from the comic; it's the opening scene from Frank Darabont's television adaptation (for AMC) of that same graphic novel.

That's an important word to keep in mind, here: adaptation. Because, while the first episode of the show does indeed closely follow the plot of the novel(often to the point of achieving near-identical visuals), it's not a completely faithful reproduction. Scenes have been changed, shortened, elongated; more (or less) screen-time given to particular events, characters and plotlines.

So, what does this actually mean? (I hear you ask). Is AMC's The Walking Dead actually any good?

Frankly, it's magnificent.

There's scarcely a change made to the original source material that doesn't strengthen the TV adaptation in some way, say, by heightening the tension, or perhaps rounding out a character a little more. Despite some initial misgivings over that 'flashforward' opening scene (which, to my mind, potentially could have robbed the subsequent scene in which a bemused Rick wakes up in hospital of any major tension), I was drawn almost immediately - through a combination of excellent acting, scripting, and direction - into Darabont's vision for the world of The Walking Dead; a world in which the 'rules' of Kirkman's novel - such as 'no neat escapes', 'no tidy endings' and 'no true heroes' - are brutally enforced; a world in which violence - even against the hungry dead - is depicted as an ugly, vicious thing, robbed of all vestiges of action-movie wish-fulfillment.

Darabont opts for creeping tension over short, sharp scares; human emotion over kick-ass action, and the result is one of the most devastating and emotive ('enjoyable' probably isn't an appropriate term, here) televisual offerings I've ever seen. I'm not afraid to admit that Rick's almost painfully-extended exodus from the hospital left me with knots of tension throughout my body; nor shall I deny that another 'extension' of a scene from the graphic novel, in which Rick tracks and puts down a wretched, crawling half-corpse - while at the same time, young Duane's father tries to bring himself to put down Duane's undead mother - literally brought a tear to my eye.

In short, Frank Darabont has created an adaptation that is guaranteed to win over both hard-core Kirkman fans and those ignorant of the source material alike. This is as close to a perfect cinematic representation of the human side of the zombie apocalypse as I've ever seen, and I simply can't recommend the show highly enough. Watch it now, and keep watching.

The Walking Dead premieres on U.S. television tonight (October 31st in the States), and is also available internationally to download now from iTunes.

(Image copyright AMC).

Review: Ten Little Zombies

Andy Rash, 2010, Chronicle Books

There are, perhaps unsurprisingly, a great many 'novelty' zombie books doing the rounds at present - further evidence (if any was needed) that zombies now represent serious money to publishers - and Ten Little Zombies is one of the more amusing of the bunch. Subtitled 'A Love Story', this small, 40-odd-paged hardback book comprises nothing more than a simple rhyme (recited to the meter of 'Ten Little Indians') detailing the flight of the narrator and his lady love from the zombies of the piece. To whit:

'Ten little zombies walking in a line
'One stepped in a campfire. Now there are nine.'

And so on. Illustrated throughout with black and white (and red!) cartoons, the book concludes with a rather clever and macabre zombie-related twist that appealed sufficiently to my twisted sense of humour for me to purchase a copy.

If you dislike novelty zombie-themed publications on principle, you'll probably dislike this book too. On the other hand, if you don't take your zombies too seriously, and appreciate a bit of black wit, then Ten Little Zombies is worth adding to your personal library, if only to coax a 'WTF?' out of visitors.

(Ten Little Zombies is distributed in Australia by Hardie Grant, via Random House Australia).

News: Brisbane Zombie Walk

Brisbane (Australia's own Dead Central) hosted a number of zombie-themed social events over the weekend just gone, culminating in an extremely well-attended Zombie Walk. 'Walkers from all over the world united to join in the fun, and few pedestrians were reported mauled.

Pictorial highlights from the Brisbane Zombie-Fest may be found here:

http://storify.com/abcnews/zombies-gather-in-brisbane

(Reported via Gary Kemble)

Review: Zombies: A Hunter's Guide

Joseph A. McCullough, 2010, Osprey Publishing

Zombies: A Hunter's Guide purports to be a manual detailing the threat posed by zombies, and how best to deal with it. While this sort of approach has been taken in previous zombie-themed publications, Z:AHG is well worth reading, as the author has applied some effective and unique world-building to the text, positing a reality in which the walking dead have always been with us, and extrapolating their effect upon human history and present-day society. The book also manages to successfully and inventively reconcile the existence of various types of zombie (voodoo, necromantic, revenant, atomic and viral) into the workings of McCullough's alternate history, which further underpins the reality of his imagined world.

Effectively illustrated throughout, Zombies: A Hunter's Guide is a genuinely engrossing read, and one that should appeal to zomlit fans who appreciate intelligent creativity within the genre.

(Zombies: A Hunter's Guide is distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link.)

Review: Night of the Living Trekkies

Kevin David Anderson & Sam Stall, 2010, Quirk Books

Jim was the world's biggest Star Trek fan - until two tours of duty in Afghanistan destroyed his faith in humanity. Now he sleepwalks through life as the assistant manager of a small hotel in downtown Houston. But when a local Trek convention devolves into a genuine zombie apocalypse, Jim finds that everything he learned from Star Trek just might be enough to deliver a ragtag crew of fanboys and fangirls to safety. Or not.

I'll state right from the outset that Night of the Living Trekkies is a cracking good read, injecting as it does a welcome dose of good old-fashioned fun back into the zombie genre: the plot is engrossing and well-paced, with a great balance of laugh-out-loud humour and genuine horror, while some great characterisation drives the bulk of the action throughout. The character of Jim in particular - a man who knows almost everything there is to know about Star Trek, yet views 'Trek fandom with something very close to contempt - allows the authors to pull off the impressive trick of poking serious fun at the more obvious absurdities of fandom on the one hand, while nonetheless treating the fan community with a high degree of respect on the other, It's in no small part due to this balancing act that - just as Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (also published by Quirk, who obviously know when they're onto a good thing) has proven equally popular with fans of both Austen and zombies - Night of the Living Trekkies will appeal to both fans and non-fans of Star Trek, and most definitely to fans of apocalyptic zombie mayhem.

(Night of the Living Trekkies is distributed in Australia by Random House).

Review: Eden: Crusade

Tony Monchinski, 2010, Permuted Press

As millions of flesh-hungry zombies roam the land, seeking out the last living humans, the remaining refugees from Eden continue on their search for something better. Somewhere safe. Along the way they face adversaries living and dead, befriend fellow survivors, and find reasons to keep hope alive. Yet none suspect that the greatest threat to their survival lies within their own ranks...

When I reviewed Tony Monchinski's Eden back in 2008 (review here), I proclaimed it one of the very best apocalyptic novels I'd ever read. I'm happy to report, then, that the sequel, Crusade, is every bit as good as the original. The plot of the novel is nothing remarkable in itself, following the standard zombie-apocalypse template of survivors fighting against the odds in order to find safe refuge. Where Crusade shines like a diamond, however, is in the characterisation and the atmosphere. Monchinski's characters - sympathetic or otherwise - live and breathe in a way that so few other literary characters do, forcing the reader to invest heavily in their fates (which, be warned, does not make for comfortable reading). The atmosphere throughout the novel is one of almost constant grind; our protagonists do what needs to be done, go through the motions, and occasionally punctuate the mundane search for shelter and food with short, sharp encounters with the hungry dead. There's a brilliantly-conveyed sense that this is not a story with a neat beginning, middle and end, but an ongoing, endless tale of life after the zombies, going on and on, day in, day out. Much like real life, only far less pleasant.

To my mind, with two absolutely top-notch novels under his belt, Monchinski has proven himself a bona-fide shining star of our beloved zomfic subgenre, and as such rates a place on my very short list of authors - in any genre (and I read widely) - whose work I will now always rush out to buy as soon as it hits the shelves. Crusade is a novel that any zomfic fan who truly appreciates literature absolutely must read, along with Monchinski's original novel, Eden.

Gaming: A History of Zombies in Video Games

The zombie-centric Resident Evil video game (and its many sequels) is often credited, in part, with fuelling today's current zombie boom. But zombies in gaming certainly didn't begin - or end - with Capcom's blockbuster survival-horror game. PCWorld has recently posted an informative article on just this subject.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/206769/a_history_of_zombies_in_video_games.html?tk=nl_cox_h_crawl

Visit the link above to read the full article, and keep your trigger finger supple!

News: Competition Update: Email Now Fixed!

For anyone who's been unable to send through their Walking Dead competition entry due to problems with NecroScope's email (never send zombies to do technical work, is what I've learned this week), the problem appears to have been resolved now.

So: please send your entries to necrokeeper@optusnet.com.au!

Free read: 'And the Next, and the Next' by Genevieve Valentine

Commuting is bad enough, but how about being trapped in on a subway train with hundreds of zombies.

You know them by their milky eyes, but they’re easy to fool. If you survive the first crush of them, and can master the art of walking slowly and staring straight ahead, none of them in the packed train car will even look at you.

And the Next, and the Next — Genevieve Valentine : The Living Dead 2

News: October Competition: The Walking Dead

To celebrate the imminent screening of AMC's The Walking Dead this Halloween, NecroScope will be giving away a copy of Issue #1 of Robert Kirkman & Tony Moore's original groundbreaking graphic novel!

This competition is open only to NecroScope subscribers, so be sure to join up now. To enter, simply email your answer to the following fiendishly-difficult multiple-choice question to necrokeeper@optusnet.com.au.


What is the name of the main protagonist from The Walking Dead?
a) Rick Grimes
b) Rick Springfield
c) Ricky Ricardo
d) Dusty Springfield
e) Bub

One lucky winner will be drawn from the pool of entrants on October 31st (EST), and notified via email.

News: Dymocks Southland Bestselling Zombie Titles for September 2010

1. Feed - Mira Grant

2. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks

3. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies - Austen / Graeme-Smith

4. 'Monster' series - David Wellington 

5. The Art of Zombie Warfare - Scott Kenemore

6. Ex-Heroes - Peter Clines

7. The Walking Dead (Book #1) - Robert Kirkman

8. Cell - Stephen King

9. Patient Zero - Jonathan Maberry

10. The Zombie Combat Manual - Roger Ma

New zed-flavoured arrivals for the start of October include Night of the Living Trekkies (Kevin David Anderson), Valley of the Dead (Kim Paffenroth), Married With Zombies (Jesse Petersen), The Dead (Charlie Higson), and Shakespeare Undead (Lori Handeland).  

Review: Valley of the Dead

Kim Paffenroth, 2010. Permuted Press

For seventeen years of his life, the exact whereabouts of the medieval Italian poet Dante Aligheri have remained unknown to modern scholars. What is known is that during this time he travelled as an exile across Europe, workling on his epic poem, The Divine Comedy. Now, however, the full truth can be revealed: that during his travels, Dante stumbled across an infestation of the living dead. The unspeakable acts he witnessed became the basis of the horrors described in the most famous volume of The Divine Comedy; Inferno, a description of Hell itself...

As with many things in life, while there's often great satisfaction to be gleaned from reading 'more of the same' in zombie fiction - the dead rise, mismatched survivors get thrown together, etc - I find the experience of reading a zombie novel that successfully breaks new ground to be one of life's greatest pleasures. For like-minded zombie obsessives, Kim Paffenroth's Valley of the Dead is definitely worth picking up.

While the tale clearly falls into the sub-sub-category of historical/zombie mash-up, it's certainly one of the better examples I've seen, with Paffenroth describing a  fictional journey from which passages in The Inferno have purportedly been derived. The structure of the novel cunningly recalls the structure of genuine medieval text, with our protagonists continually wandering from one set piece to another, each 'scene' exposing them to new characters and situations which end up prompting deep philosophical discussion on all manner of topics. It's in presenting these discussions that Paffenroth really shines, as those who have read the author's previous work (Dying to Live and its sequel, and the non-fiction tome Gospel of the Living Dead) will doubtless anticipate, and it must be said that the classic structure of Valley of the Dead allows Paffenroth to make the very most of his predilection.

Valley of the Dead may admittedly not be a novel suited to the tastes of all zombie fans. For those who can appreciate something a little different, however - something that requires a little more thought on the part of the reader - then Valley of the Dead is definitely worth investing your time in.

Review: Zombie Felties

Nicola Tedman & Sarah Skeate, 2010, Penguin Australia

As a bookseller by trade, I can confirm that instructional books on creating Felties - cute little dolls (generally finger-sized) made from felt - are the in thing at present with folks who enjoy handcrafts. That said, even as one of the True Believers in zombie pop-culture, I would not have predicted the publication of a book such as Zombie Felties. And yet, here it is. And, I have to say, it's lots of fun.

In addition to providing clear, idiot-proof instructions (fortunately for negatively-skilled folk like myself) for the creation of each of the sixteen zombie felties described herein, the authors of this book have been extremely creative in their approach to materials (looped red thread for spilling guts; pink sequins for exposed brains), as well as in the range of suggested figures, which include such gruesome delights as the Zombie Bunny, the Mexican-style Day of the Dead Zombie, the Classic Zombie, and the 'Thrilla' Zombie (guess who?).

At the risk of undermining my well-deserved reputation as a macho he-man (no laughing at the back, there!), I had a great deal of fun putting together my Zombie Pirate feltie, and the construction of the Zombie Surfer kept my zed-obsessed son occupied for several blissful hours during the current school-holiday period, which - in my book - makes Zombie Felties an absolute winner.

Review: Ex-Heroes

Peter Clines, 2010, Permuted Press

Folks had really only just come to terms with the existence of genuine superheroes when the dead began to rise. Now, Los Angeles is a wasteland. Thousands of survivors shelter in a converted film studio, under the protection of the remaining superpowered individuals, while millions of hungry ex-humans roam the streets. Now, however, there's something worse out there than the zombies. Across the city, another group of survivors has grown and gained power. And they are not heroes...

If ever there was a novel that I'd give just about anything to see turned into a movie, Ex-Heroes would be it. The plot - which, far from rehashing Marvel Zombies territory, offers a fresh and engrossing take on the superhero/zombie mash-up - storms along at white-knuckle speed, boasting a superb blend of action, intrigue and survival horror, while somehow finding breathing-room for some major character insights and development. The superheroes (and humans) of the tale are all wonderfully flawed, in ways that generally serve to drive the plot rather than simply complement it, and the reader is constantly reminded that human nature doesn't always vanish with the onset of superpowers, for better or worse. Add to the mix Clines' ability to create stunning visuals in the mind's eye of the reader through masterful use of prose and dialogue, and the resulting package is one of the very best zombie novels I've yet to read.

Ex-Heroes is a must-read for genre fans who demand so much more than just another zompocalypse. Hell, I'd read Clines' laundry list if that happened to be the only other thing he ever wrote, but I'll hold out hope for another novel, and soon.

Feature: Frank Darabont and The Walking Dead

In a nondescript office building on Cahuenga Boulevard, Frank Darabont is putting the finishing touches on the end of the world. The writer-director, famed for such Oscar-nominated feature films as "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile," is now masterminding the zombie apocalypse with his new television series, "The Walking Dead."

Read on at The LA Times.

News: Subscription Competition Closes!

The inaugural NecroScope subscription drive competition has now officially closed! Congratulations to our lucky winner, Angelique Davis (aka Vampires and Tofu), whose fantastic prize-pack will be shortly packed into an airtight biohazard receptacle and dispatched to the US on an overbooked commercial passenger ship. Nothing can possibly go worng...

Commiserations to all our subscribers who didn't win - but don't lose heart (or whatever). NecroScope will continue to dole out the goodies in the months ahead, so be sure to stick with us for ongoing zombie-related goodness, and be sure to tell your friends, family, lovers and enemies to sign up also, for more chances to win great prizes!

Upcoming competitions may* include:

- Win a copy of Kirkman's The Walking Dead #1, to coincide with the Halloween screening of AMC's upcoming TV adaptation.

- Choose a cool zombie tattoo design for NecroScope's own Keeper of the Dead!

- Retro Review Month: correctly guess the first 'retro' zombie title to be reviewed!

- Attack of the Zombie Shorts! Send us your zombie flash-fiction (500 words max.) for a chance to win a copy of Writers' Workshop of Horror.

And many more to come. Or not (see disclaimer below). Keep visiting for further updates!

* Disclaimer: Or may not. Many of these concepts seemed like good ideas after a few glasses of red and a tasty brain, but in the cold light of day...

Art: Freaking Awesome Zombie Poster

This amazing artwork features 978 zombie movies, books and games.

(Via BoingBoing)

Pop Culture: Know Your Zombie History!

As Chuck noted yesterday, Tor are going gaga for zombies this week.

Today, Julia Nevin pays tribute to some of the lesser known heroes of the sub-genre.

Review: Zombies of Mass Destruction

Dir. Kevin Hamedani, 2009, Roadshow Entertainment

Life in the seaside community of Port Gamble reflects the ideals of small-town America; white picket fences, friendly neighbours, a more comfortable pace to life. Until, that is, a terrorist attack results in a zombie uprising. Then, an unlikely trio comprising an Iranian-American girl and a gay couple will have to battle not only the undead, but the simmering intolerance of their fellow survivors, in order to save their town and themselves...

Despite always trying to not judge a DVD by its cover, I should admit from the outset that my expectations of Zombies of Mass Destruction were significantly lowered by the label 'A Political Zomedy' gracing the cover of this release; generally, when producers of any political satire feel compelled to emphasise the fact that the movie is a political satire, this tends to indicate that the satire (and usually the movie in general) isn't up to much.

I bother to mention this only because I'm fairly certain that others may share my feelings on this. And it would be a pity if any of those folks were to avoid watching ZMD based upon that assumption, because ZMD is actually a pretty damn good film. The acting is excellent, the special effects and make-up convincing, and the script - which admittedly follows the standard zombie-uprising plot - is both entertaining and exciting.

Even better, the satirical content of this movie actually works. Much of the political commentary is admittedly pretty unsubtle stuff, with very obvious allusions made to dodgy post-9/11 politics, and the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, among other things. Yet beneath all this in-your-face stuff is another, more subtle (and disturbing) layer of socio-political satire examining the casual bigotry of Good People, the evils performed in the name of humanitarianism, and the truism that even the worst events will serve someone's political agenda, big or small, and it's when addressing such issues that both the script and acting really shine.

Zombies of Mass Destruction is a terrific little flick, and a definite 'must-see' for any fan of zombie cinema, particularly those who enjoy Romero-esque social commentary. The DVD release is now available in Australia through the usual retailers.

News: Reminder! Subscription Drive Competition Closes Soon!

If you haven't yet signed up as a NecroScope 'Shambler' (Follower), here's a reminder that our first-ever official subscription drive competition closes on September 16th, 5pm EST (original post here), leaving only two more days for zombophiles to enter the draw to win a fabulous prize pack comprising:

* A SIGNED copy of Feed, by Mira Grant (Orbit, 2010).
* A copy of the novel State of Decay, by James Knapp (Roc, 2010).
* A copy of Dead or Alive, by William Harms (Absolute Tyrant, 2010).
* One copy each of Black House Comics' After the World: Killable Hours (Clay Blakehills) and After the World: Gravesend (Jason Fischer).
* A copy of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim, by Mark Twain and W. Bill Czolgosz (Coscom Entertainment, 2009).
* A copy of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Zombies, by Nathan Robert Brown (Penguin Books, 2010).
* A copy of the comic George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead: The Beginning, Issue #1 (Avatar Press, 2006).


The draw is open to international Shamblers as well as Disinterred Australians. Simply press the 'Follow' button on the right-hand menu. One lucky subscriber will be picked at random after the cut-off, and contacted via the website.

News: Zombie Week at Tor.com

Zombie fans would be well advised to shamble past Tor.com this week. Why? Well, because the publisher's site is currently hosting a zombie theme week, featuring articles and blog entries by the likes of Joe McKinney, Bob Fingerman, John Joseph Adams, Roger Ma, and other members of zombie royalty, as well as short fiction and novel excerpts from Neil Gaiman, David Wellington, Amelia Beamer and more, plus comics, poetry, music, survival tips...

So: grab your shotgun and head on over to Tor.com for more zombie-related goodness than can possibly be good for anyone.

Review: What Will Come After

Scott Edelman, 2010, PS Publishing

One of my greatest occasional pleasures as both a reader and a reviewer is in picking up a new collection by an author responsible for several stories I've previously enjoyed, and then realising that I've actually read (and greatly enjoyed) almost all of the tales therein without previously having attributed them to the author in question.

So it has been with What Will Come After: the Complete Zombie Stories of Scott Edelman. This wonderful hardback collection contains eight reprints (and one original) dating back as far as 1997, with each and every one a bona fide classic of the genre (this further evidenced in the publishing acknowledgements at the back of the book). Edelman's work takes full advantage of the extensive range of tropes and themes offered by zombie fiction, delving into classic literature mash-ups ('Live People Don't Understand' and 'Tell Me Like You Done Before') to dark examinations of the human condition ('The Man He Had Been Before' and 'The Human Race'), existential angst ('What Will Come After'), black humour ('Goobers'), and onward into realms previously unexplored, including a dose of Shakespearean-style theatre ('A Plague on Both Your Houses') and an exploration of the Big Question: what happens in a zombie-infested world once all the humans have been either consumed or converted? ('The Last Supper').

Edelman writes beautifully literary zombie fiction with broad appeal; simultaneously insightful, engrossing, and darkly entertaining. What Will Come After is available for purchase directly from the publisher's website, and any afficiando of zombie fiction will be richer for immediately adding a copy to their personal collection.

Interview: Dr Arnold T. Blumberg

A few weeks back, NecroScope reported on an upcoming Pop Culture minor course on zombies (original post here) being offered by the University of Baltimore. Well, despite the fact that class in now in session, and international media interest in the course is at fever pitch, course tutor Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg (co-author of Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For) was kind enough to take time out from his busy schedule to tell us a little about how it's all rolling...

NecroScope: Dr. Blumberg, tell us briefly about your interest in zombies, and from where this interest originated.

Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg: My entire life personally and professionally has been about taking a critical look at pop culture and genre entertainment, and I love everything from comics and science fiction (especially Doctor Who!) to horror. Part of that, obviously, has been a fascination with zombies, a lot of which really crystalized when I worked on my book with Andy Hershberger, Zombiemania. From 2003-2005, when we worked on that book, I got a chance to see many of the movies I'd always wanted to see as a child but never got around to seeing, so it was as much about discovery for me as it was a chance to rewatch and write about movies I already enjoyed.

NS: Zombies have a really strong fan base at present, but what made you believe that an educational course on the undead would be viable? Is there actually a 'need' to educate people about zombies?

ATB: The course is not the first in the country, but certainly the justification is there now more than ever. We are inundated with media 24/7 and we need to be able to provide students with the tools they need to be intelligent and informed consumers of that media. The zombie is such an all-pervasive icon in our culture right now, so mainstream, that we simply must ask the questions: Why? What does the zombie say about us and to us? Why does it attract us and what does it say about us as a people, a nation, and a culture?

NS: What sort of reaction did you get from the University of Baltimore when you pitched the idea of a course on zombies?

ATB: Perhaps a bit surprisingly, rather intrigued and enthusiastic! They were starting a Pop Culture minor as part of their College of Arts & Sciences, with courses deliberately designed to offer incisive, critical looks at different genres in our media, so it was just a matter of explaining why the zombie as a genre and an icon was ripe for academic analysis. It wasn't that difficult to establish.

NS: The general public tends to have a preconceived idea of what fans of zombies (and of horror tropes in general) are like, in the same way that many have a stereotypical view of SF fans. Tell us a little about the sort of people who have signed up for your course.

ATB: The class so far seems to run a very predictable range of students of various ages and both genders, some of whom are clearly already fans, some of whom have never seen or read about zombies in their lives, and then folks in the middle that aren't enthusiasts but have probably caught Night of the Living Dead or heard the word 'zombie' in the news at some point. It's a very balanced range from the casual to the dedicated zombie viewer, just right for sparking a lot of dynamic discussion in class, and I feel it's in those discussions where learning really takes place.

NS: Your course involves the viewing of a number of zombie movies. Tell us a little about some of the specific movies being viewed, and why they've been included in the course.

ATB: We start with White Zombie and explore the ways in which that film reflects western culture's first exposure to the Voudoun traditions of the West Indies. From there we proceed chronologically through the '40s (I Walked With a Zombie), '50s (Invisible Invaders, Plan 9 From Outer Space), '60s (NOTLD, of course) and so on, taking time to analyze how the zombie evolves and offers a mirror of the culture at that point. By the time we reach the end of the semester and films like Zombieland and [REC], we'll be looking at how our current world situation - fears of terrorism, collapse of financial institutions, ongoing military conflict - both inform and transform the zombie in popular media.

NS: Your passion for zombie cinema is obvious, but are there any examples of zombie literature that you'd cite as being particularly important to the genre?
ATB: I was never as much into zombie-themed literature as cinema and television, but obviously there are some standouts, and I've assigned a few in class, everything from Max Brooks' World War Z to [Jonathan Maberry's] Patient Zero and [David Wellington's] Monster Island. I'll also be touching on The Walking Dead comic (and TV show), [Mira Grant's] Feed, the phenomenon of classic literature mash-ups like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, and even zombie haiku!

NS: Finally, what are your all-time favourite three zombie movies, and why?

ATB: I'd have to go with White Zombie (1932) for its delightful Lugosi performance and perfectly pitched mood, NOTLD as just one of the most reliable Halloween-night films you can watch for that relentless siege atmosphere, and Burial Ground (1981) for how over-the-top it is, just as I always imagined an Italian zombie movie would be when I was a kid.

NecroScope thanks Dr. Blumberg for making the time to 'sit and chat'. Those seeking further information on Dr. Blumberg's course - entitled Media Genres: Zombies - will soon be able to access an FAQ page on Blumberg's website (link here).

Review: Doghouse

Dog House
2009
Directed by Jake West

The Plot

Vince (Stephen Graham) is going through the final stages of his divorce and to help him through this period his friends Mikey (Noel Clarke) and Neil (Danny Dyer) decide to take him and a few of the other boys to a remote village outside the humdrum of their London lives to get, in Dyer's own words; 's**tfaced'. However, when they turn up to the incredibly eerie village of Moodley to find flesh-eating, man-hating, cannibalistic women who want to do nothing more than rip out their internal organs and eat them for breakfast, the boys realise they have bitten more than they can chew and must fight their way through a barrage of blood-thirsty women in the most misogynistic way imaginable.

The premise of the film completely reflects the manner in which Jake West approaches this project, with a gleeful nod towards plenty of harmless sexist humour and cheap gory death sequences that are all nice, light-hearted and fun. Neil, Vince and Mikey are all your typical working-class likely lads out to simply flirt with the opposite sex and drink as much as their body-weight, with Danny Dyer in particular needing to place little effort in recreating his Cockney 'laddish' persona (yet again) on the big-screen. While Dave Schaffer's script contains many easy-going humorous gags to keep your attention ticking over while the next axe, gnome or sword heads to try and end the boy's misogynistic ways and eliminate the male chromosome all in one.

'Doghouse' is nowhere near the heights of Pegg/Frost's rom-zom-com-supremo 'Shaun of the Dead', but it is a fun 85 minutes of black humour. There are plenty of great scenes to laugh at throughout the entire movie, such as when Mikey tries to break into an army jeep and the brick rebounds and hits him in the head. And while we're on the subject of heads, the scene where a severed head is place on a remote control truck and used to distract the zombie chicks is classic.

While not as good as Shuan of the Dead, it is a good flick and not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.

Review: Chasers (Bk #1: Alone)

James Phelan, 2010, Hachette Australia

Australian teen Jesse is on a UN Young Ambassadors camp in New York when his subway carriage is rocked by a massive explosion. Jesse and his three friends, Dave, Mini and Anna, crawl out to discover a city in chaos. Buildings are in ruins. Bodies litter the streets. And the only other survivors seem to be infected with something that turns them into horrifying predators...

It's tempting to suggest that some of the darkness in this novel - and there is plenty of darkness - will be lost on its intended Young Adult audience, as Phelan successfully drags the reader back to 9/11 (which younger readers may not visually recall) with his description of a city in ruins. However, so vivid is the setting that even pre-teens should have no difficulty in grasping the horror of the situation described herein. The plot is straightforward (with at least one massive twist!), though totally engrossing due to the uncertainties faced by the protagonists, and the characters are believably flawed. The infected 'zombies' of the piece are treated with far more sympathy than I've previously experienced, with constant reminders that these are people unable to control their behaviour; this does not, however, make them any less terrifying, and their motivation to attack the uninfected (or even one another) -  a terrible, all-consuming thirst - only intensifies their creepiness.

Chasers is an excellent novel (and the first in a series) that should please most fans of apocalyptic zombie fare, regardless of age. It's worth noting also that the book has been selected for the current GET READING! nationwide Australian Government initiative, and thus should be available in all good bookstores.

News: The Zombie Diaries 2 Film Shoot

Our UK-based zombie lovers (or others planning on heading over there soonish) might like to take part in this event announced on Facebook.

"On Sunday November 14th 2010 you'll have the chance to experience something that we believe has never been done before in the UK. You can be in the cast for the greatest number of zombie extras ever gathered on a film set. AND take part in the filming of The Zombie Diaries 2 on Tan-Y-Bwlch (south) beach as part of The Abertoir Horror Festival."

To take part, you need to register.

Read more about The Zombie Diaries and director Michael Bartlett.

News: Dymocks Southland Bestselling Zombie Titles for August 2010

1. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
2. Alone (Chasers #1) - James Phelan
3. The Enemy - Charlie Higson
4. Feed - Mira Grant
5. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies - Austen / Graeme-Smith
6. Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead - ed. Christopher Golden
7. 'Monster' series - David Wellington
8. Patient Zero - Jonathan Maberry
9. The Dead That Walk - ed. Stephen Jones
10. Zombies: Encounters With the Hungry Dead - ed. John Skipp

Review: La Horde (The Horde)

Dir. Yannik Dahan & Benjamin Rocher, 2009, Roadshow Entertainment (Australian DVD Release).
In an abandoned tower block in an isolated town north of Paris, a group of cops-turned-vigilante prepare to exact justice for a murdered colleague. But as the gangsters they were seeking to assassinate unexpectedly take the upper hand, the unimaginable occurs: strange lights flash in the sky, the distant city begins to burn...and from the darkness surrounding the tower pours a multitude of feral, cannibalistic dead.

The genius of this film is that it starts off looking like something completely other than an apocalyptic zombie movie - specifically, like a gritty, brutal crime drama of the sort that Europeans currently do so damn well. Thus, by the time the audience even gets a hint of the undead mayhem to come (a good twenty minutes into the film), the gritty realism of the setting has become so firmly cemented that the unexpected onset of the apocalypse requires virtually no suspension of disbelief. The reality of the setting is matched by that of the characters, with highly believable performances from the central cast. Unlike the characters in many other zombie flicks, the characters here are given scant opportunity for emotional outpouring, grieving for fallen comrades, or personal revelations; these are hard-arse cops and gangsters, determined to survive against unthinkable odds, and thus the majority of the film involves a cold and methodical search for a safe escape route, punctuated regularly by some of the most brutal, violent and - yes - exciting fight scenes I've ever witnessed (including one beaut where a thug goes bare-knuckle against two feral zombies of the 'fast' variety).

In short, The Horde is a dark, brutal, gory, vastly enjoyable, adrenaline-fuelled, haunted-house-ride of a movie, and possibly one of the best modern zombie flicks ever made. Sure, that's a big call, but grab a copy of this DVD today, watch it, and tell me I'm wrong.

Review: High School of the Dead

Dir. Tetsuro Araki, 2010, Madman (Australian DVD release).

A deadly new disease is ravaging the world, turning the populace into mindless zombies, and the number of infected is skyrocketing by the second. As their fellow classmates and teachers succumb to the infection around them, a small group of students at Fujimi High School are fighting for their lives after surviving the initial outbreak. It is up to Takashi Komuro to unite the group of weary survivors and try to escape the horrors that surround them. In this new world of the living dead…will they escape?

Adapted from the popular Manga series of the same title, High School of the Dead is a rather brilliant little excursion into animated zombie mayhem that should prove a hit with fans of both zombies and anime. All the usual trappings of Japanese animation are here; heavily stylised characters, moments of bizarre humour (plus, of course, plenty of focus on short skirts and busty schoolteachers), as well as some absolutely stunning visuals and sound work - all of which serve to underscore the bleak, apocalyptic horror of the piece. Throw in a good dose of extreme violence and on-screen gore, as well as some genuinely interesting and often emotional character development, and the result is one of the best televisual zombie outings I've had the pleasure to watch.

The DVD of the currently-screening TV series will soon be available in Australia through Madman, with episodes of the series (and others) now available for free viewing at the Madman Screening Room.

Pop Culture: New Course Explores Use of Zombies In Pop Culture

From August 31st this year, the University of Baltimore will roll out its new pop culture minor with a course on zombies. The course instructor, Arnold T. Blumberg, M.A. ’96, D.C.D. ’04, visiting professor in UB’s School of Communication Design and co-author of Zombiemania: 80 Movies to Die For, literally wrote the book on the subject. It’s one of only a handful of courses like it in the country.
Blumberg says: “The zombie functions as an allegory for all sorts of things that play out in our country, whether it’s the threat of communism during the Cold War or our fears about bioterrorism in 2010. It’s relatively easy to connect the zombie to what is happening in culture.”

UB’s School of Communications Design Director Jonathan Shorr sees zombies in a larger context: “We know from archaeologists and anthropologists that a society’s artifacts tell us a lot about what that culture valued and feared. Stories about King Arthur, for example, aren’t stories about 9th century England as much as about the culture of the time in which the work was produced. The same is true with zombies.

”Even major fans of zombies—and they’re out there, by the millions,” says Blumberg, “may not spend time contemplating the underlying meaning of this monster, despite its potency. It takes some close attention to really understand what a given film, book or graphic novel is saying about the zombie—and what zombies are saying about the culture. That’s what we’ll be getting into this fall.”

Blumberg, curator of Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore, has done extensive research into the genre, and the course will spend some time looking at the history and legacy of this particular “brand” of monster, in cinema, literature and folklore, as well as the (pseudo) science that is occasionally brought in to prove the existence of zombies.

(Unfortunately, for Australian zombiphiles, Baltimore is obviously in a whole 'nother country. You can't just jump in the car and drive there).

For more information on the course (and other zombie-related goodness) visit Dr. Blumberg's website at: http://www.apanelwithnoborders.com/

Pop Culture: Zombies Are No Laughing Matter!

...although the good folk over at Cracked.com - 'America's only humour & video site, since 1958' - might disagree. The site features a number of excellent zombie-related articles, ranging from the insightful to the downright hilarious. Check out the link below, and enjoy the irreverence!

http://www.cracked.com/search/search.php?sa=search&q=zombies