Let’s start off with some zombie comics.

Dead Space is quite a franchise. You have the 2008 animated movie Dead Space: Downfall; which is a prequel to the game Dead Space that takes place after it’s prequel Dead Space: Extraction (which is set at the same time as the animated film). If you thought that was confusing…there’s a 2008 comic book named Dead Space, which takes place before the animated movie.

Here’s a free preview of the first issue: FIRST ISSUE

If you’re thinking about buying the 28 Days Later comic book by BOOM! studios, check out the free preview of their #6 issue: 28 Days Later #6

If that wasn’t enough reading for you, let’s jump to some books, shall we.

Monster Island is a novel posted in blog format. It is set in Manhattan, one month after New York has been overrun by zombies. Monster Island is the first volume in a trilogy. The second part is Monster Nation which tells the story of how the epidemic began and how it spread so rapidly. Lastly, the third part is Monster Planet Which is set twelve years after the events of the first two novels.

Zombiestories is a blog with a few quite good short stories, be sure to visit it; it may have just what you’re looking for!

Cybertales is a website that belongs to Mark Clodi. It features pretty good stories like Billions, Outbrake, Undead Advantage and others in his opus titled The Zombie Chronicles.
Be sure to tell him what you think of his work…who knows, you might even support his work .

1. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Seth Grahame-Smith is the writer of the novel which will be directed David O. Russell (you might know his work from the Three Kings, remember those gun shot explanatory scenes; awesome!). Even though the movie is very far away; 2011.. just because Natalie Portman is starring in it will make the wait so sweet. I mean – admit it! Who doesn’t want to see Natalie Portman with zombies?!?

2. Resident Evil: Afterlife

Paul W.S. Anderson is doing it again, and so is Milla Jovovich, which is cool, cause she knows how to kill zombies.. and is hot! And the tagline is: “She’s back…And she’s bringing a few of her friends.” I wonder if there’ll be a Resident Evil 5…6…7 movie?

The plot continues from where the third movie ended. Alice has been roaming the world searching for any remaining survivors. As she enters the ruined Los Angeles, she stumbles onto a prison surrounded by zombies. She then teams up with a group of survivors who had been hiding in Los Angeles since the T-virus outbreak and helps them break out other survivors held within the jail which include Claire’s brother Chris Redfield.

It’s coming out the 10th of September 2010.

3. Versus

Versus is directed by Ryuhei Kitamura and should come out in 2010. It is a remake of the 2000 film also named Versus and also directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. Maybe he’ll make a new one in 2020, who knows?

The plot of the original Versus from 2010: Set in the present where a group of ruthless gangsters, an unknown woman and an escaped convict have met, unwittingly, in The Forest of Resurrection, the 444th portal to the other side. Their troubles start when those once killed and buried in the forest come back from the dead, with the assistance of the evil Sprit that has also come back, come back from ages past, to claim his prize.

It’s a cult movie and you should watch it! Ok? Ok!

4. Wake the Dead

An adaptation of Steve Niles’modern-day Frankenstein graphic novel. A young man named Victor who works to reverse death, even if it means using spare parts from some of his friends.

Sounds fun and it’s due to be finished in 2010.

5. The Walking Dead

It’s not a movie, it’s a series that’s supposed to come out in 2010. The writer is (thank GOD!) Robert Kirkman who also does the comic book series – check our zombie comic book section for more info – I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!! I just pray and hope the series is half of what the comic series is.

6. Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies is very far away, 2012 to be exact. Jonathan Levine is going to be the writer and the director of the movie based on the zombie romance novel by Isaac Marion.

While you’re waiting for the movie trailer here’s a trailer for the book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBM4EcbALk&feature=player_embedded

7. World War Z

It’s supposed to come out in 2010. J. Michael Straczynski wrote the screenplay which is now being re-written by Matthew Michael Carnahan and although Marc Forster was supposed to be the director, they’re looking for a new one. Allegedly the film follows Gerry Lane as he travels the post-war world and interviews survivors of the zombie war who are “starting to wonder if survival is a victory of any kind.” One of the first interviews is with Dr. Tsai, the first to encounter the zombies.

Keep your fingers crossed Hollywood makes an effort with this one.

8. World War of the Dead

In the last days of World War II, an uncharted force returns the dead to life. As a newborn war between the dead and the living rages on, three men hold the key to defeating them. Will they be up to the task before all of FRG and the world start to the hungry set of the undead?

It’s based upon the novel with the same title by Eric S. Brown. Little is known on this project.

9. Zero Dark Thirty

A U.S. Army solider returns home from the Middle East…in body only. Soon, his quiet small town is gripped by strange and violent events.

The theatrical release will be announced in 2010.

10. Zombie Massacre

Remember the video game Zombie Massacre from 1998? Well Uwe Boll does and he’s making the movie, which by his words should be done by the end of 2010. The plot revolves around three punk rockers and a police officer. They have to fight their way to a city – filled with zombies – with their old-timer, on which they transport a nuclear bomb, which should detonate in the city, to destroy the zombies. – PURE AWESOME!!

11. Zombie Roadkill

Zombie Roadkill centers around a group of college kids as they are driving on an unfamiliar road.
Everything seems fit for a road trip to the lake but, when the group accidentally runs over an unsuspecting squirrel, they quickly realize there will be a price to pay. The cursed road brings the zombie squirrel back to life to haunt the kids.  After the kids crash and everyone is injured except the younger brother, he is forced to set out on a journey to defeat the ancient curse and save his brother and friends before it is too late.

It will be done in spring 2010 and will be available on the FEARnet website and the FEARnet On Demand VOD network.

The story tells of a young man who defends his town from evil forces, aided by a magic sword. He saves Sarah from a malevolent evil that begun plaguing a farmland town, in search of an amulet that had belonged to Sarah’s uncle. The couple set out to get to Sarah’s house safely, while traveling through streets, fields, churches and underground tunnels, while being pursued by hordes of demonic creatures.

It has pretty cool scene of zombie horde killing!
Check out the trailer at http://www.fadingofthecriesmovie.com

BTW… magic or no, it seems cool.

2. Fragile

Directed by Eduardo Rodriguez this movie should be coming to a theater near you somewhere in 2011.

It is based on Stephano Raffaele’s graphic novel. It’s the tale of an airborne virus that has turned most of us humans into feral, flesh-craving zomboids. But there’s a hope for humanity, as a recently undead soldier teams up with a female zombie and an unaffected teenager to discover a cure, before his former military unit can hunt him down and finish him off.

3. The Harvard Zombie Massacre

When Harvard is overrun by the undead, America’s most brilliant minds must fend off America’s most brilliant zombies.

It is written by Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit and should be out in 2010, but not likely soon since it’s still in production.

4. I Walked with a Zombie

It’s a remake of the 1943 picture with the same title. In the original, a young Canadian nurse named Betsy comes to the West Indies to care for Jessica, the wife of a plantation manager, Paul Holland. Jessica seems to be suffering from a kind of mental paralysis as a result of fever. When she falls in love with Paul, Betsy determines to cure Jessica even if she needs to use a voodoo ceremony, to give Paul what she thinks he wants.

The director is Adam Marcus and the project is still in development .

5. Jonah Hex

It is based on the graphic novel Jonah Hex. In the Wild West, a scarred bounty hunter tracks a voodoo practitioner bent on liberating the South by raising an army of the undead. Megan Fox in a zombie movie, don’t know about you.. but this one I really, really gotta see! The overall cast seems pretty good (John Malkovich, Josh Brolin) and the director is Jimmy Hayward who’s more known for his animation skills than directing, so we’ll see how that pans out.

Check out the official site http://jonah-hex.warnerbros.com

6. La horde

Penned on the top floor of a deserted high-rise block, two opposing groups (corrupt cops and gangsters) find that they are not alone. Joining forces to survive, they must reach ground level together or perish.

It’s coming out this February, February 10th to be more precise. And boy are we excited, just look at the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZEXFfckB0Y, you don’t need to know French to know it’s gonna be cool .

It is directed by Benjamin Rocher and Yannick Dahan who also wrote the script with Arnaud Bordas, Stéphane Moïssakis, Nicolas Peufaillit and Benjamin Rocher.

7. Living Dead Girl

A zombie teams up with a funeral director to hunt down her killer. Éric Tessier is the director and the writer is T.S. Faull. It’s supposed to be out somewhere in 2010.

8. Night of the Living Dead: Origins

A group of townspeople seeking refuge in an old farmhouse from undead brain-eaters.

Since no one owns the title Night of the Living Dead, that is, it’s in public domain.. everyone is able to do whatever they want with it. Romero has nothing to do with this movie. The director is Zebediah DeSoto. The movie plot will probably stay pretty much the same but with a few changes for the new kids on the block. It’s coming out in 2011.

Oh yeah.. Mos Def is rumored to be in the film as Ben.

9. Night of the Living Dorks

It’s a remake of a german film Die Nacht der lebenden Loser which came out in 2004, due to come out in 2010. The plot of the original movie is: The school 1, 2 and 3 are high-school losers: 1 wants the sexy girl, 2 lists all the humiliations he has been submitted in school and 3 only cares to dope himself and smoke pot. Accidently they become zombies.

10. Post Mortem, America 2021

Writen and directed by Cameron Scott, the movie is to come out in 2010.

“With Armageddon came a price, and the dead walked the Earth!”

You can see the teaser trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLg-ILrYQ4A

1. The 4th Reich

http://4threichmovie.co.uk

June 1944, after the glorious victory on D-day, the armies of the combined allied forces begin their long push to Berlin with the aim of bringing down Hitler and the despised Nazi regime of  the Third Reich. But buried deep in secret files German Reichstag, is the chilling reality of Hitler’s plan to create an eternal living hell, The 4th Reich.

Dr. Joseph Mengele, Hitler’s chief scientist, was charged with creating a new super army of invincible soldiers. A force that would never be beaten. His experiments and research at the death camps of Auschwitz, Belsen and Birkenau would create unspeakable evil. A small brigade of soldiers from 3rd Infantry Division, under the command of the battle hardened Captain Bathurst embark on an ever darkening quest to liberate Europe. Fighting their way through the French countryside, villages and war ravaged towns. Each step discovering progressively strange battles and events until they reach an abandoned research facility where the true horror begins.

The director and writer is Shaun Robert Smith who previously made 2 short films. He also does special effects, so this might be good. It’s currently in
pre-production and shooting is due to start in April.

2. Astro Zombies M3: Cloned

A really low budget movie by Ted V. Mikels.
Teaser trailer – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEaT-iXn6cU

3. Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament

Breathers is a zombie-comedy-romance novel by first-time author S. G. Browne. The film rights were purchased by Fox Searchlight Pictures and it is currently in development and set to come out in 2011, instead of 2010.

Following is a synopsis of the book, not the movie

Andy Warner is a zombie, having reanimated after a fatal car wreck that killed his wife, orphaned his daughter, and left Andy disfigured and unintelligible. Reviled and discriminated against by a society that no longer considers him human, Andy is an outcast. He spends his new existence watching cable television in his parents’ wine cellar and attending Undead Anonymous meetings, where he finds kindred souls in Rita and Jerry. After they meet Ray, a rogue zombie who introduces them to the joys of consuming human flesh, Andy embarks on a journey of self-discovery that leads to a media-driven, class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rights of zombies everywhere.

4. Condition Dead

Luther Judge and his team of specialists are the government’s response whenever the dead rise from the grave. But a new assignment finds them contending with a mysterious and lethal zombie menace… and Judge’s ex-wife.

It is due in 2011. The director is Patrick Lussier (Scream 2, Scream 3, Dracula 2000…) and the
writer of the script is Dave Davis (an alias I bet)

5. The Corporate Zombie Killers

Temp workers fight to escape the office after a zombie outbreak.

The director is Danny Leiner (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle ) and the script is signed by Jim Biederman and John Plummer.

6. Dead by Dawn

Other than it’s director ( Julian Richards ) very little is known about this project except it will be coming out in 2011

7. Death Island

The director is supposedly Tom Savini – you all know him, you all love him . But that is highly not confirmed.

8. Devil’s Playground

A hardened killer searches for a cure to the illness causing a zombie apocalypse across the globe, and that is slowly turning him into one.

Mark McQueen is the director and Bart Ruspoli is the writer, producer and actor (nice).

The release date is somewhere in September 2010, let’s hope some of 28 Days Later and Dead Set rubs of on this UK zombie film.

9. The Drough

After a massive drought ravaged the planet, a couple living outside of London head into the city on a dangerous mission to secure water for themselves and their ailing daughter.

Is going to shoot in the summer of 2010 and be released somewhere in 2011. Even though a lot of sources say it’s a zombie film, I think it’s  a cannibal movie, which is totally cool and OK by me. The script is made by Colin O’Donnell and is gonna be directed by Lawrence Gough.

10. Eaters

After being devastated by a deadly epidemic, the world is now governed by hordes of living dead. Locked in a fortress that has been turned into a research center and shelter, three men – zombie hunters Igor and Alen and a scientist named Gyno – are trying to find an answer to what has happened to the human race.

Marco Ristori and Luca Boni are the directors, so we’re hoping that since it’s Italian made, it’s gonna be classy .

Check out the teaser trailer and judge for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El8HssGm1PU

There are more upcoming movies, so stay tuned and we’ll update the blog shortly.

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks is probably the best and most influential book about zombies there is. Brooks took an educational/informational direction and created a simple must-have handbook in your preparation for the zombie uprising. Within only 6 chapters the author managed to cover everything you’ll ever need to know if encountered with the living dead.

From the origin of the ghouls and myths that surround them, to the most practical things such as home and personal preparation. Simply put, everything you’ll need is in this book.

Starting with zombie physiology and then later moving on to weapons, tactics, long-term strategy and history, Brooks has produced the ultimate zombie-killing and zombie survival manual. Point by point, he discusses the pros and cons of guns and various melee weapons, then considers the optimal defensive positions for various types of outbreaks.

After an extensive discussion of survival in a zombie doomsday scenario, where he even goes the extra mile to anaylze different terrain types and various transportation crucial for your survival, he lays out zombie outbreaks through history, and what their implications are. The section with the recorded attacks is a special delight for everyone who enjoys history or just plain old scary stories.

The style in which the book is written pulls the reader deeply in and doesn’t let go until the last page. The realistic approach really got to me as there is not a shred of evidence that this is a work of fiction, but a very disturbing soon-to-be reality! A really good read, mesmerizing and smart.

The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead

So, go buy this book as it will save your life one day, you can count on it! And lastly, remember: WHEN IN DOUBT, DECAPITATE!

What do big companies and big franchises do when they realize there’s still a somewhat unexplored, untapped niche?

They attack it straight on, full brute force, thinking ( well, hoping actually ) that their sheer size and awesomeness can make it work. Well, IT CAN’T! Off course, it can bring you a few laughs, fulfill some fantasies..after all, who doesn’t want to see super-heroes from the Marvel universe fight zombies, turn into zombies and so on… RIGHT?!?

Be warned, spoilers are inbound. Although I would not call them spoilers per se, storyline facts that embarrass Marvel and put a shame to the zombie universe may very well be a more accurate interpretation.

“It started with a flash in the sky, and a ripple through the clouds. The hunger is what brought it here; and feed it did, until the Marvel Heroes were no more. They were replaced by soulless monsters, driven only by an insatiable craving for human flesh.
…

This is no world of Marvel Heroes. This is the world of: MARVEL ZOMBIES”

Let’s bust the myth of Marvel zombies; they’re  not zombies! Just because they drew them with bite marks, wounds and constantly repeat the word zombie doesn’t make it so. This isn’t politics where you repeat a lie a hundred times and turn that lie, no matter how big, into the truth. This is the world of comic books and the holy theme of zombies!

1. They are intelligent! – Everyone who becomes a zombie in the marvel universe doesn’t lose their cognitive powers. WTF?!?

2. Sometimes a wound to the head, even splitting it in half!!?!! doesn’t make the infected go bye bye.

3. The disease goes from bite infections to airborn, from magic to alien virus so many times I simply lost track.

4. The infected can overcome their hunger if they go cold turkey, making it psychological?? – need I say more than this?

5. Ashley J. Williams aka Ash gets killed by a so called zombie – just can’t happen, ok.. JUST CAN’T HAPPEN. (same as fact number 7)

6. The Necronomicon, though mentioned in the series (someone did their homework), doesn’t have anything to do with the outbrake of Marvel poo, nor does it have the power to unmake it.

7. Silver Surfer gets eaten by zombie super heroes. – hmmm NOPE! He’s the Silver Surfer, get it? – got it? – good.

8. Galactus get’s eaten by zombie super heroes. – ok, ok.. that was pretty cool. But still? COME ON!

9. Almost no mention of humans turning into zombies. It’s just the super-heroes that get turned.

10. Dropping names like Romero, Sturgeon and Lovecraft in a piece of shit money making series just sinks you deeper on my shill list – a personal note

Off course, there are some good moments, but 99% of the kudos go to the visual artists of the series. The fights between the super heroes look amazing. But, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. It’s like the Marvel boys got high, imagined what the zombie apocalypse in the Marvel universe would look like, contacted the screenwriters from Lost to get a few tips on how to irritate people like me, all of a sudden dropped Ash into the pot, along the way managed not to focus on human zombies and after waking up the next day (completely lucid) , forgot to make the zombie apocalypse of the Marvel universe look 5% of what it could have.

A damn shame is what it is.. a damn shame!

And remember, kids: When in doubt, decapitate!

“Zombie Pandemic is a text and browser based MMORPG adventure free to play. The storyline is taking place in a big city which has been quarantined. You must fight to survive among the thousands of other players in this massively multiplayer classic survival horror game.”

They are currently in the closed beta stage. Your’s truly has been invited to help

Some info on the game:

“The game is set in an apocalyptic world where civilization is in chaos. The aim of the game is to explore the city, help other survivors and solve quests while trying to uncover the truth concerning the pandemic.”

Be on the lookout for the full release, or at least an open beta. The game looks fun and good so far, will update with more info!

Till then kids, remember: Decapitate in doubt!