Solitary Isle
The story chronicles an expedition to a deserted island that turns deadly as the explorers face an unknown force.
The I Scream Man
J.T. Mollner’s pic follows a vengeful ice cream vendor, driven by brutal memories from his twisted past, who wreaks bloody havoc on the small, seemingly innocent town of Hooper, California.
Season of the Witch (Hungry Wives) (remake)
A bored, unhappy suburban housewife gets mixed up in witchcraft and murder.
‘Marvel Of The Dead’ From George A. Romero!
Way back in October we got the scoop that zombie king George Romero was working on a secret undead project for Marvel. It seems they are finally starting to promote the book, as the teaser image below was sent out yesterday. READ MORE
[This Day In Horror] George A. Romero Was Born!
This is definitely a birthday worth mentioning. Director George A. Romero was born on February 4th, 1940, which makes him 72 years old today. There’s very little to say that many of you don’t already know, horror just wouldn’t be the same without him. Nor would the pop culture landscape. Even though many of the zombies we celebrate today are modernized, or faster, their DNA is very much entwined with the iteration of the creature that Romero brought to life in Night Of The Living Dead in 1968.
Romero would of course go on to expand his zombie universe in Dawn Of The Dead, Day Of The Dead, Land Of The Dead, Diary Of The Dead and Survival Of The Dead. Even though these films run the gamut from “masterpiece” to “skippable” they’re all unified by his urge to use zombies as a vehicle to discuss larger social issues. Without Romero, horror would have a lot less subtext.
Of course he hasn’t only done zombie movies! His filmography also contains Monkey Shines, Creepshow, The Dark Half, Martin, Knightriders and The Crazies (which is sort of zombie-esque I guess).
Wish George A. Romero a happy birthday and do yourself a favor and check out one of his lesser known works today!
6 Essential Zombie Movies!!!
Not that you asked, but I probably don’t like the zombie genre as much as a lot of you. For starters, I feel like its over saturated. You can’t go more than a month without another one hitting the direct-to-DVD/VOD market. I also don’t find them particularly compelling as creatures. They lack personality and, fast or slow, they’re cognitively… stupid. I also feel like a lot of filmmakers latch onto them because of their popularity, not because they’re particularly engaged by them. In the process they forget that the most compelling part of this sub genre isn’t the creatures – it’s usually the survivors and their response to the undead horde.
As with anything, there are exceptions. Some zombie movies are great! This usually happens when the filmmakers are willing to take risks with the material instead of just coasting on the sweeping hordes of the undead. It’s why the Warm Bodies trailer actually looks like a LOT of fun and why what we’ve seen of World War Z looks a little bit like more of the same. Miracles like the original Dawn Of The Dead happened because people like George A. Romero weren’t coasting on the popularity of the creature, they were using it to say something new.
Head inside for 6 Essential Zombie Movies. And beware, I limited myself to only 1 Romero film!!! Otherwise this list would have been a bit different. READ MORE
RIP Bill Hinzman
Bill Hinzman, the first zombie to lumber across the screen in George A. Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead, has sadly passed away. Details are slim right now, but it’s reported that he succumbed to cancer. Check back here for any updates.
I never get really sentimental when people in the film world leave us, but I’ve met Bill numerous times over the last decade. He was a regular at the Spooky Empire horror convention in Orlando, FL and kicked off the annual zombie walk almost every year that I went. He was always a cool guy, hanging out at the pool with everyone as the festival started winding down for the evening, and I never saw him turn down a fan for a quick photo in the hallway, an autograph, or even an interview.
He was in several early Romero films – he even DPed The Crazies – but his first scene in Night would set the precedent for the undead in one of the most well-known and highly regarded trilogies in horror history (I count Land as the start of a new one). RIP Bill Hinzman, THE FIRST ROMERO ZOMBIE. READ MORE
Economic Crisis Gives George A. Romero Something New to Say…
After the extremely disappointing Survival of the Dead, half of me wants the father of all things zombie to hang it up. But then again, we’re talking about George A. Romero here, and with that there’s always hope that maybe he’ll give birth to something horrific and amazing once again. In talking with io9, he tells them his next project could be an adaptation of the novel “The Zombie Autopsies“. I think Romero’s best work comes when he actually has something to say, which is why this project is so intriguing.
“I would love to do something about the economy,” Romero tells the site. “But zombies are not good mathematicians — I don’t think they’re going to be out selling cheesy mortgages or anything like that. So it’s tough for me to see that. A friend of mine [Dr. Steven Schlozman] recently wrote a novel called “The Zombie Autopsies”, and it’s about an isolated group of people doing autopsies on zombies during the zombie apocalypse and trying to figure out what the hell caused this. They come upon this discovery.”
He continues, “The scientists discover that this is not a naturally occurring virus; they deduce that it must have been created by somebody. And they later discover that it was created by people who were trying to topple the economy. So that’s a unique way in to talk about the economy, but it’s not my story.”
Sounds like Fight Club will zombies. READ MORE
Avenged Sevenfold Rocks Call Of The Dead
Have you picked up the Escalation pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops? If not, how about I give you a little more inspiration, eh? Turns out that there is a brand new Avenged Sevenfold song hidden in the Call Of The Dead map. The song is called ‘Not Ready To Die‘ and is a easter egg for you to try to find and unlock.
The Call Of The Dead map is a zombie level that features four characters modeled after and voiced by Danny Trejo (Machete), Robert Englund (A Nightmare On Elm Street), Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer), and Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy The Vampire Slayer). The map was inspired by George A. Romero and features Soviet Zombies chasing after the heros on a ice-covered Siberian island. Can you say badass?
Saturday Nightmares: The Ultimate Horror Expo Of All Time! (V)
No ordinary Horror Expo, this unprecedented Saturday Nightmares event brings together the entire George A Romero family! Featuring such genre luminaries as Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Savini, Roy Fumkes, Ken Foree, John Amplas, Joe Pilato & many more… New York City actor turned filmmaker Michael Stever takes you behind the scene and shows you virtually every, thrilling, blood-soaked moment in this not-to-be-missed DVD! A must-have for any true horror fan’s collection!
WTF Of The Day: ‘Night Of The Living Dead’…Meets Christmas?!
Alright, I swear to all of you that I don’t have anything against the fictional creeper that parents used to say that they allowed to slide down your chimneys in the middle of the night and eat your favorite holiday cookies. Now I know that this is the second day in a row that I have chosen a Christmas themed news bit as my “WTF Of The Day”, but with all that said I feel as if I might have helped clear the air just a bit. Now that we are all on the same page let’s look at today’s mind f*ck that is the George A Romero (“DAY OF THE DEAD”, “DAWN OF THE DEAD”) inspired ‘NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD HOLIDAY SPECIAL’ #1 that drops this December. The story is part of publisher Avatar Press’s ongoing “NIGHT” series, and if you scroll down you can get all the details on the book.
WRITTEN BY: Mike Wolfer
COVERS BY: Wolfer, Raulo Caceres and Matt Martin.
“Ho ho ho ’tis the season.. for zombies! There will be more than just chestnuts roasting on an open fire as a large family gathers to celebrate the season, a raging snowstorm has buried their remote, mountain farmhouse in virgin snow, with no way in, and no way out. But a dark, despicable family secret that lay buried in the barn will not stay dead, and the resulting orgy of bloodshed, murder and cannibalism will transform this into anything but a silent night! Warn your children: This year, it is NOT Santa Clause coming down the chimney! Mike Wolfer provides the Regular edition cover, Raulo Caceres shares the spirit with the Wraparound cover, and twisted Matt Martin’s Gore cover spreads the Holiday cheer all over the floor.”
“NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD HOLIDAY SPECIAL” Drops This December From Avatar Press! (MSRP-$3.99) READ MORE
George A. Romero’s APP of the DEAD Now Available
“Given the amount of zombies I’ve brought to life, I figured everyone should be able to do the same,” -George A. Romero.-
You can pick up APP of the DEAD now in the app store for only 1.99. What is APP of the DEAD? You can basically turn your friends and family into zombies.
Please enjoy this shitty trailer. Read on.
You can use pictures you take with your phone or ones you may have uploaded to it and gore them up to your liking. After you make them look more hideously grotesque than they already are, you can shoot the hell out of them first person shooter style. Check out some pics past the break. READ MORE
Tales from the Darkside: Season One (V)
A longtime favorite among fans of small-screen terror, the first season of the syndicated anthology series Tales from the Darkside (1983-1988) finally arrives on DVD to bring a new generation of viewers into its murky domain. The brainchild of producing partners George Romero (Night of the Living Dead) and Richard Rubinstein (Dawn of the Dead ’78 and ’04), Darkside’s stories hewed closer to such straight-ahead fright fare as Night Gallery than the speculative fiction of The Twilight Zone or Amazing Stories (Darkside’s chief competitor for viewers in its early season). Episodes revolved around deals with the Devil (“I’ll Give You a Million,” “Pain Killer”), paranormal phenomena and black magic (“Levitation,” “Snip, Snip”), the unquiet dead (Robert Bloch’s “A Case of the Stubborns,” starring a young Christian Slater) and monsters both human (“The Anniversary”) and otherwise (“In the Closet,” directed by effects legend Tom Savini). Budgetary restraints blunted some of the show’s special effects, and while those haven’t improved with time, the best of the first-season episodes–”Closet,” “Stubborns,” and the Romero-penned pilot “Trick or Treat”–still retain the power to raise hairs in their brief running time. Other technical aspects remain solid, with scripts written by or based on stories by Stephen King, Harlan Ellison and Michael McDowell and stars like Danny Aiello, Victor Garber and Justine Bateman. The entire first season is compiled edit-free on the three-disc set; Romero’s commentary on “Trick or Treat” covers the show’s conception and his influences.
Diary of the Dead (George A. Romero’s)
With a story mixing elements of “The Blair Witch Project” and the long-running “Dead” series, the film will follow a group of college students shooting a horror movie in the woods who stumble upon a real zombie uprising. When the onslaught begins, they seize the moment as any good film students would, capturing the undead in a “cinema verite” style that causes more than the usual production headaches.
The Dark Half
A writer’s fictional alter-ego wants to take over his life…at any price.
Day of the Dead
A small group of military officers and scientists dwell in an underground bunker as the world above is overrun by zombies.
Creepshow
Two macabre masters – writer Stephen King and director George A. Romero – conjure up five shocking yarns, each a virtuoso exercise in the ghouls-and-gags style of classic ’50s horror comics. A murdered man emerges from the grave for Father’s Day cake. A meteor’s ooze makes everything … grow. A professor selects his wife as a snack for a crated creature. A scheming husband plants two lovers up to their necks in terror. A malevolent millionaire with an insect phobia becomes the prey of a cockroach army. Add the spirited performances of a fine cast (Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, E.G. Marshall and King himself) and the ghoulish makeup wizardry of Tom Savini. Let the Creepshow begin.
Dawn of the Dead
This sequel to Night of the Living Dead is filled with splattered blood and brains in living color. The dead have come back to life to eat the living. This is the story of four people’s escape from an urban nightmare to a suburban one. They barricade themselves in a shopping mall and try to start new lives. Much of this movie was filmed outside Pittsburgh.
The Crazies
Its code name is ‘Trixie,’ an experimental government germ weapon that leaves its victims either dead or irreversibly insane. When the virus is accidentally unleashed in Evans City, Pennsylvania, the small community becomes a war zone of panicked military, desperate scientists and gentle neighbors turned homicidal maniacs. Now a small group of citizens has fled to the town’s outskirts where they must hide from trigger-happy soldiers while battling their own depraved urges. But even if they can escape the madness of this plague, can they survive the unstoppable violence of THE CRAZIES?
Hungry Wives or ‘Season of the Witch’ (1972)
Joan Mitchell is an unhappy, suburban housewife pushing 40, who has an uncommunicative businessman husband, named Jack, and a distant 19-year-old daughter, named Nikki, on the verge of moving out of the house. Frustrated at her current situation, Joan seeks solance in witchcraft after visiting Marion Hamilton, a local tarot reader and leader of a secret black arts wicca set, who inspires Joan to follow her own path. After dabbling a little in witchcraft, Joan, believing herself to have become a real witch, withdraws into a fantasy world and sinks deeper and deeper into her new lifestyle until the line between fantasy and reality becomes blurred and eventually tragedy results.
Night of the Living Dead
The dead come back to life and eat the living in this low budget, black and white film. Several people barricade themselves inside a rural house in an attempt to survive the night. Outside are hordes of relentless, shambling zombies who can only be killed by a blow to the head.
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