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Who Remembers ‘Zombies Ate My Neighbors’?!
By 1990, George Romero had completed his epic zombie trilogy, which of course forever changed the landscape of zombie cinema and, for that matter, all things zombie. In the early ’90s, films like Tom Savini’s remake of Night of the Living Dead and Dead Alive proved that zombies were still alive and well, and the George Lucas-founded LucasArts decided to take advantage of the enduring popularity of Romero’s flesh-eating creation. In 1993, their video game Zombies Ate My Neighbors was published by Konami for the Super NES and Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.
The overhead game’s plot centers on a mad scientist by the name of Dr. Tongue, a likely reference to the very first zombie (“Dr. Tongue”) seen in Romero’s Day of the Dead. Story goes that Dr. Tongue has created all sorts of different monsters in his spooky underground laboratory, which have been unleashed on the populace. It’s up to teens Zeke and Julie to save the day.
Playing as either Zeke (a rad dude rocking 3D glasses and a serious head of blonde hair) or Julie (a cool chick in a red cap and purple jacket), you were tasked with roaming around 55 different environments (which included a shopping mall, various backyards, a beach, and a haunted castle), battling Dr. Tongue’s monsters, collecting items like keys and new weapons, and most importantly, saving aloof victims from certain doom. The object was to essentially “collect” your neighbors in each level before they were killed, allowing you to advance to the next one.
Now the cool thing about Zombies Ate My Neighbors, despite what the title would lead you to believe, is that Dr. Tongue didn’t exclusively deal in zombies. Yes, the game does feature many of Romero’s trademark ghouls, but each level also included all sorts of other monsters. It was a full-on monster mash of villains from various horror movies; looking back today, it’s fair to call Zombies Ate My Neighbors the original Cabin in the Woods. Threats included underground, Graboid-like monsters, a masked maniac with a chainsaw, giant spiders, werewolves, vampires, evil dolls, and even a giant freakin’ baby. The final boss was the sinister Dr. Tongue, who transformed into a giant spider and then a floating head that could literally shoot tongues.
As for the weapons Zeke and Julie used to dispatch enemies, they included surprisingly effective water guns, exploding soda cans, tomatoes, and even weed-whackers. You could also jump on trampolines and just spring the hell away from the monsters and into other areas, which was (as far as I can recall) often my chosen course of action when I played the game as a kid.
Hey, there’s something to be said for just running away from threats.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors spawned a sequel titled Ghoul Patrol in ’94, and at one point in time, the original game almost even made the leap to the big screen. It was reported back in 2011 that a feature film adaptation of the game penned by John Darko was looking for financing, and it was described as a coming of age tale that mixed John Hughes, Judd Apatow and George Romero.
Unfortunately, the project quickly found itself in development hell. We haven’t heard a peep about a potential adaptation in some time now. But at least we have Cabin in the Woods, friends.
Sam Neill, the New Zealand actor best known for his role in 1993’s Jurassic Park, has passed away this week at 78 years old. In a statement shared on Neill’s Instagram page this morning, the actor’s family said that his passing was “sudden and unexpected.”
Neill had been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2022, but stated the following year that he was in remission. The family notes that he “remained cancer free” at the time of his passing.
The family statement reads, “It is with immense sadness that the whānau of Sam Neill share the news of his passing on Monday 13th July, in Sydney Australia. Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free.
“They would like to express their deepest gratitude to the staff at St Vincent’s Private Hospital for their incredible care. More details will be shared later, but for now, on behalf of the family, we ask that you respect their privacy as they navigate this immeasurable loss.”
In addition to his iconic role as Dr. Alan Grant in the original Jurassic Park and the sequels Jurassic Park III and Jurassic World: Dominion, Sam Neill left an indelible mark on the horror genre with memorable roles in Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession, The Omen: The Final Conflict, John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness, and sci-fi horror favorite Event Horizon.
Sam Neill’s vast resume in film and television began in the early 1970s and also includes the films Sleeping Dogs, Enigma, The Good Wife, A Cry in the Dark, Dead Calm, The Hunt for Red October, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hostage, The Jungle Book, Snow White: A Tale of Terror, The Horse Whisperer, Bicentennial Man, Daybreakers, Escape Plan, and Thor: Ragnarok.
Sam Neill is survived by his four children and eight grandchildren.
Steven Spielberg said in a statement to Variety, “I owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Donaldson, Gilliam Armstrong, Graham Baker and Phillip Noyce for casting Sam Neill in the roles in which he was so brilliant that brought him to my attention and led to his playing Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park. Sam was exceptionally collaborative. It was a stretch for him to play a character who acted as though children were messy and smelly because this was the opposite of the loving father he was to his children. I adored making all the Jurassic movies with him.”
Spielberg adds, “Along with Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, we will always have our Jurassic family and Sam will never be forgotten by us or his many millions of fans around the world.”
Sam Neill in ‘Event Horizon’
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