I just read about bullets specially manufactured and packaged for use on the undead.
No joke. While it’s basically a marketing ploy for the increasing number of zombie movie fans (and those convinced that the zombie uprising could actually happen), the bullets are live ammo, ready for use in a variety of firearms.
If you read to the end of the article, they mention that bullets intended to be fired on zombies causes a concern for people dressed in zombie costumes. I could totally see something very bad happening as a result.
I got this sweet rusted metal sign, perfect for displaying at my door to keep everyone else in the world out. They’re very reasonably priced, so check out what else is offered over at Zed’s Zombie Ranch.
It’s an imaginative title, I know. On August 1, 2011, the UK will see the DVD release of Cowboys & Zombies, previously released here in the States under the title of The Dead and the Damned.
I was excited about this. The combination of zombies and the Western genre has been pretty successful, with games like Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare and books like Eric S. Brown’s How the West Went to Hell. I had high hopes for this independent effort, written and directed by Rene Perez and starring David Lockhart, Camille Montgomery, Rick Mora, and Robert Amstler.
The movie opens with a pretty decent gunfight, but really drops off from there. A bounty hunter is strapped for cash, and goes after a notorious Indian who is wanted for rape and murder. The citizens of the old Western town find a strange glowing-green meteorite and open it up, releasing CG radiation and turning them all into angry, fast zombies. And you can pretty much figure out where it goes from there.
My two biggest problems with this were the lack of originality — there’s really no guesswork here — and the dragging plot. I thought of Creepshow as soon as I saw the meteorite sequence — the Stephen King meteorite segment. And there are just so many traveling sequences. You see a lot of walking around. I almost fell asleep during the drawn-out, actionless dialogue scene between the bounty hunter and the Indian.
Not to mention the blatant CG that plagues the film. I already mentioned the radiation being computer-generated, but a lot of the blood is unquestionably CG and sticks out badly.
I might as well add that I had a problem with the lead actor as well — David Lockhart has the bounty hunter. He comes across as neither rugged nor tough, and his soft, high-pitched voice doesn’t help.
But I will say that I enjoyed the look of the zombies. I loved the sequence inside the house when the blind zombie is stalking the girl. The makeup was done very well, and the scene was pretty well done, even if there were some things about it that didn’t make much sense.
Yeah, I was disappointed by this one. Lots of promise, with little delivery. I give it a 3/10.
I’ve seen some questions about where listeners can comment on the Horror Jungle podcast. I’m going to start posting to this blog every time a Horror Jungle episode is released, so there’s a place we can talk about the podcast.
On episode 1, I recommended the classic Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974). I then recommended Dance of the Dead (2008) on episode 2, and on episode 3 recommended Boy Eats Girl (2006).
Agree? Disagree? Don’t care? Post a comment and let me know.
Thank you all for listening and coming to my site. I truly appreciate everyone.
For the better part of a decade now, I’ve been working on a series of songs based on Zombi 2. There are several of these written and recorded in many forms, but I’m not finished yet.
This is a song about Susan. I originally wrote it faster and heavier, but was never really happy with the arrangement and my vocals. It kinda sucks. So I reworked the whole song, and even made a little video to go along with it that follows the story.
My friend Roger Ma from the Zombie Combat Club sent me his new book, The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead. And I’ve happened to see it on the shelves of Borders and at Amazon.com, which is very cool.
I love this book. It’s a comprehensive, entertaining guide for zombie fighting, written in a military style. In this well-organized and well-written manual, Ma covers everything you need to know about fighting the living dead, complete with helpful illustrations and “Combat Reports” — interviews and accounts of encounters with zombies. It’s a great blend of straightforward instruction and short storytelling.
The first section covers the facts about zombies: what they are, what they aren’t, and how they function. I was particularly thrilled with the first misconception discussed: that zombies can run.
Next, the focus is turned to those fighting the zombies. Physical fitness, health and wellness are discussed in terms of zombie combat, so that those confronting the living dead can prepare as much as possible. A lot of time is spent on weapons of all kinds — traditional battle weapons, swords, knives, blades, clubs, etc. — as well as weapons that can be found in certain settings: the farm, the garage, the kitchen, and more.
Ma brings it all together with the final section, Combat Strategies and Techniques. Your chances of success in a skirmish with the undead will soar as all kinds of techniques and situations are covered.
“For those who have never encountered a walking cadaver, the techniques described in this section may seem vicious, brutal, perhaps even excessive and gratuitous.”
Of course, the humor is implicit. The straightforward, deadpan delivery of the manual and conversational tones of the Combat Reports are inherently funny when the subject is zombies.
It’s a great read. Roger Ma’s zombie knowledge is unparallelled, and I can only hope to have him at my side during the next zombie outbreak. Go buy The Zombie Combat Manual right now.
