Mad Cow Disease has mutated into something far worse, and the world is overrun by bloodthirsty hordes of post-28 DAYS LATER sprinting infected*. Four lone survivors come together and make their way across a ruined and desolate America, all for the love of Twinkies and in the hopes of finding someplace free of zombies**.

It's DAWN OF THE DEAD meets NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION, but this is really all you need to know: ZOMBIELAND contains one of the funniest sequences ever put to film***. Feel free to stop reading this review right now because the damned movie is worth your time for this sequence alone, and if you keep reading you may miss the next available screening. I'll keep talking, and ... (more…)

With every passing season, Hollywood proves itself to be increasingly intent on exclusively vomiting up horror films that are nothing more than brainless, spineless retreads if not outright remakes. Producers often turn to foreign films for material for the latter, trusting sovereign cultures with exotic narrative traditions to produce stories that are new to us, stateside.

So it's always interesting to see how the inverse of this process shakes out. What does it look like when foreigners endeavor to make a U.S.-inspired horror film? We're going to examine two recent films that fall into this category.

Argument: Even when technically nothing new is brought to the table, the visual, lingual, ... (more…)

Welcome back. If you missed the first installment of this massive two-part interview with Don May, Jr., the man behind not one but TWO restorations (and hopefully an eventual THIRD), you can find it here.

On with the show:

As impressed as I am with the 40th Anniversary NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD DVD, I can only imagine how this transfer must look in HD. Do you know if there are any plans for a Blu-Ray release?


When they asked me to be involved, they mentioned that it "could" come out on Blu-ray. I know my restored version for Dimension did come out on Blu-Ray in another region, but not here. Perhaps we'll see it this year in the states? I honestly don't know. I do know that the foreign Blu-... (more…)

Hey, Deadheads. Before I get to the interview with one of the great unsung heroes of Living Dead Cinema, I want to briefly talk about recent developments pertaining to Romero's new DEAD flick, known only (for now) as ...OF THE DEAD:

John Harrison, the man who gave DAY OF THE DEAD its Caribbean-infused, Carpenter-esque atmosphere, has been hired to score the film. On the heels of two less-than-memorable DEAD scores (LAND and DIARY), this is a massive step in the right direction.

Way to go, George. If you're reading this, allow me to make a suggestion: Please take advantage of the wonders of digital grading. There's no need for ...OF THE DEAD to look like every horror film being made today. Run ... (more…)

Hello again, lovers of all things stinky and shambling. Welcome to another pulse-unaffecting episode of THE DEAD DON'T DIE. When last we held one another, I whispered promises of a Don May interview into your supple yet fuzzy ear. Alas, Mr. May has been quite busy manning the Synapse/Impulse machine. Thus the interview will appear in an upcoming, sure-to-be-thrilling chapter of Fear Zone's Living Dead column.

So. Where does that leave us? Well, we can cast our gaze into the future--there's the aforementioned May interview. Dr. Kim Paffenroth will surely stop by, and my infinitely better half will interview actor and bona-fide horror maniac Justin Welborn (of the utterly awesome THE SIGNAL ... (more…)

Welcome to the first installment of THE DEAD DON'T DIE, a monthly column dedicated to all things shambling, undead, and hungry for warm human flesh (or living brains, if you swing that way). Over the coming months, we'll be talking with author Kim Paffenroth, covering George A. Romero's latest zombie opus, shining a light on whichever new and exciting (or not-so-exciting) zombie project staggers our way, as well as looking back on unsung zombie classics.

DEATHDREAM

I've known about this movie for some time. It's covered in Tom Savini's indispensable Make-up FX guide, Grand Illusions, which I've owned for close to twenty years now. Until recently, I never had much cause to seek it out, as ... (more…)