Zombie Command

If you liked Shaun of the Dead and aren’t looking for shocks, screams or explicit violence then this is a good was to get your daily zombie intake.

Journey back to Hertfordshire and the Bennet family in the new book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (PPZ:DoD) by Stephen Hockensmith. In this prequel to the hit Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (PPZ) by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith, the author wastes no time in acquainting the reader and the Bennet girls (Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty and Lydia) to their first zombie.

Read the full review and you could win one of 50 Quirk Prize Packages!

There is a plethora of zombie related iPhone apps for sale on the iTunes store from entertainment apps to apps that let you zombiefy your own photos but most of the zombie related apps are games. While many of these are easily forgettable and not as much fun as a game with zombies in racing karts or a game where zombies become bowling pins for you to launch you ball at, there are a few gems in there, and one of them is Zombieville USA.

Zombieville USA is a very simple game in both design and premise, but these are what make it such fun and one of the best and most addictive games I have on my iPhone. You play as a single character who side scrolls across a zombie infected street jumping into houses as you pass them to collect money or ammo. The characters range from a S.W.A.T. team member to a clown and have many varying characters in-between, including both a ninja and a doctor. As well as the aesthetic difference between the characters they each cleverly have their own advantages and disadvantages, e.g. the clown collects a lot of money but uses up a lot of ammo quickly.

The game itself is very simple kill the zombies you come across, collect money to buy new weapons and ammo at the end of each level and try and survive for as long as you can killing as many zombies as you can. As you progress, as well as new weapons being introduced, new zombie enemies are also introduced, these include a light blue zombie (the average zombie is a sickly green colour) that is faster than the usual slow paced green zombies but their bite is not as strong and they are weaker so are killed easier. The other kind is a dark green zombie that is the opposite of the light blue zombie, slow and strong.

While the game is very simple, this is what makes it so enjoyable. When you complete a level and have enough money to buy new weaponry you feel excited and when you die at the teeth of the zombie hoard you feel disappointment that you weren’t able to survive. And while many games today are trying to take the zombie genre in new directions by adding bowling balls or racing karts, Zombieville USA keeps true to the one thing all zombie fans have in common, the many, many ways a zombie can be killed and how each time a zombie falls under your Tommy gun or chainsaw it never feels repetitive.

And all for £1.19/$2, who can argue with that.

The Dead have returned to life…

The worlds focus in on the city of Ravenswood and once idyllic town of Farmore, as soldiers and scattered survivors fight the hordes of the dead, unbeknown, one of them holds the key to end the undead’s reign of mayhem.

Meanwhile, at a body disposal plant a small group take shifts on the ‘deathwatch’. Their hope’s hinge on the soldiers of Farmore to rescue them. But with no contact for months, no food and surrounded by the dead, have they got what it takes to survive? With death at their door, only time can tell…

Zombie Command has managed to snag a look at the intro and first chapter from Welsh writer A. M. Esmonde’s forthcoming book and screenplay, Deathwatch. Esmonde’s previous work has included other genre pieces such as The Breathing Dead, Terminus and Blood Hunger (more about which can be found at his official site) and while this extract is still just a draft it’s shaping up to be a great zombie story in the style of Romero’s ‘of the Dead’ series.

Hit the jump to read more.

The Crazies (Breck Eisner, 2010) takes place in an Iowan farming town called Ogden Marsh. Everything is very “small town, USA”, until the population begin to get a little homicidal. The town’s water has been contaminated by an unknown chemical and as “the crazy” spreads the military arrive to lock the town down. The Sheriff (Timothy Olyphant, Scream 2), his Doctor wife (Radha Mitchell, Pitch Black and Silent Hill) and Deputy (Joe Anderson, The Ruins and Creep) must survive and escape.

One of the stocking fillers I got for Christmas was this little whack-a-zombie toy.

It’s a little inflatable zombie with a sand (or something) base that you can punch over AND IT GETS BACK UP! Just like a real zombie.

There’s not much more to it than that. Currently it sits on my desk at ZC HQ and every time something goes wrong or we run out of zombies to kill I’ll flick it over with a ping.

Teehee.

I’m doing it now.

So, if you’re looking for a cheap gift for a stressed out zombie hunter this blow-up zombie toy could be the perfect thing.

Dawn of the Dead is a new iPhone game from Bytemark Games, taking place in the 2004 remake’s Crossroads Mall. You play as either a policeman, a lady nurse or a salesman. I chose to play as the salesman as he looks like Shaun, especially from the top down view (no cricket bats though). Each character has their own attributes but these don’t really make a huge amount of difference to the game.

It’s fundamentally a twin stick shooter but adds in close combat weapons for a bit of variety. Move with your left thumb and attack with your right by tapping the screen.

Controls take a little bit of getting used to as you don’t aim where you’re facing. Unlike other shooters that I’ve played on the iPhone, Dawn of the Dead uses a 360 degree second stick as well, meaning that you can move in any direction while swinging or shooting in another. This is actually a necessity as you’ll usually be backing up hitting the zombies that are chasing after you.

Breathers is the dark comedy about un-life and love through the eyes of an ordinary zombie. You can buy the book from the links below on Amazon or visit the official site.

Most movie t-shirts are pretty one dimensional; they take a character or a scene from the movie and attempt to recreate that in a 4 colour outline on a t-shirt. Occasionally somebody will attempt to mashup a film character with the latest internet meme or shoehorn them into a comedy situation, but rarely does somebody bring something new to the film using the clothing as a medium

Enter Alex Chenery of Dark Bunny Tees, a UK based t-shirt designer who doesn’t rely on the name of the film to make you excited to wear a movie t-shirt again.

Alex creates very limited edition runs (100 or less) of cult movies which inspire him; taking the characters from the movie out of the confines of the film and into a part of their world that you don’t see. Each t-shirt is given life as a stylized ad, utilizing key scenes and characters, which evoke memories of the film while bringing something new to the table (or at least your chest).

When wearing one of these tees expect friends to to stare at you for a bit before the penny drops and they give you the ‘nice t-shirt’ nod perhaps even with an “ahhhh”.

Despite only having been around for a little over a month DBT (as I like to call them) already have 2 classic zombie films t-shirts ready, although the Shaun of The Dead (with Day of the Dead homage) t-shirt isn’t available to buy yet, but you can fawn over it while they get finalized. Check out the designs below (click to pop up detail).

The Dawn of the Dead shirt is available to buy now from Dark Bunny Tees and you should still get it in time for Christmas. Why not head over to the site and check out what else is available or follow them on Twitter to find out when the Shaun of the Dead shirt is released.

Chemical D-12 is a zombie short from Water Cooler Productions, a small production company founded by Mac Eldridge and Robert Sandoval in 2006. They have worked on a variety of projects, including another zombie film “In The State Of”.

Michael Frank has been alone in a post apocalyptic world for quite some time. He has adjusted himself to the world he lives in and searches it for the infected which hold the answers he is trying to find. As he searches, Michael one day comes across a newly mutated specimen that he needs to capture in hopes of finding what he has been looking for all along. Chemical 12-D is about this encounter and what happens in this world full of hopelessness when Michael finds a ray of possible light.

Chemical 12-D is the very definition of short, clocking in at a just six and a half minutes of film time. As you can imagine there’s little time for a set-up and the viewer is dropped immediately into a zombie infested world as seen by zombocalypse survivor Michael Frank, who is driving around after hearing of a newly mutated ‘zombie’ that he hopes to capture and experiment on.

After locating and capturing the zombie in question, Frank takes him back to test with the titular chemical 12-D. Of course even in a world filled with zombies there remains the question of morality and humanity and the shocking ending, delivered as quickly and effectively as it opened, leaves the viewer with nothing but unanswered questions.

Shot on a $1,000 budget the film itself is sharp and focused, the minimal script hints at bigger events and stories behind the characters that are never told. The effects a lot better than many bigger budget movies and the decision to keep the action on a truly personal angle means that it wasn’t the sort of film that would be any better on a bigger budget.

Eldridge has created a believable zombie world (albeit it with a hint of I Am Legend) that draws those who watch it in and successfully, as the adage recommends, leaves them wanting more.

You can buy the DVD for only $8 ($9 international) including shipping. It is available THIS WEEK ONLY and is also loaded with

Documentaries
- The Making of Chemical 12-D
- The Making of Water Cooler Productions

4 Commentaries with Mac Eldridge, David Wagenaar, Rob Davis, and Matt Nikilla.

The Deleted scene of Chemical 12-D

The Past Work of Water Cooler Productions
-Timmothy O’Toole’s Commercial
-In A State Of (Water Cooler Productions first zombie movie!)
-Knife

A plot synopsis of the upcoming Water Cooler Productions film, The Old Man and His Dog.

We recommend you pick up your copy now, but if you’re still undecided and want to know more, click below for spoilers

• Bruce Willis is a ghost!
• The boat sinks at the end!
• Edward is a vampire!
• Mrs. Doubtfire is a man!
• Soylent Green is people!
• Snape kills Dumbledore!
• Dr. Evil is Austin Powers brother!

Owned.