Life guarantees two things: death and taxes. Neither of which present a viable option of escape. I’d like to add a third to the mix: zombies. Everywhere we turn nowadays, zombies have the rule of the roost. They’re in movies, books, magazines, radio, TV, everyday chit-chat. Hard to avoid, really. If I didn’t know better, I’d say a conspiracy’s afoot.
Let’s have a look at where we can find zombies in the upcoming months. Oh, and I don’t have to mention this is my Monday Mayhem post, do I? Didn’t think so.
World War Z—If industry experts are right, this movie will either be extremely successful or fail miserably. I’m hoping the former rather than the latter. Based on the book by Max Brooks and staring Brad Pitt, this film’s about a full-blown zombie apocalypse. I don’t want to describe any more of it so as not to give anything away, but the promotional material sure makes this film look exciting.
The Walking Dead—Currently filming Season 4 for an October 2013 premier, the show is about a group of apocalypse survivors who search for a safe haven from evil. The evil being zombies. Although no one ever utters the word zombie, labels such as Roamers, Walkers, Lamebrains, and Geeks make for good replacements. More than your typical zombie show, The Walking Dead is more about friendship and survival. Every episode tries each friendship further and further in a refining fire. The audience watches this in awe, wondering how much can the characters take. Through the yelling, screaming, betrayals and hatred, the survivors carry on, stronger, more determined to accomplish their goal of finding safety away from the Walkers.
The Zombie Run—Actors dressed as zombies chase participants in a 5K (3.1 mile) run or sorts. The entire course features thematic elements of a zombie apocalypse (helicopters, flipped cars, fog machines, etc.). Boyhood buddies and race organizers Andrew Hudis and David Feinman came up with the idea when Hudis told Feinman he runs fastest when being chased. From there the idea took off (pun intended). Proceeds go to Active Heroes, a charity that aids veterans, active duty military, and families. A portion also goes to local charities of the host city.
Humans vs. Zombies—The rage sweeping college campuses everywhere. Students describe it as the most elaborate game of tag anyone’s ever played. Awesome, as some have said. How does it work? Two Original Zombies go up against about 150 humans. Armed with marshmallows, balled-up socks, and Nerf guns, the humans try to take out the zombies. Upon first inspection, a great disparity exists in numbers. However, that soon changes when one learns the zombies have a big advantage. After sitting out for fifteen minutes, the zombies can attack again. As this happens, the proportionate ratio of zombies to humans grows. The game seems like something I would have played in college.
Ads—And you’ll probably encounter a few advertisements on TV with zombies in them. I’m not going to list the ones I have found. Sufficient is the fact you can go on YouTube and search for them with the keywords: Zombie Ads. Prepare to laugh and be informed.
Comics and Magazines—Zombie magazines are not new. I found an issue of Modern Zombie Magazine that goes back to May 1943. But here are just a few more titles to brighten up your day: Zombiepolitan, Zombie Weekly, Zombie Magazine, Meat: Zombies Are People Too, SFX Zombies, Zombies: An Illustrated History of the Undead, Zombie Pulp, Tales of the Zombie, Two-Fisted Zombies, and many, many more!
Anyway, I only provided a small list of where you can find zombies in the next little while. I’m sure you can find them in many more places on your own.
RANGER MARTIN AND THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, on sale October 22.
Are you looking forward to any upcoming zombie-themed events you’d like to share?
Looking to God 
Loved the post! Zombies have been top of mind for me too as you kindly read in my last post, “Lessons Relearned”. Thanks for visiting!
I’ve heard a few comments on WWZ, some say the trailer is the best part, but I am happy to make my own mind up on this. It’s still someone’s hard work and endeavour, so they deserve a proper review – they are, after all, trying to entertain us! I’m looking forward to its availability 🙂
So looking forward to World War Z. It looks like it will divert from the book, but judging from the trailer the film will be just as exciting and thought-provoking.
Thanks very much for the mention, David. I appreciate the time you took to read my post. Hope to see you again soon!
you will 🙂
Hi Jack (sorry)
I really like your blog, excellent rundown. Have to say I’m looking forward to WWZ as well, all that hype, let’s hope Hollywood can pull something out of the hat – maybe a zombie rabbit? I don’t half wish we had Humans vs. Zombies when I was at Uni, looks bloody good fun!
Anyway, you forgot one other place you can see/read about zombies – I also made a book of my last blog story on Kindle “The Common Cold: A Zombie Chronicle” – sorry for the plug 🙂
Anyway, keep the info coming!
Gotta love zombies, man. 🙂 Since I’ve been in Atlanta, I’ve made two visits down to some Walking Dead filming locations in Senoia and Grantville (about an hour south of ATL). The mayor of Grantville himself gave a walking tour of all the locations used in episode 3×12, “Clear,” and it was pretty fantastic. Since they’ve started filming again, I’m going to attempt to make another trip down to Senoia and see if I can’t meet some of the cast or crew!
I’m planning a trip down south in the near future, and Senoia and Grantville definitely look like places I’d like to tour first. Thanks for the fantastic suggestion by example. I think I’ll be a happy fan if this pans out!
Ah, the title misled me a bit, I thought, you’ll write something about real-world zombie sightings. Maybe next time 🙂 Still, informative text, in a way a summary of the past weeks’ articles in here.
I’ve always been a fan of zombies so I say bring it on! My favorite zombie game is the original Resident Evil for PlayStation, I wasted hours of my life on that game in high school.
Zombies = FTW! One of the games I’m getting into is the Left 4 Dead series. 🙂 And now starting to play the zombie mods/versions of Call of Duty. 🙂
Jack,
Have you read this article about the WWZ movie: http://movies.yahoo.com/news/world-war-z-ending-fix-paramount-prove-zombie-211303535.html?
It’s the first positive thing I’ve read in a while, but the main thing is this person has actually seen the finished film! This gives me hope that it might be okay after all.
All the best,
Colin
PS Nice choice of picture from WWZ. If I remember correctly, I was about 10 feet just outside the frame and just about to run into it for that particular shot doing my best terrified ‘man on the street’ impression!
Awesome link. I read the whole thing. Thanks, Colin! And to know you were in the movie makes me wanna brag that I know someone who was in the movie. I think, no matter what, zombie fans will love it. It’s the mainstream the producers are targeting that may prove challenging. Let’s see what happens. I’m so excited!
Yeah, I’m starting to get excited too.
A bunch of us who were extras during the filming in Glasgow are planning to get together to see it just to see who made it in and who didn’t. Luckily the scene we shot is at the start of the film so once it’s over, we can then sit back and enjoy the rest of it.
Whether I’ll make onto the screen or have been lost on the cutting room floor is yet to be known (so I don’t think you can brag that you know someone who was in it quite yet!).
Just saw the trailer on the big screen for World War Z. I agree, it looks edge-of-your-seat, overwhelming amounts of fast-zombies good, but if it flops it will be a massive tank. A manager of the very groovy theater in town has started a zombie walk at Halloween, where participants parade down the length of Market St. (which is fairly long), dressed and made up and groaning like a zombie, to said theater, to see some kind of scary movie feature. I couldn’t make it last year because of a conflict, but I’m already psyched about going this year! 🙂
That sounds like so much fun. Isn’t it great when these events take place that we can enjoy something different for a change? I love the whole idea of watching a movie with others during Halloween in costumes. Makes the show so much more fun!
So looking forward to WWZ. However, the idea of fast-moving zombies (as seen in the trailer) is positively terrifying. How do you fight a zombie that moves like lightning!? It makes me think that perhaps I need to plan for that…you know, just in case.
I have not started watching the Walking Dead yet. I know that when I do, I’ll be unable to do anything else until I’ve viewed all available seasons.
And Humans vs. Zombies. Yeah. That needs to happen.
Seriously, fast zombies even scare me! Whoever dreamed up of these things must have had feverish nightmares about their uprising and subsequent demise. They’re quite a rush, for sure.
Oh, and you’ll love The Walking Dead! It’s one of those shows that’s addictive and incredibly fun to watch. In February, as part of their ad campaign, the show had set up a massive display of two man-size hands at Toronto’s Union Station. As the days passed, getting closer to the premier, the hands would lose fingers. The day of the premier, the hands had no more fingers. They were all beside the hands, chopped off. Brilliant display that made my morning commute to the city something to look forward to.
What a weird world, thanks for the insight.
Never really got into zombies, so I’m out of the loop here. World War Z looks really good, so I’m hoping to see that. Probably a rental due to time issues. Why is it that zombies are so popular now?
Zombies and vampires have always had this popularity tug of war. Have a look at some of my other Monday Mayhem posts for the answer. Some have said it has to do with the economic state.
Kind of like the pirate/ninja thing.
I love zombies and this article. Even my favorite show will feature zombies in its season finale:)
Zombies,(no wonder Brad Pitt is in one of the movies, at first just seeing the photo and not reading I actually thought he was being attacked by the Tali´s and the soldiers had to run to protect him, shame) I do know something true, this type of fiction and sci-fi movies or t.v shows are the ones that most $ makes for the industry, if they cast the right people. Every one is going to see Braddy in this zombie movie,(not me I´m in full out boy-cot mode on this guy) only if you tell me you wrote the script then I´ll watch it.
My fiancee and I just love The Walking Dead! But we have big gaps between the shows we regularly watch during the year so we are just dying for the new season of The Walking Dead. We are also waiting for the new season of True Blood too. We also watch Shameless and American Horror Show. We like zombie movies. Our favorites have been 20 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later, and anything by George A. Romero. He is a brilliant director!