Dead Set is the newest in a very short list of television zombie series. Unfortunately its only a five episode series - but its definitely a step in the right direction. I have only watched the first couple of episodes of this series at the moment, so I’m not prepared to give it a full review but instead I will give it a first impressions look.

Dead Set is a story where a zombie apocalypse traps house mates and some production staff in the latest UK Big Brother house set.

So, recently, I (Who likes zombies and big brother) and a control group made up of friends Ben (who likes zombies and dislikes big brother) and Debbie (who is indifferent to zombies and dislikes big brother) sat down to slug it out with the first episode of this new series.

The Meat

The Zombies, the wounds and the death scenes in this series are really really good.

The Zombies in this series are the angry, yelling, burning eyed, running  type - previously found in the Dawn of the Dead remake, the Super Undead in Resident Evil: Extinction and the angry people in 28 Days later. I don’t necessarily have a problem with fast zombies (as opposed to, say, Simon Pegg) - but I do prefer the slow moving unstoppable force that the shambing horde represents. I understand however that this type of slow zombie is not really possible with the “sudden shock” horror which is so prevalent nowadays, and definitely not compatible with this series.

The character acting and indeed the writing itself I found top-knotch in this episode. The characters react to this impossible situation by falling apart realistically, which leads to certain personalities being able to survive and deal with the new world, easier. I found the whole powerplay between the characters and how differently each survivor dealt with the situation to be very interesting.

The Bones

Instead of instilling a deep-set unease and suspense in this horror series they are going for the startle reaction - which I find very boring.  A quiet moment pretty much guarantees that a zombie is going to come screaming around the corner and during very action packed running sequences that camera flops around like a suffocating fish, making it very difficult to determine what is going on, and giving us all headaches.

The flopping camera bit has done the rounds though a bunch of major motion pictures (The Chronicles of Riddick, Resident Evil: Extinction) and I just want to say a few words about it. Anyone who uses this camera style is under the mistaken impression that it adds a sense of urgency to the scene; where all it really does it make anyone who sees it look away and a select few of us throw up. It does NOT make your action fight sequence cooler, It does NOT instil a sense of urgency - it DOES make anyone who is watching your program not only painfully aware that a camera is recording the proceedings but also aware that you do not know how to display an action sequence properly. The flopping camera does have its place (see Cloverfield) but its place is not in a series where all the cameras are either stationary (as being in the big brother house) or supposed to be invisible (the ones following the survivors around).

Anyway.

The Taste

Ok, its zombies, and a surprising realistic rendition of a zombie outbreak with a fantastic twist (the big brother house) - that’s good; as I was probably going to support this series simply because its a zombie television series. Hopefully the support for this show will give “those people in charge of the networks” the idea that a series like this is something we actually want. Can you imagine an ongoing TV series based on something like The Walking Dead? I’m salivating just thinking about tit.

2/3 people who watched the show found it very enjoyable. I enjoyed it, Ben enjoyed it … but Debbie…. she didn’t enjoy it - in her own words “I did not find anything in that for me”. She will not be joining me and Ben for the rest of the season.

But we are sill going to watch all of it.

You can find the trailer for this series here.

Call of Duty: World at war is an upcoming first person shooter for Windows, Playstation 3 & 2, Xbox 360, Wii and the Nintendo DS.

It’s planned release is for the 15th of November and, subscribing to that old mantra which we all know - “Zombies are awesome” the developer has included a four player co-op mode where you fight endless waves of the undead and just try to survive for as long as possible.

You unlock the mode when you beat the games campaign.

You can watch a video of the mode below, which looks fantastic.

One day I’ll make it to the other side of the planet to take part in the Toronto Zombie Walk.

Not this year, though.

I’ll just have to make do with the photos on flickr.

ThinkGeek’s is your one-stop-shop for any weird, dangerous or just downright cool merchandise on the internet, and their product list has always featured a few awesome zombie items - which has just got larger due to the addition of the scary but cute Dismember-Me Plush Zombie!

The new Plushy is a ThinkGeek exclusive toy, and features removable and interchangeable limbs and head, so you can remake your zombie as you see fit! The torso also pulls apart to reveal adorable plushy intestines…

Check out the thinkgeek action video below.

How do you review the movie which single-handedly spun the zombie horror archetype?

Simple - I don’t, and never will - we are talking about Night of the Living Dead here not Zombies Gone Wild.

Written by George A. Romero and John A. Russo this film is where everything started - everything this blog is about, this film invented the zombie.

Ok, ok, before I get accused of being wrong on the internet - zombies have been around for ages before Night of the Living Dead - as Haitian Voodo Zombies and in various mythology - and the writers did borrow and build on the apocalypse theme laid out in Richard Matheson’s I am Legend (Now starring Will Smith!) but for all intents and purposes these guys brought it all together in 1968, and spawned the shambling, decaying, cannibalistic creature - which still scares us today.

And, its public domain.

This means that you can watch the catalyst for the entire zombie horror genre, its all its black and white majesty, from the comfort of your own computer.

Watch it at Google Video, The Internet Archive, or YouTube.

Or right here.

Resident Evil is my favorite zombie themed survial horror video game series and while I have been eagerly awaiting the March 2009 release date of Resident Evil 5 - hungrily devouring the elusive scraps of information released by Capcom - the team at the-minusworld have actually been doing something constructive to deal with the withdrawals.

The-minusworld have posted images of mock-ups of Capcoms new Resident Evil Activity Book For Kids. Fantastic! Now I can fill out the Resident Evil themed crossword whenever I start to get the shakes.

Check it out!

As of today I’ve decided to institute a new tag called Zombie Spotting. This is for all those times zombies appear in the background and don’t receive enough focus to warrant a long dedicated post of the media they appear in.

I managed to score a private screening — by virtue of being the only one in the cinema — of the documentary Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation. While its an enjoyable and eye opening film about the history of Australian cinema and has given me a list of (non-zombie) films to hopefully find, footage from the film Undead appears in the section on the modern return of Ozsploitation.

As we have indicated before zombies need love too and now, thanks to the guys from Mingle2 it is now easier than ever to find your zombiefied soul-mate.  That is, if you have soul, the internet, a computer, and hands to operate it with.

For those lucky few, ZombieHarmony is an online dating site designed to help lonely zombie singles find love. Go to the site, setup an account with your preferences (Gnawing,  Lumbering and/or Groaning) and browse through the available horde - its that easy!

And, if you are looking for some inspiration as to how to initiate conversation with the corpse of your dreams, why not try some zombie tailored pickup lines?

Check it out!

Imagine my excitement when I learned of the existence of an off-Broadway musical based on the Evil Dead 1 and Evil Dead 2 movies.

Now imagine my gut-wrenching horror and regret when I realized that there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to see the show before it closes.

If you have not seen the Evil Dead films, I can only assume that you have stumbled upon this page by accident. I certainly consider the movies to be essential watching material even if you are just slightly interested in horror.

In the films five college students travel to an isolated cabin to spend their spring break holiday. While at the cabin the students find the Necromonicon E-Mortis (Book of the Dead) and unwittingly unleash previously slumbering demons into the nearby forests. Ash, played by Bruce Campbell then needs to take care of the situation by systematically slaughtering all of his friends who becomes possessed zombiefied creatures.

Although its a little jarring to see the role of musical Ash being played by somebody other than the great Bruce Campbell - I really can’t expect Bruce to be good at everything, and - from what I have seen floating around youtube, Ryan Ward (current actor playing Ash in Toronto) is doing a great job.

The fact that these fantastic movies have been turned into a musical - and popular musical at that - gives me great plesure and increased hope for the possibility of seeing Reanimator the musical in the not-to-distant future.

I seriously suggest you get your butt to Toronto before the show closes on September the 6th - and be sure you get tickets to the “Splatter Zone” - where the first three rows of the theater get covered with flying zombie blood.

Click below to watch the advertisement.

Apparently, there is production of the musical planned in Norfolk Virginia for 2009 - so all hope is not yet lost for me yet.

For those unable to visit the production there is a less than legal way of experiencing the same show, that is if that show was mono, vhs quality, in your living room and you were stealing it.

EgadPit has created this funny zombie music clip using Garry’s Mod for Valve’s Source engine.

The music is Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now - which has become the number 1 music choice for all zombie killing since the fantastic Shaun of the Dead movie.

Check it out!