It’s interesting when the cast of a downloadable map pack for a video game is cooler than casts for most of the movies being released these days. What the heck am I talking about? Why, its the eclectic ensemble assembled for Activision’s upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation “Call of the Dead” map pack of course.

Some of the names featured in this release include Robert England, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michael Rooker Danny Trejo and legendary zombie master director himself George Romero. Oh, and did we mention that this map pack is chock full of flesh eating zombies? Who doesn’t love that, amiright?

It’s cool that Michel Rooker is involved in this seeing as how he’s become such an important part of AMC’s The Walking Dead series. Also, nice to see Sarah Michelle Gellar back in action as well.

Check out the full press release after the jump. In addition, we’ve got a new trailer and more screenshots for the map pack too. Check ‘em out!

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I had a chance to see George Romero’s Survival of the Dead last September during Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX. You can read the full review here. Or, if you don’t want to click a link, I will sum it up by saying I wasn’t in love with the movie.

That’s not to say the movie doesn’t have its good points and isn’t any fun, it does and is. It’s just not a great movie and I was hoping for more.

My opinion aside, the movie will finally be released and to begin the push for that, the studio has dropped the first poster from the film on us. It contains your typical mix of unholy zombies bent on one thing: brains.

Plus, a tag line that actually does a pretty good job of relating one of the central premises of the movie. Nice work marketing team.

Check out the full sized poster after the jump. Survival of the Dead premieres on VOD, Amazon, Xbox Live and Playstation April 30 and in theaters on May 28th.

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It is getting more and more difficult for filmmakers to breathe new life into the tired zombie genre as of late. The most successful zombie movies in recent memory are infused with humor (Zombieland) or introduce a new spin on the classic tale (Pontypool.) The Crazies is a cool little horror film that works because its zombies are not quite typical zombies, which I found more believable and thus more scary than a true zombie movie.

Time for me to fess up. I haven’t seen George Romero’s 1973 film that was the original source material for this film, so this was all a new concept to me.

The Crazies opens with a nifty juxtaposition of small town tranquility and calm (the whole town is watching a local baseball game) with modern day horrors, as a man pointedly walks across the baseball field with a shotgun. He doesn’t look like a zombie.

Instead, he appears to be channeling Michael Douglas’ character from Falling Down. As the horrified crowd looks on, the local sheriff  David (Timothy Olyphant) shoots the man before he can harm anyone.

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Much like vampires, zombies are having quite the resurgence these days. Not that they ever really went anywhere, but it seems after the success of Zombieland (and video games like Left 4 Dead) everyone in Hollywood wants a piece of the zombie pie (which, while popular, probably wouldn’t taste very good).

Recently, AMC announced they were adapting Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead for the network with Frank Darabont in charge and now, not to be left out, MTV is apparently turning George Romero’s classic Dawn of the Dead into a TV series.  Yes, one more non-music program on a channel named Music Television.  Don’t worry, it’s doubtful they’ll make the zombies dance.  At least in that MTV will preserve the greatness that is Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.

So far MTV has not made any details about the project available:

“They haven’t given away much in terms of details surrounding the show, how it will link to the original film or even when it might hit the air. They have noted the show will feature a mix of the classic, slow moving zombies and the latest fad of turning the undead into Olympic sprinters. It’s good to see so much diversity on television.”

A television series based on zombies may seem unconventional, but one only has to look to shows like HBO‘s True Blood to understand the supernatural appeal. Moreover, I can’t help but wonder if some, if not all, of MTV’s motivation is driven by Zombieland itself.  While made into a movie, Zombieland was originally pitched to CBS as a television series.  Coincidence? Perhaps not.

No matter how the project started, is anyone really going to complain about more zombies to watch?  I didn’t think so.

The Crazies, a remake of the 1973 George Romero film of the same name, has gotten it’s second theatrical trailer and it ups the creepy factor. The first trailer set up a great mood of unsettling psychosis that pervades a town; even if it might have given a little too much of the movie away.

The story is, “a small town in Iowa, starts seeing it’s inhabitants go crazy, after a mysterious toxin infiltrates their water supply.” The new film stars Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, written by Scott Kosar (The Machinist) and Ray Wright (Pulse), and directed by Breck Eisner (Sahara).

The second trailer, lives up to the name of “crazy” as there’s psycho laughter; crazed, zombie-looking people, and the always great black and white fade out freeze frame. One of the best parts of the trailer is towards the end, when I actually jumped out of my own seat – if you’re a guy, you’ll probably know which moment I’m referring to.

Overall, though, I’m pretty interested in seeing this when it comes out in February of 2010. All I can say is, this is why I only drink Diet Coke.

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Some early casting news has come out regarding the re-imagining of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Danielle Harris will be playing the part of Barbara in the reanimated (Yeah, that was a cheap joke, but I had to go for it) CGI film Night of the Living Dead: Origins.  News came right from Harris herself via her Twitter page, “All you’re good luck wishes worked! Guess who’s gonna be Barbara?!”.

Harris is certainly no stranger to the horror genre. She played prey to Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2 and is set to appear in the vampire film Stake Land coming out next year. With those kinds of credentials, I’m sure she’s well prepared to face the walking dead, even if they are animated this time around.

Hearing that Harris has been cast certainly leaves me anxious to find out who the other roles will go to.  Night of the Living Dead: Origins is being directed by Zebediah de Soto and produced by Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider).  No release date as of yet but we’ll keep you posted as more news develops.

Get ready all you World War Z and general zombie fans Night of the Living Dead is coming back to life. This time around they’ll crawl from their graves not only in CG but also in 3D. The new film, entitled Night of the Living Dead: Origins will be a “re-imaging” of the original, focusing more on the backstory of the characters. Don’t worry, I’m sure there will still be plenty of zombie brain-eating goodness.

While the film will make use of current 3D technology, there is also some interesting new tech being used on this production:

“…a real-time effects system, known as ‘The Beast’, which allows filmmakers the ability to direct CG performances the same way they would direct real live actors.  The aim of the process is to make tennis balls on a stick representing real people or monsters a thing of the past by allowing actors interact with CG elements as if they are tangible.”

This technology will certainly change the way future CG movies are created and enhance the interaction between real actors and their normally imaginary co-stars. While Night of the Living Dead: Origins will be directed by newcomer Zebediah de Soto, the film is being produced by Simon West who directed such mainstream films as Con Air and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.

One notable name that’s not involved, at least at this point, is original Night of the Living Dead director George Romero.  As such, it will be interesting to see if he endorses the new film in some way or not. No word on a filming schedule, casting or a release date as of yet, but when there is, we’ll bring it to you.

Fantastic Fest in Austin is one of the best festivals in the country devoted to genre films. Previously, we brought you news about the first round of films scheduled to show during the fest. And now, there’s even more news to share today, including some great guests and some relly cool films we’re looking forward to seeing.

But really, I probably can’t do all this info proper justice (given my time constraints today at least) so I’ll just let Tim League, director/co-founder of the Fest, speak for himself via the latest Fest press release:

George Romero Returns to Fantastic Fest!

George RomeroIn 2007, Fantastic Fest was honored by the presence of one of the true masters of horror, George A. Romero.  Now, two years later, we are thrilled to welcome back the undisputed champion of all things undead for his latest blood-drenched thrillride, SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD.  When the idyllic retreat of Plum Island falls victim to the zombie plague, a new breed of clan war breaks out.  On one side is the camp who want to exterminate all undead with a wickedly diverse array of brain-splattering headshots.

On the other, devoted family members take the stance that “zombie-ism” is a disease, the undead have rights and they must be kept alive until a cure is found.  Unable to simply “agree to disagree,” the two clans go to war and make their island microcosm a whole hell of a lot bloodier. An undead parallel to the tribal wars that are plaguing our own society today, SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD exposes the futility of such conflict and the need for tolerance of the beliefs of others.  Plus it’s got zombie horses in it!

From the very beginning, Romero has been making more than simple gore films.  To be sure, he’s amazing at delivering “the blood-red goods,” but what makes his films classics are the underlying social and political threads interwoven with the rampant gut-munching.  NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD played with themes of Vietnam-era paranoia, DAWN OF THE DEAD poked fun at mass-consumerism all the way up to DIARY OF THE DEAD which took aim at the journalistic and new media ethics (or lack thereof).

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