So we’ve seen Comic-cons, Dragon-cons, Famous Monsters-cons and a myriad of other cons become a permanent fixture on the pop culture landscape, particularly in the last decade.  Now ZomBcon will descend on Seattle, Washington during  Halloween Weekend, October 29-31 at the Seattle Center.

ZomBcon will be the first international zombie culture event. The show marks the 25th anniversary of Day of the Dead, which will have a special screening at the event, and director George A. Romero will be honored. There will be over 100 panels and events celebrating all things Zombie. Celebrity guests will include Bruce Campbell, Max Brooks, Malcolm McDowell, and Chuck Palahniuk.

Seattle has previously been home to the largest Zombie Walk ever recorded, and hosts a an annual Red, White and Dead Zombie Walk, making it a natural breeding ground for the new Zombie convention.

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By Chris Ullrich

Reprinted from Fantastic Fest, 9/30/09

As a big fan of horror movies and the zombie sub-genre, I really wanted to like George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead and was prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt as much as possible. Although, my expectations were pretty low after Romero’s last two zombie movie efforts Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead. Sadly, this film didn’t even manage to rise up to the level of my lowered expectations and is, instead, a heavily flawed and often very bad addition to Romero’s body of work.

Still, this is the man who basically invented the zombie film genre, so attention must be paid and respect given for his enduring legacy as one of this country’s innovative artists. But something has obviously gone a bit off kilter and the writer/director seems to have lost his way. I’m not sure how this phenomenon works exactly, but somewhere along the way a director seems to lose his vision.

After several great and innovative films the later films start to get worse and worse. Unfortunately, George Romero seems to have fallen into that trap, much like another acknowledged master of horror John Carpenter seems to. Look at Carpenter’s last few films and tell me they are as good as his earlier work in The Thing, Starman, Escape from New York and, of course, the original Halloween.

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With the release of George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead only a few days away, it’s about time for a trailer to drop and it has. In this video we get our first real look at the latest installment of Romero’s zombie saga that started with Night of the Living Dead way back in 1968.

In case you’re just joining us, Survival immediately follows the events of Diary of the Dead and concerns an island off the coast of Deleware called Plum. On the island are two families, the O’Flynn’s and the Muldoons, who are ocked in a struggle for power and approach the zombie plague with two very different attitudes.

The O’Flynn’s are forced to exile family patriarch Patrick (Kenneth Welsh) by boat to the mainland, where he meets up with a band of soldiers, headed by Guardsman Sarge (Alan Van Sprang). They join forces and return to the island, to find that the zombie plague has fully gripped the divided community.

Check out the trailer after the jump. Survival of the Dead is available on VOD, XBOX Live, Playstation and Amazon this Friday and in theaters on May 28th.

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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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As a big fan of horror movies and the zombie sub-genre, I really wanted to like George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead and was prepared to give it the benefit of the doubt as much as possible. Although, my expectations were pretty low after Romero’s last two zombie movie efforts Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead. Sadly, this film didn’t even manage to rise up to the level of my lowered expectations and is, instead, a heavily flawed and often very bad addition to Romero’s body of work.

Still, this is the man who basically invented the zombie film genre, so attention must be paid and respect given for his enduring legacy as one of this country’s innovative artists. But something has obviously gone a bit off kilter and the writer/director seems to have lost his way. I’m not sure how this phenomenon works exactly, but somewhere along the way a director seems to lose his vision.

After several great and innovative films the later films start to get worse and worse. Unfortunately, George Romero seems to have fallen into that trap, much like another acknowledged master of horror John Carpenter seems to. Look at Carpenter’s last few films and tell me they are as good as his earlier work in The Thing, Starman, Escape from New York and, of course, the original Halloween.

Continue Reading →

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.