The Rotting Zombie's News Anthology for Thursday November 23rd 2023

Salutations, I am back with another small news trilogy for a shorter odd-day post. With my inbox currently sitting at a large hundred and seventy five emails I really need to get on top of this! In 'me' news, I am currently playing through the sequel to Distraint, Distraint 2 (obviously). This feels like a fever dream compared to the already bizarre first game, I am digging it. I am also still playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies, equal parts addictive and stressful. Then, there is the remake of Dead Space, I was loving it despite the overwhelming familiarity to the original. Onward to the news.

As it includes the undead, I had to mention upcoming Australian comedy horror film Zombie Plane. The bonkers synopsis states that a secret government agency has recruited celebrities to be undercover agents, and they assist in saving humanity from a zombie outbreak. Amusingly, this features many celebrity cameos, with the people all playing fictional version of themselves. These include Australia's Sophie Monk, Chuck Norris (as Commander Chuck Norris), and even 90's pop icon Vanilla Ice (whose music features in the soundtrack). Zombie Plane was shot earlier this year with the support of Screen Australia. Directed by Lav Bodnaruk and Michael Mier, executive producer Shaked Berenson says of the film "...uses comedy, the zombie genre and 90's nostalgia as a vehicle, to comment on pop-culture as much as it feeds it, creating unforgettable one-liners and situational comedy 'to the extreme'."

Harlow's Haunt comes from director Terry Jarrell and stars John Dugan, Aimee Rolfsen and Braille Babcock. This horror takes place over two different time lines, one in 1926 in which the origins of the horror of Harlow Greer's evil is shown, and one in present day, in which a group of lifelong friends decide to confront the evil that has shadowed them their entire lives, ever since they played with a Ouija board as children. Harlow's Haunt has recently been released on Vudu and Blu-ray via Bayview Entertainment.

Finally for today, Gothic rock duo, The Palace of Tears released a new single and video in October, the title track from their sophomore album, Veiled Screen, Woven Dream. The single is a more synth-heavy ambient mix, as well as shortened, as an adaptation for their self-produced music video. The press release states it is about "...reuniting after prolonged seperation and isolation, and the intensity that accompanies the experience, sometimes as a blissful revelry, while at other times it is almost painfully sweet. So sweet that it hurts, as if your heart were going to burst. On the arcane level, it speaks to those who have passed on, and our desire to commune with those we love and miss beyond the veil, and when you might meet again in another form". 'Veiled Screen, Woven Dream' was released on October 15th, the anniversary of vocalist L.V's brotherls death, who died suddenly last year, and the track can be found on all major digital outlets, including Bandcamp.