Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead - Zombie Book Review

Quite an original title for a collection of short tales about zombies?  It has been a while since I last read a zombie anthology, they can be a bit hit and miss.  This tome collects together 19 short stories from both new comers to horror fiction as well as masters such as David Wellington (of the Monster Nation trilogy of zombie apocalypse) and Max Brooks most known for his Zombie Survival Guide book.

The foreword stated that it wanted something different for it's zombie tales, not the usual zombie story,  for the most part it is successful with a variety of different takes on zombies.  It starts off well with a story that follows what happens to Lazarus after Jesus resurrected him (a tale from the Bible) and pretty much carries on well.  There is a classic apocalypse tale reduced down to a small village that has been cordoned off by the military, stories about a zombie stuck on a church spire, a zombie found chained to the bottom of the sea, all of which are entertaining, and interesting.

Burn, Zombie Burn! (2009) - Zombie Horror Videogame Review (Playstation 3)

One of the reasons I wanted a PS3 was due to the amount of exclusive downloadable zombie games.  Rather than the crap of the X-Box Indie channel the PS3 exclusive zombie games are of quite a high quality. Burn, Zombie Burn! is an arena based shooter influenced by B-movies.

You play as a Bruce Campbell looking fella who has to kill legions of zombies swarming towards him in one of six different arenas. Each arena is based on a different location such as an army base, suburban neighbourhood, and an outdoor cinema. Disappointingly despite the whole cartoony style, and retro themed levels there is no story whatsoever.

The Wickeds (2005) - Zombie Film Review

The Wickeds is a film on the Hard Core film label, a film label that is known for having many many terrible low budget pieces of trash on it.  The Wickeds is a low budget film, but rises above others of its kind by its good editing that means it never outstays its welcome.

A group of obnoxious teens travel to the middle of nowhere to an alleged haunted house to have a Halloween party.  Next door to the house in a giant cemetery two grave robbers (with ugly pornstar Ron Jeremy as Gus) loot a cursed pendant from a grave.  The curse does its thing and the dead rise from their graves, as well as the owner of the pendant who is a Vampire.  Taking refuge in the house the teens and the grave robbers must hold out against the hordes of zombies trying to get in.

How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse - Zombie Poster

My girlfriend brought me a cool zombie poster quite a while ago now, the poster rather than just have a picture actually offers advice in case of zombie apocalypse.

The first section of the poster is guide lines on what to do, this includes such useful tips as preparing for an apocalypse by watching zombie films, and keeping a sense of humour.  This is followed by a what not to do section, again quite useful with tips such as 'don't impersonate zombies' to assuming a zombie is dead when it has been beaten.

The next section of the poster is an explanation of what a zombie is, the usual information is contained here as well as a flow chart to follow to recognise if the zombie is actually a zombie or just something else (such as a teenager).

The last section of the poster deals with the important info of how to kill a zombie.  It gives the usual weapons such as guns and blades and then details weapons that shouldn't be used such as a cat, a fly swatter, and a toilet roll.

The poster gives basic information, but due to its large size is a useful quick thing to look at if you want to refresh your knowledge at any time.

Botched (2007) - Horror Film Review

Botched is one of the many films I got for Christmas, I have now finally gotten around to watching it. It is a horror comedy set in Russia but actually filmed in Ireland.

Ritchie Donovan; a professional thief (played well by Stephen Dorff) is sent to Russia to retrieve an ornate golden crucifix after a job he worked on in the films intro went bad. He must retrieve the crucifix or his life is forfeit to his boss. Ritchie and his two accomplices steal the crucifix from the penthouse of an office block but things start to go wrong when the lift they are making their escape in breaks down, making one of the accomplices panic and take the other people in the lift hostage. They all get out the elevator and onto a mysterious secret floor of the building. Expecting to negotiate with the police they instead discover the person they are communicating with over a security guards' radio is in fact a deranged killer who plans on killing everyone; hostages and criminals alike. It seems the floor they are trapped on is the killers playground and they must work together if they are to escape him.

Resistance 2 - Horror Videogame Review (Playstation 3)

I recently had quite a bad time with Resistance: Fall of Man, it had lots of issues, mostly concerning the antique feel of everything and the sub-par graphics.  I don't know why I decided to play Resistance 2 after that ordeal, but play it I did.  The question is; did the sequel address the issues of the first and become a better game?

Resistance 2 (a first person shooter by the way) takes place immediately after the events of Resistance with Nathan Hale captured by a band of mysterious soldiers.  These soon reveal themselves to be a special American army branch that consists of soldiers immune to the Chimera virus (much like Hale).  They all go off to an Icelandic base which is under attack by a Chimeran army.  In the chaos a monstrous test subject known as Daedalus escapes.  Two years later and America has been near over run by the Chimeran army.  The apparent leader of this army is the escaped Daedalus.  Working with his group Sentinels Hale and the army must find a way to stop Daedalus's (probably evil) plan.

The story for this game is pretty terrible once again, though the pieces of hidden Intel dotted around the levels are quite interesting this time around.  Resistance 2 I am shocked to say is a damn good game!  The game looks fantastic, is exciting, and really empowers you as bad-ass Nathan Hale.

Shock Horror Issue 4 (Horror Magazine)

I don't know what it is with Northampton post but this magazine always seems to get lost in it, my address sometimes seems like a black hole.  Anyway I finally got issue 4 of Shock Horror.

The text in this months issue is tiny!  Near had to get out a magnifying glass to read it, but I guess if it means there is more content then this is a good thing.  This months retrospective looks back at the films of Peter Cushing, as usual this section is well researched and interesting to read.  Dr Dale's guide on how to survive a zombie apocalypse is as hilarious as ever, a real highlight to the magazine.

The Strangers - Horror Film Review

My girlfriend swears that this is the scariest film she has ever seen, while I don't agree, it is still a competent horror that is at the least well made.

The Strangers starts with a couple Kristen and James turning up at James's parents summer house after a disastrous night at his brothers wedding reception.  The atmosphere between the two is tense but events soon bring them together.  A trio of psychos have chosen them as victims in a bout of random terrorising.  Will the couple last the night?

Resistance: Fall of Man - Horror Videogame Review (PS3)

Resistance was one of the early games to be released for the Playstation 3 and an exclusive for the console.  The game is a first person shooter and not a very good one at that.

Resistance takes place on an alternate reality Earth.  In the early 20th Century a mysterious plague of mutants swept over Russia, this plague then spread to the rest of Europe before finally in the early 1950's it arrived at Britain.  Despite defences the Country was soon over run by the mutant horde.  1951 and a squad of American Soldiers arrive in Britain to help the Soldiers fighting there.  You take control of Nathan Hale; an American Soldier who upon exposure to the Chimera virus (the mutant army is made up of mutated humans) found he was immune to it.  It is up to you to travel around Britain doing various jobs in an effort to free the Country from the alien Chimera threat.

Zombie Science 1Z by Dr Austin - Zombie Book Review

There are quite a lot of zombie books out nowadays, people may complain of over saturation but I think there can never be too much of a good thing, and zombies (though rotten and smelly) are a good thing!  There seems to be two different sort of zombie books; those that tell stories and those that profess to offer knowledge for use in the event of a real life zombie apocalypse.  Zombie Science 1Z falls into the later category but rather than the usual survival guide this incorporates real medical knowledge to predict just what an actual zombie apocalypse could entail.

Zombie Science 1Z is set out as a University course book.  It is made up of 3 modules that culminates with an online exam to be completed (found on Dr Austin's ace website Zombie Science 1Z).  As a side note I did the exam but fear I have not done too well on it!

Blogger issues - May 2011

Hey there, just a quick update to say that thanks to the clowns at Blogger a days worth of blogs were deleted off of Blogspot last week.  I like many others have suffered, we are told all posts deleted will be back again, but then the staff at Blogger later went on to declare that all missing posts are now all back (when that obviously is not the case).

Hopefully my missing posts will show up soon, but in the meantime I want to wait and see before committing to doing any new posts.  I know I shouldn't complain as Blogspot is free but it is still frustrating to be told everything has been fixed when that just isn't the case.

Thanks for your patience and hopefully I will be back to posting soon!

Live Action Nazi Zombies - Call of Duty Zombie Mode Recreation

I recently stumbled across the video below which recreates the Call of Duty Nazi Zombies mode.  This mode first appeared in Call of Duty: World at War.  The mode has you in a safe house fighting off waves of Nazi zombies.  Additional weapons can be purchased as well as new areas opened up.  The game is designed for co-op play and so I never lasted long in it (I have no one to play games with!), despite the hardness it was kinda fun.

The video below recreates the feeling of being in the game quite well, kinda cool using the games sound effects and music riffs.  Maybe one day I will get to play this mode in co-op!

The Worlds First Purpose Built Zombie Proof House

My Girlfriend recently discovered the worlds first zombie proof house (she didn't actually stumble across it, she heard about it from a friend), the house was apparently custom built purposely for the event of a zombie apocalypse by the designers at KWK Promes.  Being an avid believer in the inevitable zombie apocalypse (well ok maybe I don't actually think it will ever happen, but I can dream!) here is my critique of this unique creation.