ZOMBIEFEST

Wow. That was Zombiefest.

Posts and photos to come later. For now, rest for the restful dead.

What a great day, and thank you to all who came out.

Have You Played...

Resident Evil?

While it all began with Romero's yet-to-be-surpassed 1969 indie effort, Night of the Living Dead (which we'll cover here soon), the general mythology of zombies has drawn from several sources. One of the most influential sources for the Zombie Mythos was Capcom's Resident Evil, or Biohazard, as it is known in Japan, released in 1996 for the Playstation.

Why was RE so influential, and why is it so fondly remembered that it's had not one, but two remasterings (first on the Nintendo Gamecube, and more recently on PC in glorious HD)?

Find out after the jump!

Quick Recommendations

Good morning, Shamblers!

Apologies for the lack of posts; I'm currently in Coventry and haven't been able to write much, due to Coventry's ban on literature and typing. It's a by-law.

Full post later on, but since it's Friday night, here are some Zombie Recommendations to check out over the weekend:

Loving Latex

Good morning, Shamblers!

There's many ways to zombie up, and while most people start out with make-up, the next level up is getting the liquid latex out.

An easy way to get some basic special effects on the go, liquid latex is cheap, simple to apply, rapid-drying and, above all, flexible. It clings to the skin, moves with it and removes readily; if you've made a thicker, more detailed piece, then you can carefully remove it and keep it for re-use.

In this post we'll look at some basic latex tips, all the way up to making full-size latex masks.

Have You Seen...

There's a wealth of zombie-related goodness out there; books, comics, games, films and events. There's no way you can avoid it, but how much of it have you actively sought out?

The issue is that zombies are, as they say, 'cheap'. Cheap to put in a film, with minimal make-up and easy to act. Cheap to put in a game, since they can look awful and have atrocious AI. Cheap to write books and comics about, since you don't need a big cast and can kill anyone off at any time, and the art doesn't have to be that great to do the trick.

While this lets the zombie fever spread like a particularly nasty rash in a particularly sensitive area, it does mean that a huge amount of zombie output is, as they say, 'awful'.

'Have You Seen/Played/Read...' is a wee series of bit to ferret out the good stuff; to pan the little nuggets of gold from the raging torrent of audio-visual sewage that there is out there. SO, without further ado, let us begin with something really obvious. I mean, honestly. You know where this is going, don't you?

Have you seen...

A Brief Guide to Raising the Dead

Good morning, Shamblers!

Once again, Shetland Annual Zombiefest is upon us! Time to go to that cabinet full of make-up, fake blood and latex you had installed on the wall that says “In Case of Shetland Annual Zombiefest, Smash Glass” on it, follow its instructions with the little hammer, sweep up the glass, reassure yourself that the cabinet was a brilliant idea and it's worth the money, order another sheet of glass from Hay's, and sit down to go to work on a zombie costume.

Suddenly, you are hit by a though that leaves an imprint on your mind you just can't get off, like a pigeon hitting a window. What, says you, if my costume is uninspired and a bit naff?

Well, says I, you could do worse than to follow these guidelines.

Get out of my mind, says you.

No, says I. Never.

The Rising

Good morning, Shamblers.

Do you have time, this Easter season, to talk about the resurrection from death, afterlife everlasting, and the belief in the consumption of the flesh of another in order to achieve this salvation from oblivion and torment?

You do?

Marvellous. Let’s step inside. I have pamphlets. That’s right, I’m here to talk to you about Shetland Annual Zombiefest.

What did you think I wanted to talk about?

Over the last 6 years, the Z-Team has tried, slowly but surely, to expand this annual event into an open, welcoming celebration of one of modern society’s most influential and important pieces of popular culture; the Zombie. Zombies have, in the last several years, become an almost indispensable part of pop-culture, infecting every form of entertainment medium; from books to films, comics to games, TV to real life. We, at Z-Fest, want to celebrate this to its full; our very own Day of the Dead.

In order to ramp up to Z-Fest on the 25th of April, we are going to find and present zombie-related goodness to get everyone into the mood, and costume tips for turning out a good zombie on the day.

And as the Zombie Lord said to his baying horde; “Go forth and multiply!”