Review: World War Z!

If you’re the kind of fan who reads a lot of movie news then you may be entering World War Z with at lease some degree of trepidation. WWZ allegedly had a long, expensive and troubled production, resulting in multiple reshoots and a reworked ending, and much has been said as to whether it really has that much in common with Max Brooks' original book. However, as the film began, most of those concerns dissolved as I was immediately swept up into the writhing, undead sea of the oncoming zombie horde. World War Z wastes no time in getting to the good stuff and begins with such a tense, relentless pace that you can’t but help to let your expectations go and just see where it takes you. And I respect a film that delivers on its promise of a global zombie catastrophe within the first few minutes of its running time.

But the real test is: Is World War Z sustainable? Can it keep up that pace and continue to surprise us for nearly two hours? I’m going to share my thoughts on what they got right, and what went wrong... after the jump!

Book Review: Plague Town by Dana Fredsi

There's a blurb on the back of Plague Town that describes the book as a cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Walking Dead. Never has a blurb been more appropriate.

Plague Town is the story of Ashley Parker as she learns about her role during the zombie apocalypse. These zombies are the slow, plodding kind, very stereotypical, and Ashley is...special. Not necessarily in the way you might be thinking (the Buffy comparison is not 100% apt here), but she has a very important position in the puzzle.

The book is interesting in how it handles the reveal. If you're in this for a lot of zombie killing action, you're going to be disappointed. If you think training for the zombie apocalypse is the only thing keeping your traditional zombie movie from being awesome, you're going to love this book - I personally thought this aspect of it dragged. Regardless of how the book succeeds and fails, however, there's a key reveal at the end that is unlike anything I've read in the genre before, and elevates the book beyond pulpy mass-market escapism into something a little more daring.

While I'm not especially high on this book overall, I feel like it has a lot of potential as a trilogy with what looks to be a clear endpoint. I'll dive into the second volume for sure. You can check out the first two books over at Titan.

Oz Comic Con Perth 2013: Day 2 Highlights! Cosplay! Artists! Panels!

We have recovered from a weekend of walking, waiting and jostling to bombard you with many more photos and musings from our second long day at Oz Comic Con Perth. Our expectations of a leisurely Sunday quickly disintegrated as even MORE keen and costumed fans piled into the fancy Exhibition Centre, quickly transforming it into a heaving circus of gaudy lycra and cardboard where even the most cautious attendee could be suddenly crushed between a Master Chief and a sidling Catbus.

Yes. There was a Catbus. And it was life-affirming. I have no idea how many people were sweating inside that thing but I hope they got along!

Find out more about - and see many more pictures of - the cosplay, our favourite artists, Klingons, Macgyver, Momoa and much more... after the jump!

Deep Silver unveils Dead Island 2 special edition; the Internet wigs out

Those classy folk at Deep Silver are evidently so unsure of their new product that they're falling back on the age-old adage of all publicity being good publicity. The European/Australian Zombie Bait edition will come complete with a foot tall, mutilated female bust. And in this case, "bust" is actually an hilariously appropriate term, if by hilarious you mean queasily.

If your stomach is strong and your outrage mighty, click on...

Thousands Of Zombies On The Jersey Shore: The NJ Zombiewalk Photo Recap

It's become a tradition for my family to travel up to Asbury Park, NJ each year for the annual NJ Zombiewalk. The event holds the record for the world's largest gathering of zombies (2010 counted 4,094 total) and seems to get bigger and bigger every year. The zombies start to crawl down the boardwalk at 5:00pm and make their way into the town for a night of craziness.

It's hard to describe the chaos, and even with the photos it's still a little tough, but the entire town is filled with people dressed as many different types of zombies. There are the classic grey zombies, the bloody new zombies, the pop culture referencing zombies, lots of zipper faces, the zombies that make no sense, and much more. It's an awesome event, which makes me wish it happened every weekend.

Click through the jump for a whole ton of photos.

Supanova Cosplay!

One of the things I enjoy most about Supanova is seeing all the creativity, effort and money people have put into their cosplay costumes. Of course, on the flipside there's also the people who put a cardboard box on their head and come as a Minecraft character, but hey, we all express ourselves in different ways. There are always a plethora of Sailor Moons, Vampire Knights, and Doctors, so this year it was cool to see people thinking outside the box a little. We had several FemSheps from Mass Effect, a bunch of Avengers-inspired costumes, and even an Effie Trinket from The Hunger Games! I was also pretty excited to see two guys dressed as the Black and White spies from Spy vs Spy, but sadly I didn't manage to get a photo as they were busy sneaking around doing TNT-related spy things.

Luke and I had our cameras at the ready all weekend, so jump below the cut to check out some of our favourite shots!

Zombicide - Kickstarter Final Countdown

Have to type fast because we don't have much time, and you need to be informed - Zombicide is coming.




Wow, that was a terrible lead in, but its actually true. Zombicide is a minis-based zombie board game that is currently exploding Kickstarter (from a board game sense), and it is coming to a close. With under 2 hours left, the game has raised over $730,000 (its goal was $20,000 - 3,656% successful so far!). If you're a fan of zombies, this is definitely worth taking a look at (and you best hurry)

All the details to what you can get after the break.  But hurry, you're wasting time!

iPhone Film-making: Zombie Case Study.

Our friend Sam O'Sullivan drew our attention to his new short film, Zombie Case Study, shot entirely on an iPhone. Having only recently upgraded to a 4S myself, I'm really inspired by the ability to shoot a quality film using only a phone and I think that Sam's film illustrates really innovative ways of working with the phone's advantages and exploiting its limitations. It makes film-making accessible to everyone and this is a fine example that will make you sad that you're not doing it yourself.

Plus Sam's film has crowd pleasing/consuming zombies, so if you want to see two young Australian men dealing with a zombie situation in a way that only young Australian men can then check this out:

Review: Zombie Outlaw #1!

So we were generously sent (all the way to Australia) a review copy of new self-published comic Zombie Outlaw #1, written by Brian J. Apodaca, with art by B. Paul Jordan.

What's it all about and how does it stack up? Join me after the jump and we'll find out!

Choose Your Own Adventure Video - Deliver Me From Hell

Choose your own adventure books were the coolest things ever growing up, and they still are actually. I recently came upon this video when looking for similar things for work (for realz) and found this to be fantastic. In a nutshell, you're the pizza delivery guy who has to make a delivery in the middle of the Zombie Apocalypse.

 

 Don't know if it'll let you make decisions while staying on the same page, but I'm curious if you can survive. Share your experiences below

Review: Z-Girl and the 4 Tigers!

In a first for our fledgling site, we were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to review book one of new comic series Z-Girl and the 4 Tigers! This is an independent book produced by Z Studios, written by scribe and frequent Newsarama contributor Jeff Marsick, with art by the indubitably manly Kirk Manley.

What's it all about and how did I feel about it? Find out after the jump!