Posted By John Sears on October 2, 2012

We’ve had more than a few heated (if, so-far, one-sided) disagreements with Cracked.com over their depictions of the Differently Animated.

However when they turn the topic over to their fans a somewhat more nuanced take emerges. Example: a recent photoshop contest where the readers were challenged to illustrate the problems facing Zombies in everyday life:

Movie zombies are slow and constantly getting shot in the face, but even they don’t show the everyday problems you’d encounter while piloting around a rotting, barely coherent corpse. We asked you to show us the harsh realities of daily life for the undead that movies leave out.

As is usual for Cracked.com they try to frame things about the Differently Animated in a very negative fashion, but the general public seems to be coming around more to OUR point of view. A few of these entries are actually very thought-provoking and empathetic!

Take #18, which shows the incredibly difficult experience of Shopping While Zombie thanks to Mr. Romero, Mr. Coulton and Capcom.

Or how about #12, which illustrates how Zombies could be victimized as test subjects in a world where ‘informed consent’ stops with your pulse. Chilling.

#8 sounds a more hopeful note, that the general public may, through appreciation of fictional Zombies, come to care for their real-Unlife counterparts.

And #7 and #1 show the often dicey-interaction of the law and the Differently Animated (a subject I feel more prepared to deal with daily as a result of my legal training).

Much better than I feared on the whole! Kudos to Cracked.com’s readership!

This story comes from our longtime tipster and correspondent Michelle Hartz, who might be able to help us guilt-trip her acquaintance Ken Foree over his role in the mall-based Undead Oppression. Here’s hoping.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Mainstream Media, Zombie Art

Posted By John Sears on September 30, 2012

Apparently another rousing game of Anti-Zombie prejudices and NERF weaponry is afoot at the local college campus, and I’ve seen firsthand their hijinks, if not their intolerance, as I pursue a Zombie Rights-adjacent education this week.

On Wednesday I saw the, ahem, designated ‘Humans’ (as if Zombies are less than human!) running around bedecked in neon orange gear looking for their prey. Also playing fairly dangerously on some of the more hideous brutalist architecture at UW-Madison.*

I mean literally, they ran up the sloped sides of the actual building. Not safe for the Living or the Undead, people!

Then on Thursday I saw a group of the ‘Zombies’ being interrogated by campus cops near the same aging brutalist hulk. I’d make a snarky comment about the differing treatment but I saw no actual evidence of either Anti-Zombie intent on the part of the peace officers nor any non-Greyface actual Zombies in the playgroup.

Which makes sense when you think about it.

Regardless it seems the game is afoot, so I’m stuffing some literature in my backpack from now on.

Also, next week I’ll make sure to bring a camera.

*Don’t get me wrong, I love a good brutalist building; I just don’t think my current college home has any.

Category: Zombie Media | 1 Comment »
Tags: Anti-Zombie Public Event

Posted By John Sears on September 24, 2012

I think this qualifies as overexposure:

Biohazard: Damnation is currently slated for a September 25 release in North America, between the September 14 opening of the live-action film Resident Evil: Retribution and the October launch of the Resident Evil 6 game.

In all honesty this trailer does make the CG movie look about a thousand times more interesting than the big live-action spectacle at the movie palace down the street.

So much Resident Evil to cover, so little time. Our S.T.A.R.S. nemeses must be thrilled.

(ZRC note: I went ahead and converted the title to the American format in the blog post.)

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Movies, Videogames, What's Up with Japan?

Posted By John Sears on September 24, 2012

The concept of ‘Dayplanner of the Dead’ as outlined in its Indiegogo page is interesting, if not particularly Zombie Friendly: Zombies don’t eat people because they’re hungry, but because they’re bored. So the solution is to Entertain the Zombies.

Hmm. Original, sure. But is portraying the Undead as something akin to homicidal maniacs hooked on Pringles really the way we want to go? The ZRC thinks not.

And the cast alone ensures this odd take on the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ will earn some of our patented* ZRC attention and outreach:

Kyra Schon, who played little zombie girl Karen Cooper in the George Romero classic that started it all, will be appearing in our film as a zombie for the first time in over 40 years. Fellow NOTLD alumnus Gary Streiner, founder of the Living Dead Festival and leader of the successful campaign to save and restore the Evans City Cemetery Chapel, where NOTLD was shot, is also appearing. And Tom Sullivan, creator of the legendary Book of the Dead for Sam Raimi’s ‘Evil Dead’ trilogy is on board as well.

Something to keep a wary eye out for, to be sure.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Movies, Romero

Posted By John Sears on September 22, 2012

The latest Resident Evil movie is out in theatres, whereas the ZRC movie review squad, in the form of yours truly, has yet to see it due to many and sundry school obligations.

But that’s what film critics are for, right? And the Rotten Tomatoes Freshness Rating for this splattery, violent Anti-Zombie installment of the film series that just won’t stop is…

27% Fresh.

Ouch.

But then again, RE movies always get panned. The real test here is whether it’s making the reliably huge bucks that has ensured another mediocre and viciously Living Supremacist movie every couple of years…

Well.. not quite.

Still I imagine ‘Retribution’ will eke out a profit, which means yet another RE movie in a couple of years.

Our cup runneth over.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Movies

Posted By John Sears on September 19, 2012

I guess it was inevitable that Zombies would face demonization (no offense to demons) in the pursuit of lucrative War on Terror dollars but this is still just a bit sad:

SAN DIEGO — Forget the H1N1 pandemic. Could a future crisis arise from an outbreak of viruses that destroy brain cells and render people violently catatonic, like zombies?

The far-fetched scenario of a government grappling a zombielike threat has captured the attention and imagination of Brad Barker, president of the security firm HALO Corp. Next month, his outfit will incorporate — no kidding — zombies into a disaster-crisis scenario at the company’s annual counterterrorism summit in San Diego, a five-day event providing hands-on training, realistic demonstrations, lectures and classes geared to more than 1,000 military personnel, law enforcement officials, medical experts, and state and federal government workers.

A disaster in the making, no pun intended. If society trains its cops, soldiers and first responders to fear Zombies, how can we possibly expect to get out of the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ with a peaceful solution?

Some people just don’t believe in happy endings. And for every willing customer looking to feed their fear of the innocent Undead there will be some shady operating happy to take cash in return.

Again, a sad state of affairs.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Social Justice

Posted By John Sears on September 14, 2012

The Zombie Rights Campaign has strong opinions about ‘Resident Evil’, as you can see in our educational literature (which will need updating again soon… sigh)

One of those opinions, aside from disliking the viciously Anti-Zombie prejudice, of course, is a cynical appreciation of the bewildering number of ways Capcom has found to cash-in on its flagship Anti-Zombie franchise. Books, comics, movies both here and in Japan, shirts, toys, etc.

But now, even before the highly-anticipated (and around here, dreaded) ‘Resident Evil 6′ game comes out, Capcom is announcing downloadable content they will have available to extract dollars from your wallet:

Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games, is pleased to confirm that the Resident Evil® 6 experience will be further enhanced with the release of new modes and additional content following the launch of this highly anticipated title on home consoles this October 2.

Available as downloadable content, three new gameplay modes will expand on the multiplayer elements available in the retail version and deliver new and exciting ways to enjoy the world of Resident Evil 6.

At least one of the modes lets you play as one of the ‘monsters’, or as RE terms them, ‘Bio Organic Weapons’. However it does force you to fight the allegedly heroic and normal human characters, so it’s not a great deal of progress.

Not for Zombie Rights, anyway. It might be progress toward improving Capcom’s quarterly results.

Anyone else feel like calling this game ‘Resident Evil 6: The Search for More Money’?

Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tags: Videogames, What's Up with Japan?

Posted By John Sears on September 14, 2012

The controversy over AMC and Dish Network may have dominated ‘Walking Dead’ news over the summer, but now that the actual season is approaching the media blitz/glorification of Anti-Zombie violence is getting under way:

Newly released images from the upcoming third season of “The Walking Dead” hold the promise of even more bloody zombie action, and a couple of peeks at the prison that will serve as the home and focal point of much of the action.

…

The third season, which will introduce zombie-killing tough chick Michonne (Danai Gurira) as well as the villainous Governor (David Morrissey), is one that many fans of the comic book have been anticipating for a long time. The season premiere is Oct. 14.

We’re already getting questions about this upcoming season; while obviously the ZRC has not seen anything from the show, the comic books strongly indicate that it won’t be pretty.

Or Zombie Friendly.

Category: Zombie Media | No Comments »
Tags: Robert Kirkman, Television

Posted By John Sears on September 12, 2012

Just wanted to drop a quick note on the blog about a horror film event coming up this Friday that might be of some interest to ZRC readers in the Chicago area:

TERROR IN THE AISLES 12

The Ultimate Horror Triple Feature!

September 14, 2012

THE STUFF, FRANKENHOOKER & IRON SKY

Portage Theater
4050 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60641
1.773.736.4050

Yes, ‘Frankenhooker’ on the big screen is definitely Zombie-related and of interest to the ZRC, but we’ve also seen ‘The Stuff’ described as a Zombie movie here and there, and the ZRC definitely thinks the Stuff… bies?.. get the short end of the stick in that film.

I mean, at the very least, the USDA, FDA, heck, the CDC and the Interior Dept all fell down on that one. We should be cautious about putting stuff that bubbles out of the ground into foodstuffs, and not blame the victims who accidentally consume it and, say, then become part of a gooey hivemind entity.

Iron Sky, we’re not gonna lie; seems to have nothing to do with Zombies. Looks cool though, consider it a bonus.

The ZRC may or may not attend this one in person, law school schedule and workload depending. I’ll put a notice on the blog if we can definitely go and spread the word about Undead Equality.

Category: Zombie Media | 1 Comment »
Tags: Movies, Public Appearance, Social Justice

Posted By John Sears on September 10, 2012

That was a brisk weekend of outreach for the ZRC! Special thanks to ZRC pal Michelle Hartz, author of ‘Brains for the Zombie Soul‘, for capably operating our booth on Friday while I was otherwise detained learning about contracts and such.

Zombies need contracts too, right?

Horrorhound was of course inundated with Zombie-related media, and sadly, much of it seemed overtly Anti-Zombie. Anyone who thought that Zombie books were on their way out might want to re-evaluate that position:

The ZRC is hoping for some outsourced book reviews as we noticed Ms. Hartz picking up a rather large pile of Zombie-related books at the convention.

Hint hint. We can pay in Zombie-related wine…

Moving on, our ZRC friends at the found. booth did a brisk trade and won three major awards at the convention on Saturday. They also had an ingenious idea to lure in patrons with popcorn. Hmm, popcorn.

I’m thinking green cotton candy might work similar magic for the ZRC. Must investigate.

The Zombiisage booth was here again giving Zombie-themed and totally not-skull-crushing massages to convention goers, which seems very Zombie Friendly to us here at the ZRC.

Also at Horrorhound: Undead pony rides! Well, Undead rocking-horse pony rides. Close enough!

Several cars in the parking lot were sporting stickers (not ours!) pledging support for the Undead, though sadly, some fell prey to the media’s typical divide-and-conquer strategies:

There were of course Zombie-hating detractors, including a motley crew of Umbrella agents and sympathizers:

And I don’t even know what to make of this:

Yes… riiight… ok then.

On the whole, another great convention! Particular highlights include a running con-feud with Timothy W. Long, author of some highly disturbing Zombie-books, a couple of run-ins with our nemeses from S.T.A.R.S., talks with members of the public about Zombie Voting Rights, Zombie Standup Comedians, educating students to respect Zombies, raising one’s own children Zombie Friendly and much more.

Whew. We’re tuckered out.

But there is much to do and much to review before next month, when we’ll be hitting both The Dark Carnival and Nightmare on Chicago Street for some protesting, picketing, and as always, outreach to the general public, who we hope will continue to be receptive to our Zombie Friendly message.

Category: Zombie Media, ZRC News | 2 Comments »
Tags: Anti-Zombie Products, Books, Public Appearance, Social Justice, Zombie Public Event