We hope you'll find this blog an educational, entertaining, and inspiring source of information, whether you're recently undead, a long-time member of the differently animated, or a still-living friend of your fallen, yet risen again, brethren. Everyone with an interest in zombie rights is welcome!
The ultimate experience in clay stop-motion animated grueling terror. Ghosts, spooks, undead zombies, ghouls, sexy lady and not to mention a CHAINSAW!! Revvvv-it-up! Love Automatic is a New York band made up of ex-members from Sense Fail & Armor for Sleep. Their EP debut ‘Organ Donor’ is now available for download from major retailers.
Delving a little deeper things start to make sense when it becomes apparent that the video in question is a claymation piece from noted Living Supremacist Lee Hardcastle, whose work was previously discussed on the ZRC blog here.
What, then, is ‘Nightmare’ like? Well, it’s the Youtube age, so why not check it out yourself first:
As you can see, ‘Nightmare’ is a pastiche of classic horror elements and films, including some very obvious Ghostbusters references. Storywise, however, this is another Raimi-esque attempt to demonize, well, demons, freshly come back from the great beyond and understandably upset at Living interlopers. For some reason it’s always the DEMONS’ fault that some low-information college kids, quasi-scientists or frauds read from the Forbidden book in the haunted house at midnight.
Really? Really.
Naturally this video is gruesome, full of pointless and insensate violence, directed at both the Living and the Differently Animated, but clearly serving as an indictment of only one involved party.
The ZRC thus rates it as being Living Supremacist. For shame, Mr. Hardcastle, for shame.
‘Silent Hill’ games don’t get quite as much press here on the ZRC blog, as their ‘antagonists’ often fall more in the ‘insane human’ or ‘demon’ categories rather than the Differently Animated, and also because, quite frankly, it’s hard to tell what’s going on half the blasted time.
Still, they’ve had a noteworthy impact and their non-conventionally-human game characters have often been poorly treated, so this news about the next upcoming ‘Silent Hill’ depressed us on a number of levels:
Once again taking the franchise outside of Japan, Konami gave Silent Hill: Downpour (above) to the Czech outfit Vatra Games. Not that the premise is out of line with the series: Downpour features a convict named Murphy stranded in the town of Silent Hill after his prison transport crashes there. He’s armed only with whatever disposable weapons he can scavenge, and he can even try to outrun the bizarre dimensional shifts that characterize the series. Vatra seems to have the Silent aesthetic down, though the combat may be purposefully clumsy once again.
A game based on purposefully un-fun ‘combat’ with the somewhat Differently Animated by a convict scrounging up improvised weapons? It sounds like Dead Rising has a new rival.
But wait, there’s even more horror:
There’s also some controversy about the music: the game’s producer reports that singer/actress/ADR director Mary Elizabeth McGlynn will be back for Downpour, but there’s a theme song by Korn. No kidding.
No. No no no no no! You cannot do this to me, Konami! I won’t have it! I won’t tolerate a game that’s Anti-Unconventional Human AND has a theme song by Korn. You have gone *too far* this time!
The brain-eating myth about Zombies is very hard to combat, though we try here at The Zombie Rights Campaign. Simply put, the overwhelming majority of Zombies, whether in real life or in the biased media loosely based upon real life, are not fixated upon eating brain tissue.
And as mentioned many times before on this blog, we have an unusual ally in this educational crusade: George Romero himself.
Vanity Fair: Zombies have a weird fixation with eating human flesh and brains. What is it about being undead that makes somebody so ravenous?
Romero: First of all, why does everybody say that zombies eat brains?
VF: Because… it’s true?
Romero: I’ve never had a zombie eat a brain! I don’t know where that comes from. Who says zombies eat brains?
VF: I remember brains being a big zombie menu item in Return of the Living Dead back in the mid-80s, but I’m not sure if that’s where it started.
Romero: Whenever I sign autographs, they always ask me, “Write ‘Eat Brains’!” I don’t understand what that means. I’ve never had a zombie eat a brain. But it’s become this landmark thing.
(the quote has been reformatted to be easier to distinguish who is speaking but is otherwise unchanged)
So given this we can say without a doubt that, whatever stereotypes one might have about Zombies in general, we should all be able to agree, without argument, that Romero’s ‘Zombies’ don’t eat human brain. Anyone who’s paid attention, who claims to be a fan or student of his work, should know this, right?
Online retailer, Merch Bot, offers up another winner with their “Romero’s Diner” design. Technically speaking, none of the zombies in Romero’s movies eat brains, but we love this beauty anyway because it features a four color silk screen print on a green, orange or navy blue tee.
Oh come now, Zombie Research Society, it’s not like you’re sticklers for fairness and accuracy in any OTHER context. I guess knowing the sacred canon of Anti-Zombiism is important to the ZRS though.
Clearly, the ZRC has to condemn the ‘Romero’s Diner’ shirt for being inaccurate, and for being part of the broader, ‘All Zombies Eat Brains’ trend. But, the image on the shirts themselves could have earned praise in another context; here we have a smiling, apparently happy Zombie waitress serving up tasty foodstuffs to most-likely Zombie patrons at a public establishment. It sort of presupposes a world where Zombies and the Living can peacefully co-exist and where those members of teh Differently Animated Community that do need to eat the occasional grey matter can do so in public and without shame.
As with many things, Romero’s inclusion has ruined this project. If it wasn’t ‘Romero’s Diner’, then it wouldn’t be referencing, badly, a rabidly Living Supremacist series of films, and we wouldn’t be made painfully aware that the artist is ignorant not just of the real-life status of the Zombie population but even of the most popular and vicious Anti-Zombie stereotypes. Ignorant of ignorance itself, so to speak.
Sadly, we have to give the shirt, which had such potential, an Anti-Zombie rating for these reasons.
The ‘Romero’s Diner’ shirt can be purchased directly here, if one doesn’t mind the factual inaccuracy.
We’ve talked about this before on the ZRC blog (a phrase I’m sure you’re tired of hearing by now), but the persistence of the Nazis + Zombies horror genre keeps it coming back year after year.
It also helps to illustrate a double standard in our society. If Nazis summon the demon-spawn of Satan to Earth, that’s apparently ok, and he gets to be the protagonist of graphic novels, animated features and relatively big-budget film, but if the same admittedly evil fascists create some Zombies, that’s just terrible.. for some reason.
Bigotry most likely.
Keeping that double-standard in mind, we have another ‘Zombies created by secret Nazi experiments in World War II’ film to talk about, ‘War of the Dead’:
March 1942. Captain Martin Stone (Andrew Tiernan – 300, The Pianist) leads an American unit on a mission to destroy an enemy bunker; joining forces with an elite platoon of Finnish soldiers; Cpt. Niemi (Jouko Ahola – Kingdom of Heaven) and Ltnt. Laasko (Mikko Leppilampi). The troops are torn apart by the same enemy soldiers they had killed a few minutes earlier in an ambush. The living dead? Evil forces? Or SS experiments gone wrong?
Oh sure; if they’re Zombies there must be evil involved, or an experiment ‘gone wrong’. Naturally. Look a gift horse, practical immortality, in the mouth why don’t you?
Given that Finland was allied with Nazi Germany, and we were *at war* with Nazi Germany, why does this movie have US and Finnish troops banding together to fight the Nazis?
It makes very little sense.
Granted, Finland did eventually agree to an Armistice with the USSR and turned on Germany… in 1944. After ceasing hostilities against the Soviets they turned to dealing with Germans in the far North in 1944-45, but of course, this movie is set in… 1942.
Yeah. You’ve got me. While there doesn’t seem to be a lot of historical coherence, ‘War of the Dead’ does have a teaser trailer out:
Maybe one of our attentive readers can make sense of this.
I suppose it’s nice when people tell us flat-out that they’re Zombie-bashing Living Supremacists who have fallen for the outmoded stereotypes about the Differently Animated, but these hateful memes still hurt our clients:
We all go through life a little clueless. Sometimes we don’t learn things about ourselves until they’re brought to our attention. For example, what if you’re the loud guy at the party. But you’re really not aware of it until a few friends bring it up over dinner. You’re shocked, embarrassed but now aware and can remedy the situation.
Now imagine your a Zombie. It’s an awkward social dilemma, in most part because your friends are less likely to bring it up. Probably for fear of your reaction and the chance they would be eaten. So how do you know if you’re a zombie? Here are 10 signs you could be the walking dead
…
8. Inability To Run – Having problems on the treadmill? Find yourself doing a 30 minute mile? Is it even hard to keep up with the elderly people on the sidewalks? This could be caused by the deterioration of leg muscle and hardening of tissues. This could be the reason for your shambling gait. If you’re unable to chase down even the smallest of children, you could be a zombie.
7. Appearance Problems – Do you exhibit signs of physical decomposition such as rotting flesh, discolored eyes, open wounds, exposed bone, green skin, or loss of hair? If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms please consult your mortician. You could be a zombie.
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1. BRAINS! – Find your diet has changed? Is gray matter the first thing you look for on a menu? There is no doubt about it, you’re a zombie.
Naturally, he went there with the brains thing, a stereotype which not only has no basis in reality, it doesn’t even have a basis in the overwhelming majority of Anti-Zombie media.
Romero movies? No brain eating. Kirkman’s stuff? No focus on brain eating. Max Brooks? No brain-eating specifically. You get the idea.
Let’s just address some of this outright: yes, being a Zombie presents the occasional challenge as well as the perks. It can be hard to fit into a Living-centric society that judges you based on your appearance and injuries sustained immediately before or during your reanimation.
Bill Doty apparently approves of prejudging someone just because they’re no longer conventionally ‘alive’. I suppose he’d want to throw rocks at people like our adorable Zombie spokeschild Tim:
See, Tim has a head wound, Bill Doty says that marks him as less of a person.
You know what I say? I say Bill Doty’s a jerk.
Sure, Tim’s head wound seeps a bit now and then, and it’s hard to get blood stains out of t-shirts. So what? Tim has a head-wound. He also has a toy dinosaur collection and an interest in archaeology, as well as, obviously, Zombie Rights.
I think we all know who the real monster here is, spreading ugly and simplistic stereotypes about the Differently Animated. For shame, Mr. Doty. For shame.
Martial-arts used against the Undead has some precedent in the indie film world, for example, ‘God of Vampires’ made the film circuit a few years ago (we caught it at The Dark Carnival), and it was certainly a labor of love, mixing action movie kung-fu with Chinese vampires, though it wasn’t at all friendly to the Differently Animated.
I’ve also seen more specifically Anti-Zombie media mixed with marital arts in tabletop gaming. Still, when I read about ‘Project Purgatory Beijing’ I had to concede, I hadn’t seen it on film… now that I’ve watched the preview, I really, really wish I still hadn’t:
Martial Arts mayhem, combined with gamer style action meets the Zombie Apocalypse in a full out war against the undead in “Project Purgatory Beijing.” China, a deadly designer virus has decimated the country leaving very few people alive. A side effect of the virus has turned the dead into raging, savage cannibals, and they’re hungry. A handful of survivors lead by Team Z; is a group of deadly mercenaries that have been elected to protect the last remaining citizens of the “compound.”
Up front I’m going to issue a sincere warning; people with epilepsy, or who are prone to migraines or motion-sickness, should NOT watch this movie. It is crammed to the brim with digital effects, rapid cuts, flashes of light and noise, easily the most overproduced thing I’ve seen in years.
It’s also virulently Anti-Zombie, as one might expect. However, the oddest thing for me was the way the film messes up some very simple math.
For example, the introductory exposition (love a movie that starts with a speech btw) says that the ‘virus’ that causes this particular Zombie Apocalypse has a ’99% kill rate’ but leaves 12 million people alive on the planet.
Honestly, this was obviously put together on a computer, I’m sure the OS had a calculator. Use it next time, ok?
From there the narrator explains that 75% of THAT number of survivors, 12 million (or 69 in the real world where math works) turned into this film’s version of Zombies, who ate ‘more than 3/4s’ of the remaining Living survivors.
So that makes 9 million ‘Radvics’ eating all but 750,000 Living people on Earth, or, if you use actual math like I did,
51.75 million Radvics eating all but 4.31 million Living people.
And only at THAT point did the governments of the world settle on a strategy: nuke all the cities.
*groan*
Believe it or not, the film’s worse. The characters are a hodgepodge of martial arts and just plain weird stereotyping; you have a ninja, a soldier, a Country/cowboy guy (who wears a cowboy hat, fights with a revolver and carries his guitar everywhere he goes), various tough dudes and even, yes, a woman who fights using some form of martial arts that allows her to turn a scarf into a lethal weapon, at one point even making it into a sword.
Yes, really; she turns a scarf into a sword. You might need liquor to get through this one, boys and girls.
You can see the first 11 minutes of this movie embedded below, assuming you don’t have any of the health conditions I mentioned above, in which case, please don’t expose yourself to unnecessary risk. It’s hard enough to slog through this preview without having a seizure.
A dash of kitchen simulation, a smattering social elements and a heaping spoonful of Zombies. Play as a Zombie Chef and cook Zombie Food, prepare ingredients and put them in the stove or oven for just the right amount of time. A brand extension of Zombie Cafe, players of both games will be able to unlock unique content across both titles.
While Zombie Cookin’ is free to play, players can accelerate gameplay or acquire unique items by purchasing “Bones,” the game’s in app premium currency.
Don’t get me wrong; we’ve reviewed the ‘Zombie Cafe’ concept here before, for the independently produced and unrelated card-game from Wayne West. The idea of a restaurant run by, and perhaps specializing in catering for, the Differently Animated is not inherently offensive by any means, and indeed, is already a step up from ‘Resident Evil’ or ‘Dead Rising’
All that being said, there are a lot of stereotypes at work here.
Just look at this kitchen the poor Zombie Chef has to work in; filthy, under attack by a stereotypical Romero-style ‘Zombie horde’, I mean, these are really awful working conditions. That Zombie probably had to go to two years of culinary school and work their way up the restaurant industry, doing long hours, weekends, you name it, and for what? This?
It’s probably discrimination at work.
Sure, it’s a job, but it’s hardly one suitable for someone who’s labored so hard and so long to better themselves and acquire valuable skills. Capcom seems to be saying that Zombies deserve neither satisfying, healthy work environments nor hygienically prepared food, and the ZRC just cannot support those assertions, at all.
Even when Capcom is apparently trying not to be offensive, they still manage. Nice job, guys.
Capcom has a long and, ahem, proud history of selling slight variations or even full remakes of the same blasted Anti-Zombie games to their customers.
For example, ‘Resident Evil’ was remade numerous times; as a director’s cut, as a complete remake for the Gamecube, itself later ported to the Wii, and ports with varying amounts of new content for the Sega Saturn, the PC and the DS.
So one person could easily have purchased Resident Evil SEVEN times.
This is in addition to the manner in which the games themselves often feature dual-track storylines where two characters move through the same spaces and levels in different sequences, a major feature, for example, of ‘Resident Evil 2′.
Therefore it hardly comes as a surprise that the same approach is being taken to Dead Rising 2 with, yes, a new version starring Frank West from the first Dead Rising, along with some new areas to explore and new methods to assault the innocent Differently Animated:
Dead Rising® 2: Off the Record sees Frank West – photojournalist and original hero of the Dead Rising® Willamette incident – take center stage as players experience a reimagining of the Fortune City outbreak. Forget what you know about Dead Rising® 2, “Frank West is back in the game!”
The new “Off the Record” storyline means an all new Dead Rising 2 experience. Frank will face off against more twisted enemies, build more outrageous combo weapons, follow his own unique mission structure and explore brand new areas of Fortune City to get his biggest scoop yet. Join Frank as he indulges in the insanity of “Uranus Zone,” Fortune City’s very own theme park. Full of deadly rides and crazy attractions, the sci-fi themed Uranus Zone is a true zombie-killing paradise.
Frank’s come-back means the return of his trusty camera, with players able to earn Prestige Points (PP) for specific photo opportunities that are graded against criteria such as horror, drama, erotica and brutality.
In addition to the new scenario and gameplay enhancements, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record offers a suite of technical updates including load time optimizations, improved network performance and a host of system upgrades to deliver a more satisfying Dead Rising experience.
So you get to take pictures of your ‘hilarious’ exploits, there’s a theme park to play around in, and oh yeah, they fixed a ton of bugs in the game you may have already purchased.
That sensation you’re noticing is Capcom’s hand going through your pockets for spare change. Get used to it.
Don’t just take my word for it though; here’s Joystiq on the subject:
Set in a “what-if” scenario, Off the Record puts Frank West in Fortune City in Chuck’s place, with new missions, new enemies, new weapons and “a brand new Fortune City attraction to explore.” The update also features “enhancements to elements such as the save system and the co-op experience.”
But mostly, it’s an “enhancement” to the amount of money Capcom can get out of Dead Rising 2. Between this and the XBLA games, this is the fourth game to bear the title Dead Rising 2. It’ll be out on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in the fall.
All this is bad enough, but take a look at how *awful* they’ve made this low-rent remake on the Differently Animated:
Hideous. Simply hideous.
Once again, Capcom finds new depths to sink to in their never-ending quest to insult the Zombie Community.
Never once in this gameplay trailer do the Differently Animated show the least sign of hostility; it’s police brutality, plain and simple. Outrageous! What’s next, rounding them up into camps? Forced death marches?
Do people really think this is a fun, let alone appropriate, topic for a videogame? Especially coming from the known Anti-Zombie hatemongers at Capcom.
Disgusting. I just know we’re going to hear the ‘It’s ok to shoot them if they’re Undead’ excuses too.
Thanks to BuyZombie for bringing this disturbing video to our attention.
‘Resident Evil’ has been around for a long time now, and for some reason the series continues to sell very well year after year, despite having characters with all the depth of a birdbath and all the appeal of a rancid ham sandwich.
Revealing a brand new storyline for the Resident Evil® series, Resident Evil® Revelations sees the return to survival horror, offering a tense and intriguing gameplay experience. Built from the ground up to take advantage of the Nintendo 3DS features, Resident Evil Revelations delivers outstanding visuals that bring the fear to life.
Taking place in 2005, between the events of Resident Evil® 4 and Resident Evil® 5, the action centers on BSAA (Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance) member Jill Valentine and introduces her new partner, Parker Luciani. The story is set principally on board a supposedly abandoned cruise ship, where Jill and Parker have been sent to search for Chris Redfield, based on his last known GPS coordinates. Far from being empty, the ship hides danger around every corner as Jill and Parker explore the confined space of the ship and must face a menacing new horror that emerges from the darkness.
Adding a new unique horror setting to the series, Resident Evil Revelations gives players the chance to venture underwater as they try to escape the terrifying creatures that are roaming the ship. But even the water does not provide safety as the creatures continue to attack from the depths while Jill and Parker make a desperate bid to make it off the ship alive.
Ahh, Resident Evil 4.5, situated in between the plots of the last two Resident Evil titles to grotesquely offend various ethnic minorities; I wonder, will ‘Revelations’ pick on some new minority group?
Let’s see, cruise ship setting… how about Jamaicans? I mean, you already hit Sub-Saharan Africa in ‘Resident Evil 5′, so it’d be a bit derivative to pick on Liberia, where many cruise ships are registered today.
Still, ripping itself off is what ‘Resident Evil’ does best, so it wouldn’t surprise me. The trailer reinforces the deja vu sensation with its display of another derivation of the same old, ‘pair of armed thugs trapped in some isolated locale fighting the Differently Animated’ setup, times two!
Yes, it looks like Revelations features a sassy female sidekick for Chris and an Italian man to carry Jill’s spare ammunition, and, one would suppose, lockpicks. That should spice up the sharply written Sorkin-esque banter the games are so famous for.
*rolls eyes*
Or not.
We’ve embedded the trailer for this new-and-Zombie-Rights-unimproved game below. It will launch soon on the 3DS, so you can find out what eyestrain does to your Anti-Zombie ‘skills’:
