Undead Backbrain

Now, for your entertainment, the Undead Backbrain brings you a complete new zombie film, Picnic of the Living Dead (US-2008; short; dir. Isaac Nejako). It’s a poignant tragedy about zombies, a picnic and a man with a chainsaw. It’s really good, too! Watch it now! What’s 7 minutes out of your life?

Thanks, Isaac, for sending it along!

• Production blog

Added:

Here’s a cast and crew listing:

Cast:

• Bill Pietrucha as Daddy Zombie
• Sandy Lundy as Mommy Zombie
• Rita Aurandt as Girl Zombie
• Casey McDonagh as Billy
• Eero Aames as Maverick
• Christiana Coleman as Maverick’s Girl

Crew:

Director: Isaac Carey Nejako

Writers: Alexis Perkins, Jake Young, Isaac Carey Nejako

Produced by: Fahd Habeeb

Assistant Director: Jake Young

Key Grip: Joe Deeley

Director of Photography: Isaac Carey Nejako

Edited by: Isaac Carey Nejako

Music:

“Romeo and Juliet Overture – Fantasy”– Pytor Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Performed by Skidmore College Orchestra • www.musopen.com

“Symphony No. 9” — Anton Dvorak
Performed by Skidmore College Orchestra • www.musopen.com

“Piano Concerto in E Minor, Op. 16” — Edvard Grieg
Performed by Skidmore College Orchestra • www.musopen.com

“June 6” — Bajskorv
Buried Electric Records

“Disintegration” — Bajskorv
Buried Electric Records

Copyright©2008 Fahd Habeeb Productions, LLC. 2008

Funny how Knights Templar and zombies go together so well. Amando de Ossorio proved it with his “Blind Dead” films and now Andreas Schnaas’ gore-drenched Don’t Wake the Dead is set to re-enforce the idea.

Don’t Wake the Dead (Germany-2008; dir. Andreas Schnaas)

In the wake of an excellent new Indiana Jones blockbuster — Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (US-2008; dir. Stephen Spielberg) — a bit of deliberately trashy, esoteric zombie horror can’t go astray.

The plot involves a group of female art students who spend the night at an ancient castle. Unbeknownst to them, the palace has ties to the Templar Knights and Nazi occultism—and when blood is spilled on the sacred ground, legions of the undead begin crawling up from its ancient cemeteries. From then on, it’s schoolgirls fighting sword-wielding ghouls and bloodthirsty SS zombies, until a mysterious stranger with an unbelievable plethora of weapons arrives to help them out. (Writer Ted Geoghegan, quoted on Fangoria.com)

Sounds like pure Euro-exploitation, time-shifted from the ’80s — and who’s complaining?

In a Fangoria interview, Geoghegan commented: “The script doesn’t take itself too seriously, but still has some solid, creepy scenes. Andreas constantly likens it to the BLIND DEAD series.”

Here are another two of its zombies:

Don’t Wake the Dead had its European premiere in Hamburg, Germany 2 May, 2008 — and hopefully we’ll get notice of a DVD release soon.

Via Fangoria and Kaiju Search-Robot Avery

And just in case you live in a zombie-free zone and have never heard of Ossorio’s Blind Dead quadrilogy, here’s a trailer for Tombs of the Blind Dead: