Baby’s Got the Munchies…

For those who always suspected it wasn’t safe to go in the nursery…

zombabies

Yes, it’s a film that features the pre-school living dead and the name of the film is Zombabies (US-2008; dir. Justin Paul Warren). Really! This is serious!

According to the director, the idea was to show the beginning of the zombie apocalypse from inside a nursery. Seems his version of the zompocalypse is caused by deadly emissions that come through, among other things, the TV — and the babies of the film have been planted in front of the box by their lazy child-minder for far too long. So of course the babies become flesh-eating zombies who can leap high enough to get at an adult’s throat — and the result is, um, messy. You know what babies are like with their food. Luckily, however, this is one nursery that has an “in-case-of-emergency” cabinet that contains not a fire axe, but a chainsaw….

So it’s bye-bye baby goodbye…

The film is only 11 minutes long, but it is Part 1 of a proposed 8-part feature film showing different aspects of the zompocalypse. Part 2 is already in production; it’s called Hazmat J and the Birth of the Apocalypse.

You can read more about Zombabies and the Zombaby project here — where you can also order the DVD!

Thanks, Avery, for the head’s-up.

Posted in Apocalypse, Film, Zombies | Leave a comment

The Backbrain Goes Forth

I just heard that Undead Backbrain and my review writing on roberthood.net and on Horrorscope has won me a Ditmar Award (Australian Spec Fic Awards) at the National SF Convention in Perth, which was held over the Easter weekend.

Thanks to everyone who voted for me — and thanks to all you out there who read my ramblings.

A list of the other winners, including my partner Cat Sparks for her story “A Lady of Adestan”, can be found here.

Posted in Ads, News | 6 Comments

Vintage Robots, Part Nine: Vs the Sex Kittens!

No comment, but keep an eye out for Papa Carradine…

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New: Zombie Soccer Fans?

Oh, while we’re at it, here’s one courtesy of Kaiju [and sometime-undead] Search-Robot Avery: a zombie flick from Brazil!

Mutazombie (Brazil-2008; dir. Juan Marcelo Leguiza)

I have no idea what it’s about, though it’s obviously zombies… and soccer fans (plus one Ramones enthusiast)…

Posted in Film, Trailers, Zombies | 1 Comment

New: Valley of the Dead

This one looks interesting, too.

Valley of the Dead (US-2008 [in production?]; dir. K. Adithya Ashok and Evan Sorlien)

Posted in Film, Trailers, Zombies | 2 Comments

New: Flick flick

Flick (UK-2007; dir. David Howard)

A new Brit zombie flick. In it, teddy boy Johnny, dead these 40 years, is brought back from his grave by the sounds of 50s music being broadcast by a mysterious radio station. He’s still lookin’ for love, but his prospects have decayed even further than they had been back in the day. So maybe revenge will have to do. The fifties are back with a vengeance!

Flick - Johnny plays the music

Flick pic

There’s a trailer and more info on the website.

Posted in Film, News, Zombies | Leave a comment

New: Death Walks the Streets

Vampires. Demons. Zombies. Werewolves. The Mob. Did I mention zombies?

Death Walks the Streets is a new comic series from creator James Zahn. It’s been a long-term project but apparently issue #0 is about to begin walkin’ and stalkin’ any minute now, with a Convention Exclusive edition of the first issue at Wizard World Chicago, according to DreadCentral.

Death Walks the Streets #0

Pencils and inks by Mark Kidwell, with colors by Milen Parvanov.

There is also a long-running and ambitious film project attached to this, according to the website, with production on the first film to start this year. Definitely something to keep an eye on!

Posted in Film, Graphic novels, Zombies | Leave a comment

New: Parlé vu Kaiju?

Dragon Hunters [aka Chasseurs de Dragons] (France/Germany/Luxembourg -2008; animation; dir. Guillaume Ivernel and Arthur Qwak)

Now I haven’t watched a French animated fantasy film since… oh, La Planète Sauvage [aka Fantastic Planet] sometime post-1973… okay, maybe I have — were the Asterix and Tin-Tin animated films made in France? At any rate, French animation probably should be more on my radar, but it hasn’t been. Chasseurs de Dragons, which opens this month in France, looks extremely good. It’s a fantasy about a world that has become infested with a terrible plague: omnipresent, monstrously famished, mutant creatures, which wreak suitable havoc amongst the equally unruly inhabitants. Lord Arnold is worried about the return of World Eater, a particularly nasty dragon that pops by every thirty seasons to spread terror and destruction. The film follows the adventures of two reluctant dragon hunters (and would-be mussel farmers), who are, of course, sucked into the dragon hunt by Zoe, the Lord’s grand-niece.

Clearly Chasseurs de Dragons has got a few giant monsters in it. Here’s one — not your typical dragon.

Dragon Hunters 1

Dragon Hunters 2

And wait until you see what steps up to bat at the end of this trailer!

The website (which has a nice hi-res version of the trailer) is here. Incredible!

Posted in Animation, Dragons, Film, Giant Monsters, Trailers | 4 Comments

Vintage Robots, Part Eight: Re-Made

No longer new, but somehow I’d missed it:

This live-action version of Tetsujin 28 was released in 2005. “Tetsujin 28” (lit. Iron Man 28) is a manga by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, the original run of which went from 1956 to 1966 and which was subsequently adapted into an animated TV series, Tetsujin 28-go (1963). This in turn was bought and adapted into the US TV series Gigantor. There was also a related OVA series called Giant Robo: The Animation [The Day the Earth Stood Still] (1992-1998). The tale of a boy and his giant robot has been re-created several times in anime form and live-action, and this “new” one looks like it could be fun.

Tetsujin 28 is held by most to be the origin of the whole Japanese mecha genre, which features gigantic robots piloted by humans and fighting other mecha or giant monsters, often of alien origin.

Kaiju Search-Robot Avery, however, asks the question: “What about the 1954 film Tobor the Great? Was it a possible inspiration for the manga, anime and films that followed?” Any suggestions?

Tobor poster

Tobor image

Tobor poster 2

Posted in Daikaiju, Film, Giant Monsters, Kaiju Search-Robot Avery, Robots | 2 Comments

New: Raimi and the Monster Zoo

Variety reports that Paramount has bought up the rights to a new graphic novel, Monster Zoo by Doug TenNapel — a story about a boy and a zoo full of mutant monsters that threaten to break out and destroy the neighbourhood. At this stage, Sam Raimi will be producing the live-action film.

Over on Ain’t It Cool News, “Moriarty” has posted some scans from the graphic novel — which hasn’t even been published yet. This page intrigues me:

Monster Zoo page

That giraffe definitely looks cool.

Posted in Film, Giant Monsters, News | 2 Comments