BRRRAAAIIINNNNNS.....

Listen for the signature slack-jawed moan and watch for the common limping gait and outstretched arms.

Be wary for you may have a zombie problem on your hands....

















Recently, I've gotten really into zombies and have noticed how the theme has spread like an epidemic in our society. Whether they are the main attraction or a growing shadow in the background, a lot of media contains the reanimated.

There are tonnes of horror stories, comics, games and what-have-you that feature the 'lovable' UNdead in all sorts of style ranging from scary to cute.


Let see what I've delved in recently that features the undead Zed Heads:

BOOKS

One of the more recent books I've read  were written by Max Brooks:
1. The Zombie Survival Guide
--A well written book that is both a good read and 'practical' in its presentation.  It plays the role of a how-to and survival guide beautifully...makes me think i need to start shopping for supplies...

2. World War Z
--The story of a zombie apocalypes told through the eyes of a 'journalist' interviewing the survivors.
--It contains stories from people around the globe and comes together in the end showing the extent that the epidemic spread.
--The heroes and the villians that were born out of the instinct to survive

GAMES

The best game from POPCAP games is without a doubt in my mind:
Plants Vs. Zombies
--For those that haven't played it, its a cartoonish Defence game where you plant different types of vegetation to protect your house from a zombie attack.  Do yourself a favour and try this game out.
--The animation style is cute, but not over-the-top
--the 'Plants' are well typed and have interesting names

An Online game I've been playing is a site-based game called Die2Nite
--it's a cooperative type game where you're thrusted into a random town with 39 other people and the objective is to survive as long as possible
--As a group you have a limited amount of energy to scavenge for resources, build defences and all-in-all survive.
--Every day zombies will come in a wave to attack the town and the people must build enough defences for the day to be able to hold of the Undead horde.
--This game follows a 24 hr clock and every day in the game is a day in real life, so with the limited Action Points (AP) to use per day its not a game that you must stay on all day to play, but can check in on once in a while.

Arkham Horror
Many people who know me will know that the board game I am really into is Arkham Horror, which is a board game created by Fantasy Flight based on the Cthulhu Mythos by author H.P. Lovecraft.
--Though the game features many other greater horrors like the Hound of Tindalos and the Flying Polyp, it just wouldn't be part of the horror theme if it didn't also have ghouls and zombies.
--Arkham Horror is a complex cooperative board game where the players work together to defeat the 'board' by preventing the Great Old One (GOO) from destroying/devouring the world.
--I'll most likely write about it in another post so look it up on boardgamegeeks.com if you're interested.

VIDEOS
I must admit for all the zombie themed stuff I like, I am actually not a horror movie lover.  It's one of the last type of movies I'd choose to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVnfyradCPY
But as seen in the link above, zombies are prevalent in Hollywood movies (such as Resident Evil) and in short videos posted on Youtube.

People just seem to  have a fascination and fear of the undead.  And it is the combination of the two that the simple zombie has risen to such juggernaut status in our media.