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28dayslater, 28 days later, zombie movies, horror movies, rage virus

28 Days Later (2002)

28 Days Later:
Where Fast and Viral Zombies Began

Movie (series) / Outbreak & Aftermath / Fast Zombies

It’s hard to believe it’s been twenty years since Danny Boyle and Alex Garland (the often-overlooked screenwriter who’s gone on to write amazing movies like Never Let Me Go and Ex Machina and most recently Devs. But yeah: Prior to 2002, all zombies were slow. Relentless, evil, able to sneak up on you without making a sound, but slow. And though the idea of a virus behind the zombification had been tossed around before, it was 28 Days Later, and the creation of Rage, along with the super-swift conversion of the populace that basically changed the whole genre going forward. It was also the first time that most of us ever heard of Cillian Murphy or Christopher Eccleston, and… well, look at what they’ve done since. Awesome.

Anyone who calls themselves a zombie fan pretty much has to have seen 28 Days Later and its sequel, 28 Months Later, as well as cursed God for not giving us 28 Years Later, or at least not yet. But it’s also one of the Essentials that should be on the shelf, digital or analog, for any fan. And we’ve given you a link to the Amazon page that offers this classic in all its multiple variations – blue ray, original, packaged with the sequel, on and on.

Let’s not get all gummed up in the argument that these aren’t real zombies because they’re not dead people, just infected people. Hey: they’re raging humans bent on stalking, chasing, tracking down and ultimately eating other humans. That’s good enough for us, and for about 7 billion other people, so deal with it. So if you’re looking to revisit one of the best zombie movies ever made, this is the one to choose first. Or if you’re trying to convince the newbie, the uninitiated, or the just-plain stubborn that there really is some great movie-making in the genre… here you go.


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Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

Anna and The Apocalypse: A Zombie Musical That's Actually Not Awful

Movie / Musical / Outbreak / Slow Zombies

Musicals and horror movies just go together, don’t they? You’ve got Little Shop of Horrors and Rocky Horror Picture Show, and…

… and…

Okay, Anna and the Apocalypse. And that’s about it.

Of that distinguished trio, Anna is certainly the newest and least known. It’s also the most charming in its own quirky way. You’ve got this typical musical comedy small town, these cute high school kids with a tendency to burst into song… and then you’ve got flesh-eating corpses that won’t stay dead. The plot is achingly familiar: You’ve seen zoms like this plenty of times before; the kids have to get back to their high school to see if their friends and family have survived The Rising (spoiler alert: most haven’t or won’t) … but this time they’re happy to stop along the way for the occasional, increasingly bizarre song-and-dance number. Like this one, with more than a touch of Shawn of the Dead from early on:

It shouldn’t work. At all. And yet… it does, at least for those among us who have a nearly equal love for the shamblers as we do the chorus line. It can be rented or purchased on Amazon, and if you go into it with no expectations, you just might find yourself unexpectedly delighted. (And the lead, the surprisingly British Ella Hunt, has gone on to do interesting work in the Dickinson TV series, the recent racism/horror movie called Master, the newest version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and even some truly remarkable music videos of her own on YouTube. Meanwhile, the director is working on a Lady Macbeth musical (!).

Try it. You just might like it. (Or if you have a musical/horror fan in range – sling it at them.)


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No! Really! Perfectly fine!

"No, I'm Fine! Really!"

The Dangers of Being Too Cool

The teenage son of our beloved and essential Product Goddess Sha Simss (and no she doesn't look old enough to have a teenage son, but that's another sordid story) recently broke into the Gift Guide Inventory Bunker and absconded with one of the "I'm Fine" T-shirts. He wore it to work and out with friends and came back to (a) confess his horrible crime (though it turns out his mother gave it to him -- go figure!), and (b) that people kept coming up to him and saying, "Oh, my god, did you hurt yourself? Are you okay?"

This proves two things, the way we see it: that the "wound" on this classic t is very convincing, and that the world has still not reached full Zombie Consciousness -- ie, they don't always get the joke.

Nevertheless: here's a pic of that brave boy, along with a solid endorsement that will you can amuse the insiders and freak out the masses with an ever-special Zombie Gift. You're welcome!

Year Zero, the zom-comic series, has a Daniel Kraus connection

Year Zero, a classic and surprisingly fresh take on the zombie apocalypse, has been a comics series for a few years now. In fact there are two trade paperbacks already available here. And right now, Daniel Kraus has been crafting a prequel to the Ben Percy/Ramon Rosanos series that brings even more depth to the concept.

Ben Percy (Wolverine) and Ramon Rosanas (Star Wars: Age of Resistance) teamed up to offer an interesting and often unexpected cast of characters; a Japanese hitman, a Mexican street urchin, an Afghan military aide, a Polar research scientist, a midwestern American survivalist, all of whom have to draw upon their "unique skills and deepest instincts to navigate a world of shambling dead." And the artwork is wonderfully contemporary and clean, even when telling the grim and violent story of the zompoc. And Goran Sudzuka's art in the prequel is equally bright and dynamic. Strong stuff, and very different from the far more normal splattergore or EC knockoffs of so many zombie comics.

The prequel, referred to as "Volume 0," focuses on a streetwise Russian cop patrolling the back alleys of a post-apoc black market, as well as a North Korean soldier in the DMZ, an ER nurse in the rural South fights to protect her hospital from threats without and within, and a transgender flight attendant crisscrossing the globe. It won't be out until May of '23, but individual issues are already available here.
Lots going on ... and all worth a look!

Where are they now? Products we already miss… but we’ll keep an eye out.

We produced the first Zombie Gift Guide for Christmas 2021 (it seems so long ago), and during a recent "refresh" here on the site, we found an alarming number of our fave items are no longer available -- not just through Amazon, but at all. And we're already feeling the pain of separation. We're talking our beloved Zombie Rubber Ducky, our first choice of Voice-Activated Zombie Baby Dolls, and even the classic early Peter Jackson zombie movie Dead Alive. Read it and weep...

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