One thing’s for sure, The Last of Us won’t be the last of our zombie horrors. Here are my ten favourite examples of the dead rising again.

Brad Greenquist and Dale Midkiff in Pet Sematary

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10. Pet Sematary (1989)

Not all zombies are lurching cadavers. Not all are even human. In this hokey Stephen King adaptation a family cat is buried in a mystical pet cemetery after being mown down on a highway. Hey presto! The mog rises from the grave as good as new … apart from the bared fangs, glowing green eyes, bad odour and preference for ripping small animals to pieces over Whiskas. Paramount+

9. The Thriller video (1983)

John Landis and Michael Jackson jettisoned any creeping dread in favour of niftily synchronised undead dance routines, paying musical homage to B-movie horror. The 12-minute video is still great fun, although it is never made clear why the ghouls were climbing from their tombs to try out body-popping moves. Blame it on the boogie? YouTube

Bill Pullman in The Serpent and the Rainbow

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8. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)

In Wes Craven’s Haiti, the undead are locals slipped a paralysing drug, buried, dug up and, in their visibly glum, semi-lobotomised state, used as slaves. Guess what happens to meddling scientist Bill Pullman? “Don’t bury me,” he is soon screaming. “I’m not dead!” For his troubles, the poor man also gets a nail in his privates. It is not a great advert for a career in anthropology. Prime Video

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7. Re-Animator (1985)

A bona fide cult 1980s video-store rental. Naked corpses run amok after a modern Dr Frankenstein’s experiments down in the morgue. Amid outrageous levels of carnage (out-gored perhaps only by Peter Jackson’s splatter-com Braindead seven years later), bowels creep out of orifices to throttle the unwary and a corpse carries around its own severed head in a bowl … and takes a shine to an unfortunate female patient. Prime Video

Cillian Murphy in 28 Days Later

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6. 28 Days Later (2002)

New century, new zombies. The shambling gait and outstretched arms were rendered obsolete overnight by Danny Boyle’s post-apocalyptic horror. Here the dead were all-sprinting maniacs. The zombie virus was a contagion transmitted to humans by animals (in this case infected chimps) and the sight of Cillian Murphy awaking in St Thomas’ Hospital to an empty London eerily presaged a real pandemic 18 years later. Rent

Kate Ashfield, Simon Pegg and Lucy Davis in Shaun of the Dead

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5. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

By contrast, Shaun of the Dead’s zombies were a throwback to mouldering, slack-jawed shufflers — they looked “like a drunk who’s lost a bet”. Simon Pegg’s slacker tribute to George Romero was also very funny as the absurd mixed with the mundane in suburbia. Take for example the moment in a pub where Pegg’s band of survivors, armed only with pool cues, beat up an elderly corpse to Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now on the jukebox. Prime Video

4. The Returned (2012-15)

The Gallic zombies. This downbeat drama pre-dated The Last of Us as a TV series where the zombies were almost secondary to the sense of dislocated trauma. This one had a Twin Peaks-ish feel, however, as local dead people start to reappear in a small Alpine town. They look ordinary and act normal — even teenage school-bus crash victim Camille — except for their oddly insatiable sex drives. Don’t trust them. Prime Video

Christine Gordon, Frances Dee and Tom Conway in I Walked With A Zombie

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3. I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

The most beautiful zombie was a black-and-white one. A blonde woman might just be a corpse among lost souls in Jacques Tourneur’s classic, which is like Jane Eyre gone voodoo. But is she? As the poster helpfully put it: She’s alive … Yet dead! She’s dead … Yet alive! Accept the vintage feel and this is a tremendously atmospheric slice of exotic noir-horror (not the first Haiti-set one, though — Bela Lugosi in White Zombie was 1932), underpinned by a metaphor about the injustice of slavery. iPlayer

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Bella Ramsey and Anna Torv in The Last of Us

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2. The Last of Us (2023-)

The thinking man’s The Walking Dead imagines how a fungus starts affecting humans’ brains in 2003, started by a mutation in the food chain. Suddenly society is decimated by hideous monstrosities — zombies, to all intents and purposes — sprouting tendrils out of their mouths or large, obscenely colourful fungal growths from their heads. They are truly horrifying, whether sprinting at their prey with a blood-chilling scream or by creeping half seen in a dark building making ghastly echolocating noises. Sky/Now

1. Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Zombies have always been metaphorical reflections of society. In George Romero’s sequel to his fantastic 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead — which featured hordes besieging a remote farmhouse, still pretty frightening — the undead now stagger mindlessly around shopping malls. Why? Because here is “a horrible, hauntingly accurate vision of the mindless excesses of a society gone mad”. Apparently, blueish-faced, flesh-hungry cadavers are the “horrible consequences” of our consumerist world. Think of them the next time you go to your local shopping centre. Prime Video

Two-for-one cinema tickets at Everyman

Make Wednesday your go-to cinema day. Each month Times+ members can bring a friend for free at Everyman on a Wednesday. The perfect cinema experience with plush sofas, a full bar and great food. Visit mytimesplus.co.uk to find out more.

Follow @timesculture to read the latest reviews

The post Ranked: the top ten zombies on screen — by our expert – The Times first appeared on Zombie Gaming.

The Test of Time series looks back at legendary director George A. Romero’s 2005 zombie movie, Land of the Dead

Whether it’s the original director or not, following up all time classics in a series is a tall task. We have seen it with many of the greatest movies of all time like Rick Rosenthal having to follow up John Carpenter and Halloween or John Boorman following up William Friedkin and The Exorcist. Sometimes the original director has a go at it for contractual obligations like Tobe Hooper and Cannon films giving us Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 or for passion like John Carpenter himself electing to attempt to give us a better version of Escape from New York but in Los Angeles. Sorry, John, we still think you are wrong about that one. One director that made a career of it was George Romero. While he certainly had a varied career with things like Knightriders, Creepshow, and Monkey Shines, he is also the godfather of modern zombie horror. After Night of the Living Dead in 1968 he followed it up with another masterpiece in 1978 with Dawn of the Dead and then again in 1985 with Day of the Dead. 20 years later and 20 years ago now, he would give us a fourth entry in Land of the Dead. While it is certainly the last movie he will be remembered for, Dead series or not, does it stand the Test of Time?

The Plot

George Romero was never what I would consider prolific in his output, but he was consistent for a while and the number of revered classics on his resume is staggering. Season of the Witch, The Crazies, Martin, Two Evil Eyes, and The Dark Half all have their fans and that’s without mentioning the shuffling ghoul in the room. The “Dead” series and zombies the last nearly 60 years will always be linked to Romero the way that actors are linked to their portrayals of Dracula, or the Blair Witch will be linked to the found footage genre. Starting with 1968’s powerful allegory of a film Night of the Living Dead, the shadow loomed large over him even when he put out other, different films. 1978’s Dawn of the Dead was perhaps bigger and even captured the international audience with the help of Dario Argento who helped produce it and created a slightly different version for European audiences. Day of the Dead would seemingly be the last both in terms of the natural time cycle suggested by the titles but also thematically with humanity being defeated. 20 years after Day of the Dead naturally ended the franchise, we would get another look at the world where humanity is the disease, and the dead have taken over.

Day of the Dead’s original script was a massive one and parts of that picture that didn’t get used were reworked and expanded on to make a 4th movie that originally had a very different title and even different studio behind its production. George had seen the direction that zombie movies were going as the same year that his opus came to a close, the other mind behind Night of the Living Dead would unleash The Return of the Living Dead and he wanted to move on. As the 90s turned to the 2000s though, zombie movies were making a huge comeback. 28 Days Later (I know, not really zombies but looking the part), loving homage Shaun of the Dead, and even a remake of his own movie Dawn of the Dead showed Romero and studios that the living dead were, well, not dead anymore. The first studio he spoke with was 20th Century Fox who oddly wanted him to call the movie Night of the Living Dead. He quite rightly hated that and suggested Dead Reckoning which they came back with Night of the Living Dead: Dead Reckoning and when he realized they just wanted rights to the name, he moved on to the oldest horror house in Universal Studios.

Universal gave him one of his biggest budgets with nearly 20 million dollars to play with and it shows. It was his first movie with digital effects and just feels bigger. It was filmed in Canada even though he wanted to shoot it in Pittsburgh, but the tax shelter capital of the world fit in just fine for PA. While the larger budget allowed for a larger sandbox and toys, Romero still decided to go with a lesser-known cast apart from John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper who were both very well known. This is Leguizamo’s only real horror with some adjacent things like Spawn, The Menu, and Vanishing on 7th Street also being on his resume. Hopper is a legend with a pretty crazy career but not much horror apart from some really bad straight to video stuff and the polarizing Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. The rest of the cast is filled out by Simon Baker, who was a couple years away from his breakout role in The Mentalist, Robert Joy, and daughter of friend and collaborator Dario Argento, Asia Argento as Slack. We would also get zombie appearances from Tom Savini playing his Dawn of the Dead character as well as Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright who had impressed George with their loving homage in Shaun of the Dead.

The movie follows the now-normal end of the world where zombies outnumber living humans, and those humans are doing their best to kill each other off. Dennis Hopper’s Kaufman runs a surviving city that is full of the “us” who live in a clean and nice but expensive tower and “them” who just try to survive on the streets. John Leguizamo plays Cholo who runs errands for Kaufman and thinks he will earn his way into the tower of Fiddlers Green but is told money isn’t the only thing needed, and he is missing something he will never have. Cholo steals a massive truck named Dead Reckoning and threatens to blow up the tower unless his demands are met, and Simon Baker’s Riley is pulled out of an early retirement to track down the stolen vehicle. An advanced version of Day of the Dead’s Bub named Big Daddy leads a large army of zombies towards the tower to seek vengeance and to ultimately be left alone and all three stories end up back at the tower where Kauffman and Cholo are dead while Riley has a vehicle and crew to find his own paradise away from everyone else. The movie had a quite frankly awful video game tie in and was released on June 24th, 2005 in the US to fairly good reviews and the highest gross in the Dead series aside from the original Dawn with nearly 47 million dollars at the box office.

Sign of the times

As we stated earlier, zombies as a horror villain were making a comeback. While they never went away fully, this was a time that they took center stage in a few ways with running not-quite zombies in the two 28 Days Later movies or the traditional way with Shaun of the Dead that even as a parody is one of the best zombie movies ever made. We would get a mix of the two styles with James Gunn and Zack Snyder’s Dawn remake in 2004 and more to follow including two final zombie movies from George himself. Hell, the style here is somewhat stolen from 2004’s Dawn of the Dead but I think we can give it a pass as it is a remake of the movie that the guy stealing made. The rest of the movie’s call signs are really more about the man himself rather than the time it was made in. Romero uses his movies to tell a story that is more than zombies, and this is no different with the “us vs them” mentality of rich and poor people living their lives. The biggest one is Dennis Hopper’s character who even has a line of “We do not negotiate with terrorists” which was aimed at the current administration and Hopper said in later interviews that he based his character portrayal of Kauffman on Donald Rumsfeld.

What Holds Up?

Per usual in a Romero movie the effects here are lights out, at least the practical ones. The zombies look great, especially the ones that aren’t played by an actor, and the gore effects are incredible. This was the first movie in the series to actually receive a rating and Romero shot multiple versions of the death scenes; one to get the R rating and one to be on any unrated releases. This movie’s version of Bub, Big Daddy, is also neat and so is his progression from Bub. He has learned even more and it’s cool to see scenes of him trying to lead his fellow zombies, teach them what to do to proceed, or wake them up from their stupor when fireworks distractions are going off. There is a natural progression of zombie evolution found in his growth. Related to that, the use of fireworks to distract the zombies is a good effect on two fronts. It’s a clever tool that is realistic and could be found by the scavenging humans throughout the broken world but its also a fun Chekhov’s fireworks that you know is eventually going to fail and does near the end of the movie.

Elsewhere, a ton of the horror found in Land of the Dead holds up well. The scenery outside Fiddlers Green, particularly the dumping ground, is a horrifying hellscape where the world we once knew is an eerie wasteland that no longer belongs to us. The natural progression of humans becoming increasingly uncivilized is terrifying to see while not exactly unpredictable with the blatant classism presented on screen and we finally have a character willing to just become a zombie, at least in Romero movies. Its an interesting choice for Cholo who really has nothing to lose and does eventually get his payback in the next life before being put to a final rest.

What doesn’t hold up?

The script and some of the acting are nothing special here. While the movies in the series up to now were seen mostly as gore spectacles or allegories, they had some solid performances and ideas that held on to the viewer tighter and longer than ones found in Land of the Dead. This leads to many of the characters being one note and predictable and a side issue of the choice to dub Argento was probably necessary with English being her second language, but it is distracting in a movie where nobody else is dubbed. Another distracting piece to the film is the CGI used. While it’s not as egregious as other movies we have talked about on the channel, it’s also unfortunately paired with some of the best gore and artists you can find. The music is something that doesn’t really work here either. Gone are the moody pieces of score done by Goblin or the Caribbean-inspired motifs in Day of the Dead and instead we get an aggressive rock kind of score that doesn’t belong in the series at all. It should be slow and plodding like the zombies found within. Finally, the timeline is somewhat confusing as this movie is supposed to come after Day of the Dead, but that movie was pretty clear that the bunker may be the last vestiges of humanity. I suppose if you watched it before day or just pretended it took place at the same time then it works but we shouldn’t have to do that.

Verdict

I went into this viewing thinking the movie wasn’t good or certainly hadn’t aged well but beyond the misses that we discussed in the last segment, this is a worthy movie. While it is still lesser than its preceding films, that’s like saying that the movies that came after Alien and Aliens or Halloween don’t hold up. Land of the Dead isn’t the masterpiece that Night, Dawn, or Day are, but it holds firm as one of our great directors’ last good movie. It shouldn’t be brushed aside when watching others in the series or even zombie movies as a whole and even 20 years later doesn’t look or feel too dated. Land of the Dead is a Reckoning that still stands the Test of Time.

A couple of the previous episodes of The Test of Time can be seen below. To see more, click over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

The post Land of the Dead (2005) – The Test of Time – JoBlo first appeared on Zombie Gaming.

Zombie king, George Romero, shot his legendary film “Night of the Living Dead (1968)” around Butler County. His other dead creature feature, “Dawn of the Dead (1978),” was filmed in the Monroeville Mall, itself a lifeless shell of the shopping center it once was. Not to mention the state apparently comes in clutch in the event of a zombie apocalypse.

So of course Pennsylvania would be home to a place called Zombie Land. And of course it’s supposedly teeming with animated corpses, along with a bunch of other bizarre stuff.

“Haunted Western Pennsylvania (2013)” pegs Zombie Land as a small, two-acre lot that lies close to Mahoning Township, right near the Ohio state line.

Records from 1872 state that Mahoning — erected in 1805 — is one of Lawrence County’s original townships. Once a thriving community centered around coal, when the industry died, so, too, did the town; Census data shows that the area is home to just 2,693 people these days.

Lots of nature. Few people. Sounds like a place that’s perfect for an undead infestation, no? Thomas White — archivist and curator at Duquesne University — thinks there’s something to that, in part because those factors make Zombie Land what folklorists refer to as a “liminal space.”

“A liminal space is a place of transition, either physical, social or psychological, where legends tend to thrive because of its ill-defined nature,” White wrote to PennLive via email. “The area that makes up Zombie Land is still relatively rural with old infrastructure, but also within accessible driving distance.

“These pieces of old infrastructure (old bridges, gas wells, etc.) provide an anchor for the legend trippers to go to. It is an area on the fringe of daily life for many people, not necessarily a place they would visit on a regular basis.”

Plus, all the decaying metal and isolation gives it “a level of spookiness,” White continued, breathing life into the legends. The fact that an actual, brutal murder took place in the area — that of 12-year-old Shannon Leigh Kos in 2000 — adds to the place’s dreadful air.

Now, to get to Zombie Land, you’ll have to go down Churchill Road. And before you enter, you’ll have to make sure you get the go-ahead from the Virgin Mary.

According to the Lawrence County Memoirs, there’s a Virgin Mary statue located at St. Lawrence Church and Cemetery in Hillsville that serves as a marker to the start of Zombie Land.

Blog “Strange and Spooky World” urges visitors to look closely at the statue: If the Virgin Mary is standing with her arms open in welcome, legend goes, then it’s safe to enter. But if her hands are clasped in prayer, stay away.

(Indeed, author Patty Wilson warns in “Haunted Western Pennsylvania” that “[the statue] has not opened her arms in welcome for many years.” White points out in “Legends & Lore of Western Pennsylvania (2009)” that might be because her hands were carved that way.)

If you’re set on venturing forth — welcoming Virgin Mary or no — be prepared to meet more than just zombies on the way.

There’s the “Light Bulb Heads,” for one, states “Haunted Western Pennsylvania,” a reclusive group of outcasts shunned by people for their deformities that are said to still live along a river nearby. Then there’s the Skyhill Road Bridge — known also as “Graffiti Bridge” or the “Puerto Rican Bridge” for the demographic said to have tagged it — where those unfortunate enough to find their own name sprayed onto its side wind up dead.

There’s also a resident witch, or her ghost, rather, according to “Legends & Lore.” It’s said that in life she once captured and murdered young children in her “Blood House,” a real building that burned down long ago but the foundations of which still remain. Stay there too long, and she’ll possess you.

Not to mention the “Killing Fields,” where disembodied screams and gunshots ring out and the occasionally shadowy figure is seen. And the railroad tracks where a ghostly, disembodied train’s “choo’s” can still be heard.

Even the Green Man and none other than the Hook Man himself are said to linger around the area.

But the crowning glory of Zombie Land — the reason for going, its Eiffel Tower, if you will — is the Zombie Torch.

Located by path from Graffiti Bridge, both “Legends & Lore” and “Strange and Spooky World” claim that the Zombie Torch — known also as “Eternal Flame” — is the area’s zombie barometer. If it’s lit, that means zombies are coming your way; if not, your brains are safe.

A blog dedicated to the mythos of Zombie Land claims that the torch will actually attract the Hook Man or the Bridge People if lit, too. Ditto for the Green Man.

For some, apparently, the goal is to light the torch to see what happens, which White emphasized “is very dangerous and should never be attempted under any circumstance!” The Zombie Torch, you see, is an old natural gas well that supposedly still leaks gas; having an open flame nearby might not be the wisest thing to do (unless you’re lacking brains already).

Like most all other legends covered by “Paranormal PA” — from doomsday tombstones to the Green Man, too — the zombie stories coming out Mahoning Township had to originate from somewhere. And White believes that “somewhere” is Romero.

“I think the zombie legend probably has direct ties to Western PA because this is where George Romero filmed his original zombie movies,” White said.

“They became such a cultural phenomenon starting in the 1970s and they left their imprint in legends where the modern idea of a zombie really took off (as opposed to the traditions of the Haitian or ‘voodoo’ zombie).”

They stayed such a cultural phenomenon, too, because the zombie — apart from being just a silly goose time — on a deeper level might essentially serve as a blank canvas to a wide variety of fears, White explained.

“Zombies, at least the modern movie zombies, can represent different things to different people,” he elaborated. “They can express the fears of unchecked consumerism, mindlessness, xenophobia, mistrust of government, or lack of preparation and anxiety.

“Perhaps even modern western culture’s detachment of fear of addressing death as a part of life. As a ‘monster’ they can be adapted to many cultural anxieties, which has made them popular.”

So go ahead: drive down Churchill Road. Check out the Virgin Mary. Wander through a liminal space of rust and trees; lean into the thrill of uncertainty of what lies down that path from the bridge.

Although one thing is for certain: you won’t see White anywhere near the Zombie Torch any time soon.

“Not because I’‘m afraid of zombies,” he said. “But because I have a healthy fear of natural gas explosions.”

The post Pa.’s ‘Zombie Land’ is home to more than just the undead – PennLive.com first appeared on Zombie Gaming.

Guest article written by John Brennan

https://linktr.ee/badtechno

There are shopping malls, and then there is the shopping mall: Monroeville Mall in Pennsylvania, the original filming location of George A. Romero’s seminal 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead. To fans of horror, film history, and American pop culture, this isn’t just a mall—it’s sacred ground. As rumors swirl about Walmart’s purchase and redevelopment of the site, one thing must be made clear: tearing down or drastically altering the Monroeville Mall would be an act of cultural erasure.

Dawn of the Dead is more than just a zombie movie, it’s a blood-soaked critique of consumerism, a genre-defining film full of allegory and social commentary. The mall itself became a metaphor: a place where the undead are drawn by muscle memory, trudging endlessly through the consumer temple of their former lives. It’s ironic, then, that the same mall that satirized American materialism now faces the threat of being flattened and repurposed by one of its most potent symbols—Walmart.

Preserving Monroeville Mall is about more than honoring a horror classic, it’s about recognizing that places can become part of the cultural consciousness. Just as Graceland endures for Elvis fans, or the M Street Steps in Georgetown draw aficionados of The Exorcist, Monroeville Mall remains a pilgrimage site for horror fans around the world. Every year, fans attend “Living Dead Weekend,” a convention celebrating the film and its legacy. Devoted Dawn of the Dead-heads search the mall’s corridors for exact filming locations, tracing the path of scenes. Eventually, they arrive at the statue bust honoring the late, great George A. Romero, the visionary who turned this shopping center into sacred ground. Also at the heart of Monroeville Mall’s enduring legacy is the Living Dead Museum, an educational archive and a shrine to Romero’s undead universe.

Demolishing this space to replace it with another big-box retail outlet would mean more than the loss of a shopping center—it would be the loss of a site of artistic history. In an age where cities are learning to capitalize on their cultural landmarks, it seems short-sighted to destroy one of horror cinema’s most important real-world sets. Why not lean in? The mall is still thriving. Rather than razing the past, Walmart could easily find a way to incorporate a new store while keeping this historic location intact. A balance of commerce with cultural tourism. It wouldn’t just be preservation—it would be smart business.

Walmart, a corporation with massive influence and resources, has the opportunity to make a decision that supports community memory, honors cinematic history, and strengthens its relationship with the public. Horror fans are loyal, passionate, and eager to spend money where their favorite stories come to life. What better demographic to embrace than the legions of Dawn of the Dead devotees? Monroeville Mall is more than a building—it’s a monument. Let it stand. Let the escalators keep humming. Let the sound of Romero zombies echo eternally through its halls. Some dead things are worth keeping alive.

Sign the fan-fueled change.org petition: https://chng.it/jvJyzGYnvq

Reach out to Walmart directly and ask them to preserve horror history: https://corporate.walmart.com/about/contact

Living Dead Museum: https://monroevillezombies.com/

Monroeville Mall: https://monroevillemall.com/

The post Petition to Save Mall from the Original Dawn of the Dead – Horror Society first appeared on Zombie Gaming.

The trailer for M3GAN 2.0 reveals the plot of the sequel to the hit killer robot horror comedy, and I will be honest: I did not see this premise coming.

In the original film, M3GAN is a highly-advanced robotic doll created as the ultimate kids’ plaything and companion. Naturally, she misinterprets her programming to protect her owner and goes on a kill spree. What else is going to happen in a movie about an artificial intelligence?

In the sequel, someone has created an new AI that’s more lifelike and deadly than M3GAN was … which means the human characters (primarily Allison Williams, the scientist who created M3GAN in the first place) must resurrect M3GAN in a new, stronger body to fight the latest A.I. threat.

That’s right: M3GAN sequel goes full Terminator 2: Judgment Day, turning the A.I. villain from the first film into an unlikely lethal protector of the human heroes against an even more menacing killer robot.

See for yourself in the M3GAN 2.0 trailer below.

READ MORE: 10 Horror Movies So Extreme They Made People Sick

Finally, a movie that dares to ask the question “What if Virtuosity wasn’t silly enough?”

Here is the sequel’s official synopsis:

Two years after M3GAN, a marvel of artificial intelligence, went rogue and embarked on a murderous (and impeccably choreographed) rampage and was subsequently destroyed, M3GAN’s creator Gemma (Allison Williams) has become a high-profile author and advocate for government oversight of A.I. Meanwhile, Gemma’s niece Cady (Violet McGraw), now 14, has become a teenager, rebelling against Gemma’s overprotective rules. Unbeknownst to them, the underlying tech for M3GAN has been stolen and misused by a powerful defense contractor to create a military-grade weapon known as Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno; Ahsoka, Pacific Rim: Uprising), the ultimate killer infiltration spy. But as Amelia’s self-awareness increases, she becomes decidedly less interested in taking orders from humans. Or in keeping them around. With the future of human existence on the line, Gemma realizes that the only option is to resurrect M3GAN (Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis) and give her a few upgrades, making her faster, stronger, and more lethal. As their paths collide, the original A.I bitch is about to meet her match.

M3GAN 2.0 is scheduled to open in theaters on June 27.

The post You Will Not Believe the Premise of ‘M3GAN 2.0’ – ScreenCrush first appeared on Zombie Gaming.

Maybe I’m overthinking this. Universal is simply calling it Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. That’s probably the right call for this sequel to the surprisingly huge film adaptation of the video game franchise. (The second Five Nights at Freddy’s video game was also called Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.)

The first film came out in 2023, and despite being released in theaters and on streaming on Peacock simultaneously, it became a major hit, grossing nearly $300 million worldwide. That’s an almost unheard of sum for a film that’s available at home at the same time.

While the first trailer doesn’t give away too much of the story, there are still plenty of teases of animatronic animal violence. You can watch the whole first Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 trailer below:

READ MORE: 10 Horror Movies So Extreme They Made People Sick

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

Based on Scott Cawthon’s blockbuster game series, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is directed by acclaimed returning filmmaker Emma Tammi (The Wind, Blood Moon). The first film, which opened to a record-shattering $80 million and went on to earn almost $300 million worldwide, followed Mike, a troubled young man who reluctantly takes a job as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant, Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria, hoping it will help him retain custody of his young sister. That fateful decision instead drags him into the black heart of a supernatural nightmare.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is set to debut in theaters on December 5.

The post ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Is Back in First Sequel Trailer – ScreenCrush first appeared on Zombie Gaming.

Daily Dirt for Saturday, June 1, 2024

There is no better way to celebrate the first day of June than a look at another great era of movies: The 1970s … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 966 of The Daily Dirt.

1. The 1970s were a wonderful decade for the movies.

We’re in the midst of a countdown of the best movies from the modern golden age (1960-1999) of film, and the ’70s produced quality material. I think you’ll agree after inspecting today’s top 10. Still to come in the next two days are looks at the 1980s and 1990s.

On the with the countdown …

1970s

• 1. “Dawn of the Dead” (1978): I know, I know, I’m going to take some heat for putting this zombie film atop the list. But you know what? Not only was it — to this day — the greatest of all films from that genre, but it possesses one of the most unexpected endings ever. After seeing it in 1978, it was weeks before I dared to go back to a mall (back when malls were actually a thing). If you’ve been fortunate enough to see this film, I’m sure you understand.
• 2. “Jaws” (1975): I have a theory about this classic … if it were released today, it would be no big deal. Special effects have improved so much in the last 49 years that I don’t think a big fake fish would startle us all that much. Back then, however, it was terrifying. 
• 3. “The Godfather” (1972): If you were around at this point, you probably remember all the attention this movie garnered — and rightly so. We experienced life behind the criminal curtain like never before. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and James Caan led a tremendous cast that did not disappoint. If you have time, examine the overall cast for this film. No wonder it became an instant classic.  
• 4. “The Deer Hunter” (1978): Christopher Walken’s performance in this Vietnam War era film might have been the top individual effort of the decade. He was beyond magnificent.
• 5. “The French Connection” (1971): To this day, the car-chase scene is the stuff of legends.
• 6. “Dirty Harry” (1971): As I’m writing this, one thought keeps dancing through my mind: How much greater it was to see a film for the first time in a theater rather than your living room like today. Clint Eastwood’s performance was simply more impressive — and imposing — on the big screen. 
• 7. “All the Presidents Men” (1976): I’m always a sucker for a good mystery, especially when it may involve Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford.
• 8. “National Lampoon’s Animal House” (1978): For the last 46 years I’ve been waiting for “Animal House II.” Come on, Hollywood. Make it happen.
• 9. “Mad Max” (1979): This film gave birth to the franchise that remains intact today. It’s not necessarily the best in this ongoing series, but it’s a must-see for important background material.
• 10. “Midnight Express” (1978): I still cringe when thinking of particular scenes from the film that showcased the plight of Americans caught with drugs in a foreign country.

Next: The memorable 1980s, which might have just been the best decade of film from the four we are featuring in this series.

2. Did you know (Part 26) …

• Musician Roy Lee Ferrell, who gained fame as a saxophone player with the Righteous brothers, is the father of comedian Will Ferrell.  
• The late Bing Crosby was the grandfather of Denise Crosby, who starred in “Star Trek: Next Generation” and  “Pet Sematary”.
• The late Miles Copeland, one of the first CIA agents, was the father of drummer Stewart Copeland of The Police.
• Musician John Sebastian, who sang “Welcome Back, Kotter” and was the front man for the Lovin’ Spoonful, was the godson of Vivian Vance, one of the “I Love Lucy” co-stars. 
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Jerry Lee Lewis was the cousin of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart.

3. Hard-throwing left-hander Aroldis Chapman holds the record for the fastest pitch thrown in an MLB game during the Statcast Era (since 2008). Chapman, then pitching in relief for the Cincinnati Reds, threw a pitch clocked at 105.1 mph in September 2010 to Tony Gwynn Jr. of the San Diego Padres.

Want more? Chapman threw 25 pitches in that relief appearance — and all 25 registered above 100 mph.

Steve Thought O’ the Day
For those wondering, John Sebastian is now 80 years old and still performing.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Only Steve would put “Dawn of the Dead” at the top of a movie list from the 1970s. (forehead slap)

The post Daily Dirt: Scoff if you will, but ‘Dawn of the Dead’ was a magnificent example of macabre – Muddy River News – Muddy River News first appeared on Zombie Gaming.

Director George A. Romero didn’t set out to make a zombie franchise when he helmed Night of the Living Dead in 1968. He was just trying to make a satisfying film, which helps explain why it took 10 years for the first sequel to materialize. After that sequel, 1978’s Dawn of the Dead, proved to be successful, he went looking for a third film story, with more than a few detours along the way.

Though there was interest in the film that would become Day of the Dead (streaming now on Peacock!) pretty much as soon as Dawn of the Dead was finished, it took another seven years before Romero finally released the conclusion of the original trilogy. In that time, he worked on other projects, including Knightriders and Creepshow, all while throwing around several different possibilities for where the third film might go.

For More on Zombies:
George A. Romero’s Last Zombie Movie Might Finally Happen
SYFY Zombie Series Day of the Dead Teases a Bloody Good Time
Night of the Living Dead Returns as Animated Film

Could Day of the Dead Really Have Included Zombies in the White House?

According to Lee Karr’s book The Making of George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead, one of the earliest hints at a potential plot emerged in the winter of 1978, before Dawn was theatrically release. During an interview with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette film critic George Anderson (as spotted by Slashfilm), which accompanied a TV broadcast of Night of the Living Dead, Romero noted that Dawn of the Dead producer Dario Argento (yes, the legendary Italian horror auteur) had already floated a very interesting idea for Day of the Dead. 

“Dario Argento, who we’re co-producing this film with, an Italian director, said that the third one has to be ‘Zombies in the White House,'” Romero said. “And maybe that’s what it will be, I don’t know.”

In the summer of 1979, while speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Romero floated another idea, that of “‘Zombies at Home,’ a kind of ‘My Three Sons,’ non-violent and totally boring.” He was joking, of course, though the White House idea did seem to be a slightly more serious possibility, if for no other reason than that the input came from Argento. 

Of course, when Romero finally did start writing Day of the Dead, he came up with something entirely different. According to Karr, a sprawling early draft of the film followed guerilla fighters battling it out for what was left of human civilization, complete with zombies trained by the military to act as soldiers, dark depictions of human society run amok, and even a kind of military tribunal. There were shootouts, chase scenes, alligator melees, and much more, but eventually budget concerns led Romero to scrap that idea. In the end, we got the Day of the Dead that’s since become a ghoulish classic, a claustrophobic thriller about soldiers and scientists trying to forge a path forward while trapped in an underground bunker. 

You can watch this finished version on Peacock right now, and we’d recommend you do. But it’s still fascinating to consider what Romero almost delivered. After all, Chucky made it to the White House, so it seems like Romero’s zombies could set up shop too eventually. 

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The post Dawn of the Dead’s Gaylen Ross on Filming the Zombie Classic, Including Its Original Ending – Gizmodo first appeared on Zombie Gaming.

Gaylen Ross has only a handful of acting credits to her name, but the first of them remains significant enough even today for her to be permanently canonized in horror film history: “Dawn of the Dead.” Playing television producer Fran Parker for writer-director George A. Romero, Ross joins what’s otherwise a boys’ club cast to combat zombies (and post-apocalyptic boredom) in an abandoned shopping mall, in the process adding to the genre’s then-nascent collection of heroines who are forced to summon strength and resourcefulness in the face of unimaginable — and deadly — circumstances.

In the 45 years since the film’s release, Ross became an award-winning documentary filmmaker, trading Romero’s anti-consumerist metaphors for more literal explorations of social and historical causes with films like “Killing Kasztner” and “Beijing Spring.” Yet as she raises funds for her latest project, “Sapiro: The Jew Who Sued Ford,” “Dawn of the Dead’s…

The post ‘Dawn of the Dead’ Star Gaylen Ross Recalls the Chaos of Shooting George Romero’s Zombie Classic: ‘Nobody Got Killed’ – imdb first appeared on Zombie Gaming.