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Mike, Sulley and the gang return in Monsters University. Photo: Disney Pixar
Sulley, Mike Wazowski and the rest of the monsters return to cinemas in 2013 in Monsters University. Read more
Zombie films are growing in popularity, despite being a genre considered by many to be overdone. New takes on the subject are appearing, such as World War Z being the first zombie epic, and Warm Bodies centreing on a zombie who falls in love. Here is B.O.R.Es top ten favourite zombie films;
1. Dawn of the Dead (1978) The sequel to George A Romero’s zombie classic Night of the Living Dead.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpuNE1cX03c[/youtube]
2. 28 Days Later (2002) OK, so they’re not quite zombies, but the ‘ghouls’ in this film are still pretty scary.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eunaclr-WgU[/youtube]
3. Night of the Living Dead (1990) An atmospheric remake of the 1968 film saw better make up and effects.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0r7L8tS2L0[/youtube]
4. Shaun of the Dead (2004) Considered the first of it’s kind, the British made ‘RomComZom’ showed a zombie apocalypse from a more lighthearted angle.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GiOPqV8LGI[/youtube]
5. The Dead (2010) Set in war torn Africa, this film, with it’s cast of relatively unknown actors was fairly overlooked.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANpgVWVvpjs[/youtube]
6. Zombieland (2009) Another zombie comedy, our favourite feature of this film was the imaginative ways some of the living dead are dispatched.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=071KqJu7WVo[/youtube]
7. Planet Terror (2007) This hugely over-the-top zombie kill-fest from Robert Rodriguez is lots of fun to watch.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCFQtc6BzyM[/youtube]
8. Dawn of the Dead (2004) This remake of our number 1 film in the list is surprisingly good for modern takes on old classics.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZGLRIOQHOY[/youtube]
9. Brain Dead/Dead Alive (1992) Low budget, tongue-in-cheek zombie flick from Peter Jackson, way before he found Lord of the Rings fame.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbOmCUWm25w[/youtube]
10. Resident Evil (2002) It could be argued that this is more of an action move but it features zombies and that’s good enough for us.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4yqRGlgwkc[/youtube]
Zombie literature is becoming increasingly popular
Max Brooks is currently one of the most prolific Zombie writers.
He wrote such texts as The Zombie Survival Guide, published in 2003, which contained everything a post-zombie apocalypse survivor needs to know, from which shelter is most appropriate to the best way to take down a zombie. The tongue-in-cheek but highly serious book was hugely popular, and spurned Brooks to write a sequel in comic book form, entitled Recorded Attacks, which told of zombie encounters throughout history.
Most well known of Brooks’ work – thanks to a new film starring Brad Pitt – is World War Z, a fictional historical document detailing events following a world wide Zombie outbreak. Check out the official trailer here.
Charlie Higson, a British writer and actor probably most famous for his appearance in The Fast Show, has written his own Zombie series aimed at younger audiences, with a plot involving teenagers immune to an infection that has turned the adult population into walking corpses. Higson has written four of the planned seven novels which are as follows:
The Fallen is due to be released in 2013.
David Moody is another British writer who has produced a successful series of Zombie novels. Moody’s Autumn, comprising six books and aimed at adults generated a huge online following when the book could be downloaded for free. Unfortunately Moody’s publishing house Infected Books was shut down after the rights to Autumn were bought by Thomas Dunne Books, putting an end to the free downloads. A low-budget film based on the novel, also entitled Autumn was released in 2009 to mixed reviews. Here are the books from the Autumn series:
On this day, March 12th, this happened…
1969 Paul McCartney married his first wife, Linda Eastman on this day. They were married until her death in 1998.
1983 Bonnie Tyler had her first and only UK number 1 single ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcOxhH8N3Bo[/youtube]
1987 The day ‘Les Misrables’ opened on Broadway. It has now the longest running musical and now been released for the third time as a movie.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuEFm84s4oI[/youtube]
1994 the Church of England ordained their first female priests.
2010 Pre orders for the first ever iPad happened on this day.
On this day, March 6th, this happened…
1475 The birth of one of the greatest artists, Michelangelo.
1961 Lancashire Born ukulele player, George Formby died today. He was famous of the song ‘When I’m cleaning windows’
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfmAeijj5cM[/youtube]
1985 Yul Brynner played his his 4,500th performance in the musical “The King and I.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-t7uVdID3s[/youtube]
1997 Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II launched the first official royal Web site.
Today is also Independence Day for Ghana, who released from British rule in 1957.