I love zombies. I've always been fascinated by the whole genre; the blood thirsty 'raged' infected humans and the thrill of seeing people trying to out smart what seems like a given: That zombies wouldn't have brains? But who knows?! Zombies have been in the news lately and much to my pleasure.
I recently saw Quarantine, the remake of the Spanish original "Rec." Personally, I was not expecting an Oscar winning movie or anything remotely close to that; however, I was expecting this movie to be at least on par with 28 Weeks Later. As a zombie genre lover, Quarantine lived up to my ridiculously high standards.

The what: A television reporter and her camera man shadow a local fire department for the night. After a dull 20 minutes, the fire station gets a call to assist police with an elderly lady acting extremely erratic. Upon arrival, the authorities find the elderly lady foaming from the mouth and covered in blood (never a good sign). I guess you can figure out what happens next. Eventually, the government fully quarantines the building no one in and no one out. Their video documents their whole plight.

The verdict: See it! If you like zombies movies, you will like this one. I've only heard bad things about Diary of the Dead (another first-person told zombie movie); but Quarantine was enjoy for a number of reasons:

1) There was an actual plot... that moved beyond the premise of zombies. The plot actually develops and unfolds into what could be logical and real events.

2) The whole concept is cool. Finally, we see a zombie movie in which the government has some sense of control of the situation.

3) After two failed attempts (i.e., Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield), Hollywood finally got this one right: It kept the camera movies pretty steady. All of the people I've spoke told were very hesitant to see the movie because of it told through "1st person." However, Quarantine seemed pretty aware of this and did well to keep it to a minimum.

Overall, this movie is entertaining. You will be kept interested, on your seat, and the occasional fright (and laugh). See it!

In what may seem highly coincidental, it has just been announced that Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) has signed on to direct the adaptation of the Max Brooks novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. According to FilmJunk.com, "The script is being written by Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski (Changeling)." I read the book and I honestly thought it was great. I have never been into sci-fi novels but this one kept my interest relatively the whole way.

For those who have yet to read it the abstract: "Brooks tells the story of the world's desperate battle against the zombie threat with a series of first-person accounts "as told to the author" by various characters around the world. A Chinese doctor encounters one of the earliest zombie cases at a time when the Chinese government is ruthlessly suppressing any information about the outbreak that will soon spread across the globe. The tale then follows the outbreak via testimony of smugglers, intelligence officials, military personnel and many others who struggle to defeat the zombie menace. Despite its implausible premise and choppy delivery, the novel is surprisingly hard to put down. The subtle, and not so subtle, jabs at various contemporary politicians and policies are an added bonus."




Zombie Apocafest 2008 is a massive collection of LEGOs depicting with extreme detail, artistic thought, and skill scenes of a zombies. Below are pictures (click to make them larger):



See the rest of the photos here