Top 5 Zombie-Related Media
Overview
July 16th marked a dark day for horror fans and especially those with a love of the zombies. George A. Romero, the Godfather of the Dead, and the origin of the modern zombie and reason for them being the phenomena they are, died at the age of 77. Romero set the gory stage for the zombie apocalypse and changed the game for independent films everywhere, horror wouldn't be what it is without Romero and the loss of his brilliant mind is a heavy one, indeed. Therefore, in place of this month's usual review, I've decided to a do a list of my Top 5 Favorite Zombie-related media. From movies, to games, to anime, zombies can be found in all forms so let's take a look at my personal favorites from each genre:
Keeping in mind, these are only things I've personally watched/played/read at this current time. There's still a lot out there that I haven't gotten to so this list will probably change over time.
List (ordered by genre)
- Live Action Movie: Land of the Dead
- Fourth in Romero's series of six 'Living Dead' movies, Land of the Dead focuses on the creation and holding of a class system in the middle of the apocalypse. While the zombies around them adapt and learn, the living and breathing are thrown back into an archaic system of "protect the monarchy, let the peasants die", creating animosity and growing rebellions from the general populace. But it all soon comes crashing down when the undead break into the sanctuary, leaving all in their path equally devoured in the brutal, bloody ways only Romero can achieve.
 |
| Big Daddy and Gang emerging from the river to fuck your day up |
- Animated Movie: Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island
- Despite the shit they're pumping out nowadays, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island was one of the best direct-to-video movies to grace the series, it was also the first. Reunited after a year-long hiatus, The Mystery Gang meet up on a remote island said to be haunted by that of pirate named Morgan Moonscar. However, as they work to uncover the mystery, they find that, for the first time ever, they're faced with real monsters (zombies!) and an unexpected villain. With as silly and campy as Scooby-Doo has always been, Zombie Island was a nice change of pace that still kept the characters recognizably themselves, despite how different the situation was.
 |
| The Late 90's: When Scooby-Doo gave you nightmares |
- Anime: School-Live!
- [Spoiler] - If you haven't watched this yet, just watch it. If you have... you know why this is here.
 |
| ... |
- Manga: I Am A Hero
- Hideo Suzuki is a middle-aged mangaka struggling to balance his return to the manga limelight with a new series, a relationship, and his mental delusions when an outbreak spreads across the country. Suddenly, everything he was struggling to deal with becomes irrelevant as his new need to survive takes over, making him more of a hero of his own story than he ever thought he could actually be. It's a uniquely wild ride of a manga that only gets better (read: more insane) the further in you get.
 |
| Total Dweeb Turns Hero in Not-So-Local Manga |
- Video Game: CarnEvil
- A late 90's rail-shooter arcade game, CarnEvil takes already terrifying carnival clowns and makes them a million times more horrifying by zombifying them. The only thing more terrifying than the game, itself, is the Game Over screen after your face gets bitten off by whatever horrifying creature you failed to kill in time. Because who doesn't love a long-fanged, bodiless jester laughing at your failure, right? This game scared the shit out of me for the short period of time it was at my local Bowling Alley and it'll always hold a special place in my zombie-loving heart.
 |
| Because 'Fuck You', that's Why |
Final Note: Seeing as this is replacing the review I was planning to do this month, I'd like to give a brief addition for the content I originally planned: Ghost Stories. Some of you may be familiar with it, but most who are will only know it for its English Dub (i.e. the Canon Abridged Series), but I intended to review the original Japanese subbed version for an explanation as to why the English Dub is so notorious. However... after watching it, I only have this to say:
