night of the living dead

Not too long ago, Famous Monsters of Filmland revealed that they were rising from the ashes after closing the book back in 1983 with 191 glorious issues under their belt. The magazine had drawn hardcore creature fans since it started back in 1958 with Warren Publishing and editor Forrest J. Ackerman. It was recently announced that the monsters are getting their own convention in Indianapolis, July 9-11.

The festival lineup includes Heather Langenkamp (Nightmare On Elm Street), Herschell Gordon Lewis (The Godfather Of Gore), effects god Tom Savini, Thomas Jane (The Mist, Punisher), a Night Of The Living Dead reunion, and the cast of the 20th Century Fox's Predators (with more big names to be announced soon). There will be tons of special screenings, monstrous parties, exciting music acts, panels, a costume contest and lots more. The event takes place at the Wyndham Indianapolis West, located at 2544 Executive Drive, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Apparently this FM convention will be the first of several events for the magazine: "We are so happy to invite you to the first in a series of horrific gatherings hosted by your friends at FM," said Philip Kim, Senior Manger.

Check out the FM convention website for more information. You can also stay updated on Twitter or Facebook. And while you're there, say hi to us as well.

I grew up in the Pittsburgh area and still have family there--and I truthfully believe that one of the reasons I'm the horror nerd that I am is because I was raised The 'Burgh. I have fond memories of shopping at Monroeville Square Mall back in the Dawn of the Dead days and I love that the city has never shied away from its ties to horror cinema (embodied primarily through guys like George Romero and Tom Savini).

So, it brings great joy to my black heart when I see stories like this one in yesterday's Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

The gist of the story revolves around UPMC's plan to close a hospital in Braddock, Pennsylvania. This didn't sit well with Braddock residents, but rather than voice their displeasure through the usual (boring) channels, filmmaker Tony Buba (who worked on Romero's Night and Dawn of the Dead) gathered up a dozen or so protesters, dressed them up in elaborate zombie make-up, and set them off marching for the UPMC headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh.

When asked about the motivations for his piece of performance protest, Buba had this to say: "We wanted to do this street theater to energize people. The zombie link works because zombies have an insatiable appetite for human flesh and UPMC seems to have an insatiable appetite for chewing up our communities."

It remains to be seen if UPMC will be swayed from their decision with the potential threat of the zombie apocalypse looming on the horizon, but Buba and company deserve credit not only for being social activists, but cool social activists at that. Zombies as social commentators--I bet Romero loves it.

You can learn more about the movement to save Braddock's hospital by pointing your browser to their official site.

And in more 3D news, Zebediah de Soto's animated prequel to George A. Romero's 1968 zombie classic, Night of the Living Dead, has announced an official cast. The Hollywood Reporter has listed Jesse Corti, Danielle Harris, Bill Moseley, Joe Pilato, Alona Tal and Cornell Womack as the voices for De Soto's CGI happy, 3D re-imagining of the film.

You already know the story; zombies attack humans and humans fight to stay alive. Corti (Heroes) will play a news reporter and Womack (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) is a no-nonsense New York cop. Harris (Halloween II) is a woman coming to grips with the absence of her family and Pilato (Dawn of the Dead 1978) is voicing Harry Cooper--a regular Joe who lives for his injured daughter. His wife Helen, played by Tal (Supernatural), blames her husband for all the ills of the world. Moseley (Carnivale) is reprising the role he had in the 1990 live-action remake, Living Dead, as a Wall Street-type with a money talks attitude. De Soto said the casting is "a nod to Romero fans." Perhaps he forgot that Romero fans don't like when you get all rapey with one of their favorite films.

James Turner over at Forbes.com has an interesting piece up examining the relationship between countries and their favorite brand of movie monsters. Godzilla, he posits, was born directly of Japan's post World War II paranoia that, in dropping nuclear bombs on their nation, scientists had irresponsibly forged a new kind of monster out of man's meddling with technologies beyond their control. Though the giant, irradiated mutant is still iconic today, Godzilla's relevancy has taken a bit of a dive in recent years, but for decades the monster reigned as Japan's reminder that man's carelessness with awe-inspiring technology has consequences that are literally too large to ignore.

However, America never developed the allegorical infatuation with Godzilla that Japan did. Half-way around the world, Godzilla was little more than an entertaining man in a suit stomping around meticulously designed sets and wrestling with other men in rubber suits. But that's not to say that the US of A lacks its own personification of science gone wrong. Ours, Turner counters, is merely a fear of endless hordes of friends, families and neighbors transformed into mindless cannibals.

Ever since Romero gifted the world with Night of the Living Dead, America has had a fascination with scientific fumbles that bring about the undead apocalypse. Crashing satellites, bungled lab work, mutated viruses, escaped experiments -- these are all our Godzilla. That said, though, Turner does point out a crucial distinction between America's brain-eaters and Japan's city-destroyer:

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but Hollywood tends to break things. If a formula worked once, it will invariably be remade, repackaged, and resold over and over again until the equation is no longer profitable. But occasionally the Hollywood hive mindset is not content with merely breaking something. Every now and then it has to rape and pillage, and thus we shall soon have Night of the Living Dead: Origins. Wallow in these few key bits from The Hollywood Reporter's news on the matter:

"Zombie movie "Night of the Living Dead" is coming back, this time in a 3D CGI format and without the involvement of George Romero." ... "On the story front, De Soto, who wrote the script with David R. Schwartz, wants to update the tale partially by bringing out the characters' backstories and make what he called "an American-style anime."" ... "The aim of the process is to make tennis balls on a stick representing real people or monsters a thing of the past by allowing actors interact with CG elements as if they are tangible." ... "De Soto was a fan of the original "Living Dead" and once the trio realized the rights were in the public domain, zeroed in on that project."

By Elisabeth Rappe

The days following that fateful phone call have been full of encouragement, scorn, laughter, and skepticism – the sort of reactions that real horror movie heroines experience when they tell everyone they have seen a ghost, a vampire, or a horde of zombies. But nothing troubles the Horror Virgin save one thing, and that is her mother's reaction to Dr. Weinberg's first assignment. "Night of the Living Dead? But you've seen it."

What devilry was this? How could she have seen Night of the Living Dead but have absolutely no memory of it? Had it terrified her so much that own her mind had shielded her from the trauma?

She decides it's time she found out. The timing couldn't be better, as it is a cold, gray, and rainy evening. Armed with a pint of Guinness and a down comforter, our humble heroine curls up with her laptop, Netflix Instant Watch, and George Romero.

By Elisabeth "The Horror Virgin" Rappe

It's late at night, and the house is quiet. Our heroine is alone. The phone rings. The voice on the other end is hauntingly familiar, and he poses a question that chills our heroine to the very core.