1932: Premiere of White Zombie, starring Bela Lugosi. Capitalizing on previous voodoo zombie themes, it is regarded as the first legitimate zombie film ever made. Zombies are portrayed as mindless, shambling henchmen under the spell of an evil magician.

1930’s – 1960’s: Zombies, typically still voodoo-inspired, continue to appear in cinema periodically. Notable films include: I Walked with a Zombie (1943), the notorious Plan 9 from Outer space (1959) and EC Comics’ Tales from the Crypt.

1954: Publication of I am Legend, by author Richard Matheson, the story of a future Los Angeles overrun with undead bloodsucking beings, influences the zombie genre with the portrayal of a worldwide apocalypse due to an infestation. Although classified as a vampire story and referred to as “the first modern vampire novel,” it has an authoritative impact on the zombie genre through the work of George Romero. Romero, by his own admission, was greatly influenced by the novel and its 1964 adaptation when writing the film Night of the Living Dead.

1968: Night of the Living Dead crushes former horror film taboos to became a genre-defining classic, proving more influential on the zombie archetype than any other literary or cinematic work (see Zombie Evolution: Part 1 below)

1978: George Romero follows up Night with Dawn of the Dead. The film tells the story of four survivors of the expanding zombie apocalypse as they take refuge in an abandoned shopping mall, in Monroeville (Pennsylvania), where they intend to wait out the crisis. They clear the mall of the undead and barricade the entrances with tractor-trailers. But they have more than the undead to worry about. They also have to contend with a band of looting bikers and their own mounting tensions. Here’s a look at the trailer:

Make sure you check back for more zombie goodness, including tutorials on how to do zombie makeup on the cheap and information on the official World Zombie Day!

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Various websites have released exclusive photos of the upcoming Star Trek movie prequel. Above you can see (from left to right) young Checkov, Kirk, Scotty, Dr. McCoy, Sulu and Uhura.

And here’s young Spock, played by Zachary Quinto, from the popular TV show Heroes. He looks a lot like Leonard Nimoy!

To compare, here’s a photo of these same characters from the Original Series:

So what do you think of the new uniforms? Personally, I think they look… pretty good. The texture of the material makes them look a bit like thermal underwear. But it’s not too bad.

I’m pleased with most of the casting, especially Simon Pegg as Scotty. As a long-time Trek fan, I’m a little concerned that this might become Trek 90210. But I have faith in J.J. Abrams and I will certainly be at the theater on opening weekend.

Here are a few more photos. I’m glad they kept the miniskirt, it keeps things consistent with the Original Series.

[via UGO, JustJared, IGN, AICN, MTV]

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In honor of the fast approaching World Zombie Day on October 26th, it only makes sense to pay homage to the iconic film that shot zombies into horror movie pop culture.

George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead was filmed in black and white, not to add a certain artistic tone, but because it was more cost effective. Oddly, though, the black and white tones of the movie increased the film’s heebie-jeebie quality.

Night Of The Living Dead follows two protagonists, Barbra and Ben, as they try to survive the night in a Pennsylvania farmhouse surrounded by zombies (recently dead bodies reanimated due to radio active explosion in the earth’s atmosphere and are now on a bloodthirsty hunt for human flesh). Will Barbra and Ben survive? (I’ll never tell…you’ll have to watch the movie).

Back in 1968, when Night of the Living Dead premiered, it was strongly criticized for its “explicit content.” However, in 1999, the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry, saying it was “historically, culturally or aesthetically important.”

While Night of the living Dead wasn’t the first zombie movie produced, it was certainly the most influential in shaping the modern zombie archetype. Take a look at the trailer…if you dare!

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Since we reported last week on the numerous video applications for Dr. Horrible’s Evil League of Evil, we’ve received requests to highlight a few more.

I’m astounded by the quality and creativity of the Dr. Horrible fans. They have come up with such great villains with awesome costumes. Some of these people should just quit their day jobs and move to Hollywood.

Stevil and his Zombies

Fury of Solace

Tur-Mohel

Even our friends ManWithPez and ThatCostumeGirl got into the fray:

The Butler

Caffiend

Well done, everyone! Hope you all end up on the Dr. Horrible DVD.

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Award-winning video blogger Brigitte Dale talks about what NOT to be for Halloween. Brigitte recently moved to California and teamed up with ABC Family. She’ll be video blogging twice a week on their website. This is the first video she has made with ABC Family.

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There are 30 acres of land in Harveysburg, Ohio which are unlike any other plot of land in the whole state. They are not especially fertile, nor do they host any sort of exotic flora or fauna — unless costumed enthusiasts can be included in the latter. It IS home, however, to a permanent 16th century English village which is in turn the home of the Ohio Renaissance Festival!

An ever-changing spectacle of sight and sound, the Ren Fest (as it is familiarly called) runs from Aug. 30th to Oct. 19th, 2008 and will re-open again around the same time in 2009. A $20 ticket will gain you entrance to the winding lanes of this piece of transplanted history and all the delights contained therein.

The shops sell just about anything the historically minded tourist could desire, from mass-produced costumes to intricately hand-crafted clothing pieces, custom leatherwork, handmade masks, weapons, handmade musical instruments and more.

There is also a great deal of entertainment to be had, no matter your age and preference for muddiness. The Swordsmen put on a dashing show, instructing the male half of the population in the ways of masculine Renaissance charm after attempting to cut each other to pieces with (hopefully blunted) rapiers, much to the delight of the audience.

Musicians of consummate skill were to be found at every corner, peddling their wares to any who would listen in a cascade of poignant notes from harp, lute, dulcimer and guitar. And last—and I fear I must categorize it as the least—were the gentlemen who felt that mud was the ideal medium for the re-telling of such great literary works as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Beowulf.

I’m sure I would have enjoyed their recounting of the Viking’s voyage to America more if they had not managed to spatter my 13th century dress with mud from thirty feet away.

Amidst this delightful and somewhat bewildering cacophony are the employees and tourists who have turned gaily out in their best fancy-dress for the occasion. We saw fantasy costumes, elaborate Renaissance period pieces that were hundreds of hours in the making, medieval ladies and knights, archers, monks, and various sprites and spirits.

Whether you spend the day costume hunting with a camera, sipping a drink, eating hearty stew out of a bread bowl whilst listening to the best sorts of music, riding a camel (yes, there ARE camels there. Why? No one is quite sure) or browsing the endless selection of fine wares, there is something for everyone at the Ohio Renaissance Festival!

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The famous Forbidden City in China gets tens of thousands of visitors each day. But now anyone in the world can visit this cultural landmark for free through a new 3-D Virtual recreation of the palace.

When you enter the Forbidden City, you choose one of nine historical costumes! Virtual visitors can partake of activities such as guided tours, Wei Qi, the game of Go, and archery. You can also watch Qing dynasty emperor feast at dinner, surrounded by his imperial servants.

The museum teamed up with IBM to develop this project, which took three years and three million dollars. You can enter the Forbidden City by visiting www.beyondspaceandtime.com and downloading the free program.

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PinkRaygun.com has a great Dr. Horrible pumpkin carving template. This is a must-have for all Horrible fans. What a fun idea.

They also have templates for Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Firefly and more.

If you are a patient person with some carving skills, these shouldn’t be that hard to make. You’ll have the best fronch porch in your neighborhood in no time.

PinkRaygun.com is asking for photos of your pumpkins and they will be posting them during the next several weeks. Good luck!

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I found a couple lists of terrible costumes from the 1970’s and ’80s. You’ll probably have to be 35+ years old to remember these characters. Apparently you can still find this stuff on Ebay.

The list was started by retroCRUSH, and KinderTrauma followed with a list of their own. Check out their websites, they are hilarious!

Fantasy Island Costume

 

Mash Babies Costume

 

Gong Show Costume

 

One Day at a Time Costume

Those are downright creepy!

On the web: retroCRUSH | KinderTrauma

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With the contest to join Dr. Horrible’s Evil League of Evil rapidly coming to a close, I thought it would be fun to post a few of our favorite submissions.

The winners will appear on the Dr. Horrible DVD which will be released in time for the holidays. And for you procrastinators, the deadline is Oct. 11, so you still have a few days to submit your application.

It’s great to see all the fans dressing up in Evil Costumes and having fun. Great job, Everyone!

The Vicious Viceroy

The Cutinator

Mr. Miserable

The Pocket Paradox

Evil Chassy

Captain Shrovewreaker

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art has converted the world’s largest collection of historical clothing and accessories, The Costume Institute, into a searchable database which is now available to view online.

This project begin back in 2000, and for eight years they’ve worked on formatting and digitizing their 31,000-piece collection. Amazing!

Harold Koda, the museum curator, reports, “Once we got the information together, we thought it would be ideal if the general public could log in and, for instance, find all of our Christian Diors.”

Wow, a person could spend countless hours on their website, and still not see everything. It’s so great that the museum is digitizing and preserving this information for countless generations to come.

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It’s almost Halloween and your plans for a haunted house are missing one crucial element…the HAUNT. To say the least, you could use some special fx tips in spookiness.

Halloween Theatre to the rescue! The Halloween Theatre was started by Sean and Adam Murray back in 1982 when their parents decided they were too old to trick or treat. The brothers turned their attention to creating scare-factor special effects and in 1998 they began consulting others in the art of spookery.

In 2000, they finished their first book and began teaching the Law of Fear. The brothers run their own Scare School and sell instructional books, CDS and DVDS.

The great thing about being “too old” to trick-or-treat is that you get to concentrate on scaring the pants off the trick-or-treaters like Sean and Adam Murray! Visit the Halloween Theatre to look at pictures and get ideas on how to put the “haunt” in your haunted house!

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