Zombob's Zombie News and Reviews

Monster Pictures Invite You To The Ultimate Zombie Feast

Over five hours of international low-budget gutmunching zombie action, anyone? That’s what we’re promised by Monster Pictures UK with their upcoming two-disc set The Ultimate Zombie Feast, whose trailer premiered atTwitch earlier. As with The Harsh Light of Day, this was originally slated as a Left Films release, but has come over to Monster along with Left boss Helen Grace who recently took the role of Monster’s UK manager.

While we’re not yet privvy to the exact contents of the two-disc set, we gather the set includes at least ten short films as well as six confirmed full-length features: Dead Hungry, Arise, Paris by Night of the Living Dead, The Book of Zombie, It Came From the West, and Savages. Given that list includes an animated movie, a French movie, an Indian movie and – yes – a Mormon movie, this should at the very least be an interestingly diverse, multi-cultural take on the shambling dead. Aidan Burley MP probably isn’t pre-ordering a copy.

Will they all be great movies? Honestly, I rather doubt it. But will they be heavy on the entrails, eyeballs and ridiculous headsplitting action? On this evidence below, it looks likely…

Monster Pictures will release the Ultimate Zombie Feast to Region 2 DVD on 8th October 2012. And yes, it’s a gory trailer, so I guess we might class that as NSFW…?

UPDATE: Those specifics I was talking about? Well, now we’ve got them, courtesy of the official press release. Seems we got our wires crossed somewhere as these are pretty much all short films; but hey, how often does that format get this kind of treatment? Anyway, here are the details:

DISC ONE

· Zombeer (Netherlands, 11 min) When the chief of a brewery drunkenly topples into the beer-making vat and dies, he sets off a chain of events that will affect all who come into contact with the contaminated ‘beer with a bite’. Zombeer is a shocking short by notorious Dutch filmmakers Rob van der Velden (Nailed by Nikita) and Barend de Voogd (Import)

· Zombies and Cigarettes (Spain, 17 min) A virus has been set loose in a Spanish shopping mall and it´s turning everyone in to flesh eating zombies. Our hero is trying to get out alive and at the same time impressing the girl he likes and finding a cure. Directed by Inaki San Roman & Rafa Martinez

· Plague (UK, 17 min) Focusing on an isolated journey into the unknown, we follow Vilhelm, an illegal migrant and gun runner, who is trying to make a new beginning. When he arrives in London, The dead rise and consume the living. Can Vilhelm escape the bloodbath? Directed by Joseph Avery, Matt Simpson

· Bitten (UK, 6 min) A woman who has been bitten, arrives home and faces her terrifying transformation into one of the undead. As she tries to hold on to her last breaths of humanity, she is confronted with the horrors of what happened to her family. Written & Directed by Duncan Laing

· Arise (USA, 18 min) Thanatos is a conspiracy theorist living in Savannah. Georgia, his girlfriend believes that someday the dead will return to life. While at work one night, his worst fears are realised. Now he must battle his way through work to get to his girlfriend and her daughter in time… before they become a ghoul themselves! Arise is a short that was created in tandem with the Arise comic. It was filmed in Savannah, Georgia in 2009/2010. Written & Directed by Jay Reiter

· Not Even Death (USA, 5 min) Living among zombies has become commonplace. With the threat of infection ever-lurking, humans are required to gun down the undead – even if it means killing a loved one. Then there’s David. A few years ago Jackie, the love of his life, became infected. Unable to bear the thought of her annihilation, he keeps her chained in the basement, out of sight of their young daughter. Bringing her tasty morsels of blood and brains from the local butcher, he has managed to keep her satiated. There is hope that a cure is near completion in Germany. Will it come in time? Directed by Monica Winter Vigil

· Fear of the Living Dead (USA, 16 min) Have you ever had one of those terrible dreams where you are alone and everyone that you have ever loved is dead? What if it wasn’t a dream? Directed by Randy Smith

· Kidz (Canada, 9 min) When their parents are killed during the zombie apocalypse, a group of kids have to face their fears and find resourceful ways to stay alive. Directed by Bren Lynne

· The Book of Zombie (USA, 64 min) A small, sleepy Utah town gets an undead wake-up call when all of the townspeople of Mormon faith suddenly transform into flesh-eating ghouls! Now, a group of “non-believers” unaffected by the mysterious epidemic must band together to survive the night and answer the burning question: How do you kill a Mormon zombie? Directed By: Scott Kragelund, Paul Cranefield, Erik Van Sant

DISC TWO

· Zombie Harvest (UK, 11 min) An alternative to Diary of the Dead, Zombie Harvest is a comedy / horror set in the English countryside. A scientist secretly working at the local American Army base is hunted by two soldiers after he flees the base. Little known to them the scientist has used himself as a human laboratory conducting tests with tragic consequences. Told through the eyes of one of the soldiers the story takes a dramatic turn when the chase enters a farmyard. A slick zombie romp with nods to the Carry On… and Ealing Comedy films of the 50′s and 60′s with a touch of the Peter Jackson madness. Directed by Sat Johal, Tony Jopia, John Payne

· The Skin of Your Teeth (USA, 14 min) Four survivors are holed up in a farm, waiting for the end of the zombie apocalypse. Isolation and creeping terror sets in, as they realise they are not alone. This film was shot in Spring of 2009 at the Comeback Farm in Western New Jersey. It screened at the Zombie Short Film Festival in Toronto, Canada on October 30th, 2009, and was selected as one of three finalists by the judges. Directed by Dan Gingold

· Zomblies (UK, 47 min) When a private militia’s rookie zombie hunters send out a distress call, it’s up to the Rangers to cross The Wall and bring them back as well as uncover the truth about a terrifying new breed of zombie. Tagline: “Knee deep in the dead.” Directed by David M Reynolds

· It Came from the West (Denmark, 16 min) Virgil lives alone with his bully father and a mute bartender and he is being mocked by the two tough cowboys Eddie and Hank. Because of The Dark Butcher who has been terrorizing the local Indian tribe, the Indians see no other way, than bringing the dead to live by performing The Forbidden Rituals. When the Zombies suddenly attack the saloon, action begins and true characters are brought to daylight. The film is inspired by Sergio Leones’s classic Westerns and there are several references to the genre to be found in the film. The style is a mixture of hand held puppets and animation. Besides the funny characters and the gory action, it is the richness of highly prepared and surprising details that makes this film a unique experience full of dark humour. Directed by: Tor Fruergaard

· Paris By Night of the Living Dead (France, 12 min) Blood, guts and bullets galore in a film where a bride and groom find themselves at the centre of the zombie outbreak in the French capital. Directed by Gregory Morinhas

· Savages (India, 39 min) A group of teenagers go on a trek in the jungle, in a forbidden area near a former biochemical facility. When one of their members get infected, the boys resort to desperate measures for survival, but in order to get out of the jungle they have to stay together, trust their instincts and above all, keep their sanity intact. Directed by Tarunabh Dutta

· Dead Hungry (UK, 10 min) Dead Hungry is the debut fiction short film from director Will Bridges. Set in a classic 1970′s American B-Movie the story centres around Jed who is starving, he hasn’t eaten for days. He’s lost and alone, wandering around a vast forest searching for the one thing that can satisfy his insatiable hunger… human brains. The problem is he can’t catch a thing. He is a loser, he was a loser in life and nothing seems to have changed now he is dead. But can the pity of recently dead/undead woman turn his luck? Directed by William Bridges

~brutalashell.com