#Zombies, full color? #SummerofZombie Wednesday

#Zombies - black and white or color? 

I like zombies. Okay, I admit, I turn my head at the bloody parts in the movies. I don't like all that gore. I prefer to read where my mind can fill in the blanks. I don't need full color to get a scare.

Many of the movies made are, let's face it, pretty stupid. Bad plots, bad acting, just plenty of ripping, tearing and blood. Lots of blood. I want a story with my horror.

There's something fascinating about a film in black and white. Take White Zombie with Bela Lugosi (1932). You get the suspense and the scare without the sometimes distracting addition of color. You get a tragic story of obsession and terror with a fascinating performance by Lugosi.

Then there is the change from zombies there to do someone's bidding, to the flesh-eating horrors presented in George Romero's  original - Night of the Living Dead (1968). It grossed me out when I first saw it as a kid. Scary, horrible. In later years, I can appreciate the genius behind it.  Again, you get the horror without the distraction of all that blood. It's horrific enough, maybe more so, in black and white. There also is the human element that sticks with you. You empathize with the main character and his struggle to ward off the monsters until the tragic end. A statement on the world? Perhaps. You decide.

** What's your favorite black and white monster or zombie movie? Comment to enter my giveaway or comment on the post here!) 

 ** Summer of Zombie Wednesday! 

Check out today's authors and excerpts. Full posts are  at the DyingDaysZombie blog. (I am adding excerpts here below once the posts go up.)

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Wednesday June 17

Bonus Post: Books, Beer & Blogsh*t

Stevie Kopas, Author of  The Breadwinner (The Breadwinner Trilogy Book 1)

An intimate interview between villainess extraordinaire, Michelle, and a hot zombie locked away in the east tower found in The Breadwinner Trilogy, by Stevie Kopas.

BONUS Post! Jaime Johnesee's Bob the Zombie talks!! 




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Justin Coke Guest Post
Author of Dead Wrangler

The Premise versus the Story: The Creative Problems of the Zombie Apocalypse

          The zombie genre has many problems—problems that become increasingly evident asThe Walking Dead heads into season six.  The writers have done a great job keeping viewers interested in the show as they navigate these issues, but they have often been unable to hide the cracks in the show’s foundation.

          The zombie genre is unique in that it is the only genre of science fiction or horror where the premise undermines the story, and the story undermines the premise.  This inevitable conflict constrains the writer, pushing them along the same well-worn paths traveled by generations of zombie writers. Read the rest…

Shawn Chesser Guest Post
Author of Ghosts: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse

  My Top 5 Favorite Zombie Movies

As we all know by now zombies are hugely popular. Turn on the television and start channel surfing and you’re bound to come across a commercial using them to sell BMWs or Sprint cellular service or Doritos. Hell, even a commercial hawking the latest incarnation of Microsoft Windows features Romero type shamblers.

Currently in theaters is Maggie, a film about a dad and his zombie daughter, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. And coming in July is an offering I’m waiting with bated breath to devour—Robert Kirkman’s Fear the Walking Dead, a spin-off of his mega-successful The Walking Dead of which season six is set to start filming soon.  Read the rest...

Eric A. Shelman Guest Post
Author of Dead Hunger VIII: Peace, Love & Zombies

Zombies.  Where do we draw the line? – By Eric A. Shelman

There are a ton of movies and television shows jumping onto the zombie gravy train, and I have mixed emotions about them.

The latest, I, Zombie, is about a girl who works in the medical examiner’s office and is kind of a zombie.  Well, scratch that … she’s a zombie, but she only drops into full zombie mode when things begin to go haywire around her, and she always manages to get out of it before killing someone.

BZZZZZT! Read the rest...

Melanie Karsak Guest Post

Author of The Shadow Aspect: The Harvesting Series Book 2

10 Fun Things to Do During the Zombie Apocalypse

By Melanie Karsak

I hate in when people in movies act like they have never seen a movie. Everyone knows you should head out the front door rather than going up the stairs. Everyone knows to check the back seat of their car. Everyone knows you should shoot a zombie in the brain. Am I right? Why do characters in movies always act like there is no precedence for the apocalypse? In particular, I hated the scene in Zombieland when the two sisters went to the amusement park. Even if the park was “zombie free,” common sense dictates that zombies will notice lights and sounds blaring in a world otherwise devoid of lights and sounds. Drawing attention to yourself during the zombie apocalypse is just plain stupid, but there are some fun ways to amuse yourself and stay safe at the same time. The residents of Hamletville, the survivors of z-day in my novel “The Harvesting,” have a few suggestions if and when you ever need to know . . . what can I do for fun during the zombie apocalypse? Read the rest...

       
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 Follow along on Twitter - #SummerofZombie  

BONUS! You can also order a cool T-shirt from the event.

** Get the ebook! Summer Of Zombie : 12 ebook box set,  with works by 13 Summer of Zombie authors. Available for a limited time!  

Check back often as more interviews, guest posts and teasers are added!

White Zombie Book Video & Print Available!

Author Stephen D. Sullivan shared a new video for his unique novelization and new script of the classic 1932 Bela Lugosi film, White Zombie.

*  Besides the ebook and Kindle versions, you can also get the book now in print  - or get the Special Edition print version which includes the recreated movie script. (Ebook - Smashwords; Special Edition  - Smashwords)

Classic Zombies

Over the weekend, as part of my research, I rewatched White Zombie and watched I Walked With a Zombie for the first time.  They both had their moments.  The stories were interesting and said a lot about the time frame they were made in. 

Some of the cuts and transitions in White Zombie were weird.  I’m fairly certain they cut out a part that they didn’t mean to cut out.  Or maybe that just happened when the film was transferred onto Netflix.  The sound had some issues too, but this film was from 1932, I wasn’t expecting perfection.

 (Interesting footnote: author Stephen Sullivan recently completed a new White Zombie novelization and script based on the original film. )

I Walked With a Zombie was fairly interesting.  It amazed me that in 10 years, film quality could improve so much.  Again, the film dealt with Haitian zombies and people being turned against their will. 

For the research I’m doing, both of these films are incredibly important, but they’re also important for the zombie genre on the whole.  It’s fun to see how zombies evolve through time and how our fears of them change.  If you’ve never seen these movies, I recommend giving them a try.  White Zombie is only an hour long, and I Walked With a Zombie a little over an hour, so you’re not giving up too much of your time. 

Like I said, I enjoyed them for what they are, and I have a weird crush on Bela Lugosi, but only when he has a goatee!

New Novel and Script Released for Bela Lugosi's White Zombie film

 

Classic monster and horror movie fans will be thrilled to discover something different - a new novelization of the classic 1932 Bela Lugosi film, White Zombie! by award-winning author Stephen D. Sullivan 


About the Book:

In WHITE ZOMBIE, Madeline Short travels to Haiti to marry her fiance and is soon caught in a web of superstition, lust, and fear. 

Will she find wedded bliss, or fall victim to the witch doctor known as Murder Legendre and become a White Zombie?

INTERVIEW WITH STEPHEN SULLIVAN:

What interested you in the movie?

Fist, Bela Lugosi -- who’s one of the all-time great horror stars -- but also the fact that it’s a really interesting movie.  It’s lean and mean, made on a miniscule budget (Bela reportedly was paid only $900 -- about $15k in today’s movie money), but it achieves a lot in terms of creepy mood and atmosphere.

It also has a really interesting sexual subtext, which I’ve brought out just a bit more in my adaptation.

Folks who haven’t seen the movie should check it out.  It can be seen free online -- on YouTube or Archive.org -- or you can buy a recently restored blu ray or about a half million DVD copies.  I’ve thought about putting together a DVD of it myself, with commentary and/or introductions by me.

What made you decide to work on this project?

I was looking for a project that my Monster Kid fans would like, something that might bring new readers to the rest of my work.  White Zombie is well-known and well-loved, and the fact that the movie is in the public domain allowed me to create a novelization of it.

I also thought it would tie in nicely with my upcoming Frost Harrow series of horror novels.  The book contains a sneak preview of that series.

What is the most surprising - and hardest - thing about the project?

There were a few “hardest” things.  First was transcribing some of the original lines, ‘cause Bela and the guy playing Dr. Bruner have pretty thick accents at times.  The introduction of the six main zombies was a nightmare, getting their names and what was being said about them right -- or at least close to right.

The second hard thing was taking a quick-cutting movie and turning that into a one-character-per-chapter point of view (POV) narrative -- and making that exciting and coherent.

The third hard thing was a scene where I used a zombie’s POV for a chapter.  A lot of reader feedback and rewrites on that one, but I’m pretty proud of it now.

The most surprising thing was how long this took to complete.  It’s a fairly short movie, and not a very long book, but I spent a lot of time working really hard to get it right.  I hoped to have the book out by October, 2013 -- and instead it came out a few days before Halloween.

Very glad to have it out now so people can read it.  (And a print version should be out before Christmas, too.)

Share your favorite line:

“There is no other way.”  Murder Legendre (Bela Lugosi’s character) says that when he’s trying to convince one of the characters to do something really bad.  That’s straight from the movie, and I tried to keep nearly all of what you hear on the film in the adaptation.  Plus, I had to make the new dialog I added sound like the original script.  If you can’t tell the difference, I’ve succeeded.

(If you want to know which is which, you can check the recreated script, which is included with the Special Edition of the book.)

How about some "fun facts" on the project?

White Zombie was the first feature-length zombie film and contains the first utterance of the word “zombie” on screen.

Ironically, the actor who utters the history-making word -- Clarence Muse, playing the Coach Driver -- doesn’t get an on-screen credit in the movie.  I’m guessing that’s because it was a small role, but probably being African American in 1932 didn’t help, either.  He’s been restored to the credits in my recreation of the script, which is included with the Special Edition of the book.

** Stephen D. Sullivan is the author of numerous books and stories, including the online giant monster serial,  Daikaiju Attack--www.daikaijuattack.com. 

* Buy at Smashwords.
* Get the Special Edition with the novel and Stephen's script adaptation at Smashwords.

Best - and Worst - Zombie Movies?

Loved this idea for "List of the Day" I found at Paste Magazine. Their list? The 15 Best Zombie Movies. Their list I'll admit had quite a few films I'd never heard of, and haven't seen yet. (And can you believe that 500 movies were made with zombies? Only?)

Their list:

# 15 -  Pontypool (2009) A take on War of the Worlds with a verbal virus twist...

My take: I think the all time worst zombie movie I saw in recent years was one where it was part game show and wrestling and zombies... I don't remember the name as it was so bad I turned it off after 10 minutes.

Of note: One I'm sure I've seen being a Bela Lugosi and old movie fan:

  # 3 - White Zombie (1932) - with Bela Lugosi

# 4 - Dawn of the Dead (1978) - zombies in the mall.

My take: This was the first zombie movie I saw in color which made the gore more horrific. This and "The Pit and the Pendulum" are two movies I've never forgotten.

#7 - Zombieland (2009) - a favorite. Thought it was goofy and fun.

#1 - Night of the Living Dead (1968)

My take: This classic is considered to have started it all, and remains a favorite. There is something about the starkness of black-and-white that makes it more horrifying, yet touching, without grossing you out.

*  List of Zombie Movies at Wikipedia

** What are your favorite zombie movies? Which ones did you think should've stayed buried?