We asked Paul McEvoy at Film4 Frightfest to give us the lowdown on the horror festival’s zombie greats. And we challenged him to come up with some undead films you might not have seen. Check it out:
Zombies, zombies, zombies.. those perennial slow walking or fast running fan favourites seem to be everywhere.
At this years Film 4 FrightFest we are showcasing a bunch of new films featuring the rotting rotters. From the sensational French short film Paris by Night of the Living Dead to the UK low budget feature Zombie Women of Satan with burlesque zombie babes. Nasty Nazi zombies rear their ugly heads in Norwegian snow bound splatter Dead Snow and it’s all out hard gore action in French zombies vs hoodlums vs cops feature The Horde. Finally we will be short film showcasing Canadian entry Deadwalkers – zombies in the wild wild west. Something for every fan
of the human munching bad guys.One of our weekend highlights is sure to be our Sunday evening treat Andy Nyman’s 100 Best Deaths, where the star of the simply superb Dead Set will be hosting a live guide to the best and goriest cinema shocks that is sure to include some great zombie action!
Casting a look back there are a handful of fright flicks that have featured zombies that you may not have seen:
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie aka Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue is a 1975 Italian entry from director Jorge Grau that while campy retro fun also delivers some fine shock sequences and great splatter scenes – well worth seeking out!
Dance of the Dead which we screened at FrightFest to tremendous acclaim last year is a contemporary shock and laugh barrage of sick humor and edge of the seat chills. Gregg Bishop’s work culminates at the school prom dance of the movies title.
The Dead Outside is a beautifully shot slow burn Scottish zombie virus outbreak feature that ratchets the tension and paranoia to intense levels in the Highlands. Director Kerry Anne Mullaney is a name to watch out for.
Spain’s Amando de Ossorio served us up a whole slew of zombie films in the early 1970’s including Tombs of the Blind Dead. The films have been released globally under so many different titles that it boggles the mind! All the movies focus on the 13th Century knights Templar and their insatiable flesh lusting ways. Atmospheric and scary.
So, with George A Romero’s eagerly awaited “…of the Dead” with us shortly and a proposed 28 Days/Weeks Later spin-off due and a rich vein of big screen terror still to be chewed in the brilliant on-going comic book series Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s The Walking Dead, it looks as though the zombies will be stalking us for many years to come!
Keep running!!
Paul