Posted by Tim on
July 2, 2008
Pittsburgh, PA – June 30, 2008 – What’s the best way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the George Romero classic zombie film Dawn of the Dead? By holding a zombie-themed festival at the site where it was filmed.
The It’s Alive Zombie Fest™, taking place on October 25 & 26 at the Monroeville Mall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will be a zombie fan’s delight. “Pittsburgh has long been considered the zombie capital of the world”, says Mark Menold, organizer of Zombie Fest™, and creator, producer and host of The It’s Alive Show, Pittsburgh’s late night horror host program. “People come from around the globe to make a pilgrimage to the Monroeville Mall because of Dawn of the Dead being filmed here. It’s like a zombie Mecca.”
Zombie Fest™ will feature vendors from across the county offering collectible and hard-to-find horror and zombie-themed wares for sale; zombie films; discussion panels featuring award-winning horror writers; bands; celebrity guests; games and other fun activities for zombie fans of all ages. The events at the Mall will be open to the public and free of charge; some after-hour events are in development that will carry a nominal admission fee of which all proceeds will go to the Fest’s designated charity, the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
“We decided that since 2008 is such a monumental year for zombie fans that we’d change our format from a traditional horror convention to a show that is accessible for everyone”, says Menold. “It will be a little different from what our vendors and fans are used to, but it’s an opportunity to reach a wider audience of zombie fans.”
On the eve of Zombie Fest™, Friday, October 24, a Zombie Masquerade Ball will be held at the Churchill Valley Country Club. The Ball will feature live entertainment as well as a DJ and will be an age 21 and over event. Prizes will be awarded for best overall costume as well as best zombie costume. There will be a separate admission fee for the Ball (to be determined).
The highlight of the weekend will be World Zombie Day™ on Sunday, October 26 featuring zombie walks with accompanying food drives aimed at raising awareness of the problem of global hunger. At press time, approximately 40 cities have signed on to participate, including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle, London and Hong Kong as well as cities in Canada, Australia and Costa Rica. The hub of WZD will be the Monroeville Mall walk on Sunday morning, led by Menold as Professor Emcee Square, his character on The It’s Alive Show. The prior two walks organized by Menold at the Mall earned Guinness World Records™; the 2007 walk received a Rondo S. Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Fan Event of the year.
Menold promises a memorable time for fans who participate in the weekend’s activities. “This event is going to rock 33.3% harder than last year. I want people who come to Zombie Fest™ to be able to mingle with the guests and dance at the Zombie Ball, to play zombie games, have a chance to appear in a TV show about zombies, rock out to live bands, and to participate in another world record attempt at the Monroeville Mall. This is the location where George Romero shot Dawn of the Dead! At Zombie Fest™, you can actually be a zombie for a day. Three days, really.”
For more information and updates, please visit www.theitsaliveshow.com.
Posted by Tim on
July 2, 2008
Sleepover Girl Tucky Williams & DMR2 News
You need to check out Rogue Cinema! They cover all things Independent, cult and low budget in the cinema world.
Women in sleepwear?
This month’s Sleepover Girl is DEAD MOON RISING’s own Tucky Williams. It’s got some great photos of Tucky in classic film noir mode. Quality photos by Bill Spangler of Rose Island Photo. Not to be missed.
http://www.roguecinema.com/content-183.html
What’s up with DEAD MOON RISING 2?
If you’re just in it for the articles, you may want to check out the one about Anubis Digital Studios and what we’re planning to do in order to turn filmmaking on it’s ear. Here’s the catch – I’ve asked them to hold the article until July 6. It’s not just that I’m a bastard, it’s just we have some MAJOR things coming and the Anubis Digital website will not be ready until then. But trust me, you won’t want to miss it:
http://www.roguecinema.com/index.php
Posted by Tim on
July 2, 2008
We double-dares you! Enter Chiller’s Dare 2 Direct Short Film Contest for a chance to win $5,000 and other cool prizes. But that clock, she’s ticking. The submissions deadline is July 28th. For details go to www.chillertv.com .
Posted by Tim on
July 2, 2008
Gross Movie Reviews #131
By Tim Gross
In the spirit of the 4th of July make sure you watch your copy of “Uncle Sam”, a cool slasher film with ‘Uncle Sam’ as the killer!
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets (DVD) – Nic Cage reprises his role as the venturing American historian who believes one of his relatives is in question in the death of the 16th president, Lincoln. Ed Harris plays a character that happens to have a certain piece of paper from 1863, that questions who really shot Lincoln and why?! Pretty cool adventure this time around as its Cage and friends against the world as Nic Cage kidnaps the president to find out certain information about Lincoln that also sets up an interesting storyline for a possible third film. The movie itself comes across as a crossbreed of Indiana Jones and Lara Croft but a great alternative for some of Nic Cage’s abominations he has been apart of the past 20 years. I give the film 3 stars and worth the rent.
Zombie Farm (DVD) – Terrorists poison the water of a small farming town that eventually turns the small town into flesh-eating ghouls and all is left is a couple FBI agents and a couple people who haven’t drank the water left to fend for themselves. With the town already quarantined and the military given the orders to kill anything that isn’t military the odds of the survivors is very slim in this low budget gorefest! The low budget zombie flick is a fun gorefest to watch and tries to keep a few laughs in to keep the film well-paced especially with the cannibal farmer characters before they even turn into zombies. But again the CGI gunshots are horrible people as I give the movie 2 ½ stars and you can check out more about the movie at www.zombiefarmmovie.com .
There’s a Werewolf in My Attic! (DVD) – A short film about a couple who are vegan and buy a house cheap and later find out that a werewolf that looks like a combination of “Star Wars” Chewy and Dee Wallace’s transformation at the end of “The Howling” is living in their attic. Not to mention the werewolf doesn’t eat flesh or raw meat but trail mix. The movie is funny, pokes fun at vegans a little, and a very entertaining 16 minutes as I give it 3 stars and can be found at www.sbtfilms.com .
Urine Trouble (DVD) – A 10 minute short film about urinal cakes (you know the pink things in the toilets at bars) that attack and eat a man then a couple who go to check on him. Lots of blood and funny as fuck! I give it 3 ½ stars and can be found at www.sbtfilms.com .
Copperhead (DVD/Sci-Fi Channel) – Computer-generated snakes attack a small town in the old west that is full of outlaws including genre favorite Billy Drago! Very cheesy and boring at times but watchable, I guess… I give it 1 ½ stars.
Doomed to Consume (DVD) – An entertaining low budget gorefest about survivors a week or so after an air-borne virus has turned a small town into zombies. The film is pretty much about what is the next move for the survivors as they all eventually become zombie food. Again, shitty CGI gunshots hinder the low budget zombie fest but it does have a cameo appearance by writer Joe Knetter as a zombie at a gas station. I give the movie 2 stars and can be found at www.nftsproductions.com or www.myspace.com/nfts .
Death on Demand (DVD) – A couple college kids rent out a house on Halloween night that is described as being haunted because of a man killing his family Thanksgiving night after he was found bloody and crazed after a mountain climbing expedition and then killed himself. The college kids think the house is a great place to hold their contest that will be broadcasted on the internet of three couples who are trying to survive the night and make $5,000! An entertaining slasher film that has elements of “Night of the Demons” and “Halloween 8: The Resurrection” only ‘Death on Demand’ is a much better film than “Halloween 8” and doesn’t have shitty cast that includes Busta-Rhymes! What separates this modern slasher from most independent features is this has some great kill scenes and effects to back it up plus a great funny sex scene between a guy who might be gay, might not and a porn star who feeds him generic Viagra… It’s independent, plays to its strengths, and has boobs, a couple gallons of blood, and an ending that I like. I give the movie 3 stars and a must watch as you can find it at www.mtivideo.com .
Firehead (DVD) – A Russian cyborg travels to America to stop missiles from being built by a dark government within our own American government. Did I happen to mention the cyborg can shoot shit from eyes too? A classic B-grade sci-fi flick from 1988 that has a cameo appearance by Martin Landau as a retired military scientist. I give the film 1 ½ stars and can be found at www.echobridgehe.com .
Space Mutiny (DVD) – A very bad, but very funny B-movie that was on the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” TV show at some point during its run. The space movie starts off with scenes of spaceships gun fighting that look like the production crew stole the left over ships on strings from the TV show “Battlestar Galactica” and use computer graphics from a Commodore 64 to show you what’s going on. Then you have some bad hula hoop disco dance thing going on with a lot of slow bumper car racing with generic bazookas and lazerguns. This shit is cheesy, bad, and a lot of fun to watch. This movie is must have for those who don’t need a plot, like to drink beer while watching, or just smoke pot and why is there Astroturf for grass in a garden that is on a spaceship! I give it 3 ½ stars just for not hiding the fact of how much a B-movie it is and can be found at www.echobridgehe.com .
Any comments or questions please send to: GrossMovieReview@aol.com or www.myspace.com/slasherfilmfan . Also you can purchase my three horror movie review books, “Gross Movie Reviews Volume One, Two, or Three” at www.lulu.com or www.amazon.com . You can also find other reviews from me at www.bastardsofhorror.com , www.bloodtypeonline.com , and in the movie review section of the latest Ultra Violent magazine (www.uvmagazine.com). Remember folks if you are renting from Blockbuster you are not renting from the best! Support your local independent video store! It will keep horror alive………
Don’t forget to catch me at Louisville, Kentucky’s Fright Night Film Fest August 15-17th, 2008. Check out www.frightnightfilmfest.com for more details.
My book links if interested in purchasing a copy of my books:
Volume Three
http://www.lulu.com/content/2497428
Volume Two Red Cover
http://www.lulu.com/content/738100
Volume Two Alternate (black) Cover
http://www.lulu.com/content/751465
Volume One
http://www.lulu.com/content/265208
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