I see Dead Space

Sometime this week Visceral games sent a few packages over to a couple of the game related websites around, and these packages were made up of a letter and an inkblot test pertaining to Dead Space 2.

The interesting thing was, when you turn the lights down, the freaky inks get freakier.

Click pic to enlarge

The guys over at Screwattack.com messed around with it a bit and you can see what they did here.

After their pseudo CSI work, they found what appeared to be a coded message. Aside from a few fragmented sentences and set of numbers which differed for each gaming site, there was also a reference to tomorrow's date (29, April)

Well today a teaser trailer for Dead Space 2 was floating around the inter-web, but was suddenly pulled. Rumor has it that it was pulled because someone somewhere jumped the plasma cutter and leaked the trailer early.

It's still up at IGN though, because those guys are freaking hardcore, and that's exactly where I grabbed it from to show you. IGN also has a very extensive article on the artwork and letter that was sent to announce the trailer, going as far as to translate the alien text and everything.

More Dead Space 2 News & Previews

All I can say is: I freaking love Dead Space and I can not wait for part 2.

The glimpses of the new Necromorphs are awesome and that line at the end: “Isaac… we’reall gonna burn for what we did to you.” What's happening there? The trailer just makes me want to rip my brain out and squeeze the juices out of it because the anticipation is killing me.

Eat it Uwe Boll

Uwe Boll gets a lot of slack as a director, and yes his movies aren't the biggest hits, but you gotta admire the guy for sticking to it.

I wouldn't kill to see a Uwe Boll movie, but they are a lot of fun when viewed with a group your close pals. It's the stuff the future renditions of Mystery Science theater will be thriving on.

... and I kinda liked Postal.

Well... it seems good old Uwe is finally involved in something that's got my attention.

Uwe Boll groupie

Eaters is an Italian zombie movie that is being produced by Mr. Boll, it's about two guys who hit the road in search of survivors in a world infested by the undead. Aside from being up against hordes of zombies, they also come across non-zombie crazy people that no good zombie movie should ever go without. Directed by Luca Boni and Marco Ristori, I read some where this thing is expected to be out sometime in June. Check out a translated synopsis and a little more info here.

Now I may not have been too crazy about Uwe Boll's House of the Dead, but aside from the producer credit, I'm hoping this baby is going to be a throw back to the good old Italian zombie movies I know and love.

Check out the teaser below.



Like I said, I'm looking forward to this one. The trailer looked like the movie is having fun with itself, and it has the kind of campy-factor that actually works in the zombie movie genre.

While on the subject of foreign zombie flicks, the upcoming French zombie movie The Horde recently got it's own website. There's another movie I can't wait to see, when it comes to horror the French don't know where or when to stop, and they always deliver it in style.

Family swim time

Coffee, smokes and the The Eldritch Influence

Today I spent a pleasant afternoon chatting with my buddy Albie over coffee and smokes. Before that he and I had a meeting with a friend of ours about an upcoming web-magazine that we're putting together.

After the meeting nether of us felt like walking anywhere, so we just sat there and waited for happy hour at the bar across the street.

Was good fun.

When I got home I watched a brief documentary on the life of H.P Lovecraft called The Eldritch Influence, which was pretty interesting. It was basically made of a couple of writers who were influenced in one way or another by Lovecraft's work. Writers like Neil Gaimen and Brian Lumley, and one that I found particularity interesting, Ramsey Campbell.

Aside from sharing these writer's thoughts and understanding of Lovecraft's writings and ideas, the film also had a little background on Lovecraft's life and his own influences. Talking about things that interested him as a child and later on as an adult, that reflected in his work.

The only thing I didn't care for was this one bits were some people were pretending to be in some kind of Cthulhu dooms day cult, the whole thing felt kind of silly and sort of spoiled the flow of the films narration for me. Thankfully it's towards the end, and though it seems to go on for a while, it's quickly over and the rest of the show's pretty solid.

There's a nice bit in the end where the different authors talk about their favorite Lovecraft stories, which I found useful in looking for which stories I should look out for.

The show is filled with various pictures of Lovecraft, as well as artwork that depicts or is inspired by his work. There are also personal entries that are narrated, and give interesting in-site into Lovecrafts chracter and thoughts.

For fans of H.P. Lovecraft, or anyone who's interested in his work, this would be a nice place to start sussing things out. The show gives you an idea of what his writing were all about, and gives some direction as to which stories to look out for.

My girl friend was Photoshopping today

I know why I love her...

Zombie, Grundy and Dark

So as the month comes to an end, and since I've already been through my normal monthly comic reads... I found my self creeping out to grab other titles that captured my attention.

And this month I really got into some serious "chain reaction" shizz, because one new title lead to another and now I have three new comics that I'm freaking crazy about.

At the beginning of the month I had started reading some very cool comics based on and inspired by the writings of Lovecraft. I started out with an ongoing series called Cthulhu Tales, after which I grabbed my self a whole collection of Lovecraft comics dating back to the 70s. As I was searching through various sites with reviews and shizz about these comics, I came across a little series called Zombie.

Aside from the obvious allure to the title, I was enticed by the fact that the series lead was sort of a zombie hero. And not any of these Marvel zombies bullshit, I mean he is a zombie that saves people by eating baddies and such. It may sound kind of corny, but once you get over it... the comic makes for a very cool read. Throw in some cannibal hillbillies and you've got your self my new monthly comic.

So after I got my hands on all the issues for the Zombie that I could find, I started looking around for some other titles that had interesting spins on their undead leads. It's then I came across the new Solomon Grundy title that DC started up last year.

As a villain Grundy has always been one of my favorites. The whole reanimated corpse with Voodoo ties makes for some interesting story telling. The series works as somewhat of a prequel DC's Blackest Night series of comics that wrapped this month. The art for the pilot issue was awesome, but the ongoing series art is a little under-pare compared to some of the bigger titles that are out there, but the story reads pretty good.

The series follows Grundy as he sets out to find out the truth about his death and his killer. His granted a chance at gain absolution and peace under the guide of the Phantom Stranger and the magical Green Lantern Allan Scott. I thought it was a nice way of adding a bit of humanity to Grundy, making him more in the likes of maybe Swamp Thing, as a sort of unwilling, brooding anti-hero.

While fishing around the DC site I came across another title that I'd actually seen a few months back, but never got around to picking up.

Simon Dark is a fairly new DC hero who is a stitched up dead guy brought back to life. He haunts a lonely area of Gotham city called The Village, and though he shares the city with other heroes, namely Batman, there isn't much in terms of referencing or crossing over with these heroes.

The whole show belongs to Dark as he begins to discover the truth about why he was brought back to life, as well as the true extent of his powers. Like the 20 souls that make up Simon Dark, and how he can use them to re-animate the dead... fancy.

One major allure I have towards the chracter is that he reads a little like the Crow, he also shares his overall look a bit too. Written by Steve Niles, there's a certain melancholy through out the narration and flow of the series, which is a nice change of pace from your typical super-hero comic.

Best bit is that all this comes together beautifully in the form of awesome art work by Scott Hampton, whose style really gives the books it's own kind of life.

Some great finds this month, now I'm really looking forward to next months issues.

3 weeks later

So what have I been up to...

Well for the last three weeks I've been housing sitting my girlfriend's cousin's flat. It was nice little place right along the edge of town, so you could just pretty much just walk down to where ever you wanted to visit in town.

Thing is though, the flat had no internet and the cable TV was down. So aside from hours and hours spent bonding with my GF, I got to catch up on a lot of reading... which was good.

In fact, now that I'm back home I don't even know what to do with the net. I'm trying to remember what it was I would spend hours on before. Granted it has only be one day back home, but I'd like to keep this up.

While over at the flat I also started writing a lot.

I spent about three days writing a little something called "The thing under the house", which was very Lovecraft inspired. And then I penned out some ideas and rough drafts for some other stories.

Tomorrow I'm going to meet up with a friend of mine who I studied animation with, and who happens to be someone who knows a thing or two about putting magazines out. I've been kicking around the idea of putting out a little "short-fiction" magazine, full of horror stories and sci-fi adventures, along with artwork to compliment the stories.

Here's a page from a kiddie series I drew for one of the local mags,
I never got paid for it because some people are just douches.

I have a few friends who write as a hobby, and these friends happen to be pretty good illustrators and designers too. I feel that between us we could really get something going. Plus Fiji doesn't have anything of the sort at the moment... or ever. It might be a nice way of injecting some sci-fi/ horror goodness into the community.

I want to make something along the lines of those old pulp magazines from the like 30s to 60s. Mad art work, great stories... lots of feed back. I don't have a name for it, but maybe a brainstorming session will inspire something.

After I go through "The thing under the house", I'll be sure to put it up for a download, just so you guys can have a read of it, and maybe share your thoughts on it.

Behold the Necronomicon!

So this weekend my friends are planing a mad trip to Nadi, which is a town on the western part of Fiji's main island. It's meant to be Fiji's major tourist town, with lavishing resorts and white sandy beaches.

Oddly though it has only one popular night spot which was about the size of my house the last time went. Not saying that it's big... but rather that its pretty small. But on any given night it's packed full of locals and tourists hitting tequila shots and sipping on Fiji Bitter. And is it weird that the smoking area out side is twice the size of the club?

Sadly though, being currently in between jobs, means that I'll have to miss out on the trip due to budget constraints.

But to make my self feel better... I spent a little something today and place my self an order for a copy of The Necronomicon!

I already have the Conan one.

Collecting more than 30 stories, poems and notes... including the complete run of Lovecrafts Cthulu mythos cycle, this book is a treasure trove of H.P. Lovecraft's work.

...and maybe I'll buy a little something for the GF too.

Off Topic: Conan the Barbarian

Just a quick little something I dished out while waiting sitting and waiting at the bank today. I've been reading a lot of Robert Howard's Conan stories, in fact I think I've been doing at least two a night since last week.

I was very disappointed today when I did a search for best fantasy books online, and was shown a shizz load of Harry Potter books and the usual Lord of the Rings stuff... but only one site mentioned my favorite Cimmerian.

In fact I think Harry Potter was voted best fantasy hero in the UK.

Maybe Conan needs a new movie... after they drop a few million on a summer block buster, I'm sure he'll be back in the spot light.

You're own Zombie Movie

Be the star of you own little zombie movie.

That's what Zombie Movie, a little freeware game I picked up today, allows you to do. Instead the hordes of zombie games out there that give you nothing more than a kill thrill, or a few that spin the odds and let you be the zombie, Zombie Movie puts you at the mercy of a movie director.

At the start of the game the Director gives you a few pointers and directions, and then you're set loose on some zombie infested street. You goal is to get mad kills, survive the zombies and let the camera man in the chopper above get some mad shots on film.

In fact... if you venture too far from the chopper, you piss your director off.

... Don't piss off the director.

And...ACTION!@#

The screen shot of the game that I included does not do it justice at all. Yes the graphics are not its strongest point, but the game play is heaps of fun. You don't get too many weapons, but the ones you get are fun to use. And the explosions and such are awesome and at times very hilarious.

At the end you get scores for the number of zombies you killed, what guns you used...as well as a film critics review of the action you provided.

It's crazy point and clicks with zombies... and the whole thing is a free 6mb download, so just do you self a favor and play it.

You can download the game HERE, or simply visit to find out more about it.

Superman Vs Zombies

Like zombie movies, there are a tone of zombie comics that are pumped out every month. And there comics range from the purely awesome to the not so awesome.

I say "not so awesome" because I actually read everyone of them that I can, and I kinda like em all. But the big cheese of all these zombie comics would have to be The Walking Dead.


Dished out monthly by Image Comics, The Walking Dead is is amazing in terms of art and story. Being more than just a horror comic, the walking dead is more a tale of human drama, set against a zombie apocalypse. We follow our lead characters as they strive to survive not only against the undead, but also against the ass holes of humanity who try to rape, murder and generally be a pain in the ass for our heroes every step of the way.

The series has come a long way, and I've read every issue since the first. I must admit that what made the comic even sweeter in the beginning was the awesome art by Tony Moore, whose style of black and white I've been mad about since his Fear Agent series. But he left few issues into Walking Dead and was replaced by Charlie Adlard, who has a grittier style that adds to the comic in it's own cool way.

With a great story made up of strong drama and mad zombie action... I was very excited when I heard that the series was coming to the small screen as a live action TV show.

Rick Grimes... my hero

Well today I heard that Brandon Routh, the man who sissied up Superman, is joining the cast of Walking Dead's TV show, but as yet there's no news as to who he will be playing.

I really can't see him as any of the characters from the comic. With the bullshit way casting and such has been going these days in movies, I'm just glad they didn't make him Rick Grimes, that role has been handed to British Actor Andrew Lincoln.

Well lets see how this unfolds, who knows... maybe Routh will have a funny cameo role where he gets eaten by zombie Superman fans.

HBA Debate: Should the infected be considered zombies?

The happy folks over at the Horror Blog Alliance had our selves a series of debates recently, concerning various topics filed under "zombie."

With the subject matter so close to my undead loving heart, how could I not take part.

Going through the various discussions that were up for debate, I chose the topic of: Should the Infected be considered zombies.

I went in with a "yes."

It was a familiar topic, because it's one that my friends and I bring up every now and then when ever the subject of zombies creeps up.

Check out the full debate here, and please feel free to leave a comment.

Big thanks to Wilson and John Micheals for sharing their ideas on the subject with me... in the event of a zombie outbreak, I'll shoot you guys last.

"Live action" zombie game

How easily can out minds be fooled?

Here's a video of a guy who gets tricked into thinking that he's in the middle of a real life zombie scenario.


He goes into a bar with his mates, and decides to play a zombie arcade game that's conveniently placed near the entrance. Little does he know that machine has been set up by an illusionist Darren Brown, who is doing a segment for his TV show.

I'm not totally sure if the whole thing, including the guy who's tricked, wasn't a set up for the show... and that it is in fact us the audience who is being duped. But have a look for ya self... it's still pretty cool and slightly scary towards the end when the guy starts freaking out.

At least the guy 'playing' got more action out of it than the guy who though he was playing Silent Hill.

Failed Dagon slave

I doodled this guy out while watching the Dagon, but sadly I messed up half way and ruined his lower portion. But I kinda liked the look of his head, So I decided to post him.


Maybe I'll sketch him again later when I'm not watching evil fish-folk skin peoples faces off.

Off Topic: Solomon Kane

It was a sweet coincidence to find the trailer for the movie adaption of Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane online today, as just this morning I had decided to dive into my copy of The Complete Chronicles of Conan.

Solomon Kane kicking ass

I'm not really the biggest fan of fantasy novels in general, but I love the sub genre of Sword and Sorcery, and Conan makes for the best of this genre. I've got quit a lot of his books, and I remember spending hours as a kid thrilled by them.

But when I got my hands on the 'complete chronicles' it was both awesome and daunting.

Housing the full collection of Howard's work related to Conan, the book is massive and can be a real chore to get comfortable with. For that reason I've only ever read it in short portions.

But last night I was reading one of my Lancer editions of Conan (which have the maddest covers by Frank Frazetta), when I decided to check out some of the notes and such from the Chronicle edition, and I haven't been able to put it down since.

Yes my thighs hurt from this thing resting on them, but what the heck.

So today as I was mucking around online looking for info on a new Conan movie I heard was being done, I came across this mad trailer for Solomon Kane.



Kane was one of Robert Howard's earlier characters, and though I hadn't heard much of him as a kid reading Conan, I got into the chracter when I started looking into more of Howard's work thanks to the inter-web. I particularity loved his Dark Horse comics series which was up their with their Conan run.

This movie looks pretty solid, and the review's it's gotten mention some impressive claims.

I guy in a Salem witch hunter out fit... tracking and kicking the shit out of demons and other nasties.

What's not to look forward to?

La Horde

Going crazy trying to get my bloody little hands on a copy of The Horde, a French zombie movie that looks freakin mad awesome.

If anyone has any info on where I can get it, that would be sweet.

Here's a little video segment on the film from the good people over at clevvermovies.com

Zombie Street Fighter Art

Yes... I was just as excited when writing that title, as you were when reading it.

While mucking around online this afternoon I came across the work of an artist with the tag name of Manuhell, whose awesome zombiefied Street Fighter art left me bloodied and breathless.

Ken... my fave fighter.

I love it when artists take worlds and collide them, and Street Fighting being my favorite fighting game EVER made this art even cooler.

It would be so awesome if Capcom got their hands on these drawings and decided to make new skins/ costumes for their fighters.

Cammy...even in death.

Check out the rest of the Zombie Street Fighter galley here, as well as more awesome art from Manuhell.

Night of the living word.

Over the Easter weekend the Mayfair Theater in Ottawa, which apparently is the oldest active movie theater running since 1932, had a screening of the ever beloved Night of the living dead.

While I would loved to be in attendance, having never seen the movie on the big screen... some people used the screening as an opportunity for a higher cause.

The Mayfair Theater

A protesting preacher used the movie goers time spent lined up, as a quick chance to deliver a little street sermon, during which he talked about dying... and about how his not dead... and about how he used to be a really rotten guy and deserves to be in hell.

The guy actually has a blog and he wrote up a little account of the night here, complete with a video of the whole event.

Let it be known that I'm not bashing the man's effort, as I believe every one is entitled to his or her opinion. But people also have the right to line up for a movie they want to watch on their own account, without someone telling them they're gonna go to hell for it.

"Murder, gore, bloodshed and cannibalism
only begins to describe the kind of
‘entertainment’
that was being offered"
- Protesting Preacher

On the other hand, I actually thought the whole thing made for an awesome viral marketing video. Showing that even after more than 40 years... Night of the living dead is still able able to provoke all kinds of shizz. The video that the preacher put up had a decent little intro with posters of the movie and signs reading "night of the loving dead Sold Out" and a cool title: Night of the living word.

...clever.

Even the theater manager who had a few things to say in response to the preacher's post, later realized that any publicity is good publicity.

Here is the comment that I left on the post:

First off, great job with putting the video together... I particularly like the title.

But I think sir, if you were to actually watch the movie with an open mind, you might enjoy it.

'Night of the Living dead' was intended to be two thirds a horror movie and one third social satire, showing society eating its self up.

Though the horror and gore of "Night of the living dead" would be considered very mild by some of today's standards, I can see how it would be over the top for someone who may not be accustomed to it. But even the good book at time used extreme depictions of violence to enforce some of its messages.

It might do you good to have a look at the movie, if anything it might give you a better understanding in aid of your cause, or you might see that it's just a horror movie.

What ever you do stay clear of the 25th anniversary edition... it's a bad re-edit; adding junk that steals away from the original's greatness.

I've been reading Lovecraft

Trippin' on H.P. Lovecraft

Resident Evil: Afterlife Trailer

With just one zombie in the whole trailer? And it's one of those things with the flowery mouths from the RE:5 game... barely even counts.



Not impressed at all sorry... if someone told me this was a Matrix sequel, at a glance I'd believe em.

Dead Space 2 promises to be scary

In a recent interview with Patrick Kelpek of G4, Dead Space 2 producers talk about meeting with fans and reveal insight on the up coming game.

But I loved the most about the article was the producers promising that Dead Space 2 is going to "Scare you're pants off."

When asked to elaborate on earlier stories of Dead Space 2 moving more towards an action orientated game rather than the survival horror of the first game, the producers assured G4 that just because Issac will be slightly more capable with the Necromoph horrors, doesn't mean it's going to be any less scary.


Rich Briggs, one of the producers speaking with G4 had this to say:

"... we are still gonna be a horror game, yes, we are still Dead Space, we're gonna scare the pants off you as many times as we can, but Issac's been through this before, so he's a little bit more capable this time around, he's going to have some times where he can actually have an epic moment and it is like a rollercoaster ride. You're going to have those peaks and valleys with both the action and with both the scares and they're not mutually exclusive. You can have a high-octane moment that's also very, very scary. We're looking at a lot of different, sophisticated ways to bring both the action, the terror, and the horror together"

Read the full interview here.

I am super excited about this game, and can't wait to hear/ see more of it. In fact last night we had a game night over at a friends place and we played Dead Space 1 on this kick ass projector at like 3am in the morning.

Nothing like seeing a Necromorph's limbs splatter, while being projected across a bed room wall.

High School of the Dead Anime

When I look through the little widget on my page that tells me what searches bring traffic to this blog, Most of the time I see: searching for High school of the Dead. Which takes them here.

Thatss very cool because it's a real cool zombie manga series which offers loads of undead, blood, gore and scantly glad chicks killing shizz.

Well it turns out that the series is going Anime with the release of a animated adaptation heading our way soon.

Check out this kick ass trailer and let the awesomeness overcome you.

Dead Frontier: Outbreak 2

I've always been a fan of Choose your own adventure games, and this morning I spent a good deal of time with a game called Dead Frontier: Outbreak 2.

It's a text based browser adventure game where you are given options as to what to do next.

Click for better look.

Reading the words "text based" might put you off...

But wait!@#

The text is narrated with a cool voice over that reads the whole thing out like an audio book, complete with pictures relating to the scene. At the end of each paragraph or so you get to make a decision that lets the game move forward.

In the game you play as a survivor who has to leave the safety of his fortified base, in order to get much needed medical supplies for his fellow survivors. As you set off on your 'adventure' you get to pick what threads you're going to wear, what weapon choices you make and even if you're walking or jacking a car. This is the second installment of the game and as far as I know, it's pretty much an improved version of part one.

Click for better look.

Being text based allows for all kinds of things to happen with out graphic restrictions, so the atmospher gets pretty tense. With the voice over, the fitting ambiance and music... it's good fun playing this thing at night.

The game is developed by the creative team that's responsible for the Dead Frontier MMO, which is a browser based, top down zombie action game.

In my first play through I managed to get back home with the medical supplies I had set out to get, but sadly I was considered a heartless bastard for doing very little to help anyone else :P

My results. click to view

Check out Dead Frontier: Out break 2 for ya self... it's a fun way to kill time. The game has a link to the MMO as well.

A little zombie in your country music

Hey Negrita: Zombie 1 of 3 Prev

Gosh darn it I do so love this clip

Zombie-mon

I'm not a Pokemon fan... But with a little bit of tweaking, I could get into it :P


The very talented artists over at Red Bubble have come with a mad range of Pokemon spin-of characters for a new line of T-shirts, aptly named Zombiemon!@#

All you favorite animated critters, zombified in bloody goodness... ready for you to drag home on your favorite colored shirt.

Check out the rest of the range here, very cool stuff.

The Zombie game Experiment

Today I came a cross a little something called The Zombie Game Experiment, a game development project that's looking for people to actively take part in the games creative details, if they are kind enough to make a donation that is.


The game it's self is still in the early stages of pre-production, but hopes to kick off once it reaches it's wishful budget of $15k, which it hopes to gain through donations.

To get in on the action, you are required to donate a minimum of ten dollars towards development, which gets you into the design forums, where you can post your ideas for the game. You will also receive the game for free when it is completed. The forums are made up of discussion panels and voting polls, as well as chat sessions with the development team, which will all add up to shaping the game.

Through the forums you also get to work along side a few game industry pros such as Andrew Lackey who was the sound designer for Dead Space and Jonathan Coulton, the guy behind Portal’s “Still Alive” who'll be doing an original song for the project. World of Warcraft and Star Craft novelist Aaron Rosenberg is also linked to the project and is said to be plotting out the story.

Aside from the game project, a quarter of all donations and game revenue will be donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, to help with the fight against Parkinson’s disease.

You can find out more about the project at the official site.

Zombie survival flowchart

Print this out and stick it some where you can see it easily.
Check out the High res download available from the good people over at Game Informer.

Dead space 2: Sneak Peak

Check out what Issac's new rig can do in this sneak peak at Dead Space 2



Though I'm still warming up to the idea of Dead Space 2 moving more towards an action game and less of the survival horror of the first game, the above clip has me some what intrigued.

I'd like to say that I need to see more of the game before I make up mind whether I'm going to buy it or not, but I'll just be kidding my self. Evil lurking gods know that I'm going to pre-order this son of a bitch as soon as I can.

Bloody Alice

I've been reading Alice in wonderland.