Rating: PG-13 (Zombie violence and some adult language)
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich, Rob Corddry
Another zombie film has hit the theaters, which means a day pass for yours truly to get out of the Zombie Survival Crew command center’s detention room for a couple hours. What is the latest zombie flick to hit the big screen? An adaptation of Isaac Marion’s novel Warm Bodies.
Boy meets girl. Boy eats girl’s boyfriend’s brain and absorbs his memories. Boy falls in love with girl and saves her from having her entrails spread over the ground. Girl begs her hard-ass father not to kill her undead love. Sounds romantic, huh? Not if you care about a little thing called necrophilia.
I had a hard time with the premise of Warm Bodies from the start. Not just because of my standing as one of the shambling undead. Zombies are, and have been for decades, soulless reanimated corpses who only want one thing—to feast on the flesh of the living. Going into the theater (hidden under a large Hello Kitty blanket), I knew I wasn’t the target audience for the film. The previews and trailers showed fresh-faced kids traversing the zombie apocalypse and surviving on the strength of their love. Call me jaded, but a gun goes a lot further to keep one safe from being eaten than doe-eyed heroic zombies.
The saving grace for the film is the smart, witty performance from Nicholas Hoult. He took what could have been dead (no pun intended) jokes and made them work with a well-timed glance or shrug. His counterpart, Teresa Palmer, started out the film strong-willed and capable of defending herself, however, as the movie progressed she became whiny, cried more than should be allowed in a zombie movie—even one billed as a teenage chick-flick—and could not keep up with the performance of her co-star. The production company did their best to make Palmer into a blonde Kristin Stewart—which is no surprise since the distributor for the film is responsible for releasing Twilight. Is it too much to ask for a young actress to thrive on her own merits? In a time when Hollywood is all about chasing trends and beating them over the head until their brains ooze across the floor . . . no. The film’s producers wanted a young woman with looks similar to someone who has been proven popular and shoved her in a role written to be dependent on a boy. And when things get too rough for her, she breaks down, cries, and then does some of the stupidest things ever witnessed in a post-apocalyptic film.
Congratulations, you replaced sparkly vampires with shambling corpses. Or did they?
The undead in Warm Bodies are vastly different from traditional zombies. The corpses, as they’re called, retain more of their humanity and are capable of minimal speech. They also move far too fluidly to be truly dead. The minimalistic effects makeup on the corpses made it difficult to tell who was dead and who was alive. I’m not saying they needed to have huge chunks of flesh falling off, but something more than pale skin and visible veins would have been nice. Again, the corpses were awfully similar to vampires.
Warm Bodies was fun to watch for the humor—most of it from R, the main corpse character. There are some cringe-worthy performances; a lot of repeated and unnecessary lines, and John Malkovich’s normal brilliance is buried under teen angst and daddy issues. As one of my undead companions said, it is a chick-flick worthy of a night-in with friends and your beverage of choice.
Overall, I’m going to give Warm Bodies three and a half gnawed-off fingers out of five. It had potential, but fell flat under the pressure to fit the current the teen movie trend of cute and heart-warming monsters instead of standing on its own merits.
I’d like to give a shout out to the Fresno Zombie Society for inviting me out to hang with them for the film’s screening. You guys sure know how to make sure a dead guy has a fun night out.
Yellow Brigade CommanderJinxie Ghas another new book out that’s also loaded with vampyres, werewolves, and the gods. Why? Because it’s the sequel to The Dracove. I give you Gods & Vampyres.
This paranormal read picks up right where The Dracove left off, with a kidnapped Kylie, pissed off vampyres yelling at each other, and the entrance of a major player.
War is on the horizon…
Jinxie is gearing up for her 5-day FREE eBook event!
January 30th through February 1st, you will be able to download Gods & Vampyres for FREE. What’s even better? From February 2nd through February 3rd, The Dracove will be FREE again.
You can get the first two books in the Prophecy series for FREE this week and this week ONLY.
Kylie O’Rourke has unwittingly walked into the path of two vampyres—one who wants to use her as a sacrifice, and one who only wishes to win her heart. As she is pulled into their clandestine world, she learns more about her history and the reason behind her horrible nightmares.
Master vampyre Cianán searches for the one woman who could take his immortality to the next level—godhood. But, when he finds his Chosen One, his progeny Grantlund stumbles onto the Master’s plan . . . again. As if losing his first sacrifice to the bastard wasn’t enough, the Fates were to torment him with a second time.
The act never changes, only its players over thousands of years.
When Kylie is taken for use as a sacrifice in an ancient ritual, Grantlund races to save her life, but he has to wait for that perfect moment or all will be lost. Not only does he have to go up against his former Master, Cianán, one of the oldest and most powerful vampyres on Earth, but now the gods are involved, and Cianán has a very prominent one in his corner.
Grant will do anything to stop Cianán from destroying his lover and this world, but what price is he willing to pay? Death at the hands of the woman he loves?
An epic battle is about to begin, and not even the gods know who will come out the victor.
Click on the images for direct links to the books. This promotion has already started, so share, share, share, folks! Word of mouth is an author’s best advertising!
Jinxie plans to work hard to get the next Prophecy series book out—Gemini – Book III of the Prophecy series. She says it needs some editing, and perhaps some dissection, where a novella may come of it.
Also, don’t forget to check the Just Ink Press website for Special Content.
Today, we have The Walking Dead, Being Human, Warm Bodies, and World War Z for you, as well as natural disasters, databases to keep yourself updated and out of harm’s way, and a nationwide earthquake drill. Will you participate?
The third installment of the Emmy award-winning zombie fest series, The Walking Dead, features an |array of exciting and intriguing new characters. Among them is seasoned British actor David Morrissey as The Governor. Debashine Thangevelo found out how he feels about depicting the villainous comic book character…
I DON’T think David Morrissey imagined he would bag the role of The Governor – an immensely popular character with fans of The Walking Dead comic books – when he visited his friend in Los Angeles.
Having been a zombie for Romero, I can tell you first-hand that a lot goes into playing one of the undead. Oh, how I wish I would have had someone of the caliber of Warm Bodies‘ Rob Corddry to guide me through it all.
Starring Nicholas Hoult, Rob Corddry, Teresa Palmer, and John Malkovich, Warm Bodies follows an existentially tormented zombie named “R” (Hoult) who begins an unlikely friendship with the girlfriend of one of his victims (Palmer). It’s based on the book by Isaac Marion.
We’ve unveiled a lot of surprises here at Zombie Survival Crew moving into our third year and …we’re not done yet!
ZSC Command is very excited to unveil the new Rooker line of gear in honor of our Special Forces commander extraordinaire, the one and only Michael Rooker! There are several new t-shirt designs to choose from and if you’re ready to join the Rooker Army, there’s even a set of official ZSC dog tags!
And in case you missed our earlier reveals here’s a recap of what else is newly available on the site:
Check out the ZSC Reedus line. Inspired by the work of Blue Brigade commander Norman Reedus, a portion of sales of all Reedus line gear is going to development and disaster response charities (primarily Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders, unless there is an immediate disaster response need unfolding when we make our quarterly contributions).
Check out Blindsided by the Walking Dead, Green Brigade Commander IronE Singleton’s autobiography. This harrowing tale of struggle and survival takes you from the street corners of one of Atlanta’s worst public housing projects to alleyways filled with zombies from The Walking Dead. IronE’s autobiography was co-written by our Commander-in-Chief Juliette Terzieff.
Yellow Brigade Commander Jinxie G has a new eBook out and it’s loaded with vampyres, werewolves, and the gods.
This paranormal romance opens in the past with a woman running for her life, then pulls you back to the modern world to find out what really happened and who’s to blame. In the midst of it all, love blossoms and a war is about to begin between the vampyres.
How much time do we really have before we die, and does immortality truly exist?
The Dracove Kylie O’Rourke has unwittingly walked into the path of two vampyres—one who wants to use her as a sacrifice, and one who only wishes to win her heart. As she is pulled into their clandestine world, she learns more about her history and the reason behind her horrible nightmares.
Master vampyre Cianán searches for the one woman who could take his immortality to the next level—godhood. But, when he finds his Chosen One, his progeny Grantlund stumbles onto the Master’s plan . . . again. As if losing his first sacrifice to the bastard wasn’t enough, the Fates were to torment him with a second time.
If you’re in the mood for a vampire fix of the non-sparkly variety (Jinxie’s words), dive into this eBook. We don’t even need to do a contest for this one because Just Ink Press has a special promotion going on right now for the book, and if you get it directly from Amazon between January 1st and January 3rd, it’s FREE! Just click on the link or book cover image above.
Now, we do warn that this book is not appropriate for children under the age of 16, as it does contain adult content.
It has been extremely difficult to keep our excitement about the newest addition to the Zombie Survival Crew Command team quiet. But we’ve been given the green light to let you guys in on the secret. Our newest ZSC Second Lieutenant is….
Yes, we were all heart-broken when Madison said her farewell on The Walking Dead. However, she has been very busy since then, traveling to conventions across the country to visit with loyal Walking Dead fans and filming new projects—on top of a couple under cover missions for the ZSC.
Catch Madison in Parental Guidance with Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, which releases on December 25th. She is also appearing on the new show, Nashville, airing Wednesdays on ABC.
There will be plenty of toys for tornado victims this Christmas thanks to the efforts of Boy Scout Joshua Henderson, 14, of Lincoln.
Henderson decided to help the child victims of the tornado by gathering 800 toys and transporting them 274 miles south to Harrisburg. The project will help him earn the rank of Eagle Scout, a goal he set for himself long ago.
With the highly scrutinized end of the Mayan calendar (December 21st, 2012) fast approaching and referred to humorously as the upcoming “zombie apocalypse” by young adults and teenagers worldwide, UK born and Vancouver based pop-rock artist, Kieran Strange has released “Merry Undead Christmas” a single and music video combo that is sure to deliver a few laughs this holiday season. “I read a story where a gentleman actually spent his life savings building a huge ark to escape the Mayan end of the world,” said Strange. “There’s so much serious face when it comes to this subject, I couldn’t help doing something satirical.”
Five fresh new character posters promoting Warm Bodies are making the rounds online thanks to Summit Entertainment today.
The posters feature Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, and Rob Corddryas characters living and undead, but more importantly, each contains a prominently placed pun, so this series of posters is also a pun run.
From the very cluttered desk of Commander-in-Chief Juliette Terzieff
The big man in red and his minions up in the North Pole have nothing on the Zombie Survival Crew commanders this December. As part of our second birthday celebrations, we’ve been preparing a huge surprise for all of you.
It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since the ZSC opened its virtual doors and began recruiting the best crew of survivors in the verse! It’s been an amazing journey that would not have been possible without each and every one of our commanders and the legions of loyal brigadiers, and we thank you!!!
We know you’re tough. We know you’re battle ready. We know you’ve got a stocked go bag, a weapon of choice and a plan for what to do when the worst happens.
But are you ready for this?
Nah, I don’t think you are. What? Okay, okay, no more teasing. . .
We here at ZSC command are excited to announce a host of new products over the coming months, including the latest gear featuring our Blue Brigade Commander. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates in the coming weeks — we’ve got some cool stuff planned as we head into our third year!
There’s a ton of ZSC and Reedus t-shirts, tanks tops, hats, and more.
Pre-orders are open today and can be found HERE and will leave the Command Center to your front steps around January 20.
Best part? A portion of the proceeds from the ZSC Reedus line will be put in a fund to support Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders, and other development/disaster response organizations as event need dictates.
So grab your gear ZSC loyalists and wear it with pride if you’re able to get out to a 2013 event! And when you do? We would love to see some pictures!
The best part? The hour-long special will feature interviews with people actually preparing for a real invasion of the undead.
While the amount of zombie-related media out there is approaching ad nauseam, this particular upcoming special from the Discovery Channel has all the makings of a must-watch.
The Charlotte Zombie Walk will again take to the streets for its sixth anniversary on Saturday. It will be its biggest and deadest event yet, according to organizers.
When it comes to zombie movies we know the drill: some terrible plague or catastrophic event has caused the dead to rise and crave the flesh of the living. Bonds of family and friendship mean nothing to these ambling undead cannibals. They are mindless, soulless and heartless. This is certainly the school of thought accepted by the remaining humans in Jonathan Levine’s Warm Bodies, but one brooding zombie boy might change their minds, and the world.
I had a hard time with the premise of Warm Bodies from the start. Not just because of my standing as one of the shambling undead. Zombies are, and have been for decades, soulless reanimated corpses who only want one thing—to feast on the flesh of the living. Going into the theater (hidden under a large Hello Kitty blanket), I knew I wasn’t the target audience for the film. The previews and trailers showed fresh-faced kids traversing the zombie apocalypse and surviving on the strength of their love. Call me jaded, but a gun goes a lot further to keep one safe from being eaten than doe-eyed heroic zombies.
Today, we have The Walking Dead, Being Human, Warm Bodies, and World War Z for you, as well as natural disasters, databases to keep yourself updated and out of harm’s way, and a nationwide earthquake drill. Will you participate?
The third installment of the Emmy award-winning zombie fest series, The Walking Dead, features an |array of exciting and intriguing new characters. Among them is seasoned British actor David Morrissey as The Governor. Debashine Thangevelo found out how he feels about depicting the villainous comic book character…
Yellow Brigade Commander 
Kieran Strange Wishes Everyone A Merry Undead Christmas!
Five New ‘WARM BODIES’ Posters Provide Undead Puns
There’s a ton of ZSC and Reedus t-shirts, tanks tops, hats, and more.
The best part? The hour-long special will feature interviews with people actually preparing for a real invasion of the undead.
Undead to take over Uptown as fundraiser for local charities