Warm Bodies
Directed by Jonathan Levine
Written by Jonathan Levine
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich, Rob Corddry
Summit Entertainment
Rated PG-13 | 97 Minutes
Release Date: February 1st, 2013

Back in 1993, Bob Balaban directed an obscure romantic zombie comedy (a rom-zom-com, if you’re one of those people) called My Boyfriend’s Back, about a teenager who returns from the dead as a zombie to take his high school sweetheart to the prom.

I won’t lie to you, I secretly kind of love My Boyfriend’s Back – it’s a guilty pleasure, what can I say. As a kid, I would rent the VHS tape every other weekend – along with The Sandlot and Critters – until the tracking button on the VCR begged for mercy.

Guilty pleasures (code for ‘bad movies’) are essential to appreciating good cinema. I won’t say My boyfriend’s Back paved the way to my discovery of films like Touch of Evil or The Seventh Seal, but as the late film critic Pauline Kael once said, “Movies are so rarely great art, that if we can’t appreciate great trash, there is little reason for us to go.” Amen, sister.

Balaban’s movie is great trash, and worth seeing for, if nothing else, early appearances by actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Matthew McConaughey, Renée Zellweger, and Matthew Fox.

Why am I talking so much about this damn movie? Well, because I found myself thinking of My Boyfriend’s Back and films like Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead and Dan O’Bannon’s Return of the Living Dead while watching Jonathan Levine‘s latest film, Warm Bodies, based on the novel by Isaac Marion.

I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus
Written by S.G. Browne
Gallery Books
Release Date: October 30, 2012
Hardcover | Kindle

Okay, let me preface this review of I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus with the statement that I’m really not a fan of zombies. *Pauses for gasps and looks of shock* I am a huge fan of that popular zombie comic and the television series upon which it is based. Maybe a few of the movies over the years have entertained me, but for the most part…nope, couldn’t care less. Let the Facebook unfriending begin!

Now, having said this, I went into this book with zero expectations and not a little apprehension. I am not normally known for finding entertainment in silly stories but luckily this one surprised me from start to finish. I Saw Zombies Eating Santa Claus was a fun novel from the get go. A real eye-opener to what I might have normally passed off as not worthy of my attention. I laughed so much while reading this novella that I woke my wife up twice that night with all the noise. On top of it all, there was a really great story to be found here, wrapped up in some well laid humor and morals.

Exit Humanity
Netflix Streaming
DVD
Directed by John Geddes
Starring Brian Cox, Mark Gibson, Dee Wallace, Bill Moseley, Stephen McHattie, Jordan Hayes, Adam Seybold
Foresight Features and The Collective
Originally Released: September 18, 2011

So what does the zombie movie Exit Humanity have to do with my Thanksgiving celebration? Please endure (and indulge) me while I explain a little.

Several years ago, I found myself in a position where I was going to be alone for Thanksgiving. I decided rather than do nothing; I would create my own unique personal tradition for the November holiday: I would cook up some good quality Italian sausage in place of the stereotypical turkey, and watch some zombie movies.

This may not be traditional, but look at it this way: while you were putting up with Aunt Ethyl embarking on a diatribe about Obama being an Antichrist as she shovels bad stuffing into her pie-hole, I was escaping into a kick-ass zombie apocalypse set during the U.S. Civil War era.

That’s right: zombies through the Civil War era.

Out There
Directed by Randal Plunkett
Written by Randal Plunkett
Starring Conor Marren, Emma Eliza Regan, Johnny Carey
Produced by Kevin Fisher, Randal Plunkett
Dunsany Productions
Released 2012

Robert (Conor Marren) wakes up in a forest with a severe head wound. He calls out for help but when no one comes, he ambles through the woods to a house of horrors. There’s no help there, either. This is the opening scene of Out There, the latest short horror film by Randal Plunkett. You can watch the trailer below.

Through flashbacks, we learn what has happened to the young man and his girlfriend, Jane, (Emma Eliza Regan) with whom he was traveling. We learn the phones have gone down everywhere and she’s worried about her parents. We learn there’s been a car accident and something else – something so horrific it leads the young man to do the unthinkable: leave his girlfriend trapped and all too conscious in the car that won’t start in time for them to get away from”¦wait for it”¦a hourde of fast moving ZOMBIES!

Hello Geeks and Ghouls, Famous Monster here. Well, it’s finally October and you know what that means? Breast Cancer Awareness 5Ks? Good guess. Pumpkin Spice Lattes? Delicious, but no. Halloween? YES. Horror movies? DOUBLE YES!

Welcome to 31 Days of Horror, where I’ll cover at least two noteworthy horror films a day for the entirety of the month. That’s 31 Days of Horror and 62+ scary movies perfect for a cold, dark October night. Be sure to visit Geeks of Doom every day this month for a double-shot of chills and thrills!

Today’s double-shot of flesh-eating, brain-draining zombie horror features George A. Romero‘s 1968 cult classic, Night of the Living Dead, and satirical sequel, 1978’s Dawn of the Dead. Two films that should give you plenty of food for thought – or is that thought for food?