This Dark Earth
Paperback l Kindle
By John Horner Jacobs
Gallery Books
Release date: July 3, 2012

Once in a great long while, a book that you absolutely cannot put down upon pain of death comes along. All the stars and planets align. The Universe is in agreement that you do, in fact, need to read this book from start to finish. It creates things like a sinus infection to keep you curled up in your Lay-Z-Boy, thunderstorms to keep your 60 pound normally active dog stuck to your chest on said Lay-Z-Boy and better things for your Facebook friends to do. This is precisely how I spent two days with John Hornor Jacobs‘ This Dark Earth.

While there are countless zombie novels on the market (half of which I may have read) you’d be hard pressed to find one that’s utterly unique in its approach to the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it theme. This Dark Earth is really no different in that respect. The world falls apart; a virus is mysteriously unleashed that turns normal dead people into the shuffling, moaning, hungry undead; survivors are wary of each other but a tentative trust forms desperately out of the sheer mutual will to live. But what makes Jacobs’ book such a worthy read is how sparklingly, refreshingly, goddamned good the writing is.

Naughty Dog, the team behind the ridiculously good Uncharted trilogy, were also in attendance at E3 to show off their new game, The Last of Us.

Not a whole lot is known about the game other than it focuses on a man and a girl who, together, are making their way through and trying to survive the aftermath of the apocalypse. The devastation is caused by some sort of pandemic, which causes some people to become zombie-like mutated beings (as was seen in the debut trailer for the game), and you’ll have the option of going to war with enemies or trying to make your way through dangerous areas unseen.

A gameplay demo was presented at the convention, and while it doesn’t give us more on this zombie mutants, it does show off the combat with human enemies (everyone who survives the apocalypse becomes dangerous in one way or another), and how your teenage companion can help out.

Head on below now to see the gameplay demo for The Last of Us.

The thirteenth episode of The Geeks Of Doom Round Up is here, and Andy takes a look at the trailer for The Watch starring Ben Stiller and directed by Akiva Schaffer. For our music selection this week, Greg gets you prepared for the ongoing Zombie Apocalypse, with a tune from Anthrax called “Fight ‘Em ‘Til You Can’t.”

On the topic of Zombies, we take a look at a couple of movies/music-related posts from right here at Geeks Of Doom. We also review the latest news surrounding the retirement of George Lucas, as Kathleen Kennedy steps up as co-chair of Lucasfilm.

Podcast

[Download Link]

Aaaaaah, it seems as though one of you musical mobile meatsnacks went ahead and set my work-day to song with the sweet sounds of this compilation, Music for the Zombie Apocalypse.

I guess now it’s time us hobbling human-hunting halitosis humidors learn a few new dance steps. Well, to be honest all this shuffle-hop-step-drag-lurch nonsense was getting a bit boring anyhow. While you still have fingers and ears, clickety clack on over to Amazon and buy mp3 album for only $2.99 for a limited time (much like your lifespan) and enjoy the soundtrack to your demise.

Aaah! Zombies!!
Netflix Streaming
DVD
Directed by Matthew Kohnen
Starring Matthew Davis, Julianna Robinson, Michael Grant Terry, Betsy Beutler, Richard Riehle, Tracey Walter, Colby French
Level 33 Entertainment
Originally Released: October 16, 2007

With the recent memes following the “zombie attack” news report from Florida, I found myself in a bit of a zombie flick mood this week for the Netflix Review. I was discussing this with a good friend of mine after reading the “bite your face off” news, and he recommended Aaah! Zombies!! to me because the story is told from the perspective of the zombies themselves.

Fascinated by this hysterical premise, I decided to dive into it. And what an eccentric ride this movie is.

Branded as a horror comedy, Aaah! Zombies!! dispenses exactly what it proposes: a zombie flick from the perspective of the zombies. The movie, directed by Matthew Kohnen, plays up on the well-known and thoroughly grounded trends and stereotypes from zombie tradition.

Aaah! Zombies!!, originally released under the name of Wasting Away, follows the ordeals of four teens that becoming exposed to a toxic waste that turn them into zombies. Accompanied by a man who claims to be Black Ops, the group is immune to injuries and imperceptive of their bodily transformation. They think they are victims of a military experiment that have turned them into super soldiers.