Dead Ringers - Custom Zombie Sculptures

It is finally time for my review of the appropriately named Dead Ringers I wrote about a few months back. Being a collector of statues and busts, I could not resist the opportunity to have a statue of myself as a zombie. They are not exactly cheap, but in my opinion are worth every penny. Is the final product worth your hard-earned change? Sit back as I discuss with you the pros and cons as well as offer some pointers in case you decide to take the plunge.

I will first start by admitting that my review may be overly-enthusiastic. Again, being a collector of statues and busts and an obvious fan of zombies, I was eager to have a Dead Ringer made. The process is simple: You email several pictures of yourself from different angles to the sculptor, Philip Hynes. Make sure to include any specific details you are looking to have done. What type of injuries do you have? Were you simply bitten or have you had an arm ripped off and half your face eaten? What skin color do you want? Bloodless and pale or Romero Dawn of the Dead blue? Maybe classic green? What about a pose? Would you be a shambling zombie with a blank stare or a fierce one lunging to attack?

My request was to be a freshly turned zombie. I wanted one eye removed and my cheek torn exposing my teeth. I included a picture of a zombie from Land of the Dead as my inspiration. I asked to have one arm out stretched slightly and the other dangling freely. In my mind, I envisioned the care-free dead from Romero's Dawn who just wandered around aimlessly, lazily, and effortlessly.

Now for the actual product... The good? Detail is aplenty and the sculptor is truly talented. You can view muscle fibers beneath the torn skin. There are tiny teeth visible where my cheek is missing. There is texture in the hair. Clothing has a natural flow. And while the statue as a whole is somewhat (and intentionally) caricature-ish, everything is proportioned well. More good? The painter, Martin Whitmore, is talented also. Skin tones look great. Colors are natural. And creative applications with a steady hand are apparent. The areas where skin is missing have a gloss finish making the wounds look realistic and wet. The shirt I wore had a white and gray coi fish that Marty was able to reproduce perfectly. He was even able to paint the tattoo that peaks out from under my shirt. As a whole, I received a statue that I am thoroughly impressed with.

So what about the bad? There's not much, really. The few things I will point out are really not all that important but I want to be thorough in case anyone reading decides to buy one. There are a few areas where it is apparent that this is hand made. The rare and slight "imperfections" are really not worth basing a decision on, though. It's no different than buying a hand-made vase or piece of glassware. It's art and it should be expected. I only mention it for anyone who would want to compare their sculpture to something produced by the likes of Gentle Giant or Bowen Designs. But then we're talking about companies who fine-tune items for editions of hundreds and even thousands so a completely flawless item is a bit more expected.

Pointers before contacting Marty to start your Dead Ringer? Think about what kind of zombie you want to be. Grab some inspiration from your favorite films, paintings, or zombie-walk participants. As goofy as you may feel, don't be afraid to be expressive in the pictures you send. I imagine it would make for a more fluid and believable pose to have a more animated facial expression. Choose to wear clothes that you don't mind looking at for a long, long time. Clothing is a small, yet obvious, detail that I did not consider when sending in my pictures. Another obvious one is to make sure you are having a good hair day and are wearing jewelry you don't mind having immortalized. Finally, make sure to send me some pictures so that I can feature you and your Ringer on ZT!

Thanks to Marty and Phil for an excellent addition to my toy collection and for providing me with what is now one of my favorite pieces. You can pick up your Dead Ringer 'Groaner' bust or 'Shambler' statue by visiting Marty's site. Prices range from $150 to $250 depending on what you want. As a zombie fan and toy collector I think it is money well-spent. In fact, after seeing mine, my son wants one! So who knows... you may see a second review in the future!

Marty and his Dead Ringer:

"Zombie Culture" Documentary

Camelot Entertainment Group, Inc announced that they will be releasing an upcoming documentary about our favorite subject. Zombie Culture: Documentary of the Living Dead, "is a retrospective on an eight-decade international obsession with cinematic zombies."

Camelot chairman Robert Atwell and Camelot President of Distribution Jamie Thompson will serve as Executive Producers on the film. “Zombie Culture capitalizes on how zombies have become the most popular movie monster. The film will document zombies from their humble beginnings to their seemingly unstoppable universal appeal,” states Thompson.

source: CNN

I Love Zombies Day

Who needs a Hallmark holiday like Valentine's Day when you can profess your love for the undead? "I Love Zombies Day" will be celebrated on February 13th.

What? You've never heard of I Love Zombies Day? That's because this is the first. The folks at imaginedaily.com are celebrating the occasion by giving away shirts to a few lucky folks who send in pics of their celebration. So regardless whether you will be reading a zombie book, watching zombie movies, playing zombie games, or walking around your neighborhood like a zombie; capture the moments and email them for a chance to win a shirt.

Click here for full details.

Dead Rising Movie Confirmed

So... a movie based on a video game that was based on a movie. Sounds about right. Dead Rising, a game based on George Romero's Dawn of the Dead is now getting a movie. The movie will be directed by Keiji Inafune who also created the original video game.

The movie will be available later this year through XBox Live and will follow two brothers who are trying to escape an area of Japan. Of course, they are escaping because of the zombie virus that has caused said area to be quarantined.

Those of you living in Japan can look to see this later in the year! Oh, yeah... did I forget to mention that it is being released only in Japan?

Find the official site and trailer here.

Pontypool On DVD

Prior to becoming a cubicle zombie, I ran a chain of record stores for over ten years. The excitement of Tuesday being "new release day" never dies. Except that, before I was able to have those new releases the previous week. But I digress...

Today marks the release of one of the best movies I was able to review last year, Pontypool. For the full review, view my previous post.

After reading some other reviews, I will leave you with this: Pontypool is a eerily suspenseful film that frightens without getting in your face. The few negative reviews I have read were from folks expecting your typical zombie gore. Watch this film knowing that you will not get that and you will be fine. Whatever you do, don't miss it. It is available on DVD only and I have not heard anything about a blu-ray release yet. Most video stores will have it to rent and I saw it on the Best Buy website for $14.99.

Pocket Zombies "Ted-E" Review

Pocket Zombies. My personal history with these guys can be taken two ways, I guess. One way to view my excitement and anticipation would be to say that Atomfreak Studios has much to live up to. The other would be that my mind was already made up and that I would love these little guys regardless of how they turned out. Personally, I think it would be the former.

The concept images were a fun and fresh take on our favorite subject and left my expectations high for their debut. Besides, as a family man who's children enjoy sharing dad's enthusiasm for zombies, they were definitely a welcome change from the norm. Don't get me wrong, I have proclaimed Sideshow Collectibles' in-house The Dead line as the best zombie toys on the market. But a cutely gruesome zombie that is suitable for the eyes of children while still appealing to the adult collector is hard to not like. On a side note, my daughter who will be two in March said "zombie" for the first time while looking at these guys. A proud moment for daddy, indeed.

After drooling over the 3D computer images of Ted-E, I pretty much knew what he looked like. Once he arrived, he looked exactly like those images. There were no surprises. Well... there are, but I'll get to that later. His smile, clothes, skin tones, and posture were exactly as great-looking as the concepts. So, if you don't like the images you've seen up to now you won't like the finished product. If, like me, you have enjoyed the images you have seen he is a must-buy.

Sculpting details are great for a toy of this type. Stitches, skin imperfections, hair details, and clothing all have the sculpted details they need. Paint applications are clean with minimal, if any, bleeding. There are some nice touches to the paint applications as well. Ted-E's white shirt isn't pure white, but rather, has the appearance of being dirty. The same goes for his jeans as the bottom of them are darker and dirtier than the rest.

The packaging is great, too. He arrives in a colorfully decorated window box that reminds me of the days of grabbing for a toy off of the shelf. Ted-E is featured on the box cut-out while his toy counterpart is behind the clear plastic begging to be played with. Of course, the back of the box features the other two characters available from this series.

Inside the box, you will not only find Ted-E, but also the "surprise" I mentioned earlier. Ted-E arrives with his very own collector card and some flies. I thought the flies were a great touch. And if you are wondering why, head over to the Pocket Zombies site and you will know the answer. But even these little flies have the same great unique qualities as Ted-E himself. They are sculpted with a great caricature quality having one eye larger than the other. What I found even more incredible is that the flies had three different sculpts to them! It's one thing to add something little like that but going all-out by including different sculpts for little flies as accessories is just an awesome touch.

So what did I not like about this little guy? Not a whole lot. At first, I wasn't a huge fan of the printed "Pocket Zombies" logo on the base. However, after discovering that it was not a sticker and was actually screened on, my opinion changed. Personally being a primary collector of limited, numbered statues and busts, I thought it would be nice to know if there was a set edition size for these guys. Again, this doesn't really bother me as he is a toy or "art collectible" and the majority of art collectibles are not numbered. In fact, I think I only have one that is and that's the Mark Ryden YHWH piece. I guess it would be possible to complain about the lack of articulation. While I mostly prefer non-poseable statue type collectibles, some may prefer to have toys with more pose-ability. But again, that's just a preference.

The bottom line? If you enjoy the images of the character's design, buy it. There are no surprises. At $35, this is a relatively inexpensive toy. Not that I condone purchasing anything for the investment aspect, but if series one, "The Family", does well we can expect to see future installments. I'm not exactly sure what creator, Alex Rodrigue of Atomfreak Studios, has in store but I do know that plans are in motion and other character designs are completed. This is a fun toy that can be displayed in various places in your home without worry of freaking out children and neighbors.

Romero's "Survival of the Dead" Has An Official Release Date

We finally have a release date for George Romero's "Survival of the Dead". Survival will be available through Video On Demand on April 30th. There will also be a limited number of theaters showing the film on May 28th.

Stay up-to-date by following the official Survival of the Dead Facebook page. While your there, follow Zombies & Toys for exclusive news, updates, and bonus contest entries.

Double Contest Goodness

Here's a quick contest update...

As announced earlier, one of the ways to enter March's contest for some great toys is by customizing your own Skully. I just wanted to mention that while you're entering the contest here, why not send your pics to Delicious Drips for your chance to win some prizes there as well? There will be 10 winners with the top three taking home cash! For full details, check out the Skully Blog.

There you have it, enter two contests with just one custom!

Prizes
1st Place= $150 cash, $100 certificate to Delicious Drips, Origami x Toy2r Skate Deck
2nd Place= $100 cash, $50 certificate to Delicious Drips, 8″ Toy2r Bear Qee
3rd Place= $25 cash, $25 certificate to Delicious Drips, Headphonie of your choice
4th-10th Place= $20 certificates to Delicious Drips

Numurkah

Numurkah is a town about two hours North of Melbourne in Australia. For obvious reasons, I'm not about to tell you about that town. I mean... you are reading a zombie blog.

No. Numurkah is the name of a short film by Ryan Coonan. At 12 minutes in length, you need to do yourself a favor and watch. Not only does this short contain zombies, it is also an extremely well-done and professional-looking film. The best part? Titan View is in the final stages of development and the film will go into production at the end of this year. And believe me, after watching the short you will definitely want more.

The film has a backdrop of the climate change but it's environmental theme is said to not be the focus. How the climate changes creates or effects the zombies is unknown.

I'll post more news as I encounter it. It's doubtful we'll hear anything more for quite some time, though, as this is early news. The short is below, but go to YouTube and watch it larger. I have also been saving all of the zombie and toy videos on my page. So feel free to subscribe to my channel for quick reference or to follow along.

Zombie Driver Demo Now Available

Some may remember hearing about Zombie Driver from a post in October. Zombie Driver is an overhead view driving game with a twist. If the title of the game and the fact that you're reading about it here is not an indication, there are zombies involved. You race through the streets searching for survivors while rolling over the hordes of undead.

For those curious enough, a free demo is now available by visiting the official Zombie Driver site.

Zombie Driver™ - is an action driving game with a top down perspective and a dynamic helicopter chase camera. Fight your way through the streets of a zombie infested city to save the survivors of a disastrous chemical accident that changed most of the city's population into mindless brain hungry monsters. Time is your enemy and your car is your weapon as you race through the streets smashing everything on your way including fences, phone booths, street lamps and hordes of zombies. When the gruesomely mutated zombies become too much to handle, buy a new car or get more guns and upgrades installed. You can earn more money for finishing side quests, making kill combos and searching for hidden prizes.

"The Walking Dead" Television Series Moving Ahead

If I had to force someone to read one piece of zombie literature, I would tell them to read Robert Kirkman's zombie epic, The Walking Dead. Don't get me wrong, Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide is the gospel. But The Walking Dead, to me, is everything a great zombie story needs.

The news about AMC picking up this comic series and turning it into a television series is old news. The fact that AMC oficially gave it the greenlight recently is still exciting. All we need to do now is hope that it moves beyond the pilot episode. ...and that it's good!

From Variety:

Frank Darabont penned the adaptation and is on board to direct. Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Motion Pictures and David Alpert of Circle of Confusion will exec produce with Darabont and Kirkman.

"Working with people like Frank Darabont and Gale Anne Hurd is the right way in for us to deliver a project of distinction in this genre," AMC prexy Charlie Collier said.

"Warm Bodies" - Upcoming Zombie Romance Novel/Movie

The rights to a new zombie film based on a book by Isaac Marion have been picked up by Summit Entertainment. The novel, Warm Bodies, is being published this summer by Atria Books. From Variety:

[The] story centers on an existentially tormented zombie who begins an unlikely friendship with the girlfriend of one of his victims and starts a chain reaction that will transform him and his fellow zombies.

Film details thus far in a nutshell:

* Jonathan Levine will write and direct

* Bruna Papandrea will produce through Make Movies

* Laurie Webb and Cori Shepherd Stern

I wasn't overly excited when I first read about this one. Personally, I prefer the traditional "run/shoot it's a friggin' zombie" type of film. Though, I originally was not excited about SG Browne's Breathers but now admit to it being one of the best books I read last year. Reading an excerpt from Warm Bodies quickly sparked some enthusiasm and now I am eager to give it a read. Eventually, I'll learn that different can still be good. To read the excerpt yourself as well as some words from the author, head over to burningbuilding.com.

SkullyBoom Contest!

I mentioned several weeks ago that there would be an upcoming contest featuring SkullyBoom and the wait is now over. SkullyBoom is a company that makes customizeable vinyl toys. A skull-shaped vinyl canvas if you will. They are also bringing this medium to the world of consumer electronics. Skully can also be purchased as a portable speaker that is every bit as custumizable.

This contest will be a bit different than previous ones. Entering to win will take "credits" which can be earned in different ways. Hidden throughout this blog will be pictures with the image of the Skully I made photoshopped in. Each pic you find and report will earn you one credit. But don't run off and start scouring the site just yet... the Zombies & Toys Skully won't appear in any pictures until February.

The real reason for the early announcement of March's (yes, March) contest is to give everyone sufficient time for the fun way to enter. By emailing a picture of your customized Skully to skully@zombiesandtoys.com you will receive 5 credits. You can pick up your Skully from the Zombie Toy Store, SkullyBoom, or it can be one you already have and painted.

There will be 3 prize packages available. Each prize will contain one of the designer Skullys featuring the work of Squidnik. Also included will be a set of red glow Z.O.M.B.I.E.s, some Zombies & Toys swag, and a few other goodies that will be revealed later.

Life With The Undead

Something I've been wanting to do for quite some time is create a post that lists all of the zombie sites I like to read. As simple as it sounds, it's quite a daunting task. One site I was just introduced to and deserves your attention is Life With The Undead.

Life With The Undead is actually a blog chronicling the activities of a continuing survivor of the zombie apocalypse. Fans of Day By Day Armageddon should be familiar with the "this is what happened today" writing style. Now is a good time to get on board as there have only been a few posts.

Upon finishing this post, I intend on updating the list of links in the margin. Sites I'm an affiliate of are towards the bottom; Everything else is chosen by me to advertise for free. I make no money by linking to the sites I support (except for the Zombies and Toys Zombie Toy Store). They are all sites I enjoy or who have supported Zombies and Toys in some way. With that said, look for more individual posts featuring some of my favorites in the near future.

Zombies & Toys Wins A Zombie Chicken Award

"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken – excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words."

Even though I've been blogging about zombies for a little over a year now I still consider myself a 'noob. My initial goals were simple: To have fun and provide a place for zombie fans to hear all the recent zombie news. Never did I expect to have a blog that would receive hundreds and, sometimes, thousands of hits in a day. I still structure what I do around those two basic fundamentals and have been able to add to them thanks to the support and contributions of everyone reading.

I was recently given the Zombie Chicken Award by Rhonny at the Dollar Bin Horror. It is an award given to bloggers from bloggers which makes it that much better. I am grateful for the honor of being recognized by another blogger.

The recipient of the award is to nominate 5 other blogs to receive it as well. I don't know if I can list just 5, though. Instead, I encourage everyone to please visit the sites I have linked in the margin and to check out the blogs that I follow. I wouldn't post them and follow them myself if I didn't think it wasn't worth the time.

In conclusion, a sincere and honest "Thank You" for the award and to everyone who reads my rantings.

The Horde - New Info About French Zombie Film

I have mentioned French zombie film, The Horde, several times in the past. Heck, the first post was in April of last year! Well, we are finally getting close to seeing it.

The Horde will be released in its native country of France next month. I know, I know... in France. BUT it already has already been picked up for distribution stateside by IFC Films. So, hopefully, we will have the opportunity to pick up this DVD in a few months.

Long-time readers will know I'm a fan of French films. Want to watch some great cinema? Rent High Tension, Martyrs, Them, or Frontier(s). Yannick Dahan who directed Frontier(s) is also the director of The Horde.

Bottom line: I'm excited and you should be too.

The Horde synopsis:

A posse of crooked cops, malevolent gangsters and a horde of walking dead as the centre point of this gruesome, tight, action packed, claustrophobic tale of retribution and escape. Penned like animals, on the top floor of a deserted high-rise block, these two opposing gangs find that they are not alone in the lair of bloodthirsty corridors of death. Joining forces to survive, they must reach ground level together or perish. Loaded with a bad ass attitude, guns, axes and extremely creative hand-to-hand combat sequences that project the fears and paranoia that are the fighting forces behind the need to survive, when caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Horde trailer:


The Horde images: