Get it! Because it’s about zombies! There’s no challenging that Zombieland dominated in every way possible. Word of a sequel was quick to surface, but that’s all it’s ever been. Movement hasn’t been swift, but now the concept that was first meant for television and then became a movie might become a television show once more. According to The Hollywood Reporter, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and producer Gavin Polone are developing a half hour comedy version of the movie for weekly consumption on Fox. This would add another notch to the trend of the undead hobbling around television. The Walking Dead was a door buster, and MTV has their own series that might head to a second season. What’s genius here is that it’s set up for comedy and for 22 minutes of story. With as tight as Reese and Wernick’s writing can be, there’s no doubt that they can jam a lot of bloody laughs into that amount of time. Now if they can only manage to get a solid make-up effects budget. Some might raise an eyebrow at the concept (and Fox’s involvement), but it’s incredibly cool to see anyone taking a chance on horror comedy on network TV. But if you were hoping for a movie instead, don’t worry! All television shows get promised a film version after they finish their run, and it always, always gets made.

So it’s October and that means only one thing – it’s Anytober at Subway, where any regular Subway sub is just $5. Wait, we’re not sponsored by Subway? Fuck that then, it’s October and on AMC that means the return of the critically acclaimed series The Walking Dead, based on the tremendous Image comic series. I say critically acclaimed because most critics don’t really enjoy horror movies and for some reason they can stomach The Walking Dead and are celebrating it. As a dyed in the wool horror fan (blood red), I’m not afraid to say that The Walking Dead on AMC is tremendously boring, not good horror, not good zombie action, and not even close to being a good adaptation. To fans of the graphic novels, what’s transpiring on the screen is bordering on being offensive. AMC has made a lot of great television, but this ain’t it.

One of the most high profile shows to come out of last year was AMC’s adaptation of the hit Robert Kirkman comic book The Walking Dead. But depending on who you ask, the first season was either the greatest thing ever to grace television or an absolute waste of storytelling potential. This past Saturday, one of the two most highly anticipated panels of the day was for The Walking Dead, mostly due to the fact that the second season of the show premieres tonight on AMC at 10pm.

What is Movie News After Dark? It’s a nightly movie news and editorial column that likes you. So much that it would get your named tattoo’d on its back, should you promise to read it every weeknight until the end of time. So lets make this happen, people. It’s got at least 200k names worth of back space. We begin tonight with a shot of Rooney Mara as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as published by a French photography portfolio. It’s one of a group of images that show a black and white David Fincher, a snowy Daniel Craig and plenty of the tattoo’d girl herself. Are we still looking forward to this one? Oh yes, we are.

Why Watch? Shouldn’t our goal be to domesticate the zombies? Here’s a Norwegian twist on an old favorite that combines energy, fear and a bit of heavy music. As it turns out, an anti-bacterial soap might be the key to stopping the zombie menace and have them work for us. The potential is obvious in this fantastic horror short, and if someone bought Torstein Jacobsen and Lars Torp Pettersen a better camera, the sky might be the limit for this pair of filmmakers. What does it cost? Just 12 minutes of your time. Check out the trailer for Vagabond for yourself:

Why Watch? This is the short film version of a headshot. Video games make awful adaptation material because, for some reason, they’re more fun for executives to suck all quality from. They’ve invariably meant for high budgets, but instead of bringing the faithful along for the ride, most productions tend to flip fans the middle finger while destroying any sense of story just in case anyone else wanted to enjoy what they were watching. Not so here. With a small budget and an aim at showcasing action, director Brian Curtin has created a fantastic short based on Half-Life. It could use a bit more in the way of character, but producing such a threatening, obviously villainous group of killers helps us feel for the leads without messy exposition. There are a few low budget problems, but they’re overshadowed by how impressive everything else is. Well shot, interestingly paced, and featuring some stellar production design, this is just engaging as hell. Plus, the ending is truly explosive. I’ve never played the game, so I can’t speak to how close they nailed it, but everything I’ve read seems to praise them for staying faithful. How about it, Half-Life (and/or zombie) fans? Is this the kind of thing you’d like to see expanded into a feature? What does it cost? Just 12 minutes of your time. Check out Beyond Black Mesa for yourself:

When an adaptation of “World War Z” was first announced back in 2008 with Marc Forster at the helm, a major question was how they would take an oral history that recounts a globe-spanning amount of zombie action and turn it into a workable movie. After all, the conversations of the book take place after the war and deal closely with survival and societal themes. As it turns out, the answer is apparently to redo the entire thing. According to the synopsis sent out by Paramount, the movie will look a little something like this: “The story revolves around United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt), who traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatening to decimate humanity itself.  [Mireille] Enos plays Gerry’s wife Karen Lane; [Daniella] Kertesz is his comrade in arms, Segen.” Aside from nitpicking that they didn’t use the word “decimate” correctly, that description looks more than a bit different than the book…

World War Z finally appears to be happening, with stories coming out quickly about who will be cast in which parts and when filming will start. The latest name to be tossed out is Lost star Matthew Fox, who might be bringing his trademark ability to scrunch up his face while crying to the production. According to Bloody Disgusting, they have reliable sources telling them the actor is on board to play “Parajumper.” There are apparently no other details about the character beyond the name (which sounds like a placeholder), but it does sound like Fox would be donning some military fatigues (or be donning veteran status). It would make for great casting alongside already great casting. Fox would join Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale and Anthony Mackie to describe the time that the planet got overrun with zombies. No word yet on what cameo role Max Brooks will take, but the people demand that he be on screen. Fox will next appear in I, Alex Cross and in Speed Racer if you want to rent it.

Why Watch? Because dry humor, zombies, lumps of clay, and Evil Dead go together surprisingly well. This short from Lee Hardcastle had its world debut at Cannes this year, and I would have given an undead right arm to be in the room when it played. Like yesterday’s zombie exploration, this is sweetly endearing for taking the abject horror of the genre and taming it with stop motion animation, tons of clay carnage, and a few simple jokes. Watch the short, and you’ll see Evil Dead all over it. What does it cost? Just 3 glorious minutes of your time. Check out A Zombie Claymation for yourself:

“They’re coming to get you Barbra!” This movie is a lesson to never, ever abide your elderly mother’s wishes and visit your father’s grave hundreds of miles away. If you do, you’ll get eaten to death. Or, you’ll have to hole up in a farmhouse that’s slowly but surely becoming overrun with the hungry undead. Night of the Living Dead is the first film from George A. Romero, the one that started a massive genre craze, the movie with working titles like Night of Anubis and Night of the Flesh Eaters and Monster Flick. It was a case of accidental racial and social commentary that has resonated throughout decades. It is the standard for how zombies should look and act like. Yet, for some strange reason, it doesn’t have a pie fight.

Mireille Enos has appeared in Big Love and, now, the AMC series The Killing, but she’ll make her way to theaters in a big way – playing the wife of Brad Pitt’s character in World War Z. Having never seen her work, I can only say I like the casting on principal. In a world where big budget films (like this one) have to have poster-ready names by the dozen in order to justify their bonds, it’s refreshing to see a relative unknown in what might an important role. According to Deadline Saskatoon, Enos will play Karin Lane, the wife of Gerard Lane (Brad Pitt) who is documenting the world a decade after the zombie invasion. Then again, she might also have a small role as someone he says goodbye to before heading out all over the world to get his story. So, who knows. Still, it’s better than Jessica Alba in a Lab Coat, right?

Like most human beings, I long for the moment when the lights will lower in the theater, and the title screen for World War Z will appear out of the darkness. It’s a tough adaptation to envision, but it’s also brimming with potential and zombies eating people’s faces. Just like the real zombie apocalypse, this flick has had some trouble getting started, but with potential financing in place, it looks like the production has hired a cinematographer. And they shot for the top. According to Bleeding Cool, the movie is moving forward, and Robert Richardson has been brought on to act as DP. The Oscar-winning Richardson, who directed photography for Platoon, A Few Good Men, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds, Shutter Island and many others, is a hell of a choice. So we know that, if this is true, the film will look good no matter what. Hopefully it’s all true, and Marc Forster will be side by side with Richardson, battling zombies for a summer shoot.

It looks as if the absurd notion of making a teen zombie romance movie is becoming more than just a notion, as Summit’s Warm Bodies is deep in the casting process. Already signed to star is Nicholas Hoult, who is about to take the screen as the new Beast in X-Men: First Class. And now actress Teresa Palmer is rumored to be close to signing on as the love interest. The film is being described as a cross between Twilight and Shaun of the Dead, so I guess that means that half of it is going to be embarrassingly melodramatic, while the other half will be irreverent and fun. I’m not sure exactly how that will look, but the name drop of Shaun of the Dead at least gives me hope that this project could be entertaining, and not a complete train wreck. Palmer’s character is described as the daughter of a high-ranking military man who falls in love with a zombie after it eats her boyfriend. Their budding relationship goes on to change the way humans and zombies interact all over the world. I’ve seen Palmer work in both I Am Number Four and Take Me Home Tonight. In I Am Number Four she didn’t get much to do other than look like a stone faced badass, but she handled the jumping around and punching stuff thing well. And I thought that she was appropriately charming and magnetic as the object of affection in Take Me Home Tonight. If

Why Watch? Vilhelm is a former gun-runner who heads to England to start a new life. A new life that’s overcome by death when human beings become food for the dead. This horror short is done with a stellar voice over (if you can imagine such a thing), some stirring imagery, and a lot more suggestion than jump scare. It’s all atmosphere, and that atmosphere works like a hammer to the jawline. Also, there’s a cool seen involving a hammer and a jawline. What Will It Cost? Just seventeen minutes of your time. Does it get better any better than that? Check out Plague for yourself:

Zombie fans have been celebrating ever since it was announced that Frank Darabont was developing the graphic novel The Walking Dead into a television series. Some folks questioned the choice of AMC as the right network, but the bet paid off when The Walking Dead premiered last year. It’s the first television series about the zombie apocalypse, and it’s gotten some great reviews. Now, all six episodes of the first season are available on DVD and Blu-ray, and what better way to enjoy them than with a drink in your hand. Because, let’s face it, in the event of the zombie apocalypse, you’ll want plenty of alcohol available to take the edge off.

Just like that time you got snakes to get rid of the mice infesting your house, and you ended up having to get mongooses to eat the snakes and then honey badgers to eat the mongooses and then armored tanks to get rid of the honey badgers, the next wave of horror romance has infected its next fad. Vampires are now passing the burning sensation in their loins over to Zombies. Summit, as you might guess, is still to blame. The plucky young studio will be using some of its Twi-capital to produce Warm Bodies – the story of a zombie named R that falls for one of his victims’ girlfriends and starts what must be a fetishistic relationship with her. Nicholas Hoult, who plays Beast in the forthcoming X-Men: First Class, is set to star. It’s unclear how this twist on the genre works exactly. Romance and vampires? Got it. Easy. Romance and that mindless mass of rotting flesh trying to constantly eat brains? That’s a different story. Speaking of which, the project is an adaptation of an as-yet-unpublished novel by Isaac Marion. It’s also the next evolution in shoving genre monsters into other formulas and calling it interesting. Of course, as always, it’s the execution that really matters. The bright side is that Jonathan Levine (The Wackness) will be writing and directing, so at least there’s talent bringing a singular vision to the project. Plus, Hoult may prove to be a strong acting presence even without blue CGI

If you’re like me, you watch the Super Bowl for one reason: you can eat as many fried mac ‘n’ cheese balls as you want without so much as a dirty look. If there’s another reason to watch, it’s because Puppy Bowl has gotten repetitive. If there’s a third, it’s the commercials – specifically the movie trailers. Most of the movie trailers this year gave just a bit more insight into trailers we’ve already seen, but a select few (like Transformers 3 and Super 8) gave us our first look into the worlds being created for the big screen. Fortunately, like the PSAs that get to air for free during the big game, these movie trailers also taught us a lot. Especially about the trends of 2011 that are already emerging. Here are just ten things we learned.

Somewhere out there in the internet tubes, Eric Linn decided to splice together all the zombie deaths from the first season of The Walking Dead. Watch it with someone you love. [Daily What]

I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced so many things I like brought together into a singular picture where the final result wasn’t quite as incredible as I would’ve initially thought. Not that the picture isn’t good, just not quite as good as the fantasy amalgamation. Shoot for the moon, though.

Rammbock is a sixty-minute long German survival picture combining tiny elements of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window with the enraged viral outbreak victims with an appetite for human flesh (I needed a long, intelligent way to say zombies) of films like Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later and adding in its own unique contribution to the rules of the zombie universe. Essentially, the infected person’s regression into a mindless, ravenous existence is accelerated by an increase in adrenaline. So, if you’ve been bitten and still retain all of your limbs and consciousness then your transformation can be significantly slowed if you maintain a calm emotional state.

Every Sunday in October, Old Ass Movies will be teaming with 31 Days of Horror in order to deliver a horror film that was made before you were born and tell you why you should like this. This week, Old Ass Horror presents one of the first zombie films ever committed to moving pictures – a horrifying man, a troubled hero, and the constant threat of death at the hands of a living dead puppet. Come along as we open up The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.