The short answer: yes.
The real question is, “Why?” Since George A. Romero gave us “Night of the Living Dead” in 1968, zombies haven’t exactly been an underground concept, but in 2013 it seems like it’s already everywhere. Cami Hadley called the episode “Killer Within” (2012) of “The Walking Dead” fueled with fear and grief. That statement seems to sum up zombies pretty accurately, but the craze hardly stops at television. Here are a few ways zombies are lurking around us in 2013:
Warm Bodies
The romantic parody “Warm Bodies,” which opened at nearly $20 million, shows as that zombie movies no longer belong to sci-fi and horror movie geeks. Your 14-year-old sister will likely want to go catch a flick like this.
This might infuriate you, but it shouldn’t. “Warm Bodies” is certainly no “Twilight.” In fact, the “zomedie” more likely mocks the tween genre rather than celebrates it. And if that isn’t enough fun to satisfy the hardcore fan, an article at Popular Science uses the movie to challenge the idea of whether or not zombies have conscious thoughts (a challenge “The Walking Dead” also features). At the very least, it makes great debate material against the typical pop-zombie lore.
World War Z
Okay, so “Warm Bodies” still isn’t enough to quench your devotion to the true zombie genre. Then the Super Bowl ad for “World War Z,” based on the novel by Max Brooks, is probably exactly the beverage you were looking for. An unusual action casting choice for Brad Pitt, this movie’s $200 million budget looks promising and packed with climbing walls of zombies, apocalyptic destruction and horrifying scenarios.
The flick doesn’t hit screens until June 20, so you still have several months to read the book if you can’t wait until summer.
Day Z & Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Since the early days of the first “Resident Evil,” new zombie video games have been released every year, but we’re starting to see a more organic approach to the genre. When Activision released the first “Call of Duty: Black Ops” in 2010, it included a zombie mode as a side game. Three years later, the zombie mode in “Black Ops 2” is so expansive and popular, it could stand alone as its own game. What was once an “alternative” game became its own empire.
The same is true for “Day Z,” a zombie survival game that started as nothing more than a fan-made mod to the existing title “Arma 2” for the PC. “Day Z” picked up so much steam that developers are converting it to a stand-alone game this year, according to the developer’s blog. This sort of fan-fueled craze is what’s taking the zombie genre past classic franchises like “Resident Evil” and making them popular and unique.
Zombieland on Amazon
The action-comedy “Zombieland” is a personal favorite, so hearing the news that Amazon was picking up a spin-off series exclusive to its streaming service was very exciting. With Netflix landing exclusive content like “House of Cards,” Amazon is punching back with its own original zombie series that will take place in the “Zombieland” world. The new show won’t feature any original cast members but will follow the same tone and format as the movie, according to iO9.
