This is an absolutely cracking show – tune in (or get it off the torrents) to see what they’re going to do with a barn full of zombies.

4th February: George A. Romero birthday , 72 years young today!

The original is here to watch on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYxs7Y7ulrM&feature=youtu.be

Location shoots in Glasgow (as Philadelphia) have been done

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-14523503

According to the report, the dogs come back perfectly normal with no brain damage. Mark my words though, something’s going to go wrong when they get round to testing it humans. Trioxin 245? Return of the Living Dead? It’s a matter of time…

Here’s the full article

Boffins Create Zombie Dogs

1. Jackie Stallone

With some zombies you can get an idea of what killed them.  This one looks like its been run over a few times.

2. Paula Radcliffe; Marathon Runner

Maybe I have been wrong all this time – maybe zombies can run

3. Norman Tebbit; Fascho UK Politician

…or perhaps it’s Normo “on yer bike” Tebbs

Trendy teen sit-com the O.C’s MILF par excellence bears a striking resemblance to to the zombie queen from the dreadful Return of the Living Dead III (ok, ok, we know, it *is* her, but this is too good an opportunity to miss.

5. Pete Doherty

Deathly pallor – check, dazed expression – check, glazed over eye – check.  Oh yeah, he’s a zombie alright.

6. Science out of Big Brother 6

Loudmouth housemate “Science” (real name Terrance or something) off UK Big Brother 6

7. Oddbod Junior from “Carry on Screaming”

Character from classic Brit comedy series vs Helicopter blade head chop zom.

8. Mursi tribeswoman with her lip plate out

Never thought I’d stumble across a lookalike for Day of the Dead’s “Dr Tongue”, but look at this woman from the Ethiopian Mursi tribe when she’s not got her supporting lip plate in.

9. Face Transplant Lady

That French woman who had a face transplant after it got eaten off by her dog.

What You Will Need:

• Jug of Beer
• Bottle of Tequila
• Bottle of Whiskey
• Zombie Film
• Strong Stomach (for hard drinking and gore)

Full glass of each drink in front of each player. Hit play

Penalties 

1. Zombie gets shot: Perfect head shot in the head; zombie drops to the floor
Mouthful of beer

2. Zombie gets shot: Body shot; zombie staggers, but lumbers on
    Mouthful of Whiskey

3. Someone is bitten by a zombie – then tries to hide it from the other survivors
 Drain one of your glasses

4. Cornered character shoots themselves in the head rather than get eaten by zombies.
Drain one of your glasses, refill it, drain it again

5. Weeping character, mourns the recent death of a loved one. In the background the corpse sits up.
    Drain whiskey glass
Drain beer glass as well if events are taking place a morgue.

6. Zombie hand bursts out of ground / grave / through barricaded door
Shot of tequila

7. Someone looking at sea of zombies says “what are they?”
Drain someone else’s glass

8. Army shows up – and save the day
    Finger of whiskey

9. Army shows up – and reveal themselves to be the reason for the outbreak
    Two fingers of whiskey

10. Character who previously went missing reappears – as a zombie
Sip of beer

11. Character who previously went missing reappears – alive
    Sip of whiskey

12. Character who previously went missing reappears – alive, but gets shot anyway
    Sip of beer and sip of whiskey

13. Tom Savini’s in it
    Drink beer for duration of his scene

The Science:

For reasons unknown the bodies of the recently deceased are rising from the grave.  This is a zombie.  Anyone who dies during a zombie plague returns as the walking dead.  The limitation of the risen dead is governed by how decayed that body is at the outbreak of the zombie plague; a skeleton cannot return as there is no muscle and sinew to move the bones, and no brain to drive it.  It’s not a virus, not chemicals; it is dead people getting up again.

The Lore:

Nothing can epitomise a zombie more than corpse arms pushing out from the soil of a grave, a dead body sitting up on the mortuary slab, or cadaver clambering out of its coffin.  Watch a good zombie film closely and you’ll even see a zombie sporting clues about how it originally died (car crash victim, drug overdose, operating table)

Note about zombie bites

A bite of a zombie does not directly create another zombie – the bite kills its victim but just as any dead body will return to life during a zombie plague, so it is also the case here: victim gets bitten, victim dies, victim then returns to life as the walking dead.  The time taken for this varies according to the severity of the bite.  A serious attack can result in death and reanimation within minutes whereas a slight nip can take up to a week.

There are three general bite / attack scenarios:

i.    Extreme attack: Victim is attacked by a large number of zombie and is pulled to pieces before reanimation is possible
ii.   Moderate attack: Victim is killed by zombies but the speed of devouring is slow enough that the body remains intact enough, long enough to achieve reanimation.  Since zombies do not eat other zombies (see rule 3), the point at which the corpse becomes a zombie, other zombies lose interest.
iii.   Slight attack: Victim escapes with minor injuries only to succumb to death and zombification over a longer period.

Further note about zombie bites and infections

Question: “if you are bitten by a “zombie”…and there is no virus or chemical that causes the dead to rise, why do you die if bitten?”

An infection does not have to be virus, poison or chemical based – it is possible to get a bacterial based infection from a rusty nail. Also, consider Komodo dragons; these are huge lizards that have around 50 different strains of bacteria in the saliva of their filthy mouths. After biting their prey they release it then wait for it to die of the severe infection. The zombie bite is similar in that a zombie mouth is, as you can imagine, an extremely dirty, germ ridden place. The microbes living in a zombie mouth will be passed into the blood stream of a living human in the even of a bit, leading to fatal consequences.

The Science:

The zombie is dead flesh driven by stimulus to feed; there is no high level brain activity, just basic motor function to enable it to shamble after food.  Residual memories may exist in what is left of its brain which causes it to gravitate towards known locations.  There may also be some very rudimentary use of tools, for example hitting a barricade with a stick but they are just as likely to bash at that barrier until their hands break off.  Additionally they may back away from fire, but they won’t “think” any further than how they get from where they are to where you are.

This issue of zombies that learn is a fine line; basic instinctive reactions to repeated situations are possible, e.g. associating a location as being a source of food and returning there.  This is not a high level of thinking; a goldfish will “learn” that the lifting of the tank’s lid means food is coming and so will come to the surface.  It eventually also discovers that when a fishing net is put into the tank it is time to hide in the castle.  However, a goldfish will not co-operate with other goldfish to lay traps.  As for goldfish, it is so for zombies – there is a huge leap from repetitive training to use of guile.

The Lore:

A reanimated corpse is simply an automaton driven by the desire to consume human flesh.  That is it – no power of logic. The retained memories of their former lives may result in instinctive actions like sitting in a car with their hands on the steering wheel.   This is due to the “habit” of driving a car rather than thoughts of actually driving anywhere.

The Science:

Zombies are motivated by one thing: the desire to consume livingflesh.  Because all zombies are dead they will ignore each other.  If a zombie happens across an old piece of meat – be it a severed limb or tin of beef – it will ignore that as well.  A zombie does not care what species its prey is as long as it is living.  Zombie instinct may value human prey as higher priority but it WILL NOT EXCLUDE NON-HUMAN TARGETS.  Thus animals are also not safe.

The Lore:

Zombie senses (sees? smells? hears?) living flesh, zombie shambles after it.  Zombie sees something hot-blooded even closer, zombie aims for that instead. If it lives – it is a target.