Roommate Wanted - Dead or Alive

'Roommate Wanted - Dead or Alive' is yet another graduation film from the venerable students of The Animation Workshop. The short opens with Adam, a financially-strapped medical student posting a desperately-worded roommate opening online.

Within minutes (as is the typical case for cartoons), Adam is greeted by Zack, the one and only response to his posting. Little did Adam suspect however that his plea for a roommate regardless of whether they possessed a pulse or not would yield a result for the latter. Can these two strangers manage to make it out together, and maybe even become friends along the way?

The Odd Couple

There's a lot to love about this short. What sets "Roommate Wanted" apart from the rest of the graduation films I've seen come out of the Workshop lately is that it is a purely physical, clay-mation puppet production as opposed to the 2D-3D animations we've seen up until this point.



It certainly wears its influences on its sleeve, with the exaggerated pantomimic gestures typically associated with Wallace and Gromite coupled with an over-the-top Vincent Price-esque narration rhyming throughout the short. I absolutely adore the intricate touches of detail,  the crooked xylophone-like grating of the radiator, the faded postcard stickers and leather of Zack's suitcase.
The slapstick tone of Composer Mathias Winum's score certainly is reminiscent of Frederic Bayco's iconic work. Check out more of the team's production work on their student Tumblr.

The Art of Yuanda Yu

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Yuanda Yu is an eight-year veteran concept artist with over twelve collective years of experience in digital illustration, and boy does it shows. His meticulous attention to detail is superb, his subject matter covers the gamut of hard line post-apocalyptic and speculative sci-fi tropes.

The subtle incorporation of pronounced yet careful visual cues to a variety of different culture precedes the temperament of an artist who devotes himself to the passionate study of world culture as well as illustration. Yu is currently working as a senior artist for Barajoun Entertainment and has done work for CCP and Webzen. Check out a sampling of his work after the break!

Self-Assembly Proves, Once Again, That Dead is Better

In Self-Assembly, A young couple are forced to resort to a demonic resurrection device in order to bring back their son after a freak incidence of tragedy. What comes out of the box is not what they put into it (or is it?), and the couple must decide whether to half-heartedly raise this mischievous homunculus who looks like one of the scammers from Futurama, or if the famous maxim of Stephen King's Pet Sematary remains true.

The short's ominous sense of dark serious is well-established, never abating for even a second while still managing to cram in a few unsettling laughs. It just gets weirder and weirder from minute one. Check out more of Director Ray Sullivan's work here.

Left 4 Dead Arrives In Japan - As An Arcade Game?

Valve and Turtle Rock's Left 4 Dead franchise has been out and going strong for years now, spawning a sequel (Or two), selling millions of copies on Steam and consoles and being a key player in the zombie genre revival that's been prevalent over the last few years. A new trailer unveiled yesterday shows off a new entry into the franchise called Left 4 Dead - Survivors which will be making it's debut in Japanese arcades relatively soon with field tests at the end of the month.

Developed by Taito, who have had a relationship with Valve since 2006 in creating some truly unique arcade adaptations of their core franchises, this looks like it's shaping up to be a more streamlined version of the core L4D cooperative experience with a series of networked arcade cabinets. You might ask yourself how on earth a first person shooter like this will work without a traditional mouse or keyboard setup, but we have a few ideas.



Half Life 2: Survivor took the classic sequel and condensed the entire experience into a more arcadey dual joystick shooter with a much more linear progression throughout. While the story remained relatively the same, a timer option added quite a bit of stress to wrapping up the campaign. The title was also networked with other machines to offer multiplayer modes, including a coop option.



CounterStrike NEO was an even stranger breed, taking the classic gameplay of the Terrorist Vs Counter Terrorist premise and reskinning it to have cyborg characters with an anime aesthetic, female announcers and maps I've never seen before. The arcade version actually had a rudimentary mouse and keyboard setup with a 'profile card' system that would allow players to store their stats and settings.

So why all these arcade ports of titles that could be easily purchased on Steam and other platforms? It's been pretty well documented that Japan's gaming community has always been lukewarm at best towards first person shooters, so this is yet another attempt by Valve to acquaint Japanese audiences with their franchises in a more palatable, convenient format. Left 4 Dead - Survivor will be premiering in arcades sometime this summer.

Steadfast Stanley

Animated by John Cody Kim, Steadfast Stanley is about a loving corgi attempting to find the owners who left him behind suddenly. The problem is, the outside world he once knew is now overrun with undead monsters due to a post apocalyptic event, and as a result things get quite hairy in his quest to reunite.

Really enjoyed Kim's visual approach, which was a little less clean but utilized a sketchy line style that imbued his fluid animations with a lot of wild energy and personality. A bunch of awesome action scenes throughout as well.

High Tea - Zombies Enjoying A Leisurely Evening

You can't teach zombies class. In this fourth year Calarts film by Tammy Chang, we witness a seemingly civilized zombie tea party go terribly wrong upon the introduction of a brain appetizer. It's all part for the course at a zombie high tea! The light hearted animated short employed a charming watercolor aesthetic for both it's environment and undead protagonists, giving it an old timey look that I really enjoyed.

I Zombie

Animated by Antoine Legendre as part of his final animation at the  École des Métiers du Cinéma d'Animation (Trades School of Animated Film), I Zombie. The animated short takes it's title literally, offering the viewer the experience of being a zombie via it's unique choice of perspective, switching to a first person mode after establishing the setting.

The short features a zombie called Andre Fischer, and his journey through a world transformed by an undead apocalypse. Unfortunately for him though, the memories of who he once used to be still linger in the recesses of his now rotting brain. With a creep score reminiscent of retro horror movies and a gritty, yet stylized art style, I Zombie is an awesome tribute to the George Romero era of twitchy, slow moving zombies and pacing. Antoine's choice of going black and white also elevates the creepiness factor, adding to the concept of the colorless world of the undead.

World War Z Trailer - The 'We Didn't Read The Book' Edition

World War Z by Max Brooks is one amazing book. It is a collection of individual accounts in the form of first-person anecdotes of the aftermath of a zombie invasion, inspired by The Good War, an oral history of World War II by Studs Terkel. The book is about social issues (government ineptitude and American isolationism) and uses them to explore the themes of human survivalism and the uncertainty we all face from a day to day basis. Interested? Then don't watch this trailer.

The movie seems to present a world that is the complete polar opposite of Max Brooks' human survival story. The book is a real somber affair which shows the result of a true disaster unfolding, narrated from the perspective of those affected. This trailer takes all meaning & subtley and throws them out of the window in place of loud explosions and terrible CGI. Of all the franchises to get a movie I was hoping this would be a defining moment in the zombie horror genre, but the last minute rewrites and behind the scenes drama has caused it to become another forgettable horror film. There's still a minor speck of hope that this might not be the case, considering that you sometimes have to take trailers with a grain of salt. Yet if it's not, do the right thing and vote with your wallets. Stay tuned for more updates.

Victorian Undead

While I feel like the whole zombie thing is a bit overplayed at this point, it's Halloween, so a good monster short is in order.  Paravel Films 'Victorian Undead' is pretty straightforward with the story: A Victorian-era woman is walking through the woods on a path, and encounters a zombie.  She finds more and more, they outnumber her by a large number, and... Yeah. You can figure out the rest from there. But what's truly cool about this short, is the cinematography. It's shot awesomely, and is fun to watch regardless of the lack of riveting story. Happy Halloween, y'all!

Killing Floor: The Halloween Hillbilly Horrors Update!

It's that time of year! Halloween is fast approaching and things tend to get a little scary. Killing Floor, first released through Steam in 2009, is a first person shooter where players fight waves of zombie-like specimens which increase in difficulty until it concludes with a battle against a 'boss' specimen. You've got that right, it's pretty much Left 4 Dead with more bells and whistles, as well as a cult following. The game gets many event updates, and is already horror themed with references to many horror franchises hidden within so it's perfect for a Halloween update!

The event they will be holding is called 'Hillbilly Horrors,' and is running from today through to the 6th November. The update includes new achievements (with 6 only available through the event), maps, enemies and two new characters for your zombie killing style: The Grim Reaper and a cyborg chicken man. If you haven't picked the game up, you can get 75% off and 50% off all DLC for the duration of the event. In the meantime, enjoy the trailer, which is presented in the style of a classic horror exploitation film, with a Mystery Science Theater 3000 style twist at the end. Happy hunting!

State Of Decay - A Zombie MMO On A Console?

While many people have been fixated on the Arma II 'DayZ' mod phenomenon, the folks at the Seattle based Undead Labs have finally released the first gameplay trailer for their upcoming console MMO title, which hopes to capture that same kind of crowd on the Xbox.

The Arma II mod, which succeeded in simulating the experience of a dynamic, persistent open world zombie invasion and has now been picked up for a full release by Bohemia Interactive (The Arma folks), so how will State of Decay carve out it's own niche? The studio hasn't released much in terms of details just yet, but a console MMO on the Xbox 360 would be a first, if this title turns out to be just that. For folks still looking for a fresh zombie survival fix, this might be a title worth keeping tabs on.

Speaking Of Anti-Zombie Fortresses

We've heard a ton about a certain anti-zombie fortress, the abandoned Shime coal mine in the Fukuoka prefecture of Japan which garnered the name for it's unique design that would supposedly render it impervious to zombie attack.

So how come the Maunsell Sea Fortresses never fell under this same criteria? The UK based forts were created by the Royal Navy during WWII to help defend the UK from sea bound threats before being decommissioned in the late 50's. In the mid sixties these forts were reoccupied and used as the HQ's of various pirate radio stations. Featuring some massive concrete reinforcement and plenty of vantage points for raining fire onto anyone stupid enough to encroach, these structures seem to be quite superior in my opinion.

So, with a vantage point ideal for transmitting radio signals, the fact that they're situated on water and elevated high up on stilts, as well as all being interconnected makes these structures the ULTIMATE anti-zombie fortress colony in the world so far. Considering that zombies can't swim properly in most canon, I know where I'd be swimming to with my supplies in case of a day zero zombie outbreak. Check out more images of these awesome structures after the break!

Zombie By Guy COllins

This deceptively simple looking animation by Guy Collins is a strangely cheerful, uplifting little piece about collaborating to survive in a post apocalyptic wasteland. The aspect that got me the most about the short was the somewhat strange music by Kevin McLeod, which over time grew on me and ended up accompanying the rythm and pacing of the escape. The short culminates with an escape to the structure dubbed as the 'anti zombie fortress' by the internet, which is a nice tip of the hat to the meme lovers out there.

ZOMBIES GALORE, THE ART OF MARK RIDDICK

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Mark Riddick is an illustrator that started doing freelance work for underground black, heavy and death metal magazines, fanzines, bands and music labels circa 1991. Over the years, Mark became the man for the job, doing covers and illustrations for the most of the local American scene and for renowed bands of the genre overseas, eventually working with Cartoon Network, NBC and The Travel Channel.

His style... Well, it doesn't need too much description, it resembles the gruesomeness of Vince Locke. I find Riddick's black and white, ''xeroxed'' like renderings more retro, with an old-school feel to them.

After the break, a toned-down selection of Riddick's zombies! For even more, check out his homepage where you can contact him for some work. Enjoy!

Apocalypse Pizza

Post apocalyptic pizza, anyone? This fantastically fun animated pilot for a feature film developed by Andres Fernandez at French studio JeSuisBienContent (I'm Glad) narrates the story of a team nonchalantly tearing through hordes of zombies to deliver some pizzas to a group of survivors at the Eiffel Tower. The Justin Bieber track truly took this short to 11. If we had the money, lets say we'd be the first in line to pick this pilot up for development.

Zombie Gnomes

Nothing says class like a bright, cheap, plastic flamingo gracing your front lawn.  A true beauty to behold by all in your neighborhood.  They're tasteful, right?  But what if the local garden gnomes were turned into savage zombies?  These poultry-fiends would wreak pure havoc.  At least, according to Etsy, they just might...Get one of these gruesome displays for only $55 a pop!  

10 Zombie Stormtroopers

"So you liked Episode 1, huh?"

Its a no brainer....What's better than a Stormtrooper? A Zombie Stormtrooper, of course. Let these images of undead Stormtroopers serve as an allegory for the state of the Star Wars franchise in this day and age. A shambling mess, resurrected from the dead via the evil Necromancy of George Lucas to carry out an unnatural existence on a diet of way too much Green Screen and crappy CG. Check out 9 more zombie Troopers after the break!

The Best Wedding Photos...Ever?

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Sometimes the best photos are candid shots of people in their normal activities.  Wait, who is that photo-bombing their background?  Photographer Amanda Rynda captured some very unique photos for fiances Ben and Juliana.  More than you bargained for after the break!

Dead Rising 2: Frank West Is Off & Back On The Case

When I first heard about Dead Rising 2: Off The Record I wasn't excited. I love the idea of alternate story lines (which is why I love the What If? series of comics from Marvel) but a full priced game for Dead Rising 2 with Frank's skin? At first I wasn't sold. But this trailer really has made me sit up and pay attention.

What if Frank sold out, became a sell-out but was thrown in the same situation that Chuck was in Dead Rising 2? Sounding good so far and if they fix the problems of the Case West DLC and make the photography more like the original game than a mediocre gameplay technique I'll buy this game day one.

Check out after the jump for another trailer that should make you smile!

Season 2 Of The Walking Dead Can Have It's Way With Me

The first season of The Walking Dead may or may not have ended on one of the most god-awful notes a television show could end on, but that isn't going to stop me from checking in for season 2. The above trailer was just revealed at San Diego Comic-Con and it's already showcasing some amazing sh*t-your-pants-with-suspense moments. Anyone who's read the comic book series can tell you that show has already gone off into a completely different direction, whether that's a good thing is yet to be decided. Hopefully the second season will answer this question.