Infographic Takes a Historic Look at the Rise of Zombies in Pop Culture

Because we know you can't get enough of zombies, we'd like to share this cool infographic we received. It details the pop culture history of the zombie outbreak from all the way back to the 1920's when precursors to the phenomenon started to emerge.

They deem Ground Zero to be 1954's novel "I Am Legend" and the "infection point" as Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" in 1968. They also say zombie movies declined in the 1990s when we stopped talking them seriously? Do you agree? They don't.

Their resurrection in the 2000s brought about some hugely popular names that you may recognize, namely the comic book, "The Walking Dead" and the "Resident Evil" series. The infographic also gives props to the numerous zombie-themed video games and books that have invaded our homes.

Thanks to blogger Aleksandra Sobic over at HalloweenCostumes.com for sharing this with us. Check it out after the jump.

-Larissa Mrykalo

Universal's 'Halloween Horror Nights' Adds 'Resident Evil' Attraction

Courtesy: ign.com

Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights 23, just got even more terrifying with the addition of the ever popular survival horror video game, "Resident Evil."

The roster for this years HHN23 is now officially complete, and will have guests going through some of pop culture's most ghastly and recognizable names. Some of the other haunted houses will include "An American Werewolf in London," "The Cabin in the Woods," "Evil Dead," and AMCs "The Walking Dead."

In a Universal Orlando/Hollywood Horror Nights first, the entire street experience will be devoted to "The Walking Dead," making all the "scare zones" throughout the park based around a successful television show.

Assessing the property value of 'Resident Evil' Spencer Mansion

Certain homes in the horror genre are iconic, for example, the residence from The Amityville Horror, the cabin from The Evil Dead and the Spencer Mansion from the game, Resident Evil.

The Amityville home is real, the Evil Dead cabin can easily be built, but what about the zombie-infested mansion in the popular video game? Have you ever wondered what it would look like for real and what it would cost? Have no FEAR because uber-fanboy and novelty real estate blogger Randy Nelson broke it all down for us.

This may have been a fun task but, damn, he took this very seriously! Taking into account all the rooms (not including mutants and zombies) and the most important factor in real estate ... location, location, location. Nelson broke down the mansion located in the fictitious Arklay Mountains outside of Raccoon City. He also made the argument that this location was most likely in Missouri vs. Pennsylvania because it has the most features in common with Springfield, MO.

With this location identified as Springfield, MO, the Arklays would be the Ozarks. This is how Nelson got the price for the square footage. Before we give you the price, what does the house include and how big is it?

The Spencer Mansion is "known to have 28 rooms" says Nelson, "including its expansive dining room, a gallery, a room of armor, and a library, all full of traps and puzzles."

He adds, "Oddly enough, the mansion only has one bathroom, and it’s occupied … by a zombie."

By taking speculated measurements, he estimated that the square footage of the main structure (not including the underground passageways, lab or guard house) totals 10,125 square feet.

Nelson continues to get really detailed: “I found four mansions in the 10,000 square foot range in the area, ranging from $1.5 to $2.5 million. After calculating their individual price per square feet, I ended up with an average price per square foot of $173.”

With this price estimated, the total cost of the Spencer Mansion would be a mere $1,751,625. That, of course, doesn’t include move-in costs.

Not too bad -- unless you get lots of unwanted and undead visitors!

Check out other fun breakdowns over at the Novelty Real Estate section of Movoto.com.

-Larissa Mrykalo

'Resident Evil' creator turns towards 'The Evil Within'

If you're ready to reside within a new evil, you might be ready for The Evil Within.

It’s no secret the Resident Evil game series lost its touch long ago. Somewhere down the road, it focused more on action rather than survival horror. In the beginning, you found yourself running from enemies, low on ammo. Now you are running up to them and unloading buckets of ammo or slashing at them with your knife to humiliate them.

It was unfortunate that Resident Evil 6 failed to deliver to its fans, but some good has come out of it.

'Resident Evil: Retribution' trailer, fan event

Jovovich and Hoffman.
Photo by Aaron 

Paranormal Pop Culture attended the Resident Evil: Retribution fan event with Milla Jovovich and trailer premiere held at New York's Regal Union Square on June 14.

The event - moderated by  ScreenCrush.com’s Jordan Hoffman - began with a 3D scene that had Alice (Jovovich) running down a brightly-lit, glass hallway, while being chased by a dozen zombies.

Wearing a crazy new, tight-fitting outfit, Alice proceeds to distribute some major zombie kills using her Alice-fu, a wicked chain and a handgun. She also manages to continue kicking butt in between unloading her gun, throwing a new clip in the air, and catching the clip. The fight choreography was fast - as well as sped-up and in slow-mo - and involved a lot of blood. In fact, there was some nice brain splatter in 3D.

After the jump, Milla Jovovich spills the beans on some non-spoilery tidbits about Resident Evil: Retribution, directed by her husband Paul W.S. Anderson (whom she met while working on the franchise) and hitting screens on Sept. 14.

As for the trailer itself (embedded below) for the fifth installment of the series, there looks to be epic, globalwide mayhem with a lot of familiar RE characters returning to join in the fun.

'Resident Evil: Retribution' fan event, trailer debut

Fans of the mega-successful Resident Evil franchise should begin their geeking out - and New York fans should begin their euphoric undulations.

On Wednesday, June 14, at 11 a.m., the trailer for Retribution - the fifth installment of the series - will premiere at New York City's Regal Union Square Cinemas. The trailer will be followed by a first-come, first-served Q&A with star Milla Jovovich. After the event, the full trailer will be released online.

Read the press release for more info:

'Devil May Cry' hitting the big screen

If you’re into the Devil May Cry video games and anime series, I have some news for you. The popular video game franchise is now in pre-production for the anime film big screen debut. Movie rights were sold to Screen Gems, the same company that acquired the Resident Evil movies. A new screenwriter, Kyle Ward, is already lined up for the role.

Devil May Cry was originally intended to be a sequel to the Resident Evil  zombie series, but ended up being original. It revolves around Dante (the son of a powerful demon, and who’s role has yet to be filled for the film) who is a demon hunter and fights to avenge the murders of his brother and mother. It consists of heavy combat scenes, collecting items and getting graded based on performance.

It is still unknown whether or not the first game in the series (Devil May Cry) or the sequels (DMC 2, DMC 3: Dante’s Awakening, DMC 4) will be the focus for the movie.

Whatever the plot, the partnership between Capcom and Screen Gems bodes well since their last partnership was with the successful Resident Evil films.

- Jen Danczak, PPC Intern

Zombies vs. Vampires: Celebrity Undead Death Match

Within pop-culture, there are a lot of monsters, ghouls and maniacs out there that want to terrify us. Especially around Halloween, werewolves, demons, ghosts, mummies, maenads, fairies and half-dead men with hockey masks or razor claws make their presence known. But let’s face it, these beasts that go bump in the night lack a certain bite.

For the true masters of horror pop, one need look no further than the two reigning champs of chomps, vampires and zombies. More than any other, these creatures capture the imagination and inspire ferocious loyalty. Zombie lovers corpse-up, congregate in flash mobs and hijack constructions signs to read “Caution: Zombies Ahead.” Vamp fans wear molded ceramic fangs, make pilgrimages to New Orleans and Transylvania, and drink Tru Blood.

But really, which beast is best? The walking dead or undead? The brain eater or blood sucker? In order to settle the Zombie vs. Vampire debate, we’ve collected notable films of both genres from the last 25 years, and arranged them in different categories (emphasis on gore) to determine who each might triumph.

Although judgments on winners are completely subjective, I tried to channel George A. Romero and Bela Lugosi for guidance since they were incredibly influential in both genres. Lugosi starred as the count in the first official version of Dracula in 1931; he also gave the world the grandfather of the zombie movies, White Zombie, in 1932. Meanwhile, Romero remains the reigning genius of the zombie genre after directing 1968’s Night of the Living Dead. Romero also contributed heavily to vampires on screen with the underrated deconstruction Martin (1978).