Professor Cabal: ‘You’re saying the knights have returned? That’s great!’

Maria: ‘Look at you. Kind and soft like a porcupine.’

Roger (to Betty just before he dies): ‘Don’t speak. That’s the only way you’ll be safe.’

Tombs of the Blind Dead (Spanish version), 1971

A bit of an oldie this, but one of those seminal books that’s destined to be around, and hopefully, popular for a long-time to come. Sub-titled 80 Movies to Die For, Zombiemania is a charmingly written and surprisingly personal, encyclopaedic look at the diverse world of zombie movies.

Published in 2006 by Telos, (who have some more comprehensive film-related books coming out over the forthcoming months), Zombiemania takes the reader back to the first zed movie, White Zombie, released in 1932 and includes all the faves, plus many other less well-known features right up to Romero’s Land of the Dead.

But wait! White Zombie may actually be only the first zombie movie… in English with sound. Blumberg and Hershberger’s research has led them to hypothesise that there may be another contender for title of the FIRST ZOMBIE MOVIE: a silent, Indian film titled Chalta Purza, (translated as The Zombie or Passing Show), also released in 1932. This is indeed a fine piece of geek-level research and one that has resulted in a question that (in my zedgeekeyes) desperately needs solving – when in 1932 was Chalta Purza released, before or after White Zombie? Will the puzzle of the FIRST ZOMBIE MOVIE ever be solved? (Caveat: the authors haven’t actually seen the film, so it might not even be about zeds… )

Blumberg and Hershberger haven’t given us your bog-standard film-listing encyclopaedia though; rather a fun and informative, uber-geek-possibly beer-fuelled approach to the genre of zed.  Both authors work at the intriguing Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore and their eclectic pop-cultured lives inform a unique analysis of each of the 80 films.  Their critiques are templated thusly: Outbreak location; Synopsis; Necrology (an analysis of the physical characteristics of that film’s zeds – very important when tracking the evolution of the zeds over time); the best, weirdest and funniest Quotes; Ruminations and Wait a Minute! – interesting factoids, (or at least bits the authors thought might be of interest to us); 6 Degrees of Necrophagia - the influences on that particular film from other zed films and culture; Hey Look, It’s that Guy From the One with the Thing… you know you’ve seen that actor/actress before, but where? Behind the Scenes – production information taking you to that higher level of zedgeek; Alternative Versions and DVD Notes – recommending the best version and DVD release; Analysis - the authors’ honest opinion on the film in question; Taglines - those great, and otherwise, quotes you see on film posters. There are also several other characteristically esoteric sideline notes for with every film featured, such as Tor? Is that you? – being the authors’ look at the bald, fat zed, an archetype throughout zombie films since Tor Johnson appeared in Plan 9 From Outer Space.

Add to all this mayhem a 500-strong list of zed films with brief synopses and loads of illustrations and photos and Zombiemania stands decapitated head and shuffling shoulders above several other reference books detailing the ever-popular genre that is zombie. (I should know, I’ve got them all). AN IMPORTANT BOOK with nearly 500 pages of zedgeek detail! Give it another 20 movies and they can release a new edition – what a concept! (I believe the authors are working on another title for Telos and I look forward to that).

George: ‘The dead don’t walk around except in very bad paperback novels. They’re dead and that’s that!

Inspector (after kicking George’s dead body): ‘I wish the dead could come back to life, you bastard, because then I could kill you again!’

The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue, 1974

Visit Zombiemania’s website.

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