This year’s Treehouse of Terror episode of the Simpsons (the name for the annual Simpsons Halloween special) will feature the dysfunctional family turning into zombies after eating some bad meat at Krusty Burger. The episode will air later this month on Fox.
It’s October 1st again and that can only mean one thing - it’s time 31 Days of Halloween of Halloween on ZRC! This means that in addition to our usual ’round the clock zombie news coverage, we’ll also be be bringing you special posts each day to help you celebrate Halloween in style.
Here is what you can expect to see in the coming month:
Sunday Salutes: Our semi-regular ZRC Salutes feature made a weekly feature for the entire month of October.
Undead Monday: We’ll go into our archives and resurrect one of our older posts you may have missed the first time around.
Top Ten Tuesday: We’ll bring you a new Top Ten list each Tuesday.
Wednesday-ween: Trick or treat?
Halloween Candy Thursday: A continuation of last year’s theme where we put our palettes to the test in an exploration of the good, bad, and ugly side of Halloween candy. If you missed this the first time around you can go check our archives from last year: Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4.
FX Friday: Jef Porkins shows you how to create special zombie makeup effects in a special video post each Friday.
Saturday Drive in: A special edition movie review every Saturday night.
Let the countdown begin!
Happy Halloween from the ZRC!
What are your plans for tonight? Partying it up? Passing out candy? Let us know in the comments! I’m especially looking forward to the Ghost Hunters Live marathon on the SciFi channel…
By now you’ve seen us taste the good and bad from the world of strange Halloween candies. Today we have the truly UGLY side of candy. In fact as I type this now my stomach is still in knots from tonight’s tasting.
As usual, every week we’ve been tasting a strange Jones’ Soda flavor and this week was candy corn flavor.
Jones Soda Candy Corn had a nuclear yellow color to it. After pouring it we were both really regretting this one. It just couldn’t be good. I took the plunge first. I’ll say this - I didn’t immediately throw up. In fact, although it wasn’t GOOD, it also wasn’t the most disgusting thing ever. Almost like cream soda if you closed your eyes. Erin thought it was completely disappointing after the bold tastes of all the previous Jones’ Soda flavors we tried. The flavor seemed muted.
The Jolly Rancher Lollipops with “Creepy Tattoo Inside” were the next candy tasted, and easily the best of them. The flavors of the suckers were strong and there was a “mystery” factor in that you didn’t know flavor you were getting until you licked it. Apparently removable tattoo technology has come a long way since the days of those Cracker Jack tattoos that you had to wet and press against your skin. These were detailed, easy to apply, and seem pretty durable. Here’s Erin looking tough and showing off her black cat tattoo:
The Russell Stover Carmel & Marshmallow Pumpkin can be summed in one sentence: Where’s the carmel? We had to hunt for it.
Unfortunately we accidentally lost the pictures to the next item so you’ll have to use your imagination for the Bubbagum Candy Vampire Teeth. Here’s the idea: you chew the included gum and then use it as a denture adhesive to affix the candy teeth to yours. It’s a sure-fire way to get a cavity! The gum was soft, and the teeth were edible as well (sort of a gumball type material but more waxy). The idea of eating realistic looking teeth and gums still makes me a little queasy.
Finally, if you run a blog about zombies, sooner or later you’re going to have to eat some brains. And we managed to find this - Chef Ghoulicious Pantry of Candy Abbie Normal Bag of Brains.
This is a LOT of gummy. I can’t imagine eating the entire thing in one sitting. It’s a very realistic gray color and berry flavored. The big turn off however is the texture. It’s more airy than a normal gummy bear, but EXTREMELY chewy. Here’s me trying to bite off a piece:
The dogs were strangely interested:
Erin feels a little sorry for zombies because as it turns out gummy brains just aren’t that good:
That’s it for this week! If you missed our previous Halloween candy reviews, you can check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Alright here it is! This is a LONG list of horror movies and TV so without further discussion just take a look for yourselves!
There are only two television programs I can say I’ve seen the entire run of, and Degrassi Junior High is one. I have to give credit to Erin (of yesterday’s video tutorial) for introducing me to it. She grew up close to the Canadian border and saw it when it first broadcast; I on the other hand had to wait for the DVDs.
At any rate, while flipping through the guide looking to see what’s on this week, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw Degrassi of the Dead listed for Friday. I don’t watch the “new generation” of Degrassi (I happen to prefer my Degrassi kids with mohawks and teen pregnancies, thank you very much) but I will definitely be catching this special in which genetically modified foods turn the Degrassi kids into zombies. Premieres this Friday on the “Nogin” channel.
P.S. If you’re in to Degrassi at all check out my friend Scott’s zine The Degrassi Digest.
It’s Sunday and the Sunday video tutorial is back! This time Erin helped us out and is your host for this video showing you how to make a delicious and frighiening graveyard cake. Everything you need to know is in the video below:
This week’s installment of Saturday Reads (and admittedly a day late) is not another zombie fiction novel, but it will come in handy in case there ever is a zombie apocalypse. It’s simply called Pocket Ref and it is a compendium of everything you’ll ever need to know in the event of a total societal breakdown. And the best part is all 768 pages fit into your pocket.
Meant as a reference guide for engineers, contractors, etc, Pocket Ref has detailed information topics ranging from chemistry, weather, first aid, plumbing and many, many more. Let’s say the zombie infection has begun. Want to find out if those clouds on horizon mean rain before you leave town? Page 652. Need to tie down an infected human but unsure of what knot to use? Page 537. Cell Phone networks down and need to communicate via semaphore code? Page 241.
Everything from the mundane (listings of holidays, zip codes, and time zones) to the esoteric (friction loss in pipes, thermal expansion coefficients) is in Pocket Ref. If you’ve ever thought a zombie attack could happen and want to be prepared, make sure you’ve got a copy of this book.
Is he the world’s smartest zombie? The most human former human? Whatever you may think of the third movie in Romero’s series, everyone always seems to have a soft spot for Bub.
The result of scientists attempting to teach a zombie to be more human, Bub eventually turns on his trainers, but in zombie terms that just makes him more endearing.
Bub was played by actor Sherman Howard with makeup by SFX guru Tom Savini
It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time once again for more Halloween Candy Reviews! The usual suspects were present:
The Birthday Boy…
…and Wife of the Year award recipient.
This week’s selection ranged from gummy to marshmallow and everything in between. First up was our Jones’ Soda selection Strawberry S’lime. Erin was quick to point out that the apostrophe probably meant it was was strawberry-lime flavored. She was right!
This was easily the best Jones’ Halloween Soda we had so far. It was not only drinkable but rather good! Not as sickeningly sweet as normal strawberry flavored soda.
Next up was the Ghost Dots.
These were kind of cool - they look almost glow in the dark without actually glowing. There was a variety of different flavors, but you never knew which one until you started eating it. Incidentally they are the same normal Dots flavors. Sort of lame but I like the idea that I’m eating the ghosts of Dots that died.
Ah Russell Stover - is there any holiday that you won’t recycle the same confections but in a slightly different shape? A few months from now this “Orange Marshmallow Pumpkin” will be the “Orange Marshmallow Christmas Tree” and then the “Orange Marshmallow Easter Bunny”. I digress, we must forge on with our candy tasting. The orange marshmallow pumpkin was ruled “satisfactory” by Erik and “gross” by Erin. The marshmallow was almost of a gummy consistency - not very pleasant in the mouth.
Last but not least was the GUMMY ZONE HORROR BAG!!!!
When you think of the term “Horror Bag” what comes to mind? Is it gummy eyes, teeth, skeleton and pumpkins? (probably not)
Most of the gummies were “OK” but the skeleton had the exact feel and texture as those fake worm fish bait things. It also had a slight aftertaste of blue raspberry. The gummies were not totally without merit, however. Like most kids, Erik tends to play with his food:
That’s it for this week! If you missed our previous Halloween candy reviews, you can check out Part 1 and Part 2.
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