Mail-Order Zombie-- 3rd Annual Dead Letter Award

Before we begin with this article, Google is doing some fancyshmany juggling of site pages, URLs etc etc etc.  Suffice it to say-- if this is not the page you were expecting, please start HERE!!!  There is an excellent search tool there that will NOT lead you astray.


Otherwise Enjoy!


Mail Order Zombie announced the winners of the the 3rd Annual Mail Order Zombie Dead Letter Awards on March 10, 2011.  Since 2009, the Dead Letter Awards have honored the previous year's best in zombie movies and media, and this year's list of nominees reflect the best in zombie entertainment from around the world.  Nominated movies like La Horde (The Horde), Rammbock (Siege of the Dead) and E'gad, Zombies! join films like Zombieland, Death of the Dead and ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction in the movie categories highlight ingthe worldwide diversity of zombie cinema.  In addition to film, the Dead Letter Awards also honors books, videogames, comics and zombie-specific websites, as well as individual achievement in zombie media by presenting The Shambler, a lifetime achievement award (previous Shambler recipients are George A. Romero and Tom Savini).  The Fresh Meat Award is awarded to the best newcomer to the subgenre (previous Fresh Meat Award winners include Patrick Devaney, creator of the Zombie Hunters: City of the Dead television program, and Wes Young & Ryan Goff, directors of the short film Dead Exit).  Winners were determined by voting open to the public (a complete list of nominees can be found at http://tinyurl.com/dla2010).

The complete list of winners:
Best Book, Anthology - "The Living Dead 2" edited by John Joseph Adams
Best Book, Fiction - "Rot & Ruin" by Jonathan Maberry ; "The G.O.R.E. Score: A Review Guide to All Things Zombie" by Tony Schaab
Best Score in a Zombie Movie - "Resident Evil: Afterlife" music by Tomandandy
Best Special Make-Up Effects in a Zombie Movie - "Zombieland"
Best Screenplay of a Zombie Movie - "Death of the Dead" written by Bo Buckley
Best Zombie - Derek Graf ("Zombieland")
Best Cameo or Surprise Appearance in a Zombie Movie - Bill Murray ("Zombieland")
Best Actress in a Zombie Movie - Milla Jovovich ("Resident Evil: Afterlife")
Best Actor in a Zombie Movie - Boris Kodjoe ("Resident Evil: Afterlife")
Best One-Liner in a Zombie Movie - "Time to nut up or shut up." - "Zombieland"
Best Death Scene in a Zombie Movie - Bill Murray being mistaken for a zombie and getting shot in "Zombieland"
Best Director of a Zombie Movie - George A. Romero ("Survival of the Dead")
Best Zombie Movie - "Death of the Dead"
Best Documentary - "Zombie Girl: The Movie"
Best Webcomic - Zombie Roomie (http://www.zombieroomie.com)
Best Soundtrack Release - They Won't Stay Dead! Music from the soundtrack of Night of the Living Dead
Best Musical - "Cupcake - A Zombie Lesbian Musical"
Best Online Release - "Stag Night of the Dead"
Best Zombie Audiodrama - We're Alive
Best Zombie Comic Book - The Walking Dead
Best Zombie Videogame - Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare
Best Zombie Website - The G.O.R.E. Score (http://thegorescore.com)
The Shambler - Lifetime Achievement Award - Lucio Fulci and Jonathan Maberry
Fresh Meat - Most Promising Newcomer Award - Tony Schaab

Mail Order Zombie is available at http://www.mailorderzombie.com or through iTunes and other podcast directories.  The 3rd Annual Mail Order Zombie Dead Letter Awards took place in Episode 158 which can be found at http://tinyurl.com/mozep158.

About Mail Order Zombie
Mail Order Zombie is the award-winning zombie movie podcast produced and co-hosted by Derek M. Koch, aka Brother D.  Since 2008, Mail Order Zombie, or MOZ, has reviewed over 280 zombie movies, as well as zombie books, comics, videogames and even a zombie opera.  Based in the Pacific Northwest, Mail Order Zombie has listeners and contributors around the world, and is a member of the Palavr Family of podcasting.
--
Derek M. Koch, MailOrderZombie@gmail.com
Mail Order Zombie, http://www.mailorderzombie.com

Plan D - The Official Website of Derek M. Koch : http://www.derekmkoch.com

"Bong of the Dead" -- Exclusives including Interview!!!

"Blog of the Living Dead" is making friends... not a very Zombie thing to do-- although a good chew-toy is great for "teething"(so I hear)...

Enjoy exclusive photos, quotes, interviews, peruse the photos-- but please read our Review of this film-- HERE

 

Doing forearm curls-- you never know when you'll have to bench-press a corpse...

Director Thomas Newman:  "Daily dose of blood for my actors for a week solid!  LOL -- Used 800 Gallons in half a day!"

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...

As an homage to "Peter Jackson's" classic " : Brain Dead" (aka "Monkey Island") a climatic scene that has the hero "mowing down hundreds of zombies with a lawn mower"  No whipper-snippers in sight.

How about three lawn mowers mounted to the front of a truck???

 

..sorry -- I think I just peed my pants.

"Blog of the Living Dead" sat down with Thomas Newman-- the "braaaaains" behind this fleshfest, and chatted...

I've read the press releases and articles-- this is truly a labor of love!  Why zombies?  

I chose the zombie genre for several reasons actually. One, I love zombie movies myself and there is no other genre thats so fun allowing you to go nuts with the gore without making your audience gag! At the end of the day their zombies damn it and they have to be stopped! The second reason I went with the zombie genre is because Mike Fields had mentioned to me that he had a shed filled with zombie bits and pieces and wanted to use them on a feature one day but never got around to it. After meeting with him and seeing this huge surplus of thousands of dollars worth of great make-up just stuffed in a shed in his back yard! It was a no brainer to do a zombie flick for my first feature. The third reason is the fact that zombie movies will never get old! Its honestly the only genre that never dies! I think if you're a smart filmmaker whose interested in the long run like I am you need to really think about what sells in the film market place. Horror sells!

The special effects, (in particular make-up) appear quite authentic-- you mentioned you wrangled Mike Fields to do the make-up-- How did you get together?  

Mike and I go way back in the industry. I used to be clean up guy, slowly making my way up to Make- Up FX at a fairly popular shop in Vancouver called Lindala FX. The company was famous for being "The" X Files main FX shop. Mike was one of the key make-up artist who worked there and we clicked. He and I are always on the same page with ideas so it was a natural friendship. Once the shop closed its doors after the departure of the X-Files, Mike and I went our separate ways only bumping into each other on major films being shot in Vancouver. He was still the key Make-Up artist and I was now the onset EPK Producer in charge of the behind the scenes on movies. One day I mentioned to Mike that I was tiered of working on other peoples movies and really wanted to just do my own. He showed the same feelings and we began early discussions about an idea! 

Can you give me more background on Mike Fields. 

Mike Fields write up:

With over 22 Years of experience in the global film industry, Mike Fields has had the opportunity to work with most of his heroes at some point in his career.  From noted award winning directors and Makeup FX artists, aw well as famous actors and musicians throughout the world.  Over the years, Mike's career hast taken him across Canada, the United States as well as Europe-- working on Major Blockbuster motion pictures.   Fore Mike, his job in more a labor of love rather than work, which is why he is as passionate today as he has been since childhood.  With Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" being one of Mike's all time favorite films, it would be fate that the X-Files Series would soon have him pack his bags and pursue his dreams as a key makeup artist.  He would not only work on the show as a key make-up designer, but also have the chance of a llife-time to play a fan-favorite alien know as "The Smoking Alien" on the series as well.  This new partnership with the X-Files would be the link of lifelong partnerships with other very talented artist throughout the industry.  It was in the make-up FX shop for the X-files that Mike and Thomas met and began their longtime friendship.  Mike Fields and Thoamas Newman hace often collaborated on various projects with intentions to make the types of films that they want to see.

"Bong of the Dead" is a first in a line of great films that you can expect from "Mind In Motion Inc."  and killed by "Death Productions.".

What about the visual/digital effects I see in one of the trailers "things" hurtling to earth and into cities-- who did these effects-- will we see more of this quality in the finished product?


All the FX in the film with the exception of the bridge sequence and an eye replacement  at the start of the film were done by myself in post production. I composited over 365 shots to date all by learning tutorials online from a super cool website called Video Co-Pilot and applied what I was learning directly to the film. I had no choice once I got news that the person who was initially supposed to do all the shots walked away form the project when he realized there was over 350 shots at the time. The entire film has some form of digital enhancement at some point or another. I had always planned on having that many and knew it was doable just had no idea it would take me almost 2 years to do by myself!

Who is the awesome sexy Lara Croft chick in the trailers and photos?  How did she get involved.  What is her background?

The Lara Croft girl as she's been dubbed is Simone Bailly who is a local actress that has been on every major TV show from Star Gate to Fringe you name it. She was a stand in on a film called "Stan Helsing" which I was doing the EPK for. I was in search of a girl with "cat like sexy eyes" and she had them! I approached her on our lunch break and showed here a little clip I had put together to gain interest from people on set ( CLIP ) and she was sold! It was great directing her because she was a pro all the way in everything I put her and the rest of my cast through. I had them soaked in blood from head to toe for at least half the time they were on camera!

Any news on the release-- when can we get our hands on it?

I am about to close a deal with large German distributors as we speak! Im in the process of preparing all my deliverables so that the distributor can take the film to release. I'm working closely with my sales Agent in regards to all distribution outlets from foreign to domestic. It looks like I have been doing everything right so far because distributors are lining up to get a piece of the action, and its going global. Its exciting times and scary which is why I had to get representation in order to protect myself. Im hoping the film will be available for download on Amazon, Netflix etc. in the summer!

I have several distribution offers on the table and have to meet with my rep to go over the legalities and so on.For exclusive info on this flick-- keep checking back...

Blog of the Living Dead got a sneak preview of the flick... and all we can say is that "Bong of the Dead" is an awesome example of guerrilla filmmaking at its best!

Want to read OUR review of this film?  Read it HERE!
More exclusives HERE, including some Bong of the Dead 2 artwork!

Check out "Bong's" own blog HERE!

Bong of the Dead

By Alex Browne - Peace Arch News

Published: February 02, 2011 1:00 PM
Updated: February 03, 2011 2:57 PM

 

How do you make a $2 million feature film for only $5,000?
Talk to Thomas Newman, producer and driving force behind Bong Of The Dead.
If he doesn’t know how to do it, no one does.

Newman, 38, a North Delta resident whose day gig is at South Surrey electronics retailer Best Buy, has spent the last three years creating his debut feature – which he describes, with disarming candor, as a “stoner-buddy-zombie movie.”

If that conjures up images of a blurry, hand-held, sloppily edited, underacted mess – guess again.
Bong Of The Dead (a title take-off on low budget zombie classic Dawn Of The Dead and the parodistic Shaun of the Dead) may just be the Citizen Kane of stoner-buddy-zombie movies – a sharply photographed, well-lit picture, rock-steady even in its frequent tracking shots, full of dynamic compositions and ingenious special-effects work.

Shot on video it may be, but the visuals equal or exceed the standard of many shot-on-film projects.
The only apparent limitation is that it’s intended for a specific market niche – if slow-witted potheads, oozing zombie make-up and gallons of fake blood is your idea of cool, Bong Of The Dead is definitely the movie for you.

If that’s not your scene, the upbeat Newman doesn’t mind.

“It’s a genre picture, and this is a pretty popular genre for a lot of people,” he said.

Indeed the online buzz – one might go as far to say cult – created by YouTube postings of early footage for the film has helped fuel and energize the whole project, interesting backers and potential distributors – as well as draw participants who virtually volunteered their services for the shoot.

“People were saying ‘This sounds like a cult classic’ - everybody is a fan of Cheech and Chong, Harold and Kumar and Shaun Of The Dead.”

The movie – for which he says he is currently close to negotiating a distribution deal – is a testament to Newman’s irrepressible spirit, and the 15 years he spent learning how to become a one-man band (at last count he was writer, director, cameraman, editor and visual-effects supervisor for the film).

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he spent most of that time in the television and movie industry, starting as a sculptor for special props and make-up prosthetics for X-Files and graduating to the director of on-set interviews and special features for DVD releases of Vancouver-shot movies.

It also doesn’t hurt that this allowed him to network with others who lent acting and special skills to his film for screen and resume credits and the kick of being involved in a project driven by passion rather than commerce. (If everyone involved – including Newman – had charged Bong Of The Dead what their skills are actually worth, it likely would be a multi-million dollar picture).

Among those eagerly involved are co-producer, and makeup effects wizard Mike Fields, and professional actors Mark Wynn, Simone Bailly, Jy Harris and Barry Nerling (well-known local performer Michael Roberds, of Addams Family fame, is also one of the zombies in the movie, contributing a truly revolting cameo).

Set in a post-apocalyptic world in which meteorites have turned most of the population into zombies, Bong Of The Dead follows the misadventures of survivors Tommy (Harris) and Edwin (Wynn), whose principal occupation is growing (and smoking) as much pot as they can.

The discovery that zombie brains have a magic fertilizing effect – allowing them to grow a highly potent species of weed – sends the two stoners on a road trip into the “danger zone,” an area where the zombie population is concentrated.

It also sends them into the clutches of a Nazi-like gay zombie (Nerling) who plots to mobilize the other zombies into an “army of the undead.”

But along the way they meet another survivor, Leah (Bailly) – the kind of tough chick beloved of all action movies. She also happens to be an inventor who has built an array of zombie-fighting weapons on her farm – all of which the trio get to try out in a blood-splattered finale.

Technological advances have helped give Newman’s indie production a glossier look, Newman adds, miniaturizing what would, until recently, have been a truckful of high-definition equipment.

“I used a Sony video camera – the tiniest high-end consumer camera, with a wide-angle lens and a mini tripod,” he said. “People were arriving at the set thinking that was what I was using to document the shoot – it was, like, where’s the real camera?

“The guys I got to document the shoot were using a camera that was about three times the size.”

Shot in the Langley area, the actual filming was a relatively brief process, Newman said.

“It was a 15-day shoot, but they were 12- to 18-hour days – and myself and my wife, Jodi, were cooking all the food for the cast and crew.”

But most of the time on the film was spent in pre-production – Newman meticulously storyboarded every shot so that it didn’t have a random pieced-together look – and in a grueling year of editing in which he personally made 350 cuts, composited scenes, layered in digital effects and post-synched sound.

As recently as last November, Newman faced the classic ‘all is lost’ moment beloved of formula movie scenario writers – his main editing computer crashed, taking his final cut, or so he thought, with it.

“I’d backed everything up – I could have put it together again, but it wouldn’t have been the same,” he said.
Fortunately, some kind of movie gods seem to be smiling all the way on Newman’s project – right from having his “dream location” supplied through the generosity of Langley’s Bridden family, to having an industry contact come through at the last minute when he ran out of movie “blood” during filming of the climactic battle with the zombies.

They manifested themselves again in Newman’s darkest hour when he discovered a friend’s father is in the data retrieval business.

“He was able to save all the files for a fraction of what it would have cost me,” he said.

The Iranian-born, Thailand- and Canadian-raised Newman (the original family name is Haddad) is convinced it’s all some kind of test – one he has survived and which finally seems to be paying off for him.

“Movies are my dying passion,” he said, adding that he has a follow-up project, Unnatural – with test footage already posted to YouTube – just waiting for development funding.

“And I’d really like to connect with (cult filmmaker) Robert Rodriguez,” he said. “I’m who he was, 10 years ago.”

Some exclusive Shots During the Filming...

 

Not entirely sure-- my best guess they're roasting up some lower quads or some gluts.  Mmmmm... gluts.... 

OK -- this is a real treat-- and an exclusive one at that!  Here are shots taken during the making of "Bong!" -- You won't see these anywhere else.  It truly gives you a feel of what it was like filming this.  Also, an exclusive interview with Thomas!

It's not all fun and games-- but you get lots to eat...

READ OUR COMPLETE REVIEW OF THE FILM HERE!

EXCLUSIVE SHOTS AND INTERVIEW HERE! 

Check out "Bong's" own blog HERE!