2009 was a great year for zombie fans, with releases like Pontypool, Dead Snow and Zombieland at the movies, Left 4 Dead 2 in games and lots of other great stuff. 2010 has the potential to be even better. To get you up to speed on the year to come, I’ve compiled a list of ten of the most exciting zombie projects I expect to see in the coming year. Note that I only included things that I think have a solid chance of being released in 2010, so things like Zombieland 2 or The 4th Reich haven’t been included, as cool as they might be. Without further ado, I present my top ten picks for cool zombie shit coming in 2010. Make sure ot vote in the poll or leave me a comment with your thoughts!

10) Atom the Amazing Zombie Killer – The first of my ten top prospects for the year has a bit of a special connection, since it was made right here in my hometownÂ and I have covered events related to it for the newspaper I work for (Westword, in case you are interested).Â It’s about a guy named Atom who realizes zombies are everywhere who takes it upon himself to stop them and has been described to me as “Night of the Living Dead meets The Big Lebowski.” It looks to be ridiculous and goofy in that oh-so-special Troma way and while I generally find Troma-style films painful to experience, I do have a few favorites. This looks like it could be one of those. In any case I can’t wait to see it, regardless of the eventual outcome. You can follow the movie’s development on the filmmaker’s MySpace page.

9) Exquisite Corpse – It’s a classic story: Boy meets girl, boy gets girl, girl dies, boy goes apeshit crazy and kills other girls in order to make the serum that brings her back for one more day… even though she comes back a little more fucked up every time. This intriguing looking film looks like it may lean a little too heavily on the arty side, but I have high hopes nonetheless. Love, obsession, brutal murder, mad science, zombies … what else can you ask for? No word on a release date, format or anything else, but it is complete and seeking a buyer. Prognosis for it coming out this year is good, I’d say. Check the studio website or Facebook fan page for more info.

8 ) Eaters – It may be a stretch to project this Italian “extreme horror” movie as a 2010 release, since Shock Till You Drop reports it isn’t set to begin filming until June, but this is a low budget Italian gore film — it’ll probably be shot in a month and released a month later. I can hope anyway. This one is a post-apocalyptic story about another mad scientist looking for a cure for zombiism and the two zombie hunters who aid him. There’s a twist, too — let’s just say you should never trust a mad scientist specializing in zombies (didn’t Romero’s Day of the Dead teach us that?). The presence of Uwe Boll’s name in the opening credits gives me pause, but this looks to be just the right amount of cheesy ridiculousness. Check out the studio website for more info and this Dread Central item for a much more detailed (and frankly, slightly spoilery) synopsis.

7) Zombie Culture: Documentary of the Living Dead – This Camelot DarKnight project is listed as 2010 on the website, but it says Development next to it. Word is it was part of Camelot’s EFM lineup, though. What do I know – maybe they were shopping a concept, not a finished product. Anyway, the world needs a good, comprehensive zombie doc, and this promises to be “the most comprehensive documentary ever made on the worldwide longevity of zombie films.” It also promises a chronological format and an “exhaustive feel.” Will it live up to its promise? There’s no telling. In any case, god knows no one has offered me a bunch of money to make one. Until they do, let’s hope this one fills the bill.

6) The Dead – Howard Ford’s zombie apocalypse/road movie set in Africa has slowly wormed its way into my heart and mind. Something about it evokes the classic Lucio Fulci Zombie vibe and that’s a-okay with me. The brutal stills that have been released and this interview with Ford helped solidify my interest. I still wish they had called it something besides The Dead, but whatever. I’m sold at this point. Let’s hope it gets a theatrical release, even if it’s a very limited one. You can get some more info and some nice stills at the movie’s official website.



5) Collapse – I’ve covered Collapse a couple of times in the past (see here and here) and it looks promising. It’s the story of a rural farmer who has to fortify his house and protect his family from the zombie apocalypse. It features a zombie head in a bag. There’s also a ridiculous baseball bat/saw blade weapon. There’s no trailer or anything out yet, as far as I know, but the film’s Facebook page says they are in the editing stage. Let’s hope they wrap it up so we can see how it all came out.

4) A domestic release for REC 2 – Hello, Sony, we need to talk. Seriously. Are you trying to convince me to buy a region-free DVD player (which, by the way, means I no longer have to put up with any of your region-specific shenanigans)? Come on, goddamn it. The U.S. deserves a chance to see this movie! I’m not asking for a theatrical release (although that would be awesome) but for fuck’s sake, how about a bare-bones DVD release, or a Netflix streaming release or other VOD option. Anything? Please? I have no indication that this is ever going to happen, but I dearly hope it does. REC was awesome and at least some of the reports I have heard say REC 2 is even awesomer.

3) George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead -I know that the lucky few who have seen this flick have returned mixed reviews. Whatever. I don’t care. For one thing, I liked Diary of the Dead a lot more than most people did, and this is a direct sequel. For another, it’s George freaking Romero — if you can’t go into one of his flicks with an open mind, you aren’t much of a zombie fan. The story of an island where some nutty types are trying to keep their zombie loved ones safe sounds like a suitably new wrinkle on the story — I can’t wait until April 30 so I can see for myself. You can get updates at Romero’s MySpace page or follow his Twitter feed.

2) Dead Rising 2 – The original Dead Rising (review here) is one of my favorite games of all time. I have equally high hopes for the sequel, and actually wrote a while back about what I think would make it the greatest game of all time. Sure, I am not totally enamored of the weird multiplayer, the outrageous storyline or the goofy crafting system that has you fashioning “paddlesaws” and killer wheelchair contraptions. On the other hand, if you would have told me the first one featured a chance to put traffic cones on zombies’ heads, I wouldn’t have been too excited about that, yet it ended up being quite amusing. Regardless of any concerns, the chance to run rampant in a zombieified Las Vegas is just too awesome to pass up.

1) The Walking Dead on TV – Is this any kind of surprise? I adore Robert Kirkman’s ongoing tale of survival in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. And I have utmost respect for the caliber of serial drama that AMC has been able to produce. I even more or less like Frank Darabont. Add all that up and you have me jumping up and down with glee at the prospect of this show. It starts shooting in May, so there’s every reason to believe we’ll have it on the air this fall. If it lives up to its potential, we are simply talking about the greatest TV show of ALL TIME.

So those are mine. What about you? Vote in the poll below or leave me a comment.

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