The "Escalation" content pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops is almost ready for release and, unsurprisingly, it contains a zombie-themed level. But "Call of the Dead" isn't just your standard zombie soldier set-up. With heavy George A. Romero and grindhouse influences, not to mention an aptly star-studded line-up of characters, it's sort of like Black Ops and House of the Dead: Overkill had a baby. Which can only be a good thing.

Romero is not only the inspiration for the upcoming level—he has a cameo appearance as well. And starring alongside him are Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street), Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead), and Danny Trejo (Machete). In the game they'll be playing four survivors fighting off Soviet zombies in a "mysterious, ice-covered, remote Siberian island."

Aside from the grindhouse-inspired storyline, we don't know much about "Call of the Dead." But if the launch trailer is anything to go by it looks like Treyarch is pretty committed to making a fun, over-the-top zombie experience, which should fit in nicely in the Black Ops world.

The new stage is launching alongside four brand-new multiplayer maps to form Black Ops' second content pack. Though it's coming to other platforms eventually, "Call of the Dead" is going to be a timed exclusive, hitting the Xbox 360 first on May 3.