For the zombie enthusiast, it doesn’t take long to scrape the bottom of the zombie-themed entertainment barrel. There just aren’t that many really good movies, stories, blogs, and other web content out there. Before you know it you’re watching Day of the Dead 2: Contagium and wishing the real Zompocalypse would start. So what does a zombie fan worth his machete do when craving some fresh, heart-pounding, survivalist action? Assemble a core team and hunker down for a game of Zombies!!!

You’ve probably asked yourself at least once: what would I do if the world was being overrun with flesh hungry corpses? Here’s your chance to find out, as you and your opponents try to escape the multiplying horde of the undead, get to the whirlybird, and fly off into the sunset.

Zombies!!! is a hybrid CCG and board game that requires strategy, a strong stomach, and a strong survival instinct. Using a modual set of board game “map tiles” the layout of your town is different every time, creating endless variations. You and your fellow humans start out in Town Square, adding tiles and expanding your playing field at the beginning of each turn. Some of these tiles contain uneventful buildings, while others are fodder for the gorgeously illustrated “event cards”. For instance, at the Sporting Goods Store you can use the Lots of Ammo card to pick up a good amount of weaponry. That’s been a lifesaver more than a few times for us, and the image is probably the most gory in the pack. In the Gas Station you chuck a Molotov Cocktail and get better fighting skills for a short time. Other highly useful cards include; finding a car and discovering that The Keys Are Still In It, wielding a Chainsaw for an entire turn, and maybe the funnest discovery of all: Hey Look… A Shotgun!. The artwork on these cards, done by Dave Aikins, is amazing, and is worth the $25 price all by itself. Our first couple games were particularly long since all the players were distracted with examining the artwork.

The ever-changing board layout also sets the stage for a variant ending. Sometimes it’s impossible to lay down all the tiles and so rather than heading to the chopper, the winner is declared after killing 25 zombies. With 100 of the little grey guys included (which some people have custom painted), it’s a fun yet formidable goal. You can also opt for variant sets of rules and/or a customized card decks to create an entirely new scenario. The customization options are really endless and so many good ideas have all ready been submitted by players. For us, that’s one of the strongest features, as it means our Zompocalypse won’t veer into predictable territory and could feasibly go on forever.

After our first couple games we also noticed some downsides, but nothing too terrible. Functionally speaking, the tiles are flimsy and lightweight, so they get shuffled around a bit and frequently need adjusting to put them back into their designated spaces. For this reason, having a young kid or pet in the same room isn’t advised. Due to the flexibility of the tile placement, a large table space is frequently needed, too. Sometimes a card table will do, but often a pretty large surface is needed. (We’re thinking about making a mod where we apply magnets to the back of all pieces and then place them along wall-mounted magnet strips. Does that make us crazy?)

We tested the first edition of the game (there are many expansion packs which include new cards and tiles) and another annoying factor is the amount of devious cards: too many of them can negatively affect everyone on the board. Each player’s turn adds new zombies to the town, but many event cards “allow” you to add 5, 10, or a whole bunch of extra zombies into the mix. Not that being devious isn’t a necessary evil for this game, it’s just that too many cards are used for this purpose. When you’re running low on life and bullets (which can be a very frequent occurrence), the last thing you want is to draw card after card that would further infest your city with zombies, even if that might also slow down your opponents. As cited in another review, “The strategy of the game is hidden when you first try to play. Basically, you want to hinder all of the other players from doing well, while you hold onto as many bullets and life points at the same time”. These cards are indeed useful in thwarting the other players: there are just too many of them.

Another nitpick is obvious to us because 2 of our players are female. As we went to select our game pieces we noticed only a “shotgun guy“. No big surprise, especially since horror gamers are generally male, but the action cards are decidedly male-dominated, too. Of the 50 event cards, women only appear in 6 of them and none of them include any battle. In fact, they are either cowering, experiencing Claustrophobia or a Bad Sense of Direction. It smacks of wimpy 1968 Barbara instead of adaptive, shotgun-wielding 1990 Barbara from Night of the Living Dead. Hopefully future editions will have a wider range of characters featured in the artwork and playing pieces.

Players on Board Game Geek are pretty divided on Zombies!!!, but we give it 4 out of 5 brains. The variety makes it a new experience every time, and besides the game mechanics, the theme is spot on; the action cards explore so many ideas that movies have yet to depict. For zombie fans, it just doesn’t get any better. Grab yourself some snacks, pop in some Romero, and try your hand at surviving the Zompocalypse.

Buy Online At: Twilight Creations or find a killer deal at eBay.

Apparently, I’m the last one to know about modifying LEGO “mini figures” (the little dudes and dudettes): there are a lot of sites out there on the topic! If Legos aren’t your thing then you may have missed this phenomena too, but like many subjects, if you add at least a vaguely creepy aspect to it then it’s a lot more interesting. Case in point: A Lego Revivening and some Lego Halloween Monsters at Flickr. Look at those details!

Like the unrelenting undead, many Lego fans just keep barreling forward with their ideas and take the next logical step into making movies. My favorite of the ones I found is All of the Dead, a very short black and white film containing some great zombie chaos and cliches. Another funny Lego zombie shorty is Toxic Waste. Watch for the full sized items in the door barricading scene towards the end. There’s also a very abbreviated Lego Chainsaw Massacre, and a painstakingly shot-for-shot accurate Thriller with Legos. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve watched a Lego guy’s skull get bashed in with a hammer or try to do the Thriller dance.

What other creepy stuff can you do with your little Lego dudes? The evil mad scientists at Evil Mad Scientist Labs show you how LED lights + LEGO Minifigures = tiny creepy Halloween decorations. It’s a dang easy project and makes for very unique Halloween decor.

Have you made or found any creepy Lego projects online? Drop us a comment!

If you would have asked me prior to Halloween if I was pleased about the delay in broadcasting the Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror XVII, I would have stabbed you with the retractable knife from Sean’s costume. But today, 6 days after Halloween, I’m thankful for any spooky morsels of media that keep the holiday spirit alive.

If you’ve got teh Internets (which you apparently do), you might have watched this episode sooner, as it was leaked over a week early. For the rest of us in the US it debuted last night, November 5th. The 17th installment of the Treehouse of Horror definitely has a different feel to it, and people are divided in their opinions. Many reviews summarily dismiss the episode, calling it “ham fisted” and “hit or miss”, but these opinions come almost exclusively from those who were “unsettled” by the Iraq War commentary at the end. But let’s not be myopic. On one hand I agree that, without the Simpson’s-standard comic twist at the end, lines like “You said we’d be greeted as liberators” are almost as sobering as they are funny. However, just because 2 of the 22 minutes in this episode reference the Iraq debacle doesn’t negate the rest of the humor. Light hearted or notorious, part of the beauty of the Simpson’s is their ability to weave current events into their storylines!

It’s hard to rate XVII next to previous episodes because each one has its own feel, and because Simpsons standards have always been excellent. The Oregonian aptly said “…the standard set by the 16 previous Treehouse episodes is so high, that a show that features lines as clever as that is still, by comparison, substandard.” Yes, it has some dud jokes and recycled ideas, but those are overshadowed by the overall clever and topical writing. OK, and the cannibalism, destruction, and rolling around naked in the mud. Those always help. Treehouse of Horror XVII is a soon-to-be classic, and in my opinion, one of the best Halloween episodes yet. If only we could get a decent DVD released…

The Big Day is finally here! All your preparation and excitement are paying off today. All year it feels far away, and then BAM you’re watching the sun begin to set on Halloween night. Everyone has their own rituals for this day to make it memorable and fun. On a weekday like this year we finish our day at work or school, get home around sunset or dusk and; put on a costume, throw or attend a party, trick-or-treat, visit an outdoor event, watch scary movies, prepare and eat a themed meal, pass out candy, pass out drunk, cause trouble, go to a club, attend a “harvest festival” or other church event, chase the paranormal, tempt monsters of the night, or do nothing and all and go to bed early. Or a hundred other alternatives, depending on your location and tastes.

What are you doing today and tonight? What are your Halloween traditions? How’s the season been for you in general? Please answer our polls and leave some comments below.

PS- Come back tomorrow for a Halloween decompression. We’ll make you feel all better.

Picture credits to Rob Alder and Harpersbizarre for their zombie and candy photos, respectively. Thank you!

I think it’s probably that other huge holiday that encourages the spirit of giving, but Ray from Raven’s Blight wants to share some Halloween freebies with you anyway. In addition to the 300+ spooky paintings, illustrations, and other artwork on display at his site, he also offers an ever-growing collection of free Halloween paper crafts. Using cardstock paper, you print out his intricate artwork, do some careful cutting and gluing, and you’ve created your own Hearse Playset, Deluxe Coffin Giftboxes, or Zombie Mask. There are tons of designs available beyond those, including other masks and playsets, board games, dice games, mini monsters, and book covers. It’s a fantastic resource for Halloweenies and those interested in “goth art”. The projects range from simple to “you’ll spend all afternoon on this”, so you can undoubtedly find activities to keep you and your kids occupied as you countdown the last few days to Halloween.

There is also a free Haunted Cottage available from Free Digital Scrapbooking. The cottage displays your pictures in its windows and is “only the first in a larger collection you can purchase and download to create an entire spooky village”. The Spooky Shack is also available for purchase.

Don’t have an awesome printer? How about a tree? Using this fairly simple tutorial you can learn to transform maple leaves into a bouquet of firey Autumn-colored roses. Since you can use many other materials besides maple leaves, the possibilities are endless with this idea. I would like to see a creepier version made from dark or painted leaves, swaddled in some cheesecloth or other rags. What a perfect bouquet for a Corpse Bride costume.

With only 13 days until Halloween left, it’s time to brush up on your photography skills so you can artfully capture your memories of the big night. After all the preparation you’ve done with decor and costumes, you’re going to want to document it all on film (or your memory stick). It’s easy to end up with Halloween photos that are overexposed, monotonous, or just plain unattractive to the eye. Using a few easy design and photography techniques, you can make sure that your photos are well-lit and “draw the eye”.

1. Use the Rule of Thirds- Place the main subject or points of interest off-center to achieve striking composition.
2. Learn to shoot in low light- Don’t rely on a flash, which is often times too harsh for pictures that are taken at night or in otherwise very low light. You can utilize higher film speeds/ISO, slower shutter speeds, and varied lens aperture/f-stops to achieve well-lit shots. Using a tripod when taking long exposures will help prevent camera shake and blurred images.
3. Diffuse your flash- There are times when you simply must have additional lighting. You can soften the light from your camera’s flash by placing a DIY diffuser in front of it. Try using any of the following: women’s nylon stockings, a square cut from a translucent juice or milk jug, scarf or other very thin piece of material, tissue paper, cellophane, or frosted disposable cups (like Dixie brand).

For more detailed tricks, the New York Institute of Photography has an excellent article that addresses specifics like photographing trick-or-treaters and Jack-o-Lanterns. For a shorter read and more general tips, Digicam Help offers 8 Tips to Keep in Mind for Halloween.