Night of the Living Dead
Move over sparkly vampires, zombies are reclaiming the supernatural throne
The Walking DeadCourtesy photo
CDC's Zombie Pandemic comic book
Zombie Boy for DermaBlend campaign
Zombieland
Screen grab from the trailer of Dead Island.
These days, it seems vampires are taking a back seat in pop culture. It appears the days of sparkling nightwalkers can thankfully be put behind us. In their place, zombies are coming back in full force as they begin their march to reclaim the supernatural throne.
The living dead have been all over the news lately, from breaking ratings records to invading video games and even being at the forefront of cosmetics advertising campaigns — and audiences are buying in.
The living dead have been all over the news lately, from breaking ratings records to invading video games and even being at the forefront of cosmetics advertising campaigns — and audiences are buying in.
To put that in perspective, Vulture compared the premiere’s ratings against programming from that week and in the key 18 to 34 demo; The Walking Dead was the No. 1 drama and No. 4 entertainment series on all of television, ahead of established series like Grey’s Anatomy, House, The Good Wife and Dancing with the Stars.
And just after news hit of the ratings records, Vulture also announced that FOX is currently developing a television series based on the hit movie Zombieland, proving that zombies are indeed coming back — from the dead with a vengeance.
Also in development is a feature film based on the trailer of a recently released video game, Dead Island. You read that right; the trailer is the basis of the film — a trailer that became viral as soon as it was released, and for good reason.
But the comeback doesn’t stop there. Even the CDC has joined in on the fun and released a zombie-based comic book detailing what one would do in the case of a zombie apocalypse (which also happens to be the same thing one would do in the event of any natural disaster). This isn’t the first time the CDC has had fun with the living dead, either — back in May they released a more straightforward guide to surviving a zombie apocalypse.
Finally, DermaBlend Foundations has unveiled a new campaign featuring Rick Genest, aka Zombie Boy, a man most notable for being covered head-to-toe in skeletal tattoos. (OK, so this zombie reference is a bit of a stretch.) In the ad, make-up artists use DermaBlend concealer to cover up all of his tattoos, and the results are incredible. You can check out the ad here.
So what’s the cause for this zombie resurgence? In explaining the recent ratings success of The Walking Dead, Charlie Collier, president of AMC, says, "The Walking Dead is one of those rare television programs that reaches both a core genre fan as well as broad audiences simply looking for a great, character-based story.”
Besides, who doesn’t love a good zombie apocalypse?
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on AMC.
