The most anticipated Zombie movies of 2012

(The list of most anticipated comedies here, most anticipated fantasy films here, most antici

pated Finnish films here, most anticipated action movies here and the most anticipated scifi movies for 2012 here.)

If you happen to like zombie films, 2012 is not going to leave you dry. No sir. Thirty-plus feature films are marching to the big and small screens, from small indie flicks made with just few bucks, to the biggest zombie film ever made – World War Z. Zombie Room takes a closer look at the horde crawling at us.

Shaun of the Dead opened the floodgates of the zombie comedy (zom com, as they call it nowadays) -genre – and in 2012 they keep on coming like never before. Dave of the Dead is another one of the kind – this time it’s post-zombie-apocalypse world where the undead have became second-class citizens. In Canadian 3D-zom com Dead Before Dawn 3D [ Official Web Site ] a group of college kids unleash a curse that causes people to commit suicide and come back as zombie demons – zemons.

In Detention of the Dead [ Teaser ‖ Official Web Site ] , Breakfast Club meets Shaun of the Dead – a bunch of college kids trapped in detention during zombie apocalypse, and in Stalled [ Facebook page ] a luckless maintenance gopher finds himself stuck in a ladies restroom during one. Last but not least, Corey Feldman jumps in the pants of Zombie King, whose evil plans Edward Furlong has to win in the upcoming British horror comedy The Zombie King [ Teaser ‖ Official Web Site ].

Zombies land also to Europe, with Dutch zom com Zombibi [ Trailer ], where Amsterdam gets overrun by zombies, and the motley crew of survivors go way over the top in re-inventing ways to kill their dead fellow Amsterdamned.

And that’s not all. Zombies are getting more girlfriend and family-oriented as well. A Little Bit Zombie [ Trailer ‖ Official Web Site ] is an indie rom zom com, where an infected, mild-mannered HR manager attempts to fulfill his overwhelming desire for brains and avoid Max, the obsessed Zombie Hunter hot on his trail. All while keeping it together so as not to incur the wrath of his Bridezilla-to-be, In Abercrombie & Zombie a failed Survivor reality show auditioner comes back to life to pursue his dream to become the first zombie supermodel. Same theme continues in Zombie Blondes, where a new girl in the town Hannah gets new friends who all have names starting with same first letter, bleached blonde hair and eerily lightweight bodies… Big players are going Zombie again as well – Paramount is marching boy scouts to fight the zombie apocalypse and save the girl scouts of the neighboring camp in (cleverly named) Boy Scouts vs. Zombies.

It’s not just comedies, though. Good old zombie-smashing takes (probably) place in 100,000 Zombie Heads, starring among others great Vernon Wells (yes, the very Bennett from Commando and Lord General from Weird Science!), and My Bloody Valentine 3D director Patrick Lussier is pitching his new film Condition Dead [ Official Web Site ] as “Saving Private Ryan, with zombies”. In 3D, I would assume. And of course, what would be a zombie-year be without Paco Plaza returning with a new installation to the [REC]-saga – [REC]³ Génesis [ Trailer ]. As a cherry on top, Uwe Boll-produced zombie action flick Zombie Massacre [ Trailer ]is gathering momentum as well, fitted with a nifty trailer.

In animation front, The Living Corpse comic book series – which is apparently a famous one – is being remade into an animated feature film of the same name [ Trailer and Official Web Site ] . And in even bigger news, it might be that James Farr‘s comic book series Xombie gets remade into a major Dreamworks production of the same name, penned by Star Trek / Transformers duo Kurtzman and Orci! That sounds awesome!

Even Jesus Christ (the original zombie) is marching on the big screen: independent, Kickstarter-financed zombie film The Zombie Christ [ Trailer ‖ Official Web Site ] takes us into the 80′s future, where the ultimate weapon is sent to earth: the Zombie Christ. And in Jesus Hates Zombies [ Official Web Site ] – based on a comic book series of the same name – director Eric Balfour (whom you know as an actor with a face in wrong aspect ratio – don’t believe me, check it out yourself!) brings Jesus Christ back to save the humanity. Jesus ends up fighting together with Abe Lincoln, Mother Theresa and Elvis Presley against zombies and werewolves and whatnot.

And finally, the zombie world gets crazier and weirder with legendary 83-year-old cult director Ted V. Mikels who revisits his 60′s film The Astro Zombies in Astro Zombies: M4 – Invaders from Cyberspace [ Trailer ].

It sure looks like the zombie apocalypse if truly here – at least on the big screen. I picked three films to pay special attention to:

Directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace, Monster’s Ball)

The biggest-ever zombie film in the history of cinema, World War Z is based on a book with the same name. Staggering 125 million-dollar film is written by the creator of Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski, and several people who’ve read the story have appraised it not just being a genre-defining script, but one with Best Picture -potential, if realized the right way. Brad Pitt is the playing the main character, a UN representative who scours the world, interviewing survivors of the zombie apocalypse, referred to as World War Z. No teaser or trailer has yet been released, but there are several videos on YouTube shot by outsiders about the shoot, and even based on that stuff, the film looks like a fucking riot of awesomeness.

Directed by Chris Butler & Sam Fell (The Tale of Despereaux)

From the creators of Coraline comes a new horror stop-motion animation ParaNorman, a film which visual beauty just throws you off your chair. The story tells of a small town that comes under siege by the undead, and of a boy, Norman, who’s the only one with the ability to speak with the dead. The bravely creepy animation seems to be in all charts as one of the most interesting films coming out next year – stylish, fun and something fresh for the animation *and* zombie genre.

Directed by Richard Raaphorst

Having been in production under different names for ages, Amsterdam-based director Richard Raaphorst is bringing something completely new to the field. A WWII Nazi experiment has led to the creation of an undead army, using the test results of historical dr. Frankenstein as its’ basis. The film looks like something I haven’t seen ever before, and might very well become a hugely popular classic to accompany Dead Snow in the hall of best zombie films ever made. The promo reel via Twitch Films looks so beautiful I really have hard time waiting for this to finally become reality. The film – according to promos – is (correct me if I’m wrong!) black-and-white and possibly mute, accompanied with haunting soundtrack and great sound design, and impeccable sense of style.

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