UK based music duo Evil Nine have released a new album called They Live. Actually they released it a little while ago but I’ve only just heard of it and it sounds so much fun that I thought I’d give it a mention.

As you might have guessed from the title, They Live (released on Marine Parade) is inspired by the classic John Carpenter movie. According to the Evil Nine website:

“Don’t be surprised if They Live! does for zombies what Daft Punk did for robots. With stomping electro drums, ’80s Italian horror-movie synths, dirty punk basslines, and a wanton disregard for genre rules, the infamously subversive dance/electronic duo create an unstoppable soundtrack for the new zombie revolution, down to the gory horror-show cover imagery courtesy artist Dan Mumford, infamous for his sicko album art for Gallows and other punk/metal classics.”

Tracks include Feed on You (“somewhere between a zombie death march and miami vice incidental music”), How Do We Stop The Normals? (“techno wiggles and jan hammer moments twinned with a super triumphant breakdown”) and Twist the Knife with Emily Breeze (“it’s all lipstick, neon lights, fast cars and us pretending we’re in a rock band on this one”).

One of the true classics of modern cinema is Chan-wook Park’s dark movie Oldboy, unpleasant even by the standards of Korean horror. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that it’s something special and a one-off.

So it’s an obvious candidate for a big-budget Hollywood remake. And who better to make it than the king of schmaltz Steven Spielberg? Yep, unbelievable as it sounds Variety reports that Spielberg is in talks to remake Oldboy, possibly with Will Smith in the lead role.

Spielberg is certainly a skilled director and capable of producing suspense – Duel is a superb example. However in recent years he’s tended towards the saccharin with an annoying number of cute kids in his films (remember the appalling 2005 version of War of the Worlds?).

As for Smith, I think he’s great at tongue-in-cheek comedy (Independence Day, Men in Black) but far less impressive in straight dramatic roles.

It all sounds like a recipe for a disaster.

Superheros and zombies go together well as the comic series Marvel Zombies has proved. A new addition to this specialised genre is due out next year.

Newsarama reports that Super Zombies, written by Marc Guggenheim & Vince Gonzales and drawn by Mel Rubi, will be launched by Dynamite in March 2009. The story features a world torn apart by two plagues. The first gives a small number of people super powers, the second turns some of them into zombies. The remaining heros and some of the villains join together to fight the super-powered zombies.

Guggenheim is aware that people will immediately think of the successful Marvel comic series. He says:

“The whole story hinges upon plot turns and mysteries that are extremely universe-specific — and that universe just isn’t the Marvel one.”

and:

“There are going to be obvious comparisons to Marvel Zombies and I think one of the things Vince and I were most concerned with was crafting a story that could not — in any way — be mistaken for MZ. Not that MZ isn’t a kickass comic, but we wanted to make sure we weren’t copying it. The truth is, the whole project’s a bit subversive because I don’t think it’s what you’re expecting from the title — and I mean that in a good way.”

Sounds interesting!

Shock Till You Drop is reporting that a sequel to the movie 30 Days of Night is in the offing. Apparently this will feature character Stella Oleson from the first film hunting down and seeking revenge on the vampires.

Personally I’m a lot less enthusiastic about this than some people. As I said in my review of the first movie, it was “rather a waste of what could have been a very tense and claustrophobic situation”. By taking the character to the vampires even that situation will presumably be lost, leaving nothing much left other than a run of the mill vampire movie with snow.

Still, I’m open to being proved wrong!

George A Romero has been discussing his latest zombie movie with USA Today. This time round the social message is going to be “tribalism”. Romero is quoted as saying:

“There are two factions. It’s the idea that even when faced with a crisis, tribal concerns about power control people’s motives.”

The title of the new film – which is currently shooting in Toronto – is still unconfirmed, my money’s on Isle of the Dead. To keep us in suspense the production company making the film is actually named “Blank of the Dead”!