Shopping & Gifts: Zombie Back Scratcher

Hello fellow bloats and what nots, here on ZombiCV we have a great deal going on! Introducing the new, rotten, deliciously filthy, Z O M B I E BACK SCRATCHER!

This item, is just ideal for all you bloats who are quite unable to scratch their backs and other parts below their belly. Not only is this item ideal for scratching, but as well as harassing people sexually! Wink wink at you perverts out there!

Life is so much easier with a back scratcher, wouldn't you agree? Well? What are you waiting for? Click now! This item could be yours! Just go on and click!

Games: Big Monster Battle

Do you love monsters? Have you ever had time to kill, but looked at the boring selection of casual, Windows Live Messenger games and been disappointed? Do you ever wish that your love of horror could be incorporated into your IMing world, somehow?  Well! Then 'Big Monster Battle' is the game for you (and a friend, as it's 2 player). BMB is essentially a horror-themed variation on the games 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' and 'Jan Ken Po', but everything you choose is a weird monster fighting move, rather than a hand movement. The backgrounds, characters and music are also all very entertaining. especially as it's only a Windows Live game!

There are five monster characters to choose from:

Krazy Clown

Krazy Clown

"Another in a long line of family clowns, Krazy is the son of famous Rodeo Clown "Mad Man" Clown. At a young age Krazy tried to imitate his father by messing with a full grown bull. The result is evident in the rather stunted speech pattern Krazy displays to this day. While touring with a failing Circus, Krazy did pick up some valuable street fighting tips from The Freaks. (Especially the boy with two heads.)"

Organ Grinder

Organ Grinder

"Grinder had been a cheeky little monkey - greeting all the children who came to the circus with a playful cymbal crash. But when his tail was pulled for the thousandth time, he simply snapped. Grinder became...well, angry and you won't like Grinder when he's angry. Wielding his cymbals with the dexterity of a ninja Grinder can quickly unleash his patented "Organ Grinder" move - which performs exactly as advertised."

Carney Vore

Carney Vore

Unlike most of his furry brethren, Carney Vore eschews the normal greens and carrots for the sweet taste of red meat. An intimidating fact in and of itself, but nothing compared to the knowledge that Carney actually owns several fur coats made from other rabbits! This is no cuddly little, egg hiding bunny - no, no, this is one bad hombre.

Ratputin

Ratputin

"Born and raised on the wharfs of Brooklyn, Raputin learned how to handle himself by taking on entire prides of alley cats at the same time. His teeth and claws have been filed to razor sharp points from gnawing and burrowing through the sides of iron-hulled ships and let's just say a sewage treatment plant has nothing on his deadly breath."

Roadkill Racoon

Roadkill Racoon

"Mowed down by various forms of transportation including an 18-wheeler toting amusement park rides for the circus, Roadkill has bounced back from every life threatening accident you can think of. Sure he may hobble a bit here and there, you may even think you've got the best of him - but beware - this racoon knows how to play 'possum."

Madame Luciel and myself played this for a while (well, half an hour) and it didn't get boring during that time. Usually I can play 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'-type games for about 5 minutes before my brain loses the will to think, but BMB was actually quite an interesting diversion. You can also write custom taunts to your opponent, which is fun if you have silly friends or you just like telling everyone how much better than them you are!

Madame Luciel as Organ Grinder, kicking my ass as Roadkill Racoon

If you have the latest version of Windows Live Messenger (and a friend!) you should try it out. However, if you don't, you can try it out on the BMB website in single player mode. You can only choose Krazy Clown and Organ Grinder though.

Big Monster Battle Website

 

More screencaps after the cut below↓

Food and Drink: Mr. & Mrs. Bones Cakes Tutorial

Firstly, I should point out that Valentine's Day is not really something I care about one way or the other. I don't think I've ever celebrated it, but I don't hate it either. It's just kind of....there. However, if you're going to mark the occasion, why not do so in horror-themed style? Or at least give the object of your affection matching skeleton cakes!


Mrs. & Mr. Bones cakes

If you can't or have no wish to bake cakes, then don't worry, this entry is all about how to decorate store-bought slices! You can either decorate one of each, or two of the same depending on your relationship and, you can even customise the accessories to make them more personal to your darling devil. to top it off, they're really simple too!

How-to guide after the cut below↓

Toys: Living Dead Dolls Little Red Riding Hood & The Big Bad Wolf

Mezco will release the their Scary Tales: Little Red Riding Hood pair of dolls in 2011, coinciding with the debut of a film of the same story.

"Living Dead Dolls Presents Scary Tales: Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf

"What big teeth you have"

Inspired by one of the most famous of the Grimm Brothers stories, Mezcos popular Living Dead Dolls reimagines the little girl who dared venture into the dark woods, as well as the legendary wolf with whom she crossed paths.

Red Riding Hood is dressed in her namesake hooded cape and comes complete with her picnic basket: all the better for bringing goodies to Grandma.

The Big Bad Wolf comes dressed in Grandmas nightgown, sleeping cap, and wears her glasses.

This timeless tale has been capturing readers imaginations for hundreds of years and is set to be released as a big budget film from Warner Bros. in March 2011. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke and staring Amanda Seyfried, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Julie Christie, and Gary Oldman.

Each is shipped in their own coffin."

The variant, to be released in March 2011, has also been announced, and features Red Riding Hood wearing the wolf's pelt as a cape. All three are available for preorder now.

Living Dead Dolls Official Site

Information via: LivingDeadDolls.net, Ikon Collectables and BigBadToyStore.com

Creepy Christmas: Killing Floor Twisted Christmas

Originally released in 2009, first person co-op survival horror game 'Killing Floor' is having a Twisted Christmas event from December 14th 2010 - January 4th 2011. The event consists of a new map - Santa's Evil Lair - and they've also doubled the number of achievements available to almost 130, including 13 Christmas ones. By completing all 13, you can also unlock the playable character, Baddest Santa.

Baddest Santa



Jack Frost

Just to make it extra festively bizarre, they've changed all the enemy characters into not-so-jolly Christmas-themed attackers. Gorefasts, become Gingerfast, Fleshpounds become Nutpound (complete with Nutcracker Suite theme music), Crawlers become Rudolph the Red-Nosed Crawlers and there's Mrs. Claws, Jack Frost, Elves and Santa's Little Helper amongst other holiday horrors too!

Gingerfast

As a special bonus, those of you own both Team Fortress 2 and Killing Floor, will get a playable red or blue Pyro character, done in the art style of Killing Floor. Also, everyone that owns Team Fortress 2 and either already owns or purchases Killing Floor before the end of the event will recieve Mr Foster's Gas Mask and Tie, which is equippable on the Pyro character.

 

 

For more information, visit the following website:
Killing Floor Twisted Christmas
 
Video after the cut below:
 

Creepy Christmas: 10 Spooky Christmas Items

If you want to create a stunning Christmas display this year, but have a taste for spookier setups, why not try mixing Christmas decor with Halloween props to create some festive fun. We'll be posting guides showing how to do that over the next few weeks, but if you decide you already have enough stress to deal with this season, you could always take the pressure off and let someone else handle it! Below are 10 great, creepy Christmas items that will help you create a scary holiday scene!

Click the cut below for the list:

Games: Zombie Mosh

Zombie Mosh is a new game on Facebook, in which you create a zombie character go up levels by moshing with other zombies. When making your little undead darling, you have quite a lot of choice as to what they look like, and you can change their appearence any time you like, which is great considering the game is still only in beta testing. It would be better if you could change the colours of the items too though, because not all of the accessories go together in their default state.

The game takes place within your club and the clubs created by your friends. You can customise your club by buying items from the store with money you get from moshing. Other zombies enter your club and you can interact with them, or you can travel to your friends' clubs and mosh with the zombies there instead. When you mosh in your friends' clubs, you also gain fame, in addition to money and experience. There's also a third option; you can 'grow' your own zombies by planting the humans that wander in from time to time in graves. As you go up levels, you unlock new types of graves, that in turn produce new kinds of zombies.

The one annoying thing about the game, and most games of this kind on Facebook, is that for every action you do, you have to use a certain amount of energy. Once that energy is gone, you have to wait nearly 4 minutes to get 1 energy back, unless you want to pay a silly amount of money for bones, which you can buy special and energy-replenishing items with. So for that reason, it's not really a game you can play for more than about 5 minutes at a time. However, when you go up a level, you recieve bonus energy (how much depends on what level you're at) and you do regain a full energy bar at the beginning of each day.

Whilst it's obviously not the best game ever made, overall, Zombie Mosh is quite entertaining, has a charming look to it and the creators seem to be adding new features regularly. It's worth checking out if you have a Facebook account, some time to kill and a love of zombies!

Zombie Mosh on Facebook

Zombie Mosh Twitter Page

Creepy Christmas: Bud Rubber Ducks

After seeing the title of this post, I know you must be thinking "but rubber ducks have absolutely nothing to do with horror and spookiness," right? Wrong! The clever people at Bud Ducks are known for making unusual and quirky bath toys and have even made some cute horror/spooky companions.

Horror Duck

Their collection includes such eerie quackers as the blood-splattered Horror Duck, the bony X-Ray Duck, the creepy cute Spooky Duck and the piratey Skull Duck amongst other aquatic oddities. The ducks come in sizes ranging from tiny 4cm avians on keychains to large 15cm bath toys and decorations.



Spooky Duck



X-Ray Duck









They make ideal and unique Christmas gifts for anyone who has a darker sense of humor or just likes cute and comical horror and, even if you don't celebrate Christmas, they're still great and fun items to buy for your friends or even for yourself!

Official Website

↓More photos after the cut below

Food and Drink: Spooky Chocolate Molds

This delightful spooky chocolate mold was bought as a present for me from the "home and creative kitchenware" shop Lakeland. I assume it was produced for Halloween and so I'm not sure if they still make it or not, but there are many other places, such as FRED, that sell themed chocolate/ice cube molds that could be used instead.

It's made of ridgid but bendable rubber, which means that although it will keep the shape of the chocolate well, it's also very easy to pop out each one when you're done. The rubber material also helps to ensure that they don't stick to the mold. There are shaped ridges and raised areas in each section, meaning that it is really simple to add cute details just by filling them in with a different colour chocolate. I used a small paintbrush to do the details in dark chocolate and then, after leaving it to set for a few minutes, poured in the white chocolate to fill up the rest of the mold.

Make sure the chocolate is completely melted and smooth before you start, as this will give a better outcome. The finished products below might look a little messy, but that was because I used a paint brush that was a little too large for the gaps, not because of the mold itself.

Quick, simple, delicious fun!

Events: Brighton Beach of the Dead Zombie Parade

Halloween - a day filled with ghosts, ghouls and zombies, when the dead can walk the Earth...in BRIGHTON!  That is, when the undead (and a few costumed humans) take to the streets for Beach of the Dead, South East England's gory zombie parade! Whilst it is technically not on Halloween, since it takes place on October 30th, it still looks like a million bags of bloody brains-worth of fun!

Last year's lurching creeps are featured in the video above. Dare you join them for the fourth year of this wonderfully spooky event?!

Official Website

Official MySpace

Halloween: The Candy Spooky Theater x SaTaN

Two of my favourite Tokyo horror bands, The Candy Spooky Theater and SaTaN are playing a show together on Halloween! 'Tokyo Horror Fes. Vol. 2' is the follow up to Vol. 1, which was last year in February. The first event, featuring the same two artists, was amazingly fun and both bands were wonderful live, had spooky stageshows and the crowd were very energetic too. Sadly, I won't be in Japan on October 31st, but I definitely recommend going to see this event if you can!

HALLOWEEN 2MAN SHOW !!!!!!

The CANDY SPOOKY THEATER × SaTaN

PRESENTS

TOKYO HORROR FES. VOL. 2

『 HAUNTED HALLOWEEN 』

Venue: 目黒鹿鳴館 (Meguro Rock May Kan)
Price: 2,800yen (in advance) or 3,300yen (on the day)
         +500yen drink charge (seperately)

You can reserve tickets with the bands or contact the venue for more information.
All the websites linked in this entry are in Japanese, so if you need any help, leave a comment and I'll try to answer your question.

Games: Sims 3 Late Night

A group of vampires hunting

Just in time for Halloween, The Sims 3 team will release the 'Late Night' expansion pack on October 26th and, as with 'The Sims 2 Nightlife' pack, there will be vampires! In a recent blog, one of the producers wrote:

"Let’s get a few things clear – Vampires in The Sims 3 Late Night do not twinkle, sparkle, or cry. Vampire men look like men and vampire women, well, they’re clearly girls. When in daylight they smolder with fire and are in deep trouble as they should be. They aren’t “beautiful” in the eyes of silly, adolescent girls.

Phew. I feel better now.

We designed vampires to be awesome, cunning, and incredibly powerful. We want vampires to provide an entirely new way to play as a Sim and to tell a compelling story of the night. We also wanted them to be, ahem, night and day different from the vampires of The Sims 2 Nightlife. Those vampires seemed like they belonged in a 1920s horror movie. The Sims 3 Late Night vampires bring the allure of the night into the 21st century."

A vampire feeding

Well, I'm glad they're not sparkly, but I rather like 1920s vampires actually! Anyway, these children of the night seem quite interesting and they have been given lots abilities that other Sims don't have, such as:

• Learning skills twice as quickly as other Sims
• Being stronger, smater and more creative
• Running extremely quickly
• Hunting
• Mind-reading
• Forcing Sims to think of them (builds relationships faster)

Those skills will definitely enhance gameplay and make the scenarios quite different for those that have been "turned". They can also steal plasma packs from the hospital or, if they're a vegetarian, can grow Plasma Fruit on which to feed. Before you get annoyed at the thought of vegetarian vampires, just remember Count Duckula!

You can keep up to date with the Sim undead and other Sims 3 developments by subscribing to their news feed or visiting the official Sims 3 website.

Games: Left 4 Dead - The Sacrifice

It's also a joint funeral with 3 others if you fail...

This has been a bit delayed due to some outside factors (zombies!), but here we go...my first game review!

Well almost. On October 5th, 2 extra campaigns were added for Left 4 Dead. You can see the original article for the release here.

Review after the jump!

Food and Drink: Halloween Gingerbread House

A few days ago I told you about Dylan's Candy Bar's gingerbread playhouse and Dr. Oetker's Bat Cookie Kit. Well, much to my surprise yesterday, Dr. Oetker yet again provided a fun, sweet treat! The Christmas Halloween Gingerbread House Kit! Admittedly, it is supposed to be Christmas themed, but with a few adjustments it can easily have a Halloween or horror theme and it's nowhere near the price (or size) of the Dylan's Candy Bar version. 

The kit includes:

• Gingerbread shapes (for main house)
• Jelly diamonds
• Mini marshmallows
• Chocolate beans
• Designer icing (white)

You'll need a knife to cut out the door too, and I chose to customise mine with Halloween candy, toys and black icing as well.



↑The Halloween gingerbread house that I made↑



Extras (not included in kit):

• Black icing (from Bat Cookie Kit)
• Finger pupper monsters
• Ghost & witch chocolates
• Skulls & Bones candy
• Rainbow drops

Everything but the black icing was from Handy Candy.

More pictures and instructions on how to make the Halloween house after the jump below! (Just like the bat cookies, it's really simple!)

Events: NYC Village Halloween Parade

"The organizers of the Village Parade are calling out to all horror fans, current and former residents of the New York City area, and all lovers of everything Halloween to reach deep down into their pockets and donate as little as one dollar to support one of the greatest Halloween traditions in the USA. Donations pay for everything from the fantastic puppets and entertainment in the parade itself to security for those marching and the happy people watching on the sidelines, the coordination of this massive gathering, and even the clean-up after the crowds are gone. It all costs buckets of cash so if you want to help keep the spirit of Halloween alive in New York City, pitch in a buck and tell everyone you know to spread the word. Your support means everything!

Now in its 37th year, this true folk art event features 60,000 people in costumes of their own creation, dozens of bands playing music from all over the world reflecting the ethnic traditions of NYC, performance troupes, floats, and its own style of Giant Puppets created just for the parade. It draws a happy, costumed audience of over 2 million spectators that occasioned the New York Times to call the Parade “the best entertainment the people of this city give to the people of this city.”  

Things kick off at 7 pm on Sunday, October 31st. Lineup is on 6th Avenue south of Spring and north of Canal. The Parade goes from Spring Street to 16th Street on 6th Avenue. It will be televised live on NY1 TV and WPIX Channel 11."

Via Dread Central

Animation: Classic Trick and Treating

With Halloween fast approaching, I wanted to share three  video clips that represent a older, more classic view of the mischievous holiday.

Let's start with a classic Disney video from the 20's.

This clip is tremendously charming, holding quite a bit of black humor. The children's classic cartoon company really went all out creative to represent "Comical death."

A very amusing clip, also from Disney. The music and lyrics are probably the best thing on the clip; very childish indeed, but surely any halloween-loving adult may enjoy!

Lastly, a short clip titled Season Greetings by Mike Dougherty. Sam goes out trick or treating, and the essence of the holiday, and it's traditions, are represented in Sam, a little "boy" who loves the holiday.

Movies: UK Suspiria Screening

16th October 11.30pm start - DJ & Bar Open until 2am Tickets £7.00

"Cigarette Burns Cinema is continuing its partnership with Dalston’s Rio Cinema and together we are bringing you none other than one of the creepiest films ever made. Just how it needs to be seen, fully uncut, bold, disconcerting and LOUD – SUSPIRIA.

This tale of an innocent American ballet student who unwittingly unravels the terrifying secret of her new school is routinely cited as one of the all time scariest horror films and is solely responsible for cementing Dario Argento’s place in cinematic history. Suspiria is an undeniably visceral experience, assaulting, not only your eyes, but your ears as well.

We can’t thing of a better way to spend a cold, dark October night than to let Goblin’s super eerie soundtrack creep into your brain as Argento drenches the screen with his dreamlike technicolour palette.

Flashback Record’s very own Graham Murphy will be spinning Italian Doomy Prog and Kraut Rock to set the mood before and after the screening and the Rio Cinema has been kind enough to leave the bar open throughout the film and after, a brilliant night is guaranteed. All for a measly £7."

Via Horror-Movies.ca and Hackney Hive

Toys: Edible Gingerbread Playhouse

Dylan's Candy Bar, the world's largest candy store, have made a fairytale witch's dream come true, with this huge edible gingerbread playhouse. (Don't worry, there's no oven! You're safe!) For everyone else, if you just ignore the little Christmas trees and turn the snoman into a pumpkin man, and you've got yourself a fantastic Halloween playhouse!

"...This unique edible playhouse is handcrafted of 381 lbs. of gourmet gingerbread and 517 lbs. of royal icing by the expert confectioners at Dylan's Candy Bar®. The munchable manor, which stands 6.6 feet high by 5.25 feet wide by 4.1 feet deep, incorporates the best confections from the world's largest candy store in New York City. With literally thousands of signature gourmet sweets from which to choose, it is both artfully designed and decadently delicious. It includes giant cookies, lollipops, gummies, mints, gumdrops, and (of course) a candy-encrusted roof. There's also a lollipop tree inside, just for good measure. CEO and self-proclaimed Candy Queen Dylan Lauren was inspired as a child when she watched the classic movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory..."

It looks pretty amazing, but comes with an equally amazing price tag of 15,000 dollars! But if you do happen to be a particularly rich witch, you can head over to Neiman Marcus and buy yourself one. Even if you're not willing to spend that kind of money on confectionary, it's still worth heading over to Dylan's Candy Bar for their Halloween candy and contest (open to US residents only) HERE!

Neiman Marcus link via Geekologie

Food and Drink: Bat Cookies

I decided to try using a cookie mix instead of baking from scratch as I usually do and came across this! Dr. Oetker's 'Halloween Bat Cookie Kit' will make a spooky addition to any seasonal party food this year, or just a creepy and cute treat for any occasion! They're really simple to make, since all you have to do is combine the ready-prepared dry ingredients with some butter/spread, cut out the bat shapes (cutter included) and cook for 10 minutes! Simple!

They came out really well and I don't think anyone, no matter how young, would have any difficulties making these. So they're definitely a good choice for those of you with little monsters or just those of you with less time/baking experience.

If you want to add anything like chocolate chips, nuts or fruit, you will need to add a little more butter/spread and flour to ensure that you have enough dough to go over the extras. It may be better just to add those on top of each cookie instead though.

 

The kit includes:

• Cookie mix
• Bat cookie cutter
• Black writing icing

Makes 6 cookies

(I managed to make 7 and probably could have done 8)

 

In addition to these kookie cookies, Dr. Oetker also make a Halloween Cupcake Kit and Halloween Apple Decorating Kit as well! I want to try them out some time.

More pictures and a cookie recipe (for anyone who can't find the kit but still wants to make Halloween cookies) after the jump↓

Halloween: Jack-o'-Lanterns

In the previous entry, I talked about the book  'Great Pumpkins: Crafty Carving for Halloween', by Peter Cole (with Jessica Hurley). Well, this time, I'm going to show you some pumpkins that Madame Luciel and I carved, including one from that book! 'Witches' Brew' was one of the stencils included and is a spooky and fun design. We didn't use the stencil because Luciel carved it freehand and, even though in the instructions it says you need a lot of tools, we managed only using the pumpkin, knife, bowl, spoon, tea light and newspaper.

'Witches' Brew' stencil

'Witches' Brew' from 'Great Pumpkins'

Some of our Jack-o'-lanterns are below:

Our version of 'Witches' Brew'

Our version of 'Witches' Brew', lit up

Some more of our jack-o'-lanterns (original designs)

For instructions on how to make 'Witches' Brew', click the jump below: