Bloodtype Online

    As a self professed zombie fan, I've seen every type of zombie film under the sun.  Apparently so has Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg and Andrew Hershberger, because they've managed to put together a book, that just might be the most extensive zombie movie book that I've ever seen.   Zombiemania is a look at the zombie films that have changed the world and some that well, well they are barely a blip on the map.  But that doesn't mean that they aren't important, it just means that they are either harder to access or have very little information out there to explain their reason for existing in the first place.   But I have to give them credit for being able to put something together so extensive, mainly for the reason that you can tell there is genuine love here for zombie films.   That not only makes it more interesting, but if you are a zombie fan you'll appreciate the way that the films are treated in the book….with respect.

    First off the book is called "Zombiemania: 80 Films to Die For", but it's really a lot more than that.  See, the book covers 80 zombie films with tedious details, varying from 2 to 3 full pages of coverage for each film.  It breaks down their plots, gives you the synopsis, a bit of history behind each film, the screw ups in each film, as well as giving you films that possibly could have borrowed from each film detailing what could have been "borrowed" so to speak.   With all of that detail the book would be worth it alone, but if you add in the fact that the book covers a lot more zombie movies (although not in as great detail as the 80 that were chosen, it's still pretty impressive) as well as a few films that people may not consider zombie movies at all.   Actually what it does is even shows you films that are direct descendents of zombie films, or just movies that may have nothing to do with the undead, although there maybe a quick scene or two that have to do with zombies.   All I could say to myself when reading through it was that it must have been an insane amount of research put into the book, and to my recollection everything was correct.   So kudos to everyone involved that took the time out to actually do the research, because it definitely shows within the pages of the book.

    Also the book is pretty well written, complete with thorough descriptions of each film, with facts about each movie that are pretty interesting.   For even the most familiar fan of zombie movies there are guaranteed to be some good reading here for you, so don't hesitate on picking this one up if that's a factor.   To be honest my only complaint is the fact that there were spoilers for many of the films, although I'm thinking that this one was already written for the zombie aficionado so it seemed intentional.

    Overall I would have to highly recommend Zombiemania to zombie fans and just horror movie fans alike.  It's the perfect book if you were thinking of collecting zombie films or just wanted a nice reference book about the films of the undead.  The reason why it's definitely worth picking up is because this is in no way a book you'll read once and throw on your shelf.   You'll constantly find yourself using it for reference that is much more valuable than the information obtained these days on the Internet Movie Database too.   So pick up this book today and start reading, and you might want a pen and pad handy as well because if you're like me you'll also be looking for a few new zombie films to checkout!

Rating - ***

-Ed Demko