The fifteen day zombie epidemic in media clippings creator posted a last installment in his 15 day creation today, January 15th. On reddit, the creator called Vidzilla explained that the 15 day series that gripped reddit’s zombie fans was created with no advance planning. He was inspired by a conversation about how people would react if a crowded place were “ground zero” for a zombie outbreak, and after his Day 1 post on January 1st got a big reaction, he decided to continue his story for two weeks.

Tomorrow Vidzilla will post a “Director’s Cut” including the zombie story in full on reddit.com/r/zombies. Read his latest comments on reddit to find out more about his awesome zombie storytelling. And thanks, Vidzilla, for a really creepy two week ride. Can we do this again sometime?

I’ve been filled with a sense of growing dread watching this series of media clippings and screenshots that has been posted on reddit.com/r/zombies. The series of images shows a snowballing zombie epidemic in social media, personal messages, and news outlets. Check out days 1-6 below.

I can’t help but think this method of storytelling is something of a throwback to some analysis of modern information overload and the zombie pop phenomenon we talked about in 2010. But mostly, I can’t wait to find out where this story is going. I’m going to be following what I hope continue to be daily updates by Vidzilla on reddit.

And don’t forget to update your 2012 preparedness plans. This is getting real.

Updates: Day 7 (comments) | Day 8 (comments) | Day 9 (comments) | Day 10 (comments) | Day 11 (comments) | Day 12 (comments) | Day 13 (comments) | Day 14 (comments) | … (comments)

Note: Check out Day 5, Day 9, and others for secret hidden messages. See reddit threads for spoilers. Could this be a viral marketing campaign? For what?

Make all your neighbors jealous by showing off your undead family on the back of your stylish-yet-roomy SUV!

These Zombie Family Car Decals are available at ThinkGeek and include a mom, dad, daughter, son, baby, dog, cat and fish. For any other additions to your zombie family, simply attach one of their severed limbs to your bumper. If you’re carting that many zombies around, you won’t be driving for long.

In an awesome turn of events, the world’s largest pumpkin, weighing 1,818.5 pounds, was carved into an awesome zombie sculpture by artist Ray Villafane. The great pumpkin carving was done at the New York Botanical Garden, which has an excellent video of the process.

Check out the more photos here.

We first blogged about Rick Genest, aka Zombie Boy, two years ago. Then, the story was about his amazing full-body zombie tattoos and body modifications. The man has done nearly everything he can to turn himself into a walking corpse outside of actually dying.

Lady Gaga and Rick Genest in the "Born This Way" video

Now, the story is how his career has taken off. Through his Facebook page, Genest was discovered by some big names in entertainment and fashion. In January, the real-life zombie was a Paris runway model for designer Theirry Mugler. In February, he appeared in Lady Gaga’s video for “Born This Way,” alongside the diva herself, suited up in full zombie make-up to match his tattoos. More recently, Genest appeared in Vogue Hommes Japan and is shooting a small role in next year’s 47 Ronin with Keanu Reeves.

Rick Genest in Vogue Hommes Japan

And we’re thrilled. Like, Thriller-thrilled, because Genest has turned his body into a work of art — zombie art. He deserves recognition for his work.

Rick Genest in January's Thierry Mugler Runway Show

Related Post:
Zombie Boy, the Tattooed Living Dead

Last weekend, Wisconsin protesters organized a zombie walk to bring attention to an important cause: The lack of brains in the Tea Party-led state legislature. Dozens of hungry zombies stumbled around Madison, Wisconsin — no Tea Party brains could be found.

This video of the zombie walk is pretty epic — watch till the end for some killer zombie action.

via Dangerous Minds

Get chased by zombies in your own neighborhood! Streetview Zombie Apocalypse by Mike Lacher lets you enter any address and try to evade the zombie horde in Google Streetview. Spoiler alert: You will inevitably lose. But hey, we all know the zombies will win in the end.

via Boing Boing

Screenshot from Dead Rising

The New York Times has a rather interesting piece on zombies, titled “My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead.” Even that esteemed newspaper can’t ignore the zombie phenomenon and seeks to find the underlying reasons for their rise in popularity.

The hypothesis is compelling, if not strikingly concise: “Zombies are just so easy to kill.” According to the author, battling zombies provides a vivid allegory for our repetitious, Internet-oriented lives. However many emails we delete, YouTube videos we watch, or news sites we frequent, the information is relentless and inexhaustible. We do our best to manage this overload, but one slip-up and we’re overcome.

Zombies are easy to kill, but they keep coming, and coming, and coming.

The folks over at reddit.com organized a video interview with Max Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. In the interview, Brooks answers ten of the top questions submitted to reddit, some of which are intriguing, some absurd, but all elicit great responses from the famed zombie aficionado.

The bad news is that Natalie Portman recently backed out of the leading role in the upcoming film based on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The good news is Scarlett Johansson is now rumored to be considering the role. We’re expecting her performace to be some combination between her roles in The Other Boleyn Girl and Iron Man 2 — holy hot zombie-killing action!

In addition to killing zombies in P&P&Z, Johansson might soon be playing a zombie on screen. The actress is also rumored to be attached to the film adaptation of Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament. In the film, Johansson would presumably play Rita, the main character’s zombie love interest and attendee of Undead Anonymous. Killer!

To celebrate these awesome occurrences, we share with you this video of Scarlett being photoshopped into a zombie:

Related Posts:
The new Pride and Prejudice and Zombies iPhone game
Natalie Portman: Zombie Slayer
Breathers is Cool, Fresh Zombie Crossover Fiction