Wednesday 14 November 2012

Zombie Apocalypse? I'll be dead 2.8 Hours Later

Zombies. Shambling, mucky, undead. What's not to love? Halloween being THE best time of the year requires celebration...and forward planning. In June, yes June, I booked our Halloween event in the form of the live 'city-wide zombie chase game', 2.8 Hours Later.

Despite the name, obviously a clever take on Danny Boyle's apocalyptical 28 Days Later, I hoped would allude to more the idle, classic sloth-like shuffler zombies of the Romero Night Of The Living Dead and Raimi's The Evil Dead profile. That, and they aren't called the 'the walking dead' for giggles, right? Wrong! The producers of the event, SlingShot Effect had no mean feat on their hands. Spanning the UK, since 2010 they have been taking on an array of cities and subjecting the locals to an entertaining site of thrill-seeking loons in a big game of cat and mouse. The simple childlike fear of being tagged 'it' is the essence of this game. Added to this a healthy dose of mouldy improv volunteers, a city as your playground and zombies that gain speed as the game wears on, you have a superb night for all big kids who fancy burning off a little of that trick or treat calorific bounty kept back from the neighbourhood youngsters.

On 2nd November (a belated Halloween), along with four friends, we descended upon London's Isle of Dogs for an evening of scream, scare and titter. Oh, and we were dressed as KISS.

Ever since Sarah Connor looked wistfully into the dusty distance mulling mankind's future, sat alone in her Jeep at the end of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, I've wondered how I'd fare if we were all faced with extinction. Seriously, I have. Now, I'm no gym bunny. I have sugar in my tea and sweet canines the tooth fairy can bank on. But despite the muscle revival from short bursts of action while desperately trying to evade the festering clutches of scrub wearing rotters, I can officially say, that I am going to be useless come the world-shattering pandemic. Bugger. I think I had convinced myself that a conditioned Sarah Connor style icy outlook would be enough. Heck, 'if Shaun (of the Dead) could survive, I surely can', was my inner mantra too. Turns out, when you are cornered in a nine storey carpark with zombies at every slope, stairwell and fire exit, it takes a little more than thinking you're Chuck Norris to get out of such a scrape. So I was fondly termed 'infected' soon in to the game, along with a good percentage of the rest of my team, I might add. But never one to be down hearted (or should that be 'dead hearted'?), all infected got to carry on where they left off, to become the hero of the hour, or, like me, get caught a few more times in a midnight-dark park and a genuinely funny-but-scary underpass or two, before arriving at the 'zombie disco' to drown our sorrows in bonus fake blood and a drink or two.

Bravo. My hat goes off to the organisers. Safety was paramount but handled without marring the silly and fun aim of the night. A lot of the crowd had made an effort by dressing up in costumes, adding to the spectacle. From Misfits to a skulk of foxes, we as 70s rockers to The Walking Dead Sheriffs, with a mind easily opened to the spookier side of life, it was a totally unique, invigorating and brilliant experience!

Now, I'm off for a run...




Posted by: Geek Girl Kerensa Creswell-Bryant
Geek Girl, Updated at: 10:22

Tuesday 13 November 2012

AUDIO: Ray Harryhausen; Special Effects Titan Q&A at Gate Picturehouse

Born in the 80s? Then Christmas time, if anything like mine, was spent in front of the television, with He-Man and Moss Man figures cast aside to duel by themselves as I was enveloped in my world within that box of pixels and fluorescence.

Christmas has always been a time of favoured repetition, a day or two to relax and indulge, rarely changing from the last, doubtlessly changing much to the next. The Brussel sprouts and spring greens bubbled away as my mother conjured up a magical festive feast, sisters carried out their ritual of squabbling over their stocking filler triumphs in the background and Dad, having cleverly bored us to yawns by putting on The Great Escape, would be left in his grown-up haven of wrapping-paper strewn solitude in the living room downstairs.

Posted by: Geek Girl Kerensa Creswell-Bryant
Geek Girl, Updated at: 17:43