A Vampire & Zombie Onslaught Is Coming

Post-“Twilight” and “Zombieland,” TheWrap takes a look at the upcoming wave of undead movies

 

Hollywood loves to beat a good thing to death — or undeath.
No wonder that the success of movies like "Twilight" and "Zombieland" and TV shows like "Vampire Diaries" and "True Blood" has inspired a bumper crop of projects centering on fanged or reanimated monsters.
Indeed, Monday brought just the latest example: the news that AMC will be adapting the latest zombie-themed project, “The Walking Dead,” with writer, director and executive producer Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption") at the helm.
Here are some of the other projects that will be coming to thrill and chill audiences on both the big and small screens. 

After.Life
(April 9, 2010)
Not quite a zombie film, this low-budget horror film from Anchor Bay stars Liam Neeson and Christina Ricci. Ricci plays a recently deceased girl who can only communicate with a local funeral director (Neeson).

Survival of the Dead
(April 30, 2010)
"Night of the Living Dead’s" George A. Romero is at it again. A small community on an island off the Delaware coast falls prey to a zombie epidemic. The Magnolia Pictures will hit VOD at the end of April.

True Blood

(June 13, 2010)
HBO’s hit will return for a third season. Plenty more bloodletting and sexual perversion is sure to be in store for the good folks of Bon Temps. Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, and Sam Trammell star in the Alan Ball show.

 

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
(June 30, 2010)
Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart, and Robert Pattinson return to the roles that made them the envy of teens everywhere. David Slade takes over directing duties from Chris Weitz in the Summit release. Also on tap, the saga-ender: "Breaking Dawn," which possibly will be released as two films, a la "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Resident Evil: Afterlife

(September 10, 2010)
Milla Jovovich returns as a pistol packing monster killer, the fourth in the series. This time she battles zombies in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. The videogame adaptation will be in 3D.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead
(2010)
Indie horror film follows an out of work director hired to oversee an off-Broadway play written by a vampire. Among the movies stars are Dustin Hoffman’s son Jake Hoffman and former "Karate Kid" Ralph Macchio.

Dark Shadows
(2011)
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are scheduled to remake the gothic sudser that aired on ABC from 1966 to 1971. In his latest bizarro role, Depp will play vampire Barnabas Collins.

Castlevania
(2011)
Adaptation of the popular video game series is still in pre-production, but it’s due to hit screens two years from now. The original game focused on a vampire hunter and his attempts to survive Dracula’s castle.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

(2011)
Seth Grahame-Smith’s bestselling mashup of Jane Austen’s classic and a Romero film is heading for theaters. David O. Russell ("Three Kings") will direct, and Natalie Portman is on board to star.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
(2011)
Grahame-Smith sure knows his way around a big trend. Not content to simply mine the zombie fad, he has also offered his take on the vampire craze, but this time with our 16th president getting in touch with his inner Van Helsing. Tim Burton will produce the Hollywood adaptation.

Dracula Year Zero
(2011)
An origin story telling the early years of Count Vlad before he grew his fangs, this Universal Pictures’ movie may star Sam Worthington.

Zombieland 2
(2011)
Original stars Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg have expressed interest in returning to their roles. No word on how they can top that Bill Murray cameo.

Vlad
(2012)
Like "Year Zero," this Summit Picture is supposed to be another origin story looking at Vlad the Impaler’s pre-Dracula, carefree youth.

World War Z
(2012)
Marc Forster film will look at the survivors of a zombie epidemic. Paramount will distribute. Think "Terminator," but with mindless flesh eaters instead of cyborgs.

 

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