2008 Woodie Awards
St. Catharines zombies are after your brains this summer
Kristen De Palma
Issue date: 6/12/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
This summer, it is possible that residents of the Niagara Region will wake up from their peaceful slumber to find that their city has been overrun by brain-thirsty zombies. Think: a more condensed version of 28 Days Later.
Thanks to St. Catharines resident Sarah Hockley, the living dead will roam the Garden City on July 13 - well, for at least an hour and a half, anyway. Hockley has organized the "Niagara Zombie Walk", a likeness of Toronto's own event that has also been recreated in cities all over Canada.
"I'd heard about the Toronto Zombie Walk for the first time last year," said Hockley. "In February, I came across a video of the walk and I was in awe. It looked like so much fun ... I became obsessed with locating every piece of information about previous zombie walks, and realized that there hadn't been one in the Niagara Region as of yet, and I set about with the planning."
So, how many people in this fine city are willing to trade in their casual Friday attire for ghoulish make-up and parade the streets, spooking fellow pedestrians? Quite a few, apparently.
"When I first began planning this, I had no idea what to expect. I was hoping for at least 20 people to show support and come out, so that we looked more like an actual mob of the undead, as opposed to half a dozen weird people dressed as zombies," said Hockley. "Once I got the MySpace page up and going, I could barely keep up with the friend requests and the messages from people telling me how excited they are, and how they're telling everyone they know about it ... I'm thinking we may hit triple digits for the actual event."
Zombies have reached a new height of cool in recent years, with the release of several popular movies starring the unliving in just the last decade. The zombie genre has covered vast ground, providing social commentary on issues like consumerism (Romero's mall-roaming zombies in Dawn of the Dead) and social anxieties surrounding pandemics (28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later).
"We're fascinated by the unknown. Some people believe in aliens. I prefer to believe in the undead," said Hockley. "I've been obsessed with horror movies and particularly, zombies since I was about eight or nine years old. No true fan ever forgets the first time they heard, 'They're coming to get you Barbara!'"
After feeling like a zombie at your day job on Friday, slap on some tattered clothes and fake blood, and walk the streets with fellow brain deads. The Walk is also an all-ages event, so feel free to bring the whole family.
"Think of it as Halloween, in July," said Hockley. "The walk itself is going to be roughly 90 minutes, or however long it takes the mob of the undead to shuffle along and moan for brains."
The Niagara Zombie Walk will take place on July 13. For information visit www.myspace.com/zombiewalkniagara.
Thanks to St. Catharines resident Sarah Hockley, the living dead will roam the Garden City on July 13 - well, for at least an hour and a half, anyway. Hockley has organized the "Niagara Zombie Walk", a likeness of Toronto's own event that has also been recreated in cities all over Canada.
"I'd heard about the Toronto Zombie Walk for the first time last year," said Hockley. "In February, I came across a video of the walk and I was in awe. It looked like so much fun ... I became obsessed with locating every piece of information about previous zombie walks, and realized that there hadn't been one in the Niagara Region as of yet, and I set about with the planning."
So, how many people in this fine city are willing to trade in their casual Friday attire for ghoulish make-up and parade the streets, spooking fellow pedestrians? Quite a few, apparently.
"When I first began planning this, I had no idea what to expect. I was hoping for at least 20 people to show support and come out, so that we looked more like an actual mob of the undead, as opposed to half a dozen weird people dressed as zombies," said Hockley. "Once I got the MySpace page up and going, I could barely keep up with the friend requests and the messages from people telling me how excited they are, and how they're telling everyone they know about it ... I'm thinking we may hit triple digits for the actual event."
Zombies have reached a new height of cool in recent years, with the release of several popular movies starring the unliving in just the last decade. The zombie genre has covered vast ground, providing social commentary on issues like consumerism (Romero's mall-roaming zombies in Dawn of the Dead) and social anxieties surrounding pandemics (28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later).
"We're fascinated by the unknown. Some people believe in aliens. I prefer to believe in the undead," said Hockley. "I've been obsessed with horror movies and particularly, zombies since I was about eight or nine years old. No true fan ever forgets the first time they heard, 'They're coming to get you Barbara!'"
After feeling like a zombie at your day job on Friday, slap on some tattered clothes and fake blood, and walk the streets with fellow brain deads. The Walk is also an all-ages event, so feel free to bring the whole family.
"Think of it as Halloween, in July," said Hockley. "The walk itself is going to be roughly 90 minutes, or however long it takes the mob of the undead to shuffle along and moan for brains."
The Niagara Zombie Walk will take place on July 13. For information visit www.myspace.com/zombiewalkniagara.
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