Zombie Strains

Don your most posh bowler hat, squeeze into your brightly-colored jumpsuit, and grab your umbrella sword. We're on a mission to Swinging London! John and Andy once again commandeer the Zombie Strains lab to visit the '60s spy-fi hit THE AVENGERS. See what happens when secret agents John Steed and Emma Peel face off against a two-pronged zombie threat... and find out what 1960s network TV w...

Pigeons aren't the scariest bird... UNLESS they team up with vengeful zombies in the post-Civil War South. Then they become a force to be reckoned with! John and Andy take a swampy detour on the trail of PIGEONS FROM HELL, a 1961 episode of the TV show "Thriller" based on a short story by pulp maestro Robert E. Howard (creator of Conan and other pulp heroes). Will they survive the nigh...

Bunny isn't the only thing missing in BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING (1965)! There's also no trace of zombies. Or is there? In the interlude between Zombie Strains seasons, John and Andy take a curious detour into a psychological thriller about a possibly delusional mother's quest to find her possibly non-existent missing child. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, and you just might pick up the tra...

Against all odds, we've survived to the end of the 1960s! What have we learned about zombies along the way? What were the unexpected delights and the unprecedented horrors of the last twenty years of zombie cinema? John, Andy, and Brad wrap up season 2 of Zombie Strains--and brace themselves for the coming disco era--by reflecting on the remarkable ways that zombies evolved through the 1950s a...

Seven terrorized survivors. One isolated farmhouse. And one endless horde of the living dead. It's time to confront the patient zero of modern zombie film, Night of the Living Dead (1968)! In addition to guns, torches, and survival supplies, John, Andy, and Brad are bringing all the knowledge of zombie cinema they've gained from watching four decades of zombie movies. What did this masterp...

How do you take down a vampire mastermind who's out to conquer the world? You send in hell's most dangerous secret agent! Aided by his zombie henchwomen, the enigmatic antihero Dr. Satan must match wits with the bloodsucking Yei Lin in a wild series of heists, assassinations, and intrigues. Who will be the last one standing? John, Andy, and Brad venture into the deadly world of the Mexican...

Show favorite John Carradine is back as Dr. DeMarco in 1968’s THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES. DeMarco has figured out how to create enhanced humans (don't call them zombies!) for the space program, but now everyone wants his secret. The CIA must find DeMarco before the sinister Satana (Zura Satana) and her gang of thugs steal the secret of the Astro-Zombies for their own sinister purposes. Who will reach h...

Didn't your parents always warn that if you watched too much mind-numbing TV, you'd turn into a mindless zombie? Little did they know how literally that would turn out! In EXTRAÑA INVASIÓN (1965),AKA STRANGE INVASION, a small town is horrified as its children become addicted to a mysterious zombifying TV broadcast. John, Andy, and Producer Brad head once again to Argentina to find out whet...

The trippy 60s are finally here! This hip party beach in Argentina has a problem: young women are sinking into a zombie-like state, wandering off, and getting themselves murdered by a psychotic killer. THE DEADLY ORGAN is a psychadelic film that has everything you expect from 1960s horror: sex, drugs, and... no actual zombies? John, Andy, and Producer Brad don their coolest beach attire to learn w...

It's time for another horror anthology film, this one rooted in the melodramatic twist endings of horror comics! DR. TERROR'S GALLERY OF HORROR walks us through five spooky tales that feature vampires, werewolves, and yes, zombies--as well as horror veterans Lon Cheney and John Carradine. Will this film's earnest charm overcome its bargain-basement production values? Join John, Andy, a...

Forty-eight zombies enter... but only one will leave! Who is the scariest of them all? It's time for a ZOMBIE MADNESS SHOWDOWN to find out! We put every movie zombie from 1919 to 1966 into a bracket to face off against each other. Follow along as John, Andy, and Producer Brad weigh the relative strengths, weaknesses, and overall vibes of zombies across the first 50 years of zombie cinema. Whic...

Who knew there was more than one zombie movie centered on Cornish tin mines? That's the setting of the Hammer Horror classic THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES (1966), which features spooky moors, an arrogant British zombie master, and the most intense (and violent) zombie resurrection we've seen so far. Venture into the mines with John, Andy, and Producer Brad as they excavate a true zombie cinema...

Exotic locations! Spy gadgets! Suave secret agents taking down enemy... zombies? With "THE VERY IMPORTANT ZOMBIE AFFAIR", an episode of the hit 1960s TV show THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., the Zombie Strains team ventures into uncharted territory: the satirical superspy genre. Napoleon Solo and his sidekick Ilya go up against a Caribbean dictator whose favorite method of oppression is zombificat...

Revenge is a dish best served with zombies! At least, that's the plan of mad scientist Dr. Conrad Fisherman, who has brought his own brother back from the dead and sent him on a misogynistic killing spree. Look closely amid all the low-budget terror of DR. ORLOF'S MONSTER and you might just find a few zombie movie firsts, like zombie-killing headshots! Join the Zombie Strains team as John,...

The elite of the German army have been on ice since the end of WWII. Doctor Norberg must perfect his technique of reanimating his zombicles before his plans are foiled by his… niece? Join the Zombie Strains crew as they encounter animated body parts! Talking severed heads! Attempted murder by potted plant! Can they survive  The Frozen Dead ? SHOW NOTES: US Theatrical release date: November 15, 196...

Can Hercules (Reg Park) thwart the evil machinations of usurper King Lico (Christopher Lee!) in time to save his beloved Deianira (Leonora Ruffo) from spending the rest of eternity as a ... zombie?! Swords and sandals once again meet the living dead in this 1961 Italian fantasy adventure: Hercules in the Haunted World. Hercules and his "helpful" friends Theseus and Telemaco enter Hades to...

When a lawyer arrives at a gloomy estate to settle a will, he finds that his client is already dead... but his collection of plague-ridden severed limbs is still very much active! Legendary scream queen Barbara Steele dominates this Italian gothic horror film that features a spooky castle, vengeance from beyond the grave, and just maybe a few zombies. Join John, Andy, and Brad as they face off aga...

Holy propoganda, Batman! Before the iconic Batmobile, before the Shark Repellant, before the showdown against Superman... Batman and Robin were featured in a wartime movie serial where they battled a Japanese spymaster and his zombie minions. Will the Dynamic Duo prevail? Can the Zombie Strains team make it through 3 hours of racist propoganda? John, Andy, and Producer Brad don their cowls and pat...

Following hot on the heels of 28 Years Later , director Nia DaCosta's sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple picks up right where the first film ended. Spike has been saved from the infected by some colorful characters, but are they friends? John and Andy sneak out of the Zombie Strains lab to the movie theater to see new a new film that reflects on humanity, empathy, and torture horror all at...

In a quaint English village, the last remnants of humanity have gathered. But what hope does a ragtag band of survivors have against marauding alien robots and their zombie slaves? When John, Andy, and Brad explore The Earth Dies Screaming (1964), they find a low-budget movie that lays a startling amount of groundwork for future zombie apocalypses. SHOW NOTES: US Theatrical release date: October 1...

Radioactive waste meets teenage rebellion in THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH! Grab your surfboard and hit the sandy beaches of Connecticut with John, Andy, and Brad as they brave a surf-rock nightmare featuring dozens of bikinis, a slumber party massacre, and lots of hip music by the Del-Aires. SHOW NOTES Theatrical Release Date: April, 1964 Del Tenney obituary Alan V. Iselin obituary Errera, Rob. Becke...

After an experimental weapon devastates Tasmania, Ava Newman (Daisy Ridley) joins a body retrieval unit to find her missing husband. There's just one little catch--and you've probably guessed what it is, since this is a zombie movie podcast. Where does this melancholy tale of loss and regret belong in the evolutionary tree of zombie cinema? John and Andy break into the Zombie Strains lab l...

A mysterious planet is hurtling toward Earth. An alien spacecraft with a zombie-creating ray has landed in the Scottish moors. And those might not actually be the villains in this Atomic Age cautionary tale! John, Andy, and Producer Brad head back to 1951 to take stock of THE MAN FROM PLANET X, a zombie film that manages to rise above its shoestring budget and remind us who the real monsters are....

Dr. Alfred Morris (George Zucco) has a deadly new obsession: an ancient Mayan nerve gas that creates a state of "death in life." When his star pupil Ted Allison (David Bruce) becomes the unwitting guinea pig, he is transformed into a subservient ghoul who requires fresh human hearts to survive. Is this a simple Jekyll-and-Hyde knockoff, or is there a strain of zombie DNA to be found amidst...

Every day, scientist Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) wakes up to the same routine: scrounge for food. Repair his shelter. Head to town... and kill every vampire he finds there. How did he wind up as The Last Man on Earth (1964)? Is there any hope left for him after the apocalypse? And is it possible that this vampire movie is the biggest evolutionary leap forward in the zombie genre so far? John, An...