NECRO-NOVACASTRIANS: NEWCASTLE'S DAY OF THE DEAD

Now in it's fourth terrifyingly fun year, the brrrrrain-child of a fun-loving group of zombie nuts is producing some short film shockers in Steel City.

The nomadic nature of the great shuffling undead will be celebrated in the port city of Newcastle on Australia’s eastern seaboard this weekend with the annual Zombie March (pictured, above, in 2011) taking place through its streets and parklands. In conjunction with the cosplay extravaganza will be the short film event Scream Screen, featuring next-to-no-budget efforts from local filmmakers who will get to watch their blood-drenched efforts on the big-screen at Tower Cinemas in the dead centre of town.

“Zombies hit such a nerve for people, especially in Newcastle. My sponsors all came on board because they are zombie fans,” says Ella Reed (pictured, right), one of the founding members of the Newcastle Undead Society, the ever-growing band of living, breathing aficionados who drive the event forward. “Two friends and I were encouraged to apply for some funding from a youth arts body,” she recalls. “We thought of the most ridiculous idea we could and they gave us a ridiculous amount of money.”

From humble beginnings, the Zombie March has taken on an epic sense of the absurd and is enjoying the kind of year-to-year growth in popularity that would be the envy of many event organisers. “It started small with around 100 zombies marching through huge amounts of rain and the footy grand final to now having around 400 zombies march,” says Reed, a born-and-bred Novacastrian. “The hope is to continue to expand and grow the event to turn it into a large scale festival with zombie art, zombie zines, comics and stories. We keep infecting so we’ll get there one day.”

Reed is particularly enthused with the film festival component. “There is a theme of black comedy for this year. I like people using their sense of humor for this topic, it makes it more morbid. Each year the films get better and better, I’m excited to see what people come up with every year.” The nine finalists, which feature such pun-tastic titles as ‘Board and Gored’, ‘The Undead and the Unsuitable’ and ‘A Break in the Monotony’, will be judged by ABC Radio’s Rod Quinn, Screen-Space’s own Simon Foster and evergreen Newcastle celebrity, Maynard. The 2011 winner, Paul A Verhoef's thrilling splatterfest Unconsumed, can be viewed below.

The festering-ivities (alright, enough puns) start shuffling at Newcastle Museum from 2.00pm and will finish in King Street for the Scream Screen showings.