A zombie (Haitian Creole: zonbi; North Mbundu: nzumbe) is an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means, such as witchcraft.^[1] The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli. Since the late 19th century, zombies have acquired notable popularity, especially in North American and European folklore.

In modern times, the term "zombie" has been applied to an undead being in horror fiction, largely drawn from George A. Romero's 1968 film Night of the Living Dead.^[2] They have appeared as plot devices in various books, films and in television shows.

Africa[link]

West[link]

According to the tenets of Vodou, a dead person can be revived by a bokor, or sorcerer. Zombies remain under the control of the bokor since they have no will of their own. "Zombi" is also another name of the Vodou snake lwa Damballah Wedo, of Niger–Congo origin; it is akin to the Kikongo word nzambi, which means "god". There also exists within the West African Vodun tradition the zombi astral, which is a part of the human soul that is captured by a bokor and used to enhance the bokor's power. The zombi astral is typically kept inside a bottle which the bokor can sell to clients for luck, healing or business success. It is believed that after a time God will take the soul back and so the zombi is a temporary spiritual entity.^[3] It is also said in vodou legend, that feeding a zombie salt will make it return to the grave.

South[link]

The idea of zombies is present in some South African cultures. In some communities it is believed that a dead person can be turned into a zombie by a small child.^[4] It is said that the spell can be broken by a powerful enough sangoma.^[5]

It is also believed in some areas that witches can turn a person into a zombie by killing and possessing the victim's body in order to force it into slave labor.^[6] After rail lines were built to transport migrant workers, stories emerged about "witch trains". These trains appeared ordinary, but were staffed by zombie workers controlled by a witch. The trains would abduct a person boarding at night, and the person would then either be turned into a zombie worker, or beaten and thrown from the train a distance away from the original location.^[6]

Haiti[link]

In 1937, while researching folklore in Haiti, Zora Neale Hurston encountered the case of a woman who appeared in a village, and a family claimed she was Felicia Felix-Mentor, a relative who had died and been buried in 1907 at the age of 29. Hurston pursued rumors that the affected persons were given a powerful psychoactive drug, but she was unable to locate individuals willing to offer much information. She wrote:

What is more, if science ever gets to the bottom of Voodoo in Haiti and Africa, it will be found that some important medical secrets, still unknown to medical science, give it its power, rather than gestures of ceremony.^[7]

Several decades later, Wade Davis, a Harvard ethnobotanist, presented a pharmacological case for zombies in two books, The Serpent and the Rainbow (1985) and Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie (1988). Davis traveled to Haiti in 1982 and, as a result of his investigations, claimed that a living person can be turned into a zombie by two special powders being introduced into the blood stream (usually via a wound). The first, coup de poudre (French: "powder strike"), includes tetrodotoxin (TTX), a powerful and frequently fatal neurotoxin found in the flesh of the pufferfish (order Tetraodontidae). The second powder consists of dissociative drugs such as datura. Together, these powders were said to induce a death-like state in which the will of the victim would be entirely subjected to that of the bokor. Davis also popularized the story of Clairvius Narcisse, who was claimed to have succumbed to this practice.

The process described by Davis was an initial state of death-like suspended animation, followed by re-awakening — typically after being buried — into a psychotic state. The psychosis induced by the drug and psychological trauma was hypothesised by Davis to re-inforce culturally-learned beliefs and to cause the individual to reconstruct their identity as that of a zombie, since they "knew" they were dead, and had no other role to play in the Haitian society. Societal reinforcement of the belief was hypothesized by Davis to confirm for the zombie individual the zombie state, and such individuals were known to hang around in graveyards, exhibiting attitudes of low affect.

Davis's claim has been criticized, particularly the suggestion that Haitian witch doctors can keep "zombies" in a state of pharmacologically induced trance for many years.^[8] Symptoms of TTX poisoning range from numbness and nausea to paralysis — particularly of the muscles of the diaphragm — unconsciousness, and death, but do not include a stiffened gait or a death-like trance. According to psychologist Terence Hines, the scientific community dismisses tetrodotoxin as the cause of this state, and Davis' assessment of the nature of the reports of Haitian zombies is viewed as overly credulous.^[9]

Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing highlighted the link between social and cultural expectations and compulsion, in the context of schizophrenia and other mental illness, suggesting that schizogenesis may account for some of the psychological aspects of zombification.^[10]

In popular culture[link]

The figure of the zombie has appeared several times in fantasy themed fiction and entertainment, as early as the 1929 novel The Magic Island by William Seabrook. Time claimed that the book "introduced 'zombi' into U.S. speech".^[11] In 1932, Victor Halperin directed White Zombie, a horror film starring Bela Lugosi. This film, capitalizing on the same voodoo zombie themes as Seabrook's book of three years prior, is often regarded as the first legitimate zombie film ever made, and introduced the word "zombie" to the wider world.^[12] Other zombie-themed films include Val Lewton's I Walked With a Zombie (1943) and Wes Craven's The Serpent and the Rainbow, (1988) a heavily fictionalized account of Wade Davis' book.

The zombie also appears as a metaphor in protest songs, symbolizing mindless adherence to authority, particularly in law enforcement and the armed forces. Well-known examples include Fela Kuti's 1976 album Zombie, and The Cranberries' 1994 single "Zombie".

A new version of the zombie, distinct from that described in Haitian religion, has also emerged in popular culture in recent decades. This "zombie" is taken largely from George A. Romero's seminal film The Night of the Living Dead, which was in turn partly inspired by Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend.^[13] The word zombie is not used in Night of the Living Dead, but was applied later by fans.^[14] The monsters in the film and its sequels, such as Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, as well as its many inspired works, such as Return of the Living Dead and Zombi 2, are usually hungry for human flesh although Return of the Living Dead introduced the popular concept of zombies eating brains. Sometimes they are victims of a fictional pandemic illness causing the dead to reanimate or the living to behave this way, but often no cause is given in the story. Although this modern monster bears some superficial resemblance to the Haitian zombie tradition, its links to such folklore are unclear,^[13] and many consider George A. Romero to be the progenitor of this creature.^[15] Zombie fiction is now a sizeable sub-genre of horror, usually describing a breakdown of civilization occurring when most of the population become flesh-eating zombies — a zombie apocalypse.

See also[link]

• Anchimayen
• Draugr
• Dybbuk
• Frankenstein
• Ghoul
• Golem
• Hoodoo
• Jiang Shi
• Mind control
• Ro-langs
• Undead

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Ackermann, Hans-W.; Gauthier, Jeanine (1991). "The Ways and Nature of the Zombi". The Journal of American Folklore 104 (414): 466–494. DOI:10.2307/541551. JSTOR 541551.  edit
• Bishop, Kyle William (2010) American Zombie Gothic: The rise and fall (and rise) of the walking dead in popular culture McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina, ISBN 978-0-7864-4806-7
• Black, J. Anderson (2000) The Dead Walk Noir Publishing, Hereford, Herefordshire, ISBN 0-9536564-2-X
• Curran, Bob (2006) Encyclopedia of the Undead: A field guide to creatures that cannot rest in peace New Page Books, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, ISBN 1-56414-841-6
• Davis, E. Wade (1983). "The ethnobiology of the Haitian zombi". Journal of Ethnopharmacology 9 (1): 85–104. DOI:10.1016/0378-8741(83)90029-6. PMID 6668953.  edit
• Davis, Wade (1988) Passage of Darkness: The ethnobiology of the Haitian zombie University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, ISBN 0-8078-1776-7
• Dendle, Peter (2001) The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia McFarland, Jefferson, North Carolina, ISBN 0-7864-0859-6
• Flint, David (2008) Zombie Holocaust: How the living dead devoured pop culture Plexus, London, ISBN 978-0-85965-397-8
• Forget, Thomas (2007) Introducing Zombies Rosen Publishing, New York, ISBN 1-4042-0852-6; (juvenile)
• Graves, Zachary (2010) Zombies: The complete guide to the world of the living dead Sphere, London, ISBN 978-1-84744-415-8
• Littlewood, Roland; Douyon, Chavannes (1997). "Clinical findings in three cases of zombification". The Lancet 350: 1094–6. DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)04449-8.  edit
• McIntosh, Shawn and Leverette, Marc (editors) (2008) Zombie Culture: Autopsies of the Living Dead Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, ISBN 0-8108-6043-0
• Moreman, Christopher M., and Cory James Rushton (editors) (2011) Race, Oppression and the Zombie: Essays on Cross-Cultural Appropriations of the Caribbean Tradition. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5911-7.
• Moreman, Christopher M., and Cory James Rushton (editors) (2011) Zombies Are Us: Essays on the Humanity of the Walking Dead. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5912-4.
• Russell, Jamie (2005) Book of the dead: the complete history of zombie cinema FAB, Godalming, England, ISBN 1-903254-33-7
• Waller, Gregory A. (2010) Living and the undead: slaying vampires, exterminating zombies University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Indiana, ISBN 978-0-252-07772-2

External links[link]

Find more about Zombies on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

• Discussion of zombies in film at NPR's On The Media
• Centers of Disease Control and Prevention discuss Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

Natalia Kills
Natalia Kills in 2011.
Background information
Birth name	Natalia Keery-Fisher
Also known as	Verbz, Verbalicious,[1] Natalia Noemi Cappuccini,[2] Verse, Candy Rapper, Verbal
Born	(1986-08-15) 15 August 1986 (age 25) Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
Genres	Pop, electropop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress, film director
Instruments	Vocals, drums, guitar
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Adventures in Music, will.i.am, Cherrytree, Interscope
Website	www.nataliakills.com

Natalia Keery-Fisher^[3][4] (born 15 August 1986) is an English singer-songwriter, actress, and director who performs under the stage name Natalia Kills. She released her debut album, Perfectionist, in 2011.

Biography[link]

1986–94: Early life[link]

Kills was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, to an Afro-Jamaican father and Uruguayan mother,^[5] where she attended Bradford Girls' Grammar School. In addition, she studied classical drama at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.^[3] She stated in a post on her blog on social website, MySpace that she grew up flying between London and Florida, where she had relatives, resulting in a mixed American and English accent.^[6]

1995–2010: Career beginnings[link]

Kills made her acting debut at age 9 in 1995 in New Voices. She had a regular role as Sima on the TV sitcom All About Me and also played Amy Franks in the BBC's long-running radio drama The Archers. She began writing songs at 14,^[7] some of which were featured in films and television shows, including Bring It On 4, Sleepover, Just My Luck, and Entourage.^[4] After finishing with The Archers in 2003, Kills began pursuing a music career and attributes her musical breakthrough to winning a Radio 1 MC Battle in Leeds under the name "Candy Rapper" in 2003.^[3] She signed to the UK record company Adventures in Music and released her first single "Don't Play Nice" under the name Verbalicious in February 2005. Kills' told W that her childhood nickname from her mother was "Verbal" because she talked and sang a lot. She adopted the name and variations of it as her stage name at some points during her career.^[8]

While writing music for films,^[9] Kills posted her self-produced and written demo extended play, Wommanequin on music social website MySpace in 2007 that attracted the attention of blogger Perez Hilton in 2008, her song received 2 million plays on the website and Kills reached the top of the unsigned artists chart.^[8] With offers coming in for concerts and festivals, Kills moved to Los Angeles.^[9] In LA, Kills was approached by producers, A&R and labels with contracts.^[9][10] A DJ introduced her to will.i.am after hearing her demo and learning that she did not have a record deal. In January 2008, will.i.am signed her to his record label, will.i.am Music Group. She did not sign right away as she had reservations about the music industry and will.i.am had to go to London a month later to convince her to record with him.^[9] During this time she also co-wrote and appeared on "They Talk Shit About Me" by French recording artist M. Pokora and met underground director Guillaume Doubet, who would go on to direct many of her videos, in Paris.

[edit] 2011—: Perfectionist

Kills explained in an interview that she adopted the stage name Natalia Kills at the behest of her record company, which found "Natalia Cappuccinni" hard to pronounce.^[9] She had taken on her grandmother's family name a few years prior.^[6] She explained in an interview that her stage name is based on the phrase "you killed it," and represents her tendecy to be a perfectionist.^[11] Kills released her debut album Perfectionist in April 2011 in Germany following a top ten placing by the first single, "Mirrors". The album was described as a concept album by Kills, chronicling the fact that perfection is attainable.^[7] It features production by Jeff Bhasker and Fernando Garibay,^[7] who had worked with Lady Gaga.^[12] The album was accompanied by four singles, "Mirrors", "Wonderland", "Free" and "Kill My Boyfriend". The first three singles were minor hits in some European countries but failed to chart in the US or UK. Kills opened for Kelis' European All Hearts Tour, as well as supported Robyn on her Body Talk Tour in November 2010 and early 2011. She also supported Ke$ha on the UK leg of her Get Sleazy Tour. Throughout August and September 2011, Kills supported Katy Perry on her California Dreams Tour for eight dates in Europe^[13] and São Paulo, Brazil. She also opened for the Black Eyed Peas over the summer of 2011 in Europe.^[8][11]

Kills is featured on a Junior Caldera's single, "Lights Out (Go Crazy)", along with Far East Movement. It was released on March 13, 2012.^[14] Kills also features in Tatana's single, "You Can't Get In My Head (If You Can't Get In My Bed)".

On April 4, 2012, the singer took to Twitter to announce she was back in the studio, potentially beginning work on her second studio album.

Influences[link]

Kills called Kate Bush and Alanis Morissette her most important musical influences, highlighting them as emotional artists who wrote honestly about their own experiences.^[15] She has also gone on to cite Gwen Stefani as her hero. She also claims that Depeche Mode, Prince, Vanity 6 and Freddie Mercury inspire her live performances.^[11]

Discography[link]

• Perfectionist (2011)

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Natalia Kills at Allmusic
• Natalia Kills at the Internet Movie Database

Rob Zombie
Background information
Birth name	Robert Bartleh Cummings
Also known as	Mr. Zombie
Born	(1965-01-12) January 12, 1965 (age 47) Haverhill, Massachusetts, United States
Genres	Heavy metal, alternative metal, groove metal, industrial metal
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, screenwriter, film director, film producer, programmer, music producer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, synthesizer, programming
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Roadrunner/Loud & Proud/Geffen
Associated acts	White Zombie, Alice Cooper, Powerman 5000, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society, Marilyn Manson, Iggy Pop, Lionel Richie, Howard Stern
Website	www.robzombie.com

Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings;^[1] January 12, 1965) is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the heavy metal band White Zombie and has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. Zombie's lyrics are noted for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows for their elaborate shock rock theatricality.^[2]

Zombie has also established a career as a film director, creating the movies House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, the 2007 remake of Halloween, its sequel, and The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. His next film will be the upcoming The Lords of Salem which is scheduled to premiere in theaters sometime in 2012.

Early life[link]

Born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, he was the first of two brothers. His younger brother Michael David Cummings was born on August 25, 1968 and is better known as Spider One, the frontman of alternative metal group Powerman 5000.

Recording career[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2010)

White Zombie (1985–1998)[link]

Based in New York, White Zombie was originally a noise rock band in the vein of fellow New York band Sonic Youth and Texas experimental punk band Butthole Surfers. White Zombie was known for combining heavy-metal music with driving guitar riffs (as on "Super-Charger Heaven"), overlayed with lyrics heavily influenced by horror films and pseudo-Satanic imagery.

Following their signing to Geffen Records, White Zombie achieved commercial success, with a double and triple platinum album and a large number of their songs featured in movies and TV shows (notably Beavis and Butthead and Millennium). The group officially disbanded in 1998 shortly after the release of lead singer Rob Zombie's solo album Hellbilly Deluxe. In a 2008 interview^[3] to promote the release of Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, Rob Zombie made it clear that a reunion with his White Zombie bandmates was unlikely, saying, "I don't want fans to think it's the beginning of anything." Cummings legally changed his name to Rob Zombie, his former stage name, in 1996.^[4]

Solo career (1998–present)[link]

In 1996, Zombie collaborated with Alice Cooper on the song "Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)" for the X-Files tie-in CD Songs in the Key of X. It was Zombie's first work outside of White Zombie. The song was nominated for a Grammy for Best Metal Performance the same year.

In 1997, Zombie contributed a song entitled "The Great American Nightmare" for the Howard Stern movie, Private Parts. Since January 6, 1999, it has been the opening theme for Stern's radio show.

[edit] Hellbilly Deluxe

Zombie formed his own solo band in 1998. Drummer John Tempesta came directly from White Zombie, and was joined by Mike Riggs on guitar and Rob "Blasko" Nicholson on bass. A tongue in cheek reference to Dwight Yoakam's Hillbilly Deluxe, Zombie's debut solo album, Hellbilly Deluxe, in 1998, produced by Scott Humphrey. The album was a success, selling three million copies domestically. This album contained the hit singles "Dragula", "Living Dead Girl" and "Superbeast".

Zombie toured extensively to promote the album, then released American Made Music to Strip By in 1999, an album of remixes from Hellbilly Deluxe.

Apart from critical review, the album's cover art received much negative response by various conservative Christian groups, citing the album's inverted pentagram depiction and alluding to rumors and allegations of Satanism. Walmart banned the traditional artwork version of the album from its inventory and offered a 'clean' version of the album (without the inverted pentagram) in its stead, à la Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP.

[edit] The Sinister Urge

Zombie released The Sinister Urge in 2001 (the title taken from a 1961 Ed Wood film), again produced by Scott Humphrey. This release contained the singles "Never Gonna Stop (The Red Red Kroovy)", "Feel So Numb" and "Demon Speeding". While the album still featured Zombie's signature heavy metal sound, it was also more experimental than Hellbilly Deluxe, including brass instruments on "(Go To) California." The album has been certified platinum.

In 2003, Zombie released his first greatest hits album Past, Present & Future, containing hit songs both from his solo band and White Zombie. It also featured covers (The Commodores' "Brick House" and The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop") and unreleased songs ("Two-Lane Blacktop" and "Girl on Fire").

After a 2002–2003 world tour, Mike Riggs and John Tempesta left Zombie to form a similar band, Scum of the Earth, because Rob Zombie wanted to make movies and got bored on the music industry. He made, between 2003 and 2005 two horror films, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects.

[edit] Educated Horses

Rob Zombie at Ozzfest, 2005.

In 2005, Zombie returned to the music world by recruiting former Marilyn Manson guitarist, John 5, and former Alice Cooper drummer, Tommy Clufetos. Blasko and Humphrey remained, and the five began recording Educated Horses. Released in 2006, Educated Horses is a break from Zombie's usual style. In contrast to the heavy metal sound of his first two albums, Horses features a more alternative metal sound. The single "Foxy Foxy" can be described as his most mainstream and "party-going" song. The other two singles, "Let It All Bleed Out" and "American Witch", featured his signature heavy metal sound. Also, for the first time, Zombie steered away from including horror references in the artwork and songs. Even his physical appearance is less of a persona (Zombie is dressed in regular clothes on the album cover, and his dreadlocks are gone). However, the songs "Seventeen Year Locust" and "The Scorpion Sleeps" do concern themselves with creepy-crawlies. Following the release of the album, Zombie toured the U.S. with Lacuna Coil.

20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection: The Best of Rob Zombie was also released in 2006 by his label, Geffen Records. It contains songs similar to his first greatest hits album, but there are also songs on this release from Educated Horses.

On May 31, 2006, Zombie was joined onstage by guitarist Slash (Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver), Gilby Clarke (formerly of Guns N' Roses) on rhythm guitar, Scott Ian of Anthrax on bass, Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe on drums and special guest Ace Frehley of Kiss also on lead guitar. The occasion was a one-time supergroup tribute to Kiss for the first annual VH1 Rock Honors award show. They played one song, "God of Thunder," before handing it off to the honoree. Zombie then went on tour with Ozzy Osbourne.

Blasko, Zombie's bass player, left the band shortly before the American Witch Tour (the second leg of the tour to promote Educated Horses), to play bass with Ozzy Osbourne. To fill in, Zombie hired Piggy D. of Amen and Wednesday 13 fame as a permanent replacement.

In 2007 Zombie released Zombie Live, which was supposed to be accompanied by a live DVD and picture booklet. So far, only the CD has surfaced.

[edit] Hellbilly Deluxe 2

Zombie's follow-up to Educated Horses was still unnamed as of May 2008. Zombie posted an update on his website, stating: "Well, we have for the first time ever written more songs than we need for an album. Everything isn't 100% finished, but everything is moving along great. No release date yet." In August 2008, a new instrumental song entitled "Tyrannosaurus Rex", featuring John 5 on guitar, was uploaded onto Zombie's MySpace music page. In an interview published in December 2008, Zombie spoke about his new band lineup (John 5, Piggy D., and Tommy C), and how happy he was with his new band members, saying, "I've never had a band that I could call my good friends until now.^[3] " Meanwhile, also in December 2008, Zombie's new single "War Zone" was featured in the soundtrack to Punisher: War Zone.

Rob Zombie appeared on The Howard Stern Show on August 18, 2009, saying the new album was complete, although he had not yet set a title, and was scheduled for release on November 10. That release date would later move to November 17, according to his MySpace blog. Eventually, the release date would be pushed back to February 2010.

On October 3, Zombie posted a link to preview the track "Sick Bubblegum" on his Twitter page. The first single "What?" was released on October 13. Zombie released the next new song, "Burn" for Rock Band, as well as two old tracks, "Dragula" and "Superbeast" on October 27. They are available via Xbox Live and PlayStation Network as well as the Rock Band online store.

On October 29, 2009, Zombie began the Hellbilly Deluxe 2 World Tour in support of his album Hellbilly Deluxe 2: Noble Jackals, Penny Dreadfuls and the Systematic Dehumanization of Cool, despite the fact it was not to be released until over three months later.

Hellbilly Deluxe 2 was set to be his last album released through Geffen Records, but in late October, Zombie announced that he had signed to Roadrunner Records and will instead be releasing Hellbilly Deluxe 2 under that label in early 2010.^[5]

On January 22, he announced that he would be touring with Alice Cooper for the "Gruesome Twosome" tour.

Tommy Clufetos recently left the band to perform with Ozzy Osbourne on drums. He replaced drummer Mike Bordin who is on tour with his current band Faith No More. Joey Jordison has since replaced Clufetos and was announced to be drumming with Zombie for his upcoming summer tour dates.^{[6] [7]} Rob Zombie was bothered that Clufetos was the second member to leave his solo band and join Osbourne after bassist Rob "Blasko" Nicholson left in 2006. Zombie commented, "If my guys that I have wanna go play with other people, that's fine; I don't own them. But I think there's ways to do things in a respectful way and there's ways to just be shitty, and I feel that the way things have gone down lately has been pretty shitty."^[8]

Rob Zombie performed at Edgefest in Little Rock, Arkansas as the co-headliner along with Godsmack on May 8, 2010. It was widely reported that much of the crowd left immediately following his performance, despite the fact that Godsmack was still scheduled to take the stage. He also played on the main stage on the second day of the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio on May 23. Once again, it was widely reported that much of the crowd left after his performance, despite the fact that Limp Bizkit had not even started their set.^[9][10]

Rob Zombie finished recording four new songs in July 2010 with John 5, Piggy D, and Joey Jordison. The new music, expected to be released in September 2010, was described by Zombie as "some of the fastest and heaviest tracks we have recorded in a long, long time."^[11] Former White Zombie member, and drummer for Rob Zombie's first two studio albums, John Tempesta was rumored to have recorded at least one song titled "Loving the Freaks" for this release.^[12] While Rob Zombie did confirm that this collaboration was planned, his schedule was too busy and these recording sessions never took place. Working with Tempesta again in the future was not ruled out.^[13] These newly recorded tracks were incorporated into a special edition reissue of Hellbilly Deluxe 2 which was released on September 28, 2010.^[14]

For the first time in 12 years, Zombie returned to the United Kingdom to play a string of six dates in support of Hellbilly Deluxe 2.

On March 4, 2011, Rob Zombie said that he would record a CD after he completes his upcoming film The Lords of Salem.

Rob Zombie embarked on a North American tour with Slayer and Exodus called "Hell on Earth" tour which started July 20 and ended on August 6, 2011.

On April 22, 2011 on Zombie's official Twitter account, it was announced that his new drummer is ex-Marilyn Manson drummer and former John 5 bandmate, Ginger Fish.

Other projects[link]

Rob Zombie sang alongside his brother, Spider One, on Powerman 5000's song "Blast Off to Nowhere" on their 1999 breakthrough album Tonight the Stars Revolt! ^[15]

Zombie supplied the vocals for Drowning Pool's song "Man Without Fear" for the soundtrack to the 2003 film Daredevil.

Zombie is featured as a backing vocalist on "Floyd" from Lynyrd Skynyrd's 2009 album God & Guns.

On May 23, 2010 Zombie's new comic book series about a fictitious horror host, Whatever Happened To Baron Von Shock?, began. The first print sold out in less than a week.^[16]

On March 14, 2011, praising him for inventing the rock show, glam rock, and punk rock, Zombie inducted Alice Cooper into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Film and television[link]

Film career[link]

Rob Zombie attending the 2007 Comic Con to promote Halloween.

House of 1000 Corpses was Rob Zombie's directorial debut and his first horror film. Zombie wrote the screenplay as well as directing the film. It took four years to make (1999–2003), and was finally released by Lion's Gate Films in 2003, after Stacy Snider, then-head of Universal Pictures, sold the film to them. It featured a great deal of violence and gore. The movie told the tale of a group of unlucky young adults who stumble upon the Firefly Family, a family of sadistic and vicious murderers. The film was shot in a surreal and over-the-top style that alternated between dark and campy humor. The film was mostly panned by critics but has gained a cult following.

The House of 1000 Corpses' sequel, The Devil's Rejects, which Zombie also wrote and directed, showcased a much different style. Whereas House aimed at being more gory and bizarre, Rejects was darkly comedic and gritty. Released in 2005, Rejects had the Firefly Family on the run from the law and a particularly vengeful sheriff whose brother had been murdered by them in the first film. It had a better critical reception than Corpses. Zombie contributed to the 2007 exploitation film Grindhouse, by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino by directing a faux trailer, called Werewolf Women of the S.S., starring his wife, exploitation veterans Udo Kier and Sybil Danning, and Nicolas Cage, who appeared free for fun.

Zombie next wrote and directed Halloween, a reimagining of the 1978 classic that was released August 31, 2007. Although it was a success and opened at number #1 at the box office with $26 million, it registered only 26% at Rotten Tomatoes.^[17] It would go on to gross over $78 million, his biggest hit yet and the highest grossing Halloween film of all time.

Zombie is the executive producer of the animated film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, based upon his comic book series, The Adventures of El Superbeasto (which appeared in his Spookshow International comic book). The film was released in limited showings at selected theaters on September 12, 2009, and to DVD on September 22, 2009. It features the voices of Tom Papa, Paul Giamatti, Zombie's wife Sheri Moon, and Rosario Dawson.

Zombie directed a sequel to Halloween entitled Halloween II, which was released on August 28, 2009. Filming began on February 23, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia with Tyler Mane returning as Michael Myers.^[18] Zombie will next be directing a new movie for Dimension Films known as Rob Zombie's Tyrannosaurus Rex.^[19] In an interview at Comic Con 2009 with his younger brother Spider One of Powerman 5000, Zombie stated that his album would be released in October, followed by a tour.

Variety Magazine announced the weekend before the release of Halloween II that Zombie will be directing a remake of the 1950s/1980s films The Blob.^[20] Zombie will also create a new comic called "Whatever Happened to Baron Von Shock?",^[21] which will be released by Image Comics in late 2010.^[22]

On October 3, 2009 received the Filmmaker of the Year title of the Chiller-Eyegore Awards.^[23]

In December 2009 he announced an interest to direct an episode of CSI.^[24] On January 13, 2010, Associated Press reported that Rob Zombie's CSI: Miami episode will air March 1.^[25] He shot the part of the series with the full cast of the series and casted for minor roles Michael Madsen, Malcolm McDowell, William Forsythe, ZZ Top's leader Billy Gibbons and his wife, Sheri Moon Zombie.^[26]

Rob Zombie and Universal Studios presents the Halloween Horror Nights – Rob Zombie Film Competition as part of the Halloween Horror Nights 2010.^[27]

Rob Zombie also was a guest host on WWE Raw.^[28]

On September 22, 2010, it was announced that Rob Zombie's next film project would be entitled The Lords of Salem.^[29]

On February 21, 2011, he announced in an interview that he will start filming Tyrannosaurus Rex after he finishes Lords of Salem.^[30] The remake of The Blob will no longer be directed by Zombie.^[31]

Rumors circulated that Zombie would direct The Dirt, a movie about Mötley Crüe. However, on his Twitter page on March 4, 2011, Zombie explained that he will not be directing The Dirt. Instead, he said, "I am not. I am directing The Lords of Salem.^[32] Recording a CD after that."

Tyrannosaurus Rex is not a dead project, he explained in an interview: "It’ll happen eventually. I don’t have a deal for it, but that was supposed to be my movie I did after Halloween and then it never happened. For some reason in the last six months or so, everybody seems incredibly interested in it again. So the goal is to make that the next movie after The Lords of Salem. I don’t know if it will be, because it’s such a weird business. But Tyrannosaurus Rex has always been my pet project that I’ve always wanted to make. It’s the movie I’ve been dying to make forever."

Music video direction[link]

Rob has directed all of his own music videos as well as all White Zombie music videos except for "Welcome to Planet Motherfucker", "Black Sunshine" and "Thunderkiss '65". Zombie has contributed to other artists directing music videos such as Ozzy Osbourne's "Dreamer", Powerman 5000's "Tokyo Vigilante #1" and Black Label Society's "Stillborn" among others. Zombie has recently finished directing a music video for Leviathan The Fleeing Serpent's song "Crushing the Ritual".

As a guest[link]

Rob Zombie has appeared as a guest on several talk shows including Late Night with David Letterman (several times), Jimmy Kimmel Live! (twice), Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Howard Stern Show, The Opie and Anthony Show, That Metal Show, The Nerdist Podcast, Criss Angel: Mindfreak (2005 episode "Buried Alive") and even Space Ghost Coast to Coast (while he was in White Zombie).

Zombie also made a few guest appearances in movies, including Airheads (with White Zombie on stage playing "Feed the Gods") and the voice of Dr. Karl (on the phone) in the movie Slither. He did a few voiceovers for cartoons such as the voice of Ichthultu, a creature from an alternate universe in Justice League Unlimited and Dr. Curt Connors ("The Lizard") in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series. Rob Zombie appeared as the guest host for the June 28th edition of WWE Monday Night RAW.

Zombie supplied music for the Twisted Metal III and Twisted Metal 4 soundtracks, and even appeared as a playable character in Twisted Metal 4. Zombie's song "Dragula" was used in the Jet Grind Radio soundtrack. Zombie's songs Return of the Phantom Stranger, Demonoid Phenomenon, and Meet The Creeper appeared in PS-X 2000 release of Nightmare Creatures 2.

Rob Zombie was the celebrity guest on the Oct 31, 2010 (Halloween Special) episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

On October 16, 2011, Rob Zombie was a celebrity guest judge on Food Network's Halloween Wars.

Personal life[link]

On Halloween day of 2002, Zombie married longtime girlfriend Sheri Moon, whom he also features in all of his films and many of his music videos.

They currently live in Woodbury, Connecticut and Los Angeles, California.^{[citation needed]}

Collaborations[link]

Rob Zombie has cast certain actors in more than one of his films.

	House of 1000 Corpses	The Devil's Rejects	Werewolf Women of the SS	Halloween	Halloween II	The Haunted World of El Superbeasto	The Lords of Salem
Michael Berryman		N					N
Sybil Danning			N	N
Brad Dourif				N	N
Leslie Easterbrook		N		N
Ken Foree		N		N		N	N
William Forsythe		N		N
Sid Haig	N	N		N		N	N
Chris Hardwick	N				N
Danielle Harris				N	N
Clint Howard				N		N	N
Udo Kier			N	N			N
Richard Lynch				N			N
Tyler Mane		N		N	N
Malcolm McDowell				N	N
Matthew McGrory	N	N
Sheri Moon	N	N	N	N	N	N	N
Bill Moseley	N	N	N	N		N
Brian Posehn		N				N
Jeff Daniel Phillips					N		N
Daniel Roebuck		N			N	N	N
Scout Taylor-Compton				N	N
Tom Towles	N	N	N	N
Danny Trejo		N		N		N
Dee Wallace				N			N

Filmography[link]

Feature-length films

• House of 1000 Corpses (2003) (director, writer)
• The Devil's Rejects (2005) (director, producer and writer)
• Halloween (2007) (director, producer and writer)
• Halloween II (2009) (director, producer and writer)
• Lords of Salem (2012) (director, producer and writer)
• Tyrannosaurus Rex (TBA)

Animated films

• The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009) (director, producer and writer)

TV work

• Pee-wee's Playhouse (production assistant, unknown episodes)
• Headbangers Ball (guest, numerous episodes)^[33]
• Airheads (guest, with White Zombie performing "Feed the Gods", 1994)
• Space Ghost Coast to Coast (guest, 1 episode, 1997)
• Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (guest, voice of Dr. Kurt Conners a.k.a. The Lizard, episode 3, "Law of the Jungle", July 18, 2003)
• Justice League Unlimited (guest, voice of Ichthulthu, Episode 42, "The Terror Beyond Pt. 2", November 5, 2003)
• Criss Angel Mindfreak (guest, season 1, episode 6, "Buried Alive", 2005)
• Slither (guest, Dr. Karl (voice only), 2006)
• CSI: Miami (director, 1 episode, 2010)
• WWE Raw (Raw Guest Host, 1 episode, 2010)
• Extreme Makeover Home Edition (guest, Season 8 - Episode 6, 2010)
• Halloween Wars (Guest Judge, episode 3, "Zombies vs. Vampires," October 16, 2011)
• The Undead Eyes (voice of Dr. XXX - 2012–present)

Other

• Metal: A Headbanger's Journey as himself (interview)
• Werewolf Women of the SS (2007)

TV Commercials

• Woolite Commercial: "Torturer" (director, 2011)
• Amdro Commercial: "Death Note" (director, 2012)

Discography[link]

Rob Zombie performing in 2011 for the "Hell on Earth" tour with Slayer.

White Zombie[link]

• Soul-Crusher (1987)
• Make Them Die Slowly (1989)
• La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1 (1992)
• Astro Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head (1995)
• Supersexy Swingin' Sounds (1996)

Solo[link]

• Hellbilly Deluxe (1998)
• American Made Music to Strip By (compilation - 1999)
• The Sinister Urge (2001)
• Past, Present & Future (compilation - 2003)
• Educated Horses (2006)
• The Best of Rob Zombie, The Millenium Collection (compilation - 2006)
• Zombie Live (2007)
• Hellbilly Deluxe 2 (2010)
• TBA (2013)

Composer[link]

• Twisted Metal III (1998) (video game)
• Gran Turismo 2 (1999) (video game)
• The Undead Eyes (2011) (television)

Solo band members[link]

Current

• Rob Zombie – vocals (1997–current)
• John 5 – guitar, backing vocals (2005–current)
• Piggy D. – bass guitar, backing vocals (2006–current)
• Ginger Fish - drums, percussion (2011-current)

Former

• Mike Riggs – guitar (1997–2003)
• John Tempesta – drums, percussion, vocals (1997–2004)
• Blasko – bass guitar, vocals (1997–2006)
• Tommy Clufetos – drums, percussion (2005–2010)
• Joey Jordison – drums, percussion (2010–2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rob Zombie

• Official website
• ZombieFAQ
• Discovering "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto" With Rob Zombie

Bruce LaBruce
Born	Bryan Bruce (1964-01-03) January 3, 1964 (age 48) Southampton, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Actor/Filmmaker
Years active	1987–present

Bruce LaBruce (born January 3, 1964) is a Canadian writer, filmmaker, photographer and underground gay porn director based in Toronto, Ontario.

Biography[link]

LaBruce was born Bryan Bruce^[1] in Tiverton, Ontario,^[2] and wrote for Cineaction magazine, curated by Robin Wood, his teacher. He first gained public attention with the publication of the queer punk zine J.D.s, which he co-edited with G.B. Jones. He currently writes and photographs for a variety of publications including Vice, Nerve.com and BlackBook magazine, and has made a number of films which merged the artistic techniques of independent film with gay pornography.

He has also previously been a columnist for the Canadian music magazine Exclaim! and Toronto's eye weekly, and he was a contributing editor and photographer for many years at New York's index magazine. He has also been published in Toronto Life, the National Post and The Guardian. His movie, Otto, or, Up With Dead People debuted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. L.A. Zombie was banned from the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2010 because, in the opinion of Australian censors, it would have been refused classification. However, the film was subsequently able to screen at OutTakes, a New Zealand lesbian and gay international film festival, in May 2011.^[3][4]

In March 2011, LaBruce directed a performance of Arnold Schoenberg's opera Pierrot Lunaire at the Hebbel am Ufer Theatre in Berlin. This iteration of the opera included gender diversity, castration scenes and dildos, as well as a female to male transgender Pierrot.^[5]

Bruce LaBruce studied film at York University in Toronto.

Selected films[link]

• Boy, Girl (1987)
• Bruce and Pepper Wayne Gacy's Home Movies (1988), co-directed with Candy Parker
• No Skin Off My Ass (1993)
• Super 8½
• Hustler White (1996)
• Skin Flick / Skin Gang (1999)
• The Raspberry Reich (2004)
• Otto; or Up With Dead People (2008)
• L.A. Zombie (2010)

Books[link]

• The Reluctant Pornographer
• Ride Queer, Ride

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bruce LaBruce

• http://www.blackbookmag.com/Public/index.asp?Page_ID=19&AQ_Magazine_Date=Current&AQ_Magazine_ID=827
• BruceLaBruce.com
• In Focus with Bruce LaBruce by Shane Tanner
• http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080227/SC2470202/80226025 by Courtney Fathom Sell
• Eye.net contributors: Bruce LaBruce
• Director Bruce LaBruce on his new film The Raspberry Reich
• Arts: Bruce LaBruce on glbtq.com
• New York Times Review of No Skin Off My Ass
• A short biography and astrological chart from "Astroqueer"
• Official Myspage page for "Llik your idols", a documentary about the Cinema of Transgression featuring Bruce Labruce
• Bruce LaBruce at the Internet Movie Database
• Bruce Labruce's Myspace page
• Bruce LaBruce's zine J.D.s at ZineWiki
• June 2009 Interview with L.A. Record
• Christian Vagt: Photos of Bruce LaBruce