The 1993 run and gun video game Zombies Ate My Neighbours is being adapted into a feature length film. The video game was originally developed, distributed, and produced by LucasArts as a comical tribute to both classic and horror films of the 1950s through the 1980s. Now, a screenplay has been written, and has been described as “John Hughes meets Judd Apatow meets George A. Romero.” The video game which has all the makings of cult horror/comedy, became a cult classic years after its release. First Showing reports that the film takes place in an American suburb, where two best friends amongst a sea of teenage angst, battle for safety against the mysterious uprising of neighbourhood zombies.
Due to the theme of the game, it was subject to some censorship. This game was released before the ESRB came along and before then, Nintendo did not want anything violent in their video games such as blood and gore, so Nintendo of America itself ordered all depictions of blood and gore be removed or changed to purple ooze. Censorship committees at several European Nations went a step further and had the game renamed to just Zombies and ordered other changes including the replacement of the insane chainsaw-wielding enemies with lumberjacks wielding axes.
The zombie sub-genre is still very much alive and so there is definitely room for this production. The video game actually reminded me of last year’s zombie comedy Dance Of The Dead, which was a pretty big hit in the film fest circuit. With that being said, we have yet to see a really good movie based on a video game. For anyone not familiar with the game, you can check out the trailer below.
According to /Film, Zombies Ate My Neighbours is an independent production written by John Darko, and produced by Darko, April Wade and Ahmed al Baker. The film is still in the process of securing rights and finding a director and financiers, but we’ll keep you updated as news on the project breaks.