Tag Archives: zombies

In which PATCHWORK SOLDIERS makes the WeScreenplay semi-finals…

Lurching with joy at the news that my zombie horror PATCHWORK SOLDIERS is a semi-finalist in the WeScreenplay Diverse Voices Competition.

Congratulations to all those who made the list: https://www.wescreenplay.com/blog/post/the-diverse-voices-semi-finalists?DV%20SF

Diverse_Voices_Full_Color8

ZOMBIE PATROL wins Horror Screenplay Contest & goes into production

My script ZOMBIE PATROL won the International Horror Screenplay Competition run by Visceral Films – and the movie is scheduled for production later in 2016, with the principal location being the Land of Illusion Horror Theme Park in Ohio.

I’m rather chuffed about this.

Here’s what the Visceral Films site says:

“Geoff Holder’s story works in so many different ways- it’s a character-driven horror rompfest complete with humor and a great story arc. It highlights the Land of Illusion theme park and the mission of the contest perfectly.

The competition was intense- Geoff’s work was selected from within a field of other writers spanning the globe from the US to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

As winner of the contest, Mr. Holder will have Zombie Patrol produced, be credited as its writer, and be paid commensurate with an independent $2m feature length project. Additionally, he will have a first look deal with Visceral Films. 

Zombie Patrol immediately enters development and becomes part of Visceral’s 2016 slate of film projects.”

visceral films ZOMBIE PATROL

I’ll be posting regular updates as the amazing production team take the movie through pre-production into the filming phase.

NB Mmmmm….brains!

In which the Author embarks on a Halloween ‘tour’ of Scotland…

This Halloween I’m giving a series of talks on spooky subjects at various places in Scotland. Zombies, poltergeists, vampires, witchcraft – there’s something for everyone.

1. SUBJECT: SUPERNATURAL SCOTLAND

WHEN: Tuesday 28th October, 7pm

WHERE: ABERFELDY – Breadalbane Campus, Aberfeldy, Perth & Kinross PH15 2DU

DETAILS: A medieval monk describes an outbreak of zombies in the Scottish Borders.  A poltergeist case in

Edinburgh ends up in court. The Maggie Wall Witchcraft Monument in Perthshire is a complex fake. A ghost

sighting in Dundee provokes a mini-riot. And hundreds of Glasgow schoolchildren invade a graveyard hunting a

vampire with iron teeth. Based on meticulous original research, prolific author (and highly entertaining speaker) in

this Halloween special Geoff Holder reveals some of the historical and modern mysteries of the Scottish

paranormal experience. Welcome to Supernatural Scotland. It’s stranger than you can imagine.

COST: £5

MORE INFO: http://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/9844/Supernatural-Scotland-with-Geoff-Holder

 

2. SUBJECT: ZOMBIES FROM HISTORY

WHEN: Thursday 30th October, 7.30pm

WHERE: EDINBURGH – Skeptics in the Pub, Banshee Labyrinth, 29-35 Niddry Street, EH1 1LG (just off the Royal Mile).

DETAILS: It’s the night of the living dead… Zombie culture didn’t start with George Romero. Here be medieval

chroniclers’ sworn-to-be-true tales of the plague-spreading undead, including the pugilistic zombie of Paisley and

the zombie monk of the Scottish Borders; archeological evidence from graveyards of Anglo-Saxon and Romano-

British fear of the walking dead; several ‘Ladies with the Ring’, all supposedly revived in the grave by jewel-stealing gravediggers; the men who were hanged and buried – and then revived; the Cumbrian Crusader whose corpse

was still bleeding 800 years after his death; and the ancient bog body that accidentally solved a modern murder

mystery.

Warning: contains corpses.

COST: FREE

MORE INFO: here 

 

3. SUBJECT: SEX, LIES AND POLTERGEISTS! at the FIRST EVER SCOTTISH PARANORMAL FESTIVAL

WHEN: FRIDAY 31ST OCTOBER, 3.30PM

WHERE: Albert Halls, Albert Place, Dumbarton Road, Stirling FK9 4LA

DETAILS: Activity which has baffled paranormal investigators for centuries. Focusing on Scotland, Geoff will

discuss the earliest recorded Scottish poltergeist, a witchcraft episode from Stirling, and an Aberdeenshire

example kickstarted by young lust.

A canvas of commonsense-defying mysteries that stretches from the year 1635 to the present day.

COST: £5

MORE INFO: http://www.paranormalscotland.com/presentations/geoff-holder-sex-lies-and-poltergeists/

 

In which the Author talks zombies on the Grand Dark Conspiracy…

grand dark

I was recently interviewed by Daniel Bautz of the Grand Dark Conspiracy (‘Exploring the Unexplained, the Unseen, the Unknown’) on WQTT out of Ohio, the matter in hand being that pesky issue of the zombie apocalypse.

Specifically I was talking about Zombies from History, and how when the apocalypse does arrive, rather than wait

for that dull salesman from No.27 to eat you, why not step and seek and destroy some of history’s big guns?

The talk ranged wide and indeed far, taking in the likelihood of the author receiving abusive tweets from disgruntled readers during the apocalypse (‘Dude! Henry VIII wasn’t where you’d said he would be!’) to the exploding corpse

of William the Conqueror. We also covered records of belief in the walking dead from archaeological evidence and medieval chronicles. All in all, zombie fun central.

You can still listen to the podcast here. My thanks to Sunny Lambert and Daniel Bautz of the Grand Dark

Conspiracy.

zombies cover for blog 3

 

 

 

In which the Author takes a Halloween tour in Scotland (and looks for further gigs)…

Are you in Scotland and looking for a speaker during Halloween week? In the last week of October I’ll be knocking the French mud off my boots and venturing back to Scotland for a series of talks, and there are a few gaps in the

schedule, so I’m looking for some other opportunities.

Here’s the skinny:

On the evening of Tuesday 28th October I’m talking about ‘Supernatural Scotland’ at the Breadalbane Library in

Aberfeldy, Perth & Kinross.

On Wed 29th (evening) I’m presenting my crowd-pleasing ‘Zombies from History’ to the Edinburgh Skeptics at the Banshee Labyrinth. Warning: may contain corpses.

Thurs 30th (evening) I’m in Perth with the Filmmakers Club.

And in the afternoon of Friday 31st, Halloween itself, I’m at the (drum-roll) Scottish Paranormal Festival in Stirling,

giving a talk entitled ‘Sex, Lies & Poltergeists’: expect scenes of destruction, pointless violence and icky fluids from the very beginning.

So, if you are looking for a Halloween speaker on all matters ghoul and ghast anytime between Monday 27th

October and Saturday 1st November, please get in touch.

In which the Author has some Zombies reviewed on The Spooky Isles…

There’s a genial review of my book ‘Zombies From History’ on The Spooky Isles site. “Holder’s humour and writing style is very engaging,” apparently. The book serves as “an excellent and entertaining introduction to famous

historical figures” as “he hammers home facts which you may not forget in a hurry.” Oh, and “The illustrations are also rather amusing and really well done.”

And the reviewer, a former sociology student, appreciated the joke about a resurrected Karl Marx leading the

Living Dead faction of the anti-capitalism movement with the slogan “Zombies of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your brains”.

zombies cover

The full review is here. And ‘Zombies from History: A Hunter’s Guide’, the definitive work on what do do when the

historic dead return during the zombie apocalypse, can be purchased on that there Amazon for ready money here.

spooky isles

My thanks to MJ Steel Collins.