The Official Walking Dead (1936) Official Press Book (Part 1)

Why hello! First off before I get to the good stuff, let me just explain my absence for any minions who care. I've been busy. And lazy. But mostly lazy. Hence the lack of posts recently. So to make up for it, here's something that you may find of interest, particularly if you're a fan of the horror genre, such as myself. Below is the entire OFFICIAL press book for The Walking Dead. Oh no, I'm not talking about the upcoming TV show of the same title, premiering here on FX this Halloween. Instead, the film in question is none other than the 1936 zombies oldie starring the king of horror himself, Mr. Boris Karloff.

Here's an extract from Jamie Russell's incredible Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema about the film:

Warner Bros. tried to blend their talent for gangster movies with the Universal horror tradition in this interesting take on the zombie. Karloff is the walking dead man of the title, who's framed by evil mobsters and sent to the electric chair before two faint-hearted eyewitnesses find the courage to tell the court that he's actually innocent. Fortunately, they know a scientist who's able to revive him... The results aren't entirely successful and Karloff ends up moping around, playing the piano and killing the men who fitted him up like some lumbering angel of vengeance. According to movie legend, Karloff's casting was a fluke: "The reason I called you in was because I thought you actually were a Russian," explained director Curtiz after the event. "Your name certainly sounds Russian! When you came in you seemed so anxious to get the job that I decided to let you have it!"

So, without further ado here is the official press book for The Walking Dead. And for those unfamiliar with press books, they're basically a way for the film studio to sell their film in a particular way by sending a booklet (now often a CD/DVD) full of posters, lobby cards, interviews, stunts and gimmicks to sell the film and so on. Pretty fascinating really.

Oh, also, I'll be posting a lot more of these in the future - titles including press books for The Man They Could Not Hang, Dracula and Frankenstein!


P.S. For some stupid reason the pictures have appeared in the wrong order (the first picture being the last page). So to read it in order start at the bottom of the post. The rest of the Press Book will be posted up shortly.