Not hampered by the heat of a sunny Spring day, over 10,000 undead participants stumbled and staggered their way through Victoria Park in Spring Hill for the annual the Brisbane Zombie Walk, last Sunday, in aid of the Brain Foundation.
Anyone caught taking a casual Sunday stroll though the park were overwhelmed with the sheer amount of (fake) blood, gore-geous costumes, bone-chilling screams, and a whole lot of fun, as the hoard meandered through the new route.
Due to logistical and local government issues, the event was moved from its once beloved home at Southbank, providing organisers with the opportunity to create the ‘Apocolypse Undead Festival’.
Zombie tree!!
With more space, a massive festival party took place, with not only (brain) food and several music stages
available, including the massively popular headlining act, local boys ‘Regurgitator’, but also
an amazing array of market stalls.
Festival goers (including myself) had the opportunity to attend ‘Zombie School’, at the FX stand, to learn how to bite people and spray just the right amount of blood, how to walk/stumble like a zombie, and to have their photo taken with Michonne from The Walking Dead and one of her ‘pets’.
I met nazi zombies, whose mother had made their outfits, naked zombie man in a skin tight outfit, priest zombie with a crucifix in the top of his head, faceless/skinless zombies, sailor moon zombies, escapee prisoner zombies, and creatures straight out of a horror movie, who willingly chased me for some ‘realistic’ camera shots (and squished me in the dirt in the ‘kill scene’! Thanks Luke!). We found that festival goers were more than happy to participate in skits, with myself having been attacked several times!
There was a photo booth, jewellery, clothing, candles, art, toys including ma
chine guns, comics, splatter tent for extra fake blood (donations to the Brain Foundation) and not to mention the highlight of my day, the make up booth.
It happened.
I was met make-up artist, Charmaine, from GOREportraits, who made me look absolutely horrific, with a mouth piece prosthetic, lovely dark eye make-up, and the scariest hair style I have ever seen! She tore my clothes, chucked on some chocolate flavoured fake blood, and kicked my zombie butt out of the trailer and onto the movie set, chasing after me with hair spray and a teaser comb.
I also interviewed Gerald from the Brain Foundation, who spoke to us about what the money raised during the event was put towards, in the way of medical research and development.
The walking dead fx tent w/ Michonne & zombie!!
When it came to the actual walk itself, hundreds lined the streets, waiting to be terrified by the blood soaked masses. This was probably my most favoutite part of the day, as my new found zombie face caused quite a ruckus… ok so, the stumbling, screaming, crawling, growling, dead-eyed stares and gro
aning probably added effect!! It was fun laying in on the ground pretending
I was dead, then jumping up and rushing at the closest person… who would scream and run away. Muwahahaha.
At one point I got totally lost and needed to get back to the film crew, so I did the only logical thing… I took a shortcut. I had a media arm band which got me through all of the checkpoints so I figured that it would work out. WRONG. Went around the whole course twice! Which was kinda good I guess because I was able to scare more people!! Did I say muwahahaha yet? Muwahahaha, thank you to my severe lack of direction for that one.
Why so serious?!
At any rate, I knew I had to get back, so I went into RUNNER ZOMBIE mode and sprinted over half the course to get back. It was worth it… until I got home that night and felt like I had contracted some type of tropical illness. I thought I literally WAS ‘Point Of Origin’. Took another two days for my muscles to stop hurting (whinge), and it was all the ones in weird places… took me a while to realise that screaming and growling uses the muscles in the lower back of your rib cage! Did you know that!? I will do warm up screams next time! BEWARE, that crazy chick in the corner yelling at trees will be meee!!
The exhausted crew left me to my hyper-zombie-activity late in the afternoon to get home before a massive electrical storm hit. Lucky the big drops of rain only started to come down as I was on my way, making a slow journey home. This was probably one of the best parts of the day, and I think next year I will most definitely be going for a trek through the city in my outfit.
Not nearly as scared as you should be muwahahaha
I was accidentally dropped off at the wrong side of the Roma St train station, and therefore had to go through the parklands, through a scary tunnel, around two city blocks and into the station, and up to the platform. Usually, taking a leisurely stroll at 11 at night though the city, on my own, is NOT my idea of a good time… until I saw my reflection in a mirror, and realised that not only was the make up I had been wearing all day had started to run in the rain, but I was carrying a big fake knife sticking out of my bag!
People crossed the road. Walked off the path to get around me. Turned their backs to me. Stopped talking to their friends. One guy smiled at me, and while I smiled back, I realised he couldn’t see under the prosthetic, so I laughed. The rail employees told me to make people scream to brighten their night! The best part was the people openly stared at me. SO I would stare back, until they looked away. SO I would look away…
Pretty ladies
Look back and they are staring
again!!! Hilarious. I think the bestest best bit was at Central station the train had to restart or something, and the lights went out! EVERYONE LOOKED AT ME AS IF I HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT… or I was about to attack them! And the German backpackers sitting near me thinking that I didn’t understand them… I didn’t… expect for the word zombie! All of the lolz.
It was great to catch up with my Mum in the morning (she was at the craft show at Southbank… maybe why they didn’t want us zombies there, no one wants blood on their scrapbooking blocks – other then me !) We went on the Wheel of Brisbane, which I high recommend to all zombies and non-zombies alike!
While I know the organising committee did have a few issues on the day, with the restructure of the route & event, local government complications, and the heat, for a group of dedicated fundraisers, the organisers did an amazing job! I still haven’t heard the official figures on how
much was raised, but I for one am already planning for next year. A big thank you our main contact, organiser Anthony Radazza, for hooking us up with entry for the day, and accommodating all of our needs!
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