When Zombies Attack

Usually you would think on Memorial Day weekend most people would be with their families, enjoying a nice summer barbecue and conversation.....but not Doug Sakmann and his crew of zombies for the 4th Annual NYC Zombie Crawl in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

The NYC Zombie Crawl is an organization concerned primarily with the rejuvenation of the living dead by means of feasting upon human flesh. While this can be problematic in civilized society, NYC Zombie Crawl attempts to make the zombie experience as genuine as possible through the combination of horrifying SFX make-up and organized zombie events that unite brain-eaters from near and far.

Under the direction of experienced zombie ringleader Doug Sakmann, NYC Zombie Crawl has provided make-up for movie, book and video game releases, national touring acts, film productions, and countless organized events in the NY area including massive zombie crawls through the wild streets of NYC. Sakmann’s team has worked extensively in the business of transforming average humans into the living dead, having provided Zombie make-up for such clients as the Tribeca Film Festival, NYC Comic Con, Sony Pictures and The Today Show on NBC, to name a few. (Taken from NYC Zombie Crawl

I started crawling as a zombie back in October 2008. I heard about the event through the Village Voice as well as visiting the website Burning Angel where it was advertised. Originally I was kind of scared -- what if my students saw this? What would they think? They I said to myself -- well I am not naked, I am not hurting anyone, and it is all in good fun. So every year when there is a zombie crawl put together by Doug, off I go. Today was my fourth one.

Usually when I go to the zombie crawls, I am already made up. Here are some pictures of my past zombie crawl makeup.


Here I am in October 2008, my first zombie crawl, done by the fabulous Autumn Lynn:








Here I am in October 2009, my second zombie crawl, with the zombie ringleader Doug Sakmann. This time, I decided to try my hand at zombie makeup.


Then during Halloween 2009, the crew from NYC Zombie Crawl promoted a new video game called Plants vs. Zombies. This was my first time walking in the Village Halloween Parade and since it was for a video game involving plants, I thought it would be funny and ironic to be a dead bunny. Again, did my makeup myself.

Back in Spring of 2010, Doug was commissioned to make a trailer advertising a new book called Play Dead by Ryan Brown. Combination of football, zombies, and reading? I am down! Here I am with the author of the book and yes I am wearing a Dallas Cowboys t-shirt because since I live in the tri state area, I wanted it to appear that rapid NY Giants fans killed me at a game.













Now while all of this fun was going down, I knew for myself I needed to do something in 2010 for the Gulf Oil Spill. In October 2010, I was "employed" by British Petroleum. I had on a business suit and an identification badge. This one I had a lot of fun. The big question was "What happened to you?" The answer "I work for British Petroleum" which got an resounding "Ohhh....I understand."













Which now bring me to today. May 29, 2011. Originally I was going to be a zombie but Doug is in the midst of filming the movie Punk Rock Holocaust 3 and needed more victims than zombies. I decided to be a victim instead this year as well as assist in makeup detail. Let me tell you...I should have been a zombie instead!

What I had to do was wear an "intestine" pack underneath my shirt that I did not mind getting ruined. The pack was heavy! It was flesh stuffing dipped in "fake" blood and what was supposed to happen was zombies were going to attack me and rip my "intestines" out.



After I was suited up, off we were down Bedford Avenue to McCarron Park for some Zombie fun and games as well as Human Tug Of War from Disgraceland Hook Squad. Walking with this pack around my neck HURT. But I did it. As soon as I got to the park, I spoke to some of my fellow zombies and told them to just rip my shirt and get this pack off of me. They listened. My shirt was already pre-cut so it was not that hard to destroy. I fell down on the grass and the zombies "fed" off of me. I was relieved but now a big sticky bloody mess.

There was an after party at Public Assembly but with working on over 30 people to be made into zombies as well as the intestine pack, I was done. Overall, I had a lot of fun. The walk was good in terms of exercise but next time in October 2011 I will be a zombie and will still do makeup detail. I am already thinking of ideas for zombie costumes, especially involving the Sun Drop girl from the commercial. For more information on getting involved, please go to this website NYC Zombie Crawl