The Undead Symphony

Darren Smith, Michael Avery and Guests
  • 5.0 (2)
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  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

An undead podcast discussing all things zombie. Movie reviews and TV shows, franchises and chats with fans and the ghouls and boils who bring us this much loved genre.

  1. 4D AGO

    Episode 316: Resident Evil (parts 1 to 3)

    Send us a text In 2022 Constantin the production company behind the Paul WS Anderson and Milla Jovovic movies worked with the asshats at Netflix to create this show that has literally nothing to do with the movies, or Welcome to Racoon City, the movie reboot of the year before. It follows Jade and Billie Wesker as teens as the outbreak is about to happen after their dad, Albert Wesker (brilliant played by the much loved and missed Lance Reddick) and his evil boss and daughter of the original Dr Marcus, Evelyn Marcus, pushes a new happiness drug from Umbrella called Joy, that includes small elements of the T-virus. Why doesn't this sound like a good idea. And Jade as an adult, 14 years later in a post-apocalyptic world, is trying to get home to her husband and child after being in the field in the UK and trying to get samples of something or other before being chased across Europe by Umbrella and a fat beardo in a grey suit. We will be doing this as a three pod breakdown with our chat in the third. In this pod, I cover parts 1 to 3 of 8. Enjoy.

    40 min

  2. JAN 29

    Episode 315: The 28 Drag Queens Later Catchup

    Send us a text And we come together to talk two movies high on our watch list for the year, Tina Romero's Queens of the Dead, and 28 Years Later The Bone Temple. What did we think of them? You will just have to listen to find out.

    54 min

  3. JAN 28

    Episode 314: 28 Years Later The Bone Temple Addendum

    Send us a text So I saw 28 Years Later The Bone Temple and, unlike it's prequel, I loved it. This is the movie we all wanted 28 Years Later to be from Jim to the old theme tune, to villains getting their comeuppance, to the virus not only being the red eyed blood spewed rage virus we loved, but also some progress in its study and cure. I would question how a bicycle courier has somehow become a history teacher (that bit was stolen from the History Boys), and how Jonno was turned with a simple old school 28 days/weeks infected blood spray, and the Jimmy's aren't affected at all by it. Some iconic scenes inc the Number of the Beast, and the train fight scene, but for me, oddly, it was Jimmy's upside down view of the stars and the bone temple looking like pillars I found the most stunning. It is a bit of an off the cuff ramble, but I scored it 8/10 and will definitely see it again.  The Franchise for me is 28 Days Later, 28 Years Later The Bone Temple, then the other two equal third.

    17 min

  4. JAN 26

    Episode 313: 28 Years Later The Bone Temple

    Send us a text Michael has gone rogue, going to not only watch 28 Years Later The Bone Temple but also he recorded an episode of the podcast whilst Darren writes and appears in The Fallen Diaries episode 1. Questions will be answered, including but not limited to: Does Michael like the look and feel of prosthetic penises?  Has he ever joined a cult? Did Jimmy Savile fix it for him? What other BBC presenters and DJs does he think could be pedophiles? And many many more. Check out his review of Bone Temple, the movie in the franchise that he scores 7.5/10 and describes as "second only to Days."

    40 min

  5. JAN 20

    Episode 312: Bong of the Dead vs Bong of the Living Dead

    Send us a text The things I do for you f*****g people. Where am I going with this? Well, since We Bury the Dead and Uncontained, both decent movies, with the Daisy Ridley effort immediately cementing itself in my top 50 zombie movies, we are back on the slippery downward slope with this one – Bong of the Living Dead, not to be confused with Bong of the Dead, although, yes, for you dear listeners I am watching Both! Yes both! The 2011 Canadian movie BONG of the Dead, where Although the world is dealing with a zombie apocalypse, two friends decide to make the best of it. They use zombie brains as fertilizer to grow powerful cannabis. And the 2017 AMERICAN Bong of the living dead Friends fighting for survival realize that the zombie apocalypse isn't all it's cracked up to be.  BONG OF THE DEAD from 2011 an experience akin to being the only sober person in a room full of drunk and stoned exhibitionists who think they’re the funniest people on Earth. What a bag of shit… that was bad, like one of those really bad episodes of Z nation that felt like the writers were drunk, high or both, as it had nothing do with the main storyline. 3/10 avoid  And so onto the second wind of this podcast, we have slept off the 2011 Canadian bong of the dead and now have the American BONG OF THE LIVING DEAD from 2017  It gets a surprising 5.3 on IMDB and although it didn’t have enough reviews on RT to create a score, the two critics that watched it seemed to like it. Tries to be Shaun of the Dead and fails at being remotely funny, despite some decent zombie movie references. Then becomes serious when they run out of weed and fails at that too. In the end it was far better than Bong of the Dead, but it was still shit. 4/10 avoid also

    53 min

  6. JAN 17

    Episode 311: Uncontained (2025)

    Send us a text Winter. A fly over of near black trees. The wilderness in winter seen from above and below. From under the show a shirtless man appears. It is Morley Nelsons Dan. Long hair. Blade. Ominous music. Morley Nelson writes, directs and stars as Dan a bit of a cliché, former spec ops soldier who found the woman of his dreams, and then lost her and their baby, kinda thing. And Dan is confused and lost in the snow as he stumbled upon 7 year old Jack and cute as a button 2 year old Brooke living in a huge house by themselves. What is going on? And this is after a couple forced themselves into the house and were killed by someone, or something. So this zombie virus has two strains, you either turn standard running zombie, I am thinking Black Summer, and will die when killed, these are Deaders, and then there are the Changers, that turn, then turn back, a la zombie versions of werewolves or, more recently, like EAT BRAINS LOVE, but more serious. With the main story being less about the zombies and more about the head of the local militia looking for his daughter, who was part of the couple killed earlier, it does detract a little from what this could have been. It scored 4.6/10 on IMDB and I can see why people would put it around there. I am going to round up to a 5/10 as I found it quite interesting, a fresh take to a degree but with room for improvement. As this was Morley Nelson writing, direction and starring in this well done to him pesonally, it is certainly better than a lot of indie zombie movies we have seen on the pod. If you want to move away from the second rate Romero clones out there, give this a go. It was a few new scenes and a little bit of better writing and acting away from being Blood Quantum ish.

    59 min

  7. JAN 15

    Episode 310: We Bury the Dead (2026)

    Send us a text I have been waiting for this one for a year. Or so it seems. It has certainly taken its sweet ass time in coming but finally I get to cross off Daisy Ridley's We Bury The Dead. The story follows American Ava (Ridley) as she heads to Tasmania after a US weapon of mass destruction accidentally wipes out the entire population of half a million people. Ridley's husband Mitch was there for a work thing, and she wants to find him/his body. We learn though, as she is volunteers with thousands of others to identify and retrieve the dead that some of them are coming back. And we do see them. Although the are tragic grey skinned, opaque eyed hollow people, grinding their teeth into sharp splinters.  The military are overseeing the whole thing and the returned, the undead, are immediately and ruthlessly dealt with. Enter Brenton Thwaites' Clay,  a bit of a loser, and so far away from the clean cut, pretty boy US roles he is famous for (Teen Titans, Office Uprising, Ghosts of War) you have to double take to see the unkempt, long greasy hair and swearing Aussie is him. Clay offers to take her to the other side of the island, 200 miles, to where Mitch was at the time of the tragedy. And so this becomes a road movie, interspersed with flashbacks to Ava and Mitch's troubled marriage, right through the payoff at the end. It is quite haunting, but not the Australian 28 Days Later that some of the trailers hinted at. A sad story about her and him. A story of loss before and after death. Moments of the Schwarzenegger Maggie. Scary moments. Don't get me wrong. Mark Coles Smith from Beast of War, was truly scary as Riley. It will stay with you. But those wanting a bloody, zombie fest will be disappointed. I liked it though, and given this is my podcast, I score it 6.5/10. Well done all.

    43 min

  8. JAN 12

    Episode 309: The Zom Rom Com episode

    Send us a text There are sub-genres within the horror sub-genre of zombie horror, oh yes there is. Other then the obvious, the apartment survival horror, the South Korean zombie horror there is this, the romantic comedy set in the zombie apocalypse. And if you think that Shaun of the Dead was probably the first, and Warm Bodies is likely the best example, it is a good segue into the genre if you have a reluctant partner who doesn't want to see Zombie Flesh Eaters on date night.  There are a lot of examples, and we enjoy the light-hearted nature of the sub-genre. We have covered Better Off Zed, Death do us Part, Life after Beth, Burying the Ex, The Last Marriage, Eat Brains Love, Newtopia and Night of the Living Deb. And there are more out there. The question is in the balance. Directors tend to lean towards one or two of the elements in the zom rom com equation and either make a romantic comedy with little zombies, or a good zombie comedy with barely any romance. It is a tough nut to crack. But they do keep trying in this entry level sub-genre.

    42 min
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Ratings & Reviews

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About

An undead podcast discussing all things zombie. Movie reviews and TV shows, franchises and chats with fans and the ghouls and boils who bring us this much loved genre.

Information

  • Creator
    Darren Smith, Michael Avery and Guests
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    316
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Undead Symphony
  • Show Website
    The Undead Symphony