(Or “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Zombies, But Didn’t Have The Brains To Askâ€)
Tara McLaughlin is a new-to-the-zombie-world enthusiast. We haven’t had a chance to meet in person, but I will when I attend the event that follows. Tara describes herself thusly:
“I like popcorn with my wine, dressing up for no reason, cheese and the idea of the apocalypse. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to live on a desert island, full of zombies. I get paid to do graphic design and art direction, thumbs up to organize charity events and a warm, fuzzy feeling when I watch Dead Snow. I have been described as blindingly positive and sort of crazy. I love meeting new people and one day I hope to meet up with people in different cities all over the world and have lunch. I live in Calgary, Alberta with my husband Chris, with no dogs, no kids and no air conditioning.â€
She is currently helping zombie enthusiasts live out their dream of being the hunter or the hunted.
Buy Zombie: “Apocalypse Wars†is happening in Calgary soon. Tell me about the concept, what can participants expect?
Tara McLauglin: The concept is “it’s 2012 and the world is in chaos since the spread of the undead infection. Hordes of undead have engulfed the planet, eliminating most of the human race.
Over a heavily infected area of western Canada, a biplane carrying the only known cure for the infection crashes on a small island.
The best remaining humans have been gathered to brave the infested island to save humanity from annihilation. They are called The Hunters, and are humanity’s only hope for survival.
The Hunters’ mission is to recover the lost antidote scattered across the island within a critical time frame. Should they be overrun, the hope of saving humanity from annihilation will be lost, and the Zombies will have taken over the world.”
We are living this scenario by allowing people to sign up to play as either a Zombie or a Hunter. Hunters have to go into zombie infested territory to retrieve the lost cure in a critical time frame. Zombies prevent them from doing this.
All players will be given a number of flags to wear on their bodies; when all a players’ flags have been removed, their character dies. One side is for saving the human race, one side against.
It’s a chance to allow people to sort of live the apocalypse scenario in a safe, fun way. We are doing 2 games, about 1 hour each with 100 people per game.
No matter what side you want to play for, we encourage people to work together and strategise to help their side win the war.
People have asked if they need to be athletes to play and the answer is, absolutely not! Anyone can play, it’s for all levels.
Since we are running two games in the day, players can opt to play one or both games. Tickets are $25 per game or a Team of 4 for $80 and are available online at www.apocalypsewars.ca. People choose their ticket based on zombie or hunter and their desired start time.
Our partners have been very generous, so right now 100% of the ticket sales are going to help the charities.
We have a “Contamination Zone” on site with games, prizes and makeup artists. There will be a free drink for all players, drink and food specials all night, music, and the like.
Buy Zombie: Where did the idea come from?
Tara McLaughlin: A friend of mine and I were chatting about World War Z back in March (I was a little late to the party reading that), saying how much we enjoyed the book. That got us talking about the Zombie Walk and I mentioned that the zombie walk is tons of fun, but the coolest thing about zombies is hunting them; and that would run a zombies vs. humans thing if the opportunity came up. He agreed.
The next day he asked if I was serious because he had mentioned it to a few people who were really interested. So I called my brother, and we had a website live by that weekend, a society started the next week, corporate sponsors, a bunch of volunteers, and a lot of interest within a month.
Everything sort of evolved from there. It has been a real team effort. Everyone that is involved has contributed in a very meaningful way. I don’t think it would be the same event if it weren’t for the team helping with this. This is all very new to Calgary, so everything from the ideas about how the game should work, to what we should put in a Contamination Zone have been a team project.
Buy Zombie: The event is happening when and where?
Tara McLaughlin: The event will be held August 11, 2012. We are meeting at Beckham’s Pub at 1355 – 32nd Avenue NE Calgary. Players will be bussed to and from the battlefield.
Registration opens at 11 a.m. and game times are 1:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. One should arrive about 45 min before your game to sign the waiver etc.
All players get a free drink and access to the Contamination Zone. Everyone has access to drink specials all night long.
If people don’t want to play and just want to party, there will be a cover charge that goes to the charities at the door. This is a first-come first-served thing, so if we are full we will have to turn people away. If people want their spot guaranteed (and a warm fuzzy feeling for helping the community) then it’s highly recommended that they buy a ticket online.
Buy Zombie: Are zombie players responsible for their own makeup?
Tara McLaughlin: Nope! In the Contamination Zone we have a group of free professional makeup artists who can gore you up. You are encouraged to come dressed in your best post-apocalyptic gear and we can add to it or just turn you from human to zombie.
People can bring a “weapon” or “props” as part of your costume, but they can’t play the game with it.
Buy Zombie: Are these zombies fast or slow?
Tara McLaughlin: That depends on who signs up to be zombies. If people sign up to be zombies, it is up to them how they want to work as a group to prevent the humans from winning the game, fast or slow. I would suspect that if they were once a fast human, they will probably be a fast zombie.
Buy Zombie: I commend you on your support of local charities, which ones are you backing?
Tara McLaughlin: The charities we are supporting this year are Brown Baggin’ it for Calgary’s Kids and the Jesse Kinley Memorial Fund.
Brown Baggin it packs daily lunches for children in need and Jesse Kinley Fund gives money to support children’s sports, like HEROES or kids camps.
We chose these charities because, not only are they essential to our community and help kids, but because the food and sports fit with our running around eating brains theme.
Buy Zombie: Can we expect this to be an annual event?
Tara McLaughlin: We very much hope so! This year the theme is Zombies – the main theme will always be a post-apocalyptic world, but if people want zombie pirates vs. ninjas or killer robots next year, then we’re cool with that! It can be zombies every year if that’s what the people want.
Buy Zombie: Tell me about your background as a zombie fan.
Tara McLaughlin: I’m a bit late to the zombie train to be fair. Two of our directors, Shannyn Dowsett and Bo Sommerville are the real zombie experts on the team!
Until I thought about it more, I never got the zombie thing. I had always been a fan of the post-apocalyptic genre. I think it’s thrilling to think about what you would do in an end-of-the world scenario; most people think they would survive, but I really don’t know. I think that’s the fun part, the ‘I don’t know’ and thinking about all the ways you would prepare or fight. What would you do? How would you eat? Where would you go? Who would you take with you? I think a lot of people like to think about that, otherwise there wouldn’t be so much material!
The more I learned about the zombie genre through doing this event, the cooler zombies became to me. Zombies are a readily available, really fascinating apocalyptic scenario. The idea that we are fragile enough as a species to be over-taken by an easily transmittable virus; it’s interesting to think about who would succumb and who would survive.
I think a virus is an easy thing for people to grasp; easier than say, fire raining from the sky. It hits a lot closer to home, there’s a grain of us that thinks, “that could maybe really happen…” I think that’s what’s interesting about the idea of zombies.
Buy Zombie: What are some of your favourite genre films?
The whole “Evil Dead†franchise.
“Dawn of the Dead†– original and remake.
“Shaun of the Dead†– good mix of funny and dire.
“The Night of the Living Dead†– scared the hell out of me when I was about 11.
I Loved “Dead Snowâ€.
The “28 Days Later†franchise
“Fido†was fun
“I Am Legend†could have been great if it were closer to the book
More on “Apocalypse Wars†may be found here: www.apocalypsewars.ca
Twitter: @the_runningdead.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ApocalypseWars
