Being a zombie, whether for Halloween or your local Zombie Walk, calls for some blood stained clothes and makeup to get that rotting corpse look. Having been a zombie myself I wish I would of had some good looking prosthetics in addition to my makeup and dried blood. Just a little something like an exposed broken bone, part of my brain showing, or even have the whole side of my face peeling off would have been an excellent addition. So in an effort to help others get their full enjoyment out of their next zombie costume I’d like to suggest some prosthetics that would look great on any zombie.
The most popular place to put a prosthetic is on your face/head region as that’s where every one is staring to see if they should be ready for the Zompocalypse or if it’s just a costume.
My personal picks would be; 
A simple prosthetic add-on that can make a big difference without altering you face and perhaps creating usability problems while snacking on food at your Halloween party is this Broken Bone. Another simple add-on that doesn’t involve the face would be to slap on some bullet wounds. We all know zombies don’t care about bullets so I’m envisioning these placed upon your chest or arms with holes in clothes so you can see them. Only put them on your head below the eyes, because you wouldn’t be shambling anywhere if you sustained a shot to the brain.
If you’d rather get the personal touch and go the DIY route there are some places online where you can get some good tips and suggestions. So you wanna be a Zombie? has good explanations and pictures to help with ideas and techniques. There are also some decent tips and a few pictures for zombie makeup here.
On Halloween night, lawn decorations get the most attention simply because trick-or-treaters have to pass them to get their treats. Low lying fog, eerie colored lights, and spooky sounds are all just accents to your lawn decorations, which are the center of attention to your costumed visitors. My obsession for zombies brings us to an obvious choice for lawn decorations that should bring a scare or smile to anyones masked face.
First up is the Corpse Solar Light that cleverly combines a solar powered lantern held by an undead rising corpse. It rises 17 inches above the ground and requires no extension cord or batteries because it’s solar powered. Leave it out during the day and it will charge itself up to work at night. We own one of these and LOVE it. (Keep an eye peeled and you’ll see it show up in many of our photos.) Add a creepy tombstone to complete the look.
Next up is a ground breaking statue that looks a lot more realistic than the previous ones and doesn’t have a built in light. This personal favorite of mine is a zombie sculpture (shown at right) named “The Zombie of Montclaire Moorsâ€. It doesn’t have much of a rotting corpse feel, but it does have some great detail. You wont find this one at any Halloween store because it’s an exclusive to Design Toscano. They have some really quality sculptures, including another one of my favorites, by the same artist Alan Dickinson, called The Creeper. This sculpture hangs on your wall and it looks like a shadowy figure is coming right through the wall. Very creepy.
Another rotting corpse rising is this Sewer Zombie that emerges from a “sewer manhole, surrounded by putrid green bile”. Yum! FrightCatalog has more than a couple ground breaking zombies, but I particularly like the look of Grimrot. With most of his rotting body out of the ground, an exposed rib cage, and a missing arm, Grimrot should startle even the most prepared trick-or-treaters.
Another undead rising prop worth mentioning is this Lighted Groundbreaker Skeleton that mysteriously only has his body underground but all appendages are sticking out, and light up. This one requires 2-AA batteries and has removable stakes so it can stick into the ground or on your floor inside the house.
Don’t forget to set the stage for these undead creatures with a tombstone, fog machine, spooky lights, and some scary sounds.
I know these pictures are quickly making the rounds through the Interweb, but they’re too awesome not to mention. In preparation for the Zompocalypse, a few crafty individuals have created their own (cool-looking but non-functional) Zombie Preparedness kits. The original seems to have come via Gizmodo, and might have been a promo item for the slaughtering-zombies-in-a-mall 360 game, Dead Rising (although one person claims it originated in the SomethingAwful forums). They consist of a shadowbox containing a gun, bullets, and some clever stencilling and/or Photoshop magic. They’re probably not a particularly time-consuming or difficult project, but would definitely set the mood and start some interesting conversation where ever they are placed! If you create your own Zombie Preparedness kit (for Halloween decor or as a precautionary measure), we’d love to see your take on the idea. Your options are pretty much limitless.
As expected, there has been some discussion of the weapon choice on the various websites that these have been mentioned. The tourists balk about the absence of a flame-thrower or chainsaw, and Zombie Survival Handbook purists have lots of suggestions of their own. (The latter is one of my favorite groups of people, as they are the only ones who will engage you in a passionate explanation of how to properly re-dead the undead.) Personally, I’m torn. Looks-wise, a big old solitary shotgun is going to create a visual impact that no other weapon will. However, as someone who actually works on a plan of attack for the Zompocalypse, I want to see an assortment of mid-sized blades and rifles and way more than a couple boxes of bullets. 
Maybe I’m taking this project too seriously? Eh, I doubt that’s possible. Perhaps someone should just make a compromise. Maybe start with a big wall safe where all the real anti-zombie supplies are kept and cover it with your artistic In Case of Zombies shadowbox. Okay, that’s your new assignment kids; get to building!
Looking for a more creative way to pass out candy? You’ve found it! This creepy cardboard zombie display makes trick-or-treaters reach inside the rotting zombie’s guts to get their free treat. I love this idea better than when people leave a big bowl of candy out on their porch because they aren’t home: it’s way creepier. Check out the look on that kids face. That warms my heart the way looking at babies does for most people. The Zombie Candy Grabber is available from ShinDigz and stands 5’1″ tall. Don’t just use it once a year, remember to bring it out for parties year round.
An alternative use that can add some zombies into your everyday life is to set this by the front door and use it to store your keys or cell phone in. This way you get to reach into zombie guts every time you leave the house!
RELATED: Zombie Snacks, Zombie Costume
If you’ve ever been searching for costumes online you’ve most likely come across BuyCostumes before. Being big fans of zombies in general I went searching for some new releases from BuyCostumes. I was pleasantly surprised to find more zombie costumes new for 2006.
Hospitals are a likely place for a zombie outbreak to begin so it is fitting I start with a Zombie Doctor costume. This particular one looks like a good all inclusive costume. With full doctor outfit and rotting parts showing through in the right places, this costume will make dressing up easy this Halloween.
After further searching I was surprised to find a mask for FlyBoy, from the original Dawn of the Dead, one our favorite zombies ever. The product page says it is an official George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Deadâ„¢ product, so I’m holding out hope for more from this line. Although this is only a mask, it seems easy enough to find a white button up shirt and some brown pants. Then throw some fake blood on yourself and you’re all set. Don’t forget to stagger and limp!
As much as we like our zombies here at Mable’s we also can’t get enough of pirates, and when there are zombie pirates I can’t let this post end without mentioning them. Buy Costumes calls this a High Seas Pirate. There is another that isn’t new for 2006, but it still fits the bill. It is simply called Zombie Pirate Walk-Around, which looks more like a Scooby Doo type dead pirate than a dead pirate Captain Jack Sparrow might run into.
RELATED: Pirate Costumes, Zombie Costumes.
