For SCIENCE!
December 22, 2012 11:52 PM Subscribe
Decay is a free, downloadable zombie film set entirely at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
Trailer. In the film, the zombies are created from exposure to the newly-discovered Higgs boson particle. (Previously on Mefi.) It was written and directed by Luke Thompson, a Ph.D. accelerator physics student.
* Wired: Physics Students Make Zombie Movie Decay Deep Within the Bowels of CERN.
* Slate: Why a Zombie Movie Made by Physicists is the Best Kind of Science PR
* PopSci: "A cast and crew of 20 students, working with about £2,000 (about $3,200) made the movie using a camera shoulder-mount built from copper pipes, fake blood from syrup, and props scavenged from dumpsters."
Trailer. In the film, the zombies are created from exposure to the newly-discovered Higgs boson particle. (Previously on Mefi.) It was written and directed by Luke Thompson, a Ph.D. accelerator physics student.
* Wired: Physics Students Make Zombie Movie Decay Deep Within the Bowels of CERN.
* Slate: Why a Zombie Movie Made by Physicists is the Best Kind of Science PR
* PopSci: "A cast and crew of 20 students, working with about £2,000 (about $3,200) made the movie using a camera shoulder-mount built from copper pipes, fake blood from syrup, and props scavenged from dumpsters."
Looks like somebody's been playing way too much Half-Life.
posted by neckro23 at 12:20 AM on December 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by neckro23 at 12:20 AM on December 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
hmm.. my theory is that the wretch made by Frankenstein was the original modern zombie and since Mary Shelley wrote it in the same area as the LHC that's pretty full circle, so to speak. But in the novel the wretch was made using non-science ie. alchemy and other dark arts. But these LHC zombies are created by science, which means we can understand them, which makes them less believable. A better story would have been a young scientist who uses the LHC to conduct tests using unsound science eg. Dianetics or cold fusion or something, and mysteriously the zombies are created (mysteriously because we can never understand something outside of science). Even better, the young scientist conducted the tests using the same books mentioned in Frankenstein in creating the creature. Nothing like dusty old tombs from the middle ages mixed in with the LHC.
posted by stbalbach at 12:36 AM on December 23, 2012
posted by stbalbach at 12:36 AM on December 23, 2012
If you ever thought CERN would be a fun place to work you’d only be half right: The scientists who work there might be awesome, but the nuclear research center makes the perfect setting for a zombie apocalypse.cannot parse this sentence
you think working at CERN might be awesome but you are only half right:
the people are awesome
the setting is also awesome
does this not add up to 1
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 12:58 AM on December 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
also this is the best idea for a movie and i will watch it when it's not 4 am and thank you for bringing t his into my life
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 1:00 AM on December 23, 2012
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 1:00 AM on December 23, 2012
I can now look forward to hearing the gold-hoarding, conspiracy believing wingnut in my neighborhood tell me this actually happened and that Obama's planning to unleash Armageddon by using HAARP to transmit "monster rays" as part of his vaccination-mandated healthcare package.
posted by Smart Dalek at 1:36 AM on December 23, 2012
posted by Smart Dalek at 1:36 AM on December 23, 2012
gold-hoarding, conspiracy believing wingnut
You say that like it's a bad thing
posted by J.W. at 2:03 AM on December 23, 2012
You say that like it's a bad thing
posted by J.W. at 2:03 AM on December 23, 2012
Looks like somebody's been playing way too much Half-Life.
I was under the impression that this wasn't possible based on an interaction with a high school friend; I was complaining to him that I felt like my boyfriend didn't always want to spend time with me, that he liked video games more and that he only came over to play my brother's copy of Half-Life. My friend looked at me earnestly and said "Well, Half-Life is a really good game."
This has been the tone of much of my life.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 3:52 AM on December 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
I was under the impression that this wasn't possible based on an interaction with a high school friend; I was complaining to him that I felt like my boyfriend didn't always want to spend time with me, that he liked video games more and that he only came over to play my brother's copy of Half-Life. My friend looked at me earnestly and said "Well, Half-Life is a really good game."
This has been the tone of much of my life.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 3:52 AM on December 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
Foolish nonsense, Smart Dalek. The HAARP is for mind control/weather control, not some foolish "monster rays" whatever they might be.
posted by marienbad at 5:39 AM on December 23, 2012
posted by marienbad at 5:39 AM on December 23, 2012
The CERN site in Austin, Texas was also the location for Boston band Tribe's music video "Supercollider".
posted by pxe2000 at 6:23 AM on December 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by pxe2000 at 6:23 AM on December 23, 2012 [1 favorite]
In the film, the zombies are created from exposure to the newly-discovered Higgs boson particle.
Do they not get that it was there all along?
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:44 AM on December 23, 2012
Do they not get that it was there all along?
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 6:44 AM on December 23, 2012
In some weird serendipity, Mrs. physicsmatt and I watched this on Friday and loved it. The acting is so-so to terrible, but the mood they set is awesome.
Also, the production company is called H2ZZ, which is one of the main decay channels of the Higgs boson (Higgs to ZZ). I'm still laughing about that, sadly. And cracking up about "Higgs radiation." But seriously folks, don't go down into the tunnels when the beam is on, that's just bad.
Finally, as your resident particle physicist, I assure you there are no plans to create a zombie horde at CERN. That would get in the way of our plans to open a gateway for the many-angled ones who dwell in the dimensions perpendicular to our own.
posted by physicsmatt at 8:09 AM on December 23, 2012 [9 favorites]
Also, the production company is called H2ZZ, which is one of the main decay channels of the Higgs boson (Higgs to ZZ). I'm still laughing about that, sadly. And cracking up about "Higgs radiation." But seriously folks, don't go down into the tunnels when the beam is on, that's just bad.
Finally, as your resident particle physicist, I assure you there are no plans to create a zombie horde at CERN. That would get in the way of our plans to open a gateway for the many-angled ones who dwell in the dimensions perpendicular to our own.
posted by physicsmatt at 8:09 AM on December 23, 2012 [9 favorites]
cannot parse this sentenceRead it as, "if you thought working at CERN would be awesome, you're only half right, because it's awesome awesome!"
you think working at CERN might be awesome but you are only half right:
the people are awesome
the setting is also awesome
does this not add up to 1
posted by Jehan at 10:48 AM on December 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
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seriously though, this looks terrible, I can't wait to watch it.
posted by mannequito at 12:06 AM on December 23, 2012 [1 favorite]