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Season 1 of Zombie Strains concludes as John and Andy review all they have learned from the zombie films released between 1919 and 1948. Producer Brad tests their knowledge with and audio quiz.
S1:E23- June 11, 2025
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The Devi'l’s Daughter is a low budget, loose remake of Ouanga. This film features an all black cast, dispenses with the racial and societal themes of Ouanga and focuses on jealousy and unrequited love. John and Andy take it all in and discuss this film’s place in zombie history.
S1:E22- June 4, 2025
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A movie called The Walking Dead has to have a zombie, right? Not so fast, as this well-made film stars Boris Karloff as a man wrongly executed. A well-meaning scientist brings him back to life, hoping to learn about death. John and Andy discuss the spiritual and science mix in this film.
S1:E21- May 28, 2025
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John and Andy go back to 1919 to watch the silent French film, J’accuse. Abel Gance directs this anti-war masterpiece. Many scenes are shot with actual soldiers at the war front. But it’s the end of the film that drew John and Andy’s attention as dead soldiers rise from the grave to pass judgment on the living.
S1:E20- May 21, 2025
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Valley of the Zombies foreshadows future of zombie films - films that promise zombies in the title but deliver something else. John and Andy examine the “zombie” in this valley and take a moment to relish the performance of Ian Keith.
S1:E19- May 14, 2025
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After finding few yucks in Zombies on Broadway, Producer Brad treats John and Andy to one of the greatest horror/comedies, Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. In between laughs, John and Andy discuss whether the Frankenstein monster is a zombie.
S1:E18- May 7, 2025
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Zombies on Broadway is a horror/comedy film starring the comedy duo Allan Carney and Wally Brown. They promise a gangster a real zombie for his club’s opening, and are forced to go to a Caribbean island to find one. Darby Jones returns as the same zombie from I Walked with a Zombie. John and Andy note this is the first zombie film to end with a lead character zombified.
S1:E17- April 30, 2025
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Voodoo Man is Bela Lugosi’s third zombie film. This time, he abducts young women, mesmerizes them into zombies, and then tries to steal their life force to bring his wife back from the dead. The film has many implausible moments, but also a touching scene that show Lugosi’s tender side. As always, John and Andy weigh in about the film’s place in zombie history.
S1:E16- April 23, 2025
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Having now watched two Nazi zombie films from the 1940s, John and Andy are curious how later filmmakers use the trope in the aftermath of the war. They jump to 1966 to watch The Frozen Dead. Dana Andrews stars as a Nazi scientist living in a English manor with a dozen frozen Nazi soldiers in his basement.
S1:E15- April 16, 2025
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John and Andy return to the 1940s for Revenge of the Zombies. Mad scientist John Carradine works to create an army of the undead for the benefit of an unnamed country not so subtly coded as Germany. John and Andy discover another important zombie first as Carradine’s scientist states “Zombies would fight on, so long as the brain cells … remained intact.” Is this the beginning of modern zombies?
S1:E14- April 9, 2025
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Last episode, John and Andy watched the first truly beautiful zombie film, I Walked with a Zombie. This episode they are snapped back to reality with Ritual, a remake made 59 years later. Starring Jennifer Grey, Craig Sheffer and Tim Curry, the film follows much of the plot of the original, but misses its style and depth.
S1:E13- April 2, 2025
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I Walked with a Zombie is a new strain of zombie film. It’s the first directed by an auteur who imprints his own style on the genre. Using Jane Eyre as source material, Jacques Tourneur creates an atmospheric and beautiful film with an iconic zombie, played by Darby Jones. After a string of low budget zombie films, John and Andy are stunned by this sublime film.
S1:E12- March 26, 2025
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Bowery at Midnight is a mix of crime, mad scientist, and zombies. Bela Lugosi stars in his second zombie film as professor by day and criminal mastermind by night. Hidden in his secret lair is a mad scientist with a cellar full of zombies. Pay close attention or you’ll miss the first cannibal zombie attack!
S1:E11- March 19, 2025
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King of the Zombies is the first film to hint at Nazi zombies. Set at the onset of World War II, it stars John Archer (Hold that Ghost), Mantan Moreland (Revenge of the Zombies), and Dick Purcell (Captain America), who crash land on a mysterious Caribbean island and encounter Dr. Sangre, a foreign spy who uses voodoo and zombies to steal American secrets.
S1:E10- March 12, 2025
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The Zombie Strains boys heard rumblings of zombies in Apple TV+’s new film, The Gorge and had to jump to the present day to investigate. Directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy, the film is a love story about two soldiers seperated by a gorge and the mysteries within. But are there zombies? John and Andy leap into The Gorge to find out.
S1:E9- March 5, 2025
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After watching the first zombie comedy, The Ghost Breakers, John and Andy decide to watch the best, Shaun of the Dead. How much has changed in 64 years of zombie films? Are there any similarities? John and Andy break it all down for you.
S1:E8- February 26, 2025
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The Ghost Breakers is the first zombie/horror comedy. It stars Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard in their second film pairing, after The Cat and the Canary. Willie Best plays Hope’s sidekick, Alex. Hope and Best sail to Cuba to help Goddard rid her newly inherited castle of ghosts and one lumbering zombie. Is it funny? Sort of. Is it scary? Not really. But it’s still an important film in zombie history and John and Andy take it all in.
S1:E7 - February 19, 2025
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Revolt of the Zombies is our third unrequited zombie love movie. Dean Jagger (Major General Waverly in White Christmas) discovers the secret to an ancient zombie formula and uses it to create zombies to scare Claire to marry him. It’s also the first zombie film to present zombies as a global threat.
S1:E6 - February 12, 2025
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Ouanga is an unexpected pleasure for John and Andy. The performance given by Fredi Washington towers above her castmates and those in previous zombie films. Fredi plays Cleli, a plantation owner driven by unrequited love to use her zombie powers to win the man she loves.
S1:E5- February 5, 2025
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Maniac is an exploitation film that has momentary lapses into zombie cinema. It’s the first zombie film with a mad scientist driven to bring the dead back to life. While the film is consistently cited as one of the worst films of all time, it does have it’s moments. The mad scientist’s laugh is top 10 in film history and the patient transforming into a mindless zombie is bonkers.
S1:E4- January 29, 2025
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After formalizing what a modern zombie movie is, John and Andy go back to 1932 to watch White Zombie, considered by many to be the first zombie film. The film stars Bela Lugosi as the zombie master Murdere Legrende, just one year after his breakout role as Dracula. White Zombie sets a template for zombie films for the next few years - a spurned lover resorts to zombie powers to secure love.
S1:E3 - January 22, 2025
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It’s Andy’s turn to pick his baseline zombie film. His choice, The Girl with all the Gifts (2017) is a lesser known film, but don’t let that fool you. It’s a powerful film with a great cast. Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace), Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction), and Paddy Considine (House of Dragons) star.
S1:E2 - January 15, 2025
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Zombie Strains begins as host John picks Dawn of the Dead, a movie that represents his ideal zombie movie. John establishes his 4 Pillars of Zombie films. Apocalypse? Check. Contagion? Check. Tough moral choices? Check. Loved ones turning against loved ones? Check. The cast is stacked with talent. Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell, Michael Kelly, and Matt Frewer all try to survive in a world full of fast zombies and fast transmission. It’s the epitome of the modern zombie film.
S1:E1 - January 8, 2025