Seth Grahame-Smith has a lot to answer for. The shelves of our bookstores are currently groaning under the weight of countless one-joke zombie parodies (Graham-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was soon followed by Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, Mr Darcy Vampyre, etc etc) and Hollywood has latched onto the craze, with David O'Russell apparently considering Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov producing Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Next up? The Beatles!
Alan Goldsher's Paul is Dead: The British Zombie Invasion sees John Lennon as the zombie progenitor who kills and reanimates Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. The flaking four then cause worldwide mayhem, with top zombie-hunter Mick Jagger in hot pursuit. Yoko Ono features as a super-ninja. These books always have ninjas.
Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher, who in the past brought us Pulp Fiction and Erin Brockovich, have optioned the novel for their Double Feature production company. "Alan's mash up really showcases his love of music history and his appreciation of the zombie world," says Sher. "How can you not love a book where Jesus agrees with a zombie John Lennon that the Beatles are in fact bigger than him?"
Whether this will ever come to pass remains to be seen, but it does provide us with a game for a boring Monday morning. Your zombie-Beatles song titles below, please. Happiness is a Warm Brain? Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Daaarrrrggghhh? It's Been A Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead?