UNIVERSAL DEAD

UNIVERSAL DEAD was written and produced by original feoamante.com alumni and producer of my short film, LAST CALL, Kelly Parks. It was directed and produced by my editor for LAST CALL, Vernon E. Mortensen. I served as Production Designer.

The cast for Webisode Three, released on June 2, 2010, is Doug Jones, D.B. Sweeney, Gary Graham, Valerie Perez, and Craig Sawyer. This and two other webisodes were shot in a rush in only three days and for a budget that would usually pay for just one day of craft services on any other film project.

UNIVERSAL DEAD Official Website.

2013

NEWS

April 2, 2013

BEST OF THE LA WEBFEST
My San Diego produced zombie horror web series, "Universal Dead", was an official selection of LA Web Fest. Last night was the awards ceremony up in LA and here are the results.

In the Fantasy/Horror/Science Fiction Web Series category, Universal Dead won:

Continued at Feo Amante.

January 7, 2013

'Universal Dead' the Series – A new take on Zombies
Universal Dead starring DB Sweeny, Gary Graham and Doug Jones is a web series written by Kelly Parks (who is also one of the producers). He hopes to turn it in to a feature film that takes a different approach to the origins of the Zombie outbreak.

"I love zombie movies but the idea of the zombie outbreak being caused by a virus never seemed workable to me." Parks told me in a recent interview.

The well filmed and acted show starts with the characters of Captain Trent (Sweeny) and Dr. Macavoy of the CDC (Graham). They are traveling to a hidden secured base where a Dr. Vataber (Jones) has made claims to have new information about the outbreak.

Continued at GNN.

2012

December 26, 2012

UNIVERSAL DEAD
What's the first thing that comes to mind when we say, no pulse, shoot in the head, and insatiable hunger for human flesh? Well, if you did not say zombie, then you might want to check your brain because it's most probably being eaten by one this very moment.

Continued at Scary Movies Online.

November 11, 2012

The Best Kind of TV...Free
We readers are well aware that there are tremendous creative works out there beyond those being put out by major companies. Creators and their audiences are not quite as bound by the editors, producers, studio execs, publishers, et. al. as they were, say, ten years ago. As Dylan put it: the times they are a-changin'...

...Another great show living a vibrant life out on the web is for our zombie fans. It's called Universal Dead and while it doesn't have the budget that The Walking Dead does, it still stands out as a great web series.

Continued at Criminal Element.

November 2, 2012

UNIVERSAL DEAD: Zombie Apocalypse on Earth: Watch 3 Episodes on YOU TUBE Here! Featuring Doug Jones and DB Sweeney
Quotes from Writer Mr. Kelly Parks:

"BTW, the bodyguards accompanying Gary Graham's character are actual Navy SEALs. The guy who goes into the room with him (2nd episode) is Craig Sawyer, weapon's expert on History Channel's "Top Shot" and general bad ass."

"Doug Jones was the Silver Surfer in F4-Rise of the Silver Surfer, he was Abe Sapien in Hell Boy 1 & 2 and was Pan in Pan's Labyrinth."

Continued at Horror Unlimited.

October 29, 2012

LA Horror Fest 2012
The webseries, UNIVERSAL DEAD (wrote and produced by feoamante.com alumni Kelly Parks, with Production Design by E.C. McMullen Jr.), was one of the Official Selections of the film festival, but because it was finished and originally shown online in 2010, was too old to actually compete.

Continued at LA Horror Fest 2012.

October 17, 2012

New Indie Web Series: Universal Dead
I'll be honest, Universal Dead didn't appeal to me at first. Though it was created and put together by some great and talented people, I've never been a fan of zombies. There is just something less than appealing to watch a bunch of infected people chasing after others with an insatiable hunger for flesh and "braaaains!" When I was told about this indie feature, I wasn't completely enthused, but with a lack of indie films to share with you and Halloween just around the corner, I agreed to watch it…and I'm glad I did.

Continued at ThreeIfBySpace.

April 04, 2012

Honourable mention: Universal Dead
Universal Dead is a web series, in three parts, directed by Vernon Mortensen, released in 2010 and available to view here.

Continued at Talesin Meets The Vampires.

February 5, 2012

"Universal Dead" a zombie horror web series written by Kelly Parks
Planet Earth is ravaged by a strange disease that turns people into mindless murderers. As civilization struggles to survive, a small team of US Navy SEALs must protect a doctor from the Center for Disease Control on a mission to evaluate the claims of an erratic scientist who may have discovered the secret to mankind's salvation.

Continued at CyndiCrotts.

January 5, 2012

New Web Series 'Universal Dead' … Watch the First 3 Eps Here!!
Facebook is a constant source of conflict for me. On the one hand it forces me to waste endless hours of time I don't have to spare (a-hem); it has killed any sense of privacy we all used to experience; and it freely allows our ex's to stalk us legally!! But it's also a great source to find new up and coming horror projects. One I found the other day is UNIVERSAL DEAD, written by Kelly Parks and directed by Vernon Mortensen. Here's the plot synopsis:

Continued at AnythingHorror.

January 4th, 2012

Universal Dead
Kelly popped into the DeadLantern Facebook Group (Really, if you miss the forums, you should just go there instead) to promote his zombie webseries. Give it a look and let him know what ya think!

Continued at Dead Lantern.

2011

December 31st, 2011

Watch Three Episodes from Horror Web Series Universal Dead
You never know what you might find when you check your Facebook page. Just the other day I had a message from Kelly Parks, a writer/producer at Unconventional Films, telling me about the web series Universal Dead. Kelly included the magic word "zombie", so of course we checked it out, and here for you to check out also are the first three episodes!

Continued at Dread Central.

May 17th, 2011

Today we got the news that our friend and Universal Dead actor, Joe Baker (SEAL Team member, Humvee gunner), has died.

In real life, Joe was an actual Navy SEAL and is survived by his beloved wife, Krista Thomas Baker.

May 8th, 2011

Gigaom.com
How Do You Define Web Series Success?
In the independent web series world, success can be tough to define. Sure, there are bootstrapping shows that are undeniably winners, but for every Guild there's the series that may have never reached mainstream success, but helped its creator land a more prominent gig, or led to a merchandising deal or adaptation into another medium.

Arizona Daily Star
Ex-SEAL here once belonged to elite team
Craig R. Sawyer knows firsthand about the Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden last week.

For 13 years, he was one of them.

January 17th, 2011

KingoftheZombies
Universal Dead web series to become a feature film?
A while back I wrote a review of the zombie web series Universal Dead. I found it satisfactory, but apparently, it may return...on the big screen! Based on a post on their Official blog.

This review copyright 2011 E.C.McMullen Jr.



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