By NOEL MURPHY
ZOMBIE-led economic recoveries aren’t the exclusive precinct of Geelong.
The small grain town of Ouyen, for instance, has been investing government arts funding in zombies – and the entire town is clambering to be a part of the project.
High school students in the northwest Victorian town have poured State cash into a zombie apocalypse short film aimed at showing Ouyen in a different light.
The result has been remarkable. Everyone from young kids to senior citizens has been goring up in blood and horrific ulcers to take part in the movie.
The movie’s been an educational tool, helping skill kids up in the film trade, but it’s also been a rallying point for a town that, like Geelong, has fielded its problems over recent years.
A recent ABC TV report on the zombie phenomenon cited difficulties such as drought, falling cereal prices and low farm incomes. It highlighted how people from six months old to 70, from hotel workers to material store staffers, were volunteering to take part in the film.
The zombie apocalypse was one in a series of arts projects aimed at bringing the sleepy farming community to life.
Geelong mayor Darryn Lyons says zombies are extraordinarily mainstream at present. The US TV zombie show The Walking Dead was out-rating major sports shows.
He said the $37,000 Tale of Sleepy Hollow Geelong zombie clip has already drawn more than double the online hits a $1 million Daylesford tourism promo had drawn.
