There are a number of books that deal with the idea of vampires overtaking human civilization—the recent Guilermo Del Toro/Chuck Hogan STRAIN trilogy, for example—but VAMPIRE EMPIRE (Buzzy Multimedia), an audiobook written by Clay and Susan Griffiths and read by James Marsters, has a number of unique elements.

Most horror films deal with threats from without—monsters or ghosts or psychos that represent an external danger. COMPLIANCE, which some would label a drama but is as chilling as films get, creates that effect by finding the “monster” within characters who could be any one of us, at the wrong time and under the wrong circumstances.

Putting vigilantism under a microscope, BEFORE WATCHMEN: RORSCHACH, DC Comics’ new prequel to Alan Moore’s classic saga (debuting tomorrow, August 15), is a darkly gritty and terrifically edgy read.

We all know it doesn’t usually end well for the humans when a zombie outbreak strikes, but what about another important part of society, our pets? From the minds of directors Andre and Diego Meza Valdes comes PLAY DEAD, a surprisingly poignant short about how the creatures who normally depend on us to survive learn to move on when we are becoming food for the undead. It all sounds like MILO AND OTIS meets 28 DAYS LATER, and it kind of is, yet it manages to work a lot better than you’d expect from using that kind of premise as a jumping off point.

If there’s any more proof needed that the undead have conquered the mass media, here it is: The year’s best animated movie has zombies in it.

Among the recent European comedies that warrant wider exposure in the U.S., none deserve it more than the pair of NEW KIDS movies out of Holland. And what a happy occasion that the second of them, NEW KIDS NITRO, includes zombies amidst its manic scenario, thus allowing them a little Fangorian love.

If it’s true, as many have said, that the current trend of home-invasion movies reflects society’s unease over the potential of foreign attack, REPLICAS also suggests that we can’t trust the people down the street either.