All you zombies are you out there?

By Alex Murphy
For Weekly Surge

If you see a large pack of the living-dead strolling down Ocean Boulevard on Saturday, try not to be alarmed. And no, they are not filming the next George A. Romero film in Myrtle Beach, either. Those people, or zombies rather, will be participating in the inaugural Myrtle Beach Zombie Walk.

Zombies, which originated from old legends of voodoo and have been featured in countless cult films such as "Night of the Living Dead,'' "Resident Evil'' and "Shaun of the Dead'' that are both spoofy and terrifying, are the living-dead, re-animated corpses which spring back to life in search of the living's flesh. And basically a zombie walk is exactly what it sounds like, a bunch of people dressing up like zombies, complete with rotting flesh (preferably makeup) and walking around town, like a scene from the iconic Michael Jackson "Thriller'' video. This may sound bizarre but similar events are actually held throughout the world, including everywhere from Seattle, Wash. to Edmonton, Alberta and down to Atlanta, Ga. where Myrtle Beach's own zombie walk organizer, Chastity Pharr, is originally from.

"I moved here last September, and in October I went back to Atlanta to go to the annual Atlanta Horrorfest weekend, which includes a zombie walk and a mass array of other horrific activities, and when I got home I listened to a whiny friend go on and on over some beers about how Myrtle Beach does not offer anything like this for their locals, and I said, 'why doesn't it? It should...it will!' And viola. Now we have one," said Pharr, explaining what compelled her to put this event together.

Pharr also has her own much more proper definition of a zombie walk as she explained, "They are so much fun. Basically you get dressed up like a zombie, meet at a local watering hole and walk. It's an underground event and it's not for everybody, but it's a really harmless way to bring a group of people together with one obsession in common - that obsession being zombies of course."

Grand Strand watering hole The Clubhouse Myrtle Beach, located at 510 N. Kings Highway, is where the event will begin at noon Saturday, and it is entirely free of charge and open to the public. People of all ages are encouraged to come out with their best zombie attire. Although participants are encouraged to come zombie-ready, there will be a few makeup artists on hand from Nightmare Haunted House donating their own time to help people become the living-dead.

From The Clubhouse, the zombies will embark at 2 p.m. on their walk through town, likely confusing both locals and tourists alike as they drag their corpses through the streets on a not-yet-released route as Pharr wants to keep the exact plan a secret. "The route of the walk will be announced to all the zombies the day of. So be on the look out," she said.

The walk is sure to leave some pretty hungry and exhausted zombies, but luckily the path will lead them back to The Clubhouse where they can get food and drink, as well as enjoy some live entertainment starting at 6 p.m., featuring performances by Festered, The Body Bags, The 33's, The Keepers, Insides Out, Eerie Night, and Hand Grenade. To keep the mood going, plenty of classic B-horror zombie films will be playing silently along as the bands perform. All throughout the night prizes will be given, including donated gifts from sponsors such as tattoo gift certificates and concert tickets.

These zombies will also be doing some good as the event is helping to raise money for the American Cancer Society by the sale of beer cups at The Clubhouse that will have cheap refills available all night. This is also the reason the event will become 21 and up after 9 p.m. "The original plan was absolutely to donate to a charity, but you would be amazed at how many charities were put off by our idea and did not want our money. But when we met Melanie Natter from the American Cancer Society we knew she was the perfect fit. We wanted to donate this money to an organization that was just as enthusiastic about our event as we were and when we found them, it just felt right. The money is going to help a lot of people and it's something we felt really good about," said Pharr. "Zombie walks are not typically fund raising events but we wanted ours to stick out and be special."

As the classic zombie quote goes, "When there is no more room in Hell, the Dead shall walk the earth" - or at least the Grand Strand.