Zombie Attack

For Halloween 2019 and 2021, we wanted to make a display that involved a group of creatures interacting with the environment. As a fan of zombie movies and shows, the choice was obvious. Kevin recruited Chicago-based friends and his Virginia-based mom to serve as models to be wrapped in plastic wrap and duck tape. The forms were carefully cut off, the seams were taped up and the tops and bottoms were attached. The forms were then stuffed and finished with old wigs (thank you master wig designer Kevin Barthel for donating his scraps), dirtied/dyes clothes and internal wooden supports to preserve their poses for the month-long display. While they all faced away from the street, I painted (the approximation of) faces on using spray paint and stencils.

Planning and progress pics:

The finished product:

Zombie attack during the day. Halloween 2019. 12 zombies, primarily made of duct tape, descending upon our home in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago.
Zombie attack at night. Halloween 2019. 12 zombies, primarily made of duct tape, descending upon our home in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago.

2021 display:

8 Comments

8 thoughts on “Zombie Attack”

  3. I thought nothing could top the giant skeleton, but this is even more terrifying. Thank you for the thrills!!!!

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  4. I LOVE this and am using it as inspiration for my yard in Utah. I am curious about a few things. What did you stuff the zombies with? How did make them stand up and how did you attach them to your house? Thank you so much!! You guys are incredible.

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    • Hi Julie – thanks so much for the note! Yes, I love the idea of you doing this at your house. I stuffed the zombies with packing peanuts and really tried to push as many in as possible. I used a stick as a sort of plunger to push the peanuts into the limbs as much as possible. I’ll then stick dowels (or 1″ wide strips of plywood) into parts of the form that will likely sag or bend. To get them to be freestanding, I’ll drive a stake (a metal fence stake) into the ground and shove the zombie down onto the stake. It all sounds very gruesome, I know. 🙂 For zombies that are climbing the house, I sometimes will use Command removable hangers to attach anchors to trim and windows or sink a small screw into the mortar the brick. My Instructables post has some more details: https://www.instructables.com/Zombie-Attack-1/

      Please share photos!

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