Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. talks Army of the Dead, rapist zombies

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. made his directorial debut on THE THING, but at one time he was meant to helm ARMY OF THE DEAD, a Zack Snyder-produced zombie epic set in Las Vegas. The project seemingly fell by the wayside a few years back, but now that van Heijningen Jr. is doing press rounds for THE THING, he’s letting the world know where ARMY stands.

i09 asked the director what the status is on the film, and here’s what he revealed: “I don’t know. It was really close to being made in 2008, but the [financial] crisis broke out, and then it was put on hold. I don’t know, it’s a very expensive movie. Because it’s about Las Vegas being taken over [by zombies] and the government builds a wall around Las Vegas [quarantining the city.] The city is torn to pieces, and a helicopter crashes in the Bellagio Lake. But it’s a good story. I hope it stays alive.”

Van Heijningen Jr. also gave the site this lovely bit of info regarding the zombies: “There’s an extra dimension to this zombie film, because they…. they…. I’m still wondering if I should tell this…. the male zombies rape human females. Yes. And they have human hybrid zombie offsprings. It’s a new take on the zombie genre, which is crazy.”

Uhhh… yeah. Yeah, we definitely need more of those rapin’ zombies. Really brings the “fast zombies vs. slow zombies” debate into a whole new arena…

THE THING’s Mary Elizabeth Winstead