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SALT LAKE CITY — The zombie apocalypse is coming to Utah, but don’t fear, this apocalypse is a shot at a world record and promotion for a new independent movie and not the end of the world.
The event is called “Zombies-Nerf Attack” for the new independent flick “Zombies” and attacks are slated to sprout up in dozens of cities across the country, from New York to Los Angeles, including Salt Lake City and Provo, on Oct. 22 in a simulation of what it would be like to have a country-wide outbreak.
Each event is scheduled to begin at the same time — 4 p.m. Mountain time.
“We want to create the apocalypse," said Hamid Torabpour, the writer and director of the movie.
“Zombies” is produced by Cameron Romero — son of George Romero, who created legendary horror movies “Night of the Living Dead” and “Dead of the Dead” among others. It stars Tony Todd.
With the marketing budgets independent flicks have, Torabpour said this idea gave people a chance for fun scary-themed activity just before Halloween, while also promoting the movie.
“We said how in the world could we promote our independent feature and get people to take notice of it? And so, we said, hey let’s create an apocalypse,” he said.
Working together with Nerf, Torabpour said the goal is making the world’s largest zombie outbreak, while also providing a “virtual meets live-action role playing zombie Nerf war.”
However, instead of being in one central location, Torabpour said it will be a group-meet sort of event.
The company created Facebook pages for cities across the country for the zombie breakout to begin. That way participants can choose wherever they’d like to play — as long as that location is in a public area.
“It’s almost like a Pokemon-Go meets your backyard basketball game,” he said. “So we’re now taking the actual physical locations off, creating Facebook pages and say OK, if you’re in Salt Lake City or in Chicago, check out your Facebook page, meet up with other friends, see where you want to play it and then that way everyone can pick where they want to play together.”
The cost for the event’s regular registration is $30. It includes a ticket to the movie “Zombies,” a t-shirt, a Nerf gun, and interactive app that keeps participants connected, an RFID bracelet/bib for tracking other participants and protective eyewear.
Participants get the opportunity to play as both zombies or humans.
