Mail Order Zombie is an award-winning zombie movie podcast.[1] In addition to featuring reviews of and commentary on zombie films, Mail Order Zombie, or MOZ, also features coverage of zombie and post-apocalyptic literature; interviews with writers and filmmakers; recordings from zombie media-specific panels and events from various horror and genre fan conventions; and reviews of zombie movie scores, video games, comic books, musicals and other zombie media. Also, every episode of MOZ includes a recap of current zombie media-related news from around the world. Mail Order Zombie's website has been called one of the "20 Best Zombie Sites on the Web"[2] and is regularly updated between episodes. MOZ Presents: The Monthly Munchies was a side podcast focusing on non-zombie horror genre topics, and was also released through the same feed used to distribute Mail Order Zombie. Both Mail Order Zombie and other special "MOZ Presents" podcasts are made available through Mail Order Zombie's website, iTunes, and Zune.
Mail Order Zombie is produced by writer-filmmaker Derek M. Koch,[3][4] also known as Brother D. A new episode of Mail Order Zombie is released every Thursday.
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Originally, Brother D launched Mail Order Zombie to cover straight-to-DVD zombie movies.[5] The show quickly expanded its focus to include coverage of more mainstream zombie films, and eventually zombie and post-apocalyptic novels as well as other facets of zombie media. With this expansion, Brother D's wife Miss Bren joined the show as a co-host, accompanying Brother D in discussing some mainstream zombie films and answering listener email and other feedback; Miss Bren would later launch the Post Script book review section of the show. Even though MOZ has evolved to include coverage of more mainstream zombie media, Brother D still enjoys "digging for the obscure zombie movies that may have slipped through the cracks and presenting them on the show."[6] In the final quarter of 2011, Mail Order Zombie went on hiatus.
Before the 2011 hiatus, a typical episode of Mail Order Zombie included an introduction by Brother D, news in a segment called The Zombie Beat, The Zombie Aptitude Test, one to three reviews and the Feedback Discussion.
When the show was launched, Brother D would open every episode of Mail Order Zombie with The Zombie Beat, a review of zombie media news from around the world. Eventually, show contributor Scott Morris, also known as Need-a-Nickname Scott, would take over production of this segment, with contributors Tracey Morris and Jay Emmitt occasionally assisting. Every news story discussed during The Zombie Beat is referenced in the shownotes of the episode in which the story appeared. Since Episode 115, Charles Craig, the newscaster who appears in Night of the Living Dead, introduces The Zombie Beat.
The Zombie Aptitude Test, or ZAT, is the question-of-the-month on Mail Order Zombie. Originally, the ZAT question was a bi-weekly question; the ZAT question would be posed to listeners one week, answers would be collected by email and voicemail for two weeks when the answers would be reviewed on the show. The ZAT went monthly in 2010, and in early January 2011, Brother D announced that he would put the Zombie Aptitude Test question on hiatus. During Episode 155, it was announced that the ZAT would return with a new producer running the segment.[7] Professor Chad (formerly of the A Welcome Invasion of Privacy podcast) took over this segment in March 2011.[8]
MOZ features two different kinds of movie reviews produced in-house. Most reviews feature Brother D synopsizing the zombie movie in question, and audio clips from the movie are used to illustrate his points; music from the movie is used as bed music throughout the review. Occasionally, Miss Bren, Need-a-Nickname Scott or others may join Brother D for a movie review, and in these cases, the review is more discussion-based; while there may still be music from the movie used, typically audio clips do not interrupt the discussion. Occasionally, a movie review will be produced by other contributors to the show.
In most cases, the movies are given a rating of 1 to 5 Headshots. Brother D has given the rating scale is as follows:
If the movie is somehow billed as a zombie movie (e.g. the movie appears under the Zombies category at Netflix) but does not actually contain a zombie element, the movie may still receive a review, but will not receive a Headshot. Instead, the movie will receive one of the following ratings.
The name of this segment was determined after MOZ ran a contest for its listeners to suggest the name of the show's book review section. Originally, Miss Bren used this segment to review and discuss post-apocalyptic literature, but as the show continued, this segment became a home for any book review produced by any Mail Order Zombie contributor. A rating scale of 1 to 5 Bookmarks has been created for the Post Script book reviews.
Every year, Mail Order Zombie celebrates its anniversary by announcing the nominees for the Dead Letter Awards. The Mail Order Zombie Dead Letter Awards are a yearly awards show in which the best of zombie movies and media are honored in categories like Best Movie; Best Actor; Best Actress; Best Book, Fiction; Best Book, Non-Fiction; Best Videogame; etc.
Once the nominations are announced, the winners of most categories are determined by popular vote.
Originally, MOZ Presents: The Munchies had no set release schedule. In June 2011, Brother D rebranded this supplemental podcast as a monthly release, changing the name of the show from The Munchies to The Monthly Munchies.[9] When the podcast went on hiatus at the end of 2011, this monthly supplemental podcast was discontinued.
In 2009[10] and 2010,[11] Mail Order Zombie was nominated for a Dead Lantern Splatcademy Award (Best Horror Podcast). In 2010 and 2011, Mail Order Zombie was nominated for a Parsec Award (Best Speculatic Fiction Fan or News Podcast, Specific).[12][13] In 2010 and 2011, Mail Order Zombie was nominated for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award (Best Horror Audio or Video Podcast).[14]