EMILY STEIN AND STAFF WRITERS
Zombies of all shapes and sizes will be leaving Brisbane in their hordes and heading to the “Ghouled Coast” this month for the inaugural Surfers Paradise Fest-Evil event.
The three-day Halloween-inspired event runs from October 26 to 28 and boasts costume competitions, special effects workshops, Halloween markets, cosplay competitions and flash mobs by day, and a great deal of creeping by the living dead once the sun goes down, including an 18+ dance party and a zombie-themed ball.
One of the highlights of the event will be the official Surfers Paradise Zombie Walk on October 28, which supports the Brain Foundation and replaces Brisbane’s annual zombie walk.
Event organisers the Surfers Paradise Alliance, RMW Entertainment and the Brain Foundation have announced the annual fundraising walk will now be taking place on the ‘Ghouled Coast’.
Brain Foundation Queensland spokesperson Gerald Edmunds said the Brisbane Zombie Walk had become unsustainable due to increasing council fees and the large number of participants.
“There were too many people joining the walk,” Mr Edmunds said.
“The Gold Coast is known for a bit of a party anyway, so we gave them a new three-day zombie party.”
The annual event raises funds and awareness for the Brain Foundation, a charity dedicated to the funding of research into neurological disorders, brain disease and brain injuries.
The Brain foundation has raised approximately $100,000 in the last decade from the annual walks held around the nation, but Mr Edmunds said it was the awareness that the Zombie Walks created for the Brain Foundation that was the most beneficial.
“It’s estimated that everyone has at least one to three headaches per year, but what we do is help people identify when it’s something more than just a stress ache,” Mr Edmunds said.
“The symptoms of severe migraines or neurological issues include nausea, lethargy, irritability and a heightened sensitivity to stimulus, so [you feel] kind of like a zombie, which is where the idea behind the walk came from,” he said.
With the three-day Fest-Evil featuring so many opportunities for participants to get dressed up, there are plenty of opportunities for SFX makeup artists to strut their stuff and show off their work in the lead up to Halloween.
Assistant SFX makeup artist Alexandra Garrett works for Beautiful Nightmares Artistry and will be making the trip to the Gold Coast from Ipswich for the three-day event.
Ms Garrett said the Zombie Ball would give them “a whole new platform” in which to showcase their work.
“We have a three person team and we will be taking a couple of people along and making them up to hand out flyers so people can see our skillset,” she said.
“We have big plan for events like the Zombie Ball and, of course, the general competition.”
Tickets for the Zombie Walk can be purchased on the Fest-Evil website, but there are also free activities each day of the event for those who are too afraid to venture into the night.