There were zombies wandering the streets of Salt Lake this past Sunday… and no, I don’t mean the usual handful of homeless guys or would-be shoppers who didn’t get the memo about the downtown malls being demolished. No, I’m talking about genuine, flesh-eating, shambling-corpse, movie-style zombies. Seems there was a film crew here last week shooting a pilot for a new TV series called The Rising, about the undead taking over an unnamed American city.
This really is the perfect location for a zombie project — anyone who lives around here can tell you that Salt Lake is eerily appropriate for the anonymous role of “unnamed American city,” and filming downtown on a Sunday provides that deserted, end-of-the-world look without even having to redirect traffic.

Brandon Griggs of the Salt Lake Tribune lent a helping hand as an extra; he writes about the experience here. There’s also this nifty little behind-the-scenes video:

A quick note of explanation for the out-of-towners: that distinctive “cuckoo” sound you can hear as the zombie crowd begins to move is a audio cue that’s linked to all the “walk/don’t walk” lights in the downtown area. I guess it’s intended to help blind pedestrians. If you’re crossing in the north-south direction, you get the cuckoo; east-west is a “cheep-cheep” noise. As far as I know, this system is unique to Salt Lake. I’ve never heard these sounds in any other city I’ve ever visited.
Also, if you’re curious, that zombie crowd is only about two blocks from my office building…