Last year I was really excited when I saw the Zombie Horde Animatronic at Halloween Express. However, when I noticed it was $250 I became a little less excited and enthusiastic about bringing it home. I kept my eye on the prop and checked in a week before Halloween and I noticed the zombies where still there. It’s a little known secret that once it gets closer to Halloween that props and other seasonal merchandise slowly start to get discounted. Then the day after Halloween things get reduced 50 to 75% off so retailers can clear out all their merchandise so they don’t have to put it into storage until next year.
When I went back to Halloween Express the day after Halloween the $250 Zombie prop had been reduced to $100. I talked to the manager and asked her if she was willing to reduce the Zombie Horde any more. To my surprise she told me to make her an offer. I told her for $100 I’d take the zombies and twitching corpse zombie prop. She told me she’d do it and asked one of her clerks to help me put the animatronics in my truck.
Here are the zombies in action.
The Zombie Horde is a pretty neat prop with a ton of potential. The eyes light up and they shift from side to side when they are activated by their sensor. They moan and groan as they struggle to get to their next victims.
The downside to the zombies are that the faces aren’t very realistic. The one thing that can make or break a good Halloween animatronic is the face. If it looks silly and cheap it will kill it no matter what else it does. The three faces look cheesy at best and really kill it for me. However, at night you can’t really tell how bad the faces are if the lighting isn’t that good.
Another downside is that the prop is super bulky and very hard to store. Even if you take the zombies apart they still take a ton of room in your garage. They are cheaply made and the clothes will tear and rip if you aren’t careful.
If you can get the Zombie Horde for under $100 I think it’s worth the money. However, if you can’t get it for a discount and see it priced at $200, stay away and get something else. There’s a lot of cool props out there. Don’t throw your money away on something that isn’t worth it, no matter how big it is.