Animated Swaying Zombie Prop

Another prop for the 2025 haunt display is now done! My new swaying zombie animatronic is now ready to go out into the yard...

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After reviewing last year's display, I knew that I wanted to add some new props with movement this year. My time was short, so I needed something quick and easy. A few years ago, I had built a side-to-side rotating skeleton with lantern sitting on a tombstone with a quick and dependable kit from Spider Hill Prop Works, so I went back to them to see what they had available.

I settled on their Animated Swaying Zombie kit, complete with mounted wiper motor and all PVC pipe sections, and got to work assembling it. I really have to give a big shoutout to Spider Hill, because this kit had literally everything needed to assemble the full figure along with detailed instructions on how to assemble it. The figure went together quickly and easily and was soon ready for finishing. And the fit and finish on the completed kit was top notch.

I used a prop head from good friend to the Cemetery, Dave at Closed Casket Studios. The decayed head worked perfectly for this piece, and the best part is that I already had it sitting in my collection! The detailed sculpt really set the entire piece off nicely...

For the clothing, I lucked out and used a full, already-distressed suit that I had used for a zombie costume 10 years ago. It was just sitting in my basement unused, so it worked perfectly for this. And luckily, it fit the dimensions of the kit nicely.

I also ended up grabbing a cheap pair of white plastic zombie hands from eBay to finish the figure. The white plastic ended up matching the color of the prop head and they were pretty close on scale to the rest of the figure. It took a bit of rigging, but they fit snug into the pipe ends of the arms, and they look good when the arms are swaying freely as the figure rotates, almost as if they are reaching out to grab you.

To finish the piece off, I added an MP3 player with external speaker to the inside of the body. I had an old zombie audio track (unfortunately, I can't remember where I got it) that I dug up and used, which ended up working perfectly. A really nasty, gurgling vocal to add the final accent to a really great prop.

I am SUPER happy with the way this one turned out and with how easily it all went together. It is going to look fantastic sitting next to my crypt, right next to the walkway where all of the trick-or-treaters have to pass by to get their candy. I think it will be an intimidating challenge for some to get by as it growls and rotates...