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What does God Particle, CERN and Zombies have in common?

Zombie film 'Decay' shot at world's largest particle physics laboratory


Low budget films frequently use existing settings and locations in lieu of building elaborate sets. One no-budget zombie film, "Decay," a hit on the Internet streaming sites, happened on a most remarkable location to film at. The setting was at the world's largest particle physics laboratory, the Cern Center, deep underneath the French-Swiss border. The center's previous claim to fame was in discovering the "God particle," the Higg's boson.

While U.K. and American student physicists from the center made and starred in the film, 'Decay' was put together without the knowledge of bosses at the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva.

While U.K. and American student physicists from the center made and starred in the film, 'Decay' was put together without the knowledge of bosses at the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The plot of "Decay" concerns scientists being hunted down by blood thirsty zombies following a disaster in the world-famous Large Hadron Collider.

The 80-minute "Decay" can be seen on YouTube and other movie streaming Web sites. 

The catch? While U.K. and American student physicists from the center made and starred in the film, "Decay" was put together without the knowledge of bosses at the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva.
 
"They asked for CERN's endorsement once the whole thing was in the can," spokesman James Gillies says. "Clearly we can't endorse such a thing, but nor were we going to stop it. After all, its just students doing the kind of thing students do."
 
Filmed deep underground at the heart of the multi-billion dollar complex last July, physicists in the film announce the discovery of what they think is the particle, the Higgs boson which made life and the universe possible.
 
Mayhem follows after a disaster in the Large Hadron Collider, releasing the Higgs and its associated particle field which turn dozens of the technicians working around the subterranean complex into "living dead" flesh-eaters.
 
Scientists isolated in the control room, which the filmmakers move underground from its actual location on the surface -- then try to break out to safety but are picked off one by one by their zombie colleagues.
 
"It's a bit of fun in the best tradition of B-series Zombie movies," a CERN researcher who followed the project says. "It's well done, but I can't say the acting is Oscar quality."
 
"They wanted to make the film as unbelievable as possible and the scientific 'facts' cited in it are laughable, so no-one could take it seriously."
 
The producers say they had no access to the actual 17-mile circular tunnel where the LHC and the giant particle detectors and magnets are housed.
 
"It might just turn out to be one of those off-the-wall successes," the CERN researcher said.


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Keywords: CERn Center, Switzerland, low-budget film, horror, zombie

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