BELLINGHAM - There's a zombie outside the newsroom window. His face is rotting, and he's on the prowl.

Luckily for the denizens of downtown Bellingham, he's about to lose his undead head to a speaker cranked up to 11.

Thursday, Oct. 25, was the first day of shooting for Bellingham-based Hand Crank Films' zombie-themed commercial for Mackie, a national company that makes loudspeakers. Crew members spent the afternoon filming at The Herald Building.

Zombies also made appearances at other downtown Bellingham locations, including Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro, the street near Jalapenos Family Mexican Restaurant, and the State Street building that used to be home to the Rogue Hero bar.

"It's been a really, really fun shoot," said Alex Stowe, assistant director for the ad.

The commercial picks up where the company's last ad for Mackie left off, with a news reel depicting the zombie apocalypse. In the latest ad, a band uses Mackie speakers to blow up the heads of the zombie hordes.

Among the undead is Merch-Bot owner and zombie fan Django Bohren.

"I'm gonna die," he said with a laugh.

On his way to a shoot on the first-floor roof of The Herald Building, Bohren stopped at Merch-Bot in full makeup and sneaked into the photo a pair of girls posing in unicorn masks.

"I try to do whatever I can to not do the same thing every day, and this definitely fits that criteria," he said of the shoot. "Plus, I love zombies."

The shoot is more than just fun and brains for the crew. Art director Avielle Heath said she's been collecting garbage for the past two months to bring to the crew's Nov. 4 shoot in Mount Vernon, where they will close an intersection and fill it with zombies, trash and beat-up cars.

"It's a lot of work to create an apocalypse," Heath said. "I've been making smoke bombs in my kitchen for the past couple weeks. I figured out how to make some pretty realistic human intestines."

Reach ZOE FRALEY at zoe.fraley@bellinghamherald.com or call 756-2803.