‘The Walking Dead’ premieres Sunday night (Halloween, of course) on AMC. It’s a zombie apocalypse show starring Andrew Lincoln as a cop who leads a group of survivors struggling to survive in a world overrun with the walking dead.
AMC sent me the first few episodes, and while I got through them ok, they were utterly disgusting. This show makes ‘True Blood’ look like ‘Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.’
The second episode is titled ‘Guts,’ and yes, it is ALL about guts. The worst kind of guts you can imagine, used in the worst possible way – all to keep the zombies from killing and eating our heroes, but still.
The show is well done, but very bleak — as bleak as ‘The Road,’ the post-apocalyptic film starring Viggo Mortensen traveling cross-country with his son. There weren’t zombies per se in that film, but there were certainly people who had devolved into a type of zombie. Again, well done, but I’m really, really sorry I ever watched that film. It haunts me.
You know, I’m not anti-zombie, by any means. I love a good zombie movie once in a while – at a midnight showing in a theater with a bunch of other zombie lovers. I saw ‘Dead Snow’ that way a few years ago, and it was definitely a highlight of my year. ‘Zombieland’ was a lot of fun, too.
But seeing zombies week after week, wandering the streets aimlessly, bloody and dazed, while a small band of humans try to keep from being eaten? Not really my cup o’ tea. I don’t need that blood and gore in my head on a regular basis.
And really, maybe if it WASN’T so well done, it might actually be better. The beauty of zombies is that they’re usually so hilariously ridiculous that you just have to laugh. Not so with ‘The Walking Dead.’ There’s nothing funny about it, and the fact that it could be my home town makes it all too real for me.
What’s your take? Will you watch ‘The Walking Dead’? Or is it too much zombie week after week?
Image: AMC
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