The Walking Dead

It’s unhealthy how much I love zombies and genuinely look forward to the inevitable outbreak. I know it will means huge amounts of death and gore and horror, but on the plus side I won’t have to work or fill out tax forms any more.

The great thing about zombie movies (or triffids or post-apocalypse or whatever) is that they invite thoughts along the lines of ‘What would I do in this situation?’ I suspect a large amount of zombie fans would head for a shopping mall or an island. What is equally fascinating is what happens after the initial survival. What sort of communities would arise and how would they work?

Normally a movie just deals with the first survival bit as there is limited time. What’s cool about a series like The Walking Dead is that there is time to explore the characters and how people survive. And it does this really well.

There’s no real need to talk about the plot as you can guess it. What’s important here is: the script is great and believable, ditto the characters and characterisation. It’s directed by Frank Darabont, the guy who directed The Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile – so no problems there. The cast are all good with the lead being played by the Englishman Andrew Lincoln. If you are English then yes, Egg from This Life. He is surprisingly good as both a tough cop and an American.

Above all The Walking Dead is satisfyingly gory and exciting.

In summary then, this show is fucking brilliant. If it isn’t your thing then I pity you and you aren’t welcome to my post-zombie-apocalypse stronghold. Because we’ll be watching it a lot.

Here’s a trailer: