A Fresh New Take on Zombies: The Walking Dead

vampires are the trendy pop phenomenon that have sunk their teeth into mainstream culture. but nerdy counter-culture has elected to follow a different movie monster: the zombie. movie remakes, graphic novels and survival guides have nerd boners tenting sweat pants and skinny jeans worldwide.

The Walking Dead mini-series premiered on the AMC network this Fall. as a fan of horror - both in printed and movie form - i was pleased with the unique and thoughtful take on the old zombie tale. the basic story remained the same: a mysterious patient zero comes down with a sickness. a few bites later, and whole cities are infected. gory feasting ensues. healthy survivors then track each other down, put together some semblance of society, and try to figure out how to save themselves and the world - in that order.

i am a fan of 28 Days/Weeks Later. the premise was adjusted slightly in that the virus was simply rage - one of the seven deadly sins. how appropriate. i enjoyed that neat little change in the zombie story, as well as the speed with which it devoured its human hosts. not to mention the fact that these zombies did not shamble - they RAN, full-out, Donovan Bailey styles. fabulously scary.

what i enjoyed so much about The Walking Dead was its focus on the humanity of the situation, not just that of the survivors but also that of the monster antagonists. in the event of a global cataclysm, i believe it is that - remembering the humanity - that will set apart the greedy, rioting masses from the true human survivors. despite its share of gory scenes, The Walking Dead was not about torture porn - that cheap and disgusting new genre that tries to pass itself off as horror. no, this show was a realistic view of our world if everything had been erased by an uncontrollable plague and we, as a people, were forced to reconstruct our priorities. which of us would lead with human survival in mind? who from our group would become bloated and unstable from opportunities of power?

the hero of The Walking Dead was a sherriff looking for his family. *spoiler alert* in one scene, the group tried to assimilate with the 'Walkers' in order to make an escape. before covering themselves in the ichor and dead flesh of a finished Walker, the sherriff removed a wallet from the body and read out the person's name. he described the loving inscription on the back of a girl's picture holding a place of honour in this leather fold. and with the group humbled into silence, the axe fell. and fell. dead parts scattered but humanity remained.