So after standing by as a silent witness while Stephanie Meyer murdered the foundation of Western horror by turning it into a brooding archetype for middle school love, I resolved not to allow our culture to continue to kill vampires with anything but garlic; werewolves with anything but silver bullets; and, most importantly, Zombies with anything but blows to the head, usually delivered by angry, shotgun-yielding men defending a beautiful blonde they\u2019ve never met.<\/p>\n
Call me a purist. Or someone with good taste. Either works.<\/p>\n
It probably surprises no one, then, that when I heard about AMC\u2019s new original series, \u201cThe Walking Dead,\u201d my first reaction was a perhaps overzealous \u201cIS THERE NOTHING SACRED IN THIS WORLD?\u201d Granted, Zombie flicks were all pretty much downhill since George Romero\u2019s \u201cNight of the Living Dead,\u201d (1968) which also, poignantly enough, forged the genre. There have been a few noteworthy titles \u2013 Romero\u2019s \u201cDawn of the Dead\u201d (1978) and John Russo\u2019s \u201cReturn of the Living Dead\u201d (1985) being the most obvious exceptions\u2014 but as a whole the genre has taken a quicker nosedive toward mediocrity than Barack Obama\u2019s first 100 days.<\/p>\n
A lot of that has to do with how the genre has been stripped of its classic roots in the name of novelty. I mean, for God\u2019s sakes, Zombies aren\u2019t even dead <\/em>anymore. I\u2019ll admit \u2013 I\u2019m not a Romero classicist, by any means. I enjoyed the rage zombie subtype found in \u201c28 Days Later\u201d (2002)\u2014maybe even more than I enjoyed most traditional undead Zombie flicks. But they aren\u2019t Zombies. Same with \u201cI am Legend\u201d (2007) which was for some unknown reason categorized as a Zombie film despite the clear Vampire undertones of both of the Matheson novel (1954) on which it was based and the film itself. Sure, rage viruses are more likely than the dead reanimating and demanding brains, but the undead are a heck of a lot more creative, and, to be honest, more conducive to social commentary, which was the original purpose of Zombie films.<\/p>\n Despite my skepticism, I\u2019m not one to miss out on a new Zombie opportunity. I mean, I saw the 2008 remake of \u201cDay of the Dead\u201d which was only slightly<\/em> more enjoyable than finding oneself having to dip one\u2019s hand in a jar of lye to grab a key to escape from a ribcage-busting contraption designed by a murderous freak to be inescapable anyway (\u201cSaw III,\u201d guys. I\u2019m not that sick). Anyway, I couldn\u2019t leave my Zombie expertise incomplete, so I tuned into \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d on Halloween, its premiere.<\/p>\n I have been tuning in \u2013 religiously\u2014 ever since.<\/p>\n The impeccably directed series (it should be \u2013 it is directed by Frank Darabont of \u201cThe Shawshank Redemption\u201d and \u201cThe Green Mile\u201d fame) is based off of a 2003 award-winning graphic novel by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore.\u00a0 It follows the trials of Rick Grimes, a police officer from small town Kentucky who ends up comatose in a hospital after a violent shoot-out. Upon waking (cue \u201c28 Days Later\u201d tribute), Ray discovers the hospital \u2013and the town \u2013 is abandoned; at least, that is, by the living. The rest of the series follows him as he learns about his post-apocalyptic world, travels to Atlanta to find a survivor colony that, he quickly learns has been infested (truly\u2014there are millions<\/em>) with Zombies (a cogent reminder that despite what Columbus thinks in \u201cZombieland,\u201d rule number one in a Zombie apocalypse is always, always, avoid military-sponsored survivor colonies. If they aren\u2019t a lure for other humans to rape and\/or kill you, they\u2019re the perfect setting for zombies to do even worse), and joins a band of other survivors in a small outpost just outside the city.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/wpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Zombie.jpg\" "\\"Zombie\\"")
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