More than gore

AMC’s new series ‘The Walking Dead’ brings new life to the zombie genre

October 29, 2010|Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff

They’re not sexy creatures, these zombies. Nope. There’s absolutely nothing alluring about them in AMC’s evocative, suspenseful new series “The Walking Dead.’’ Called simply “walkers,’’ they amble aimlessly in droves through the post-apocalyptic streets of Atlanta, bodies stiff with rigor mortis, skin hanging off their bloodied faces, mouths chomping pointlessly. They have vacant eyes, no souls.

I kind of pity them! As supernatural metaphor, they’re the lowest of the low — duller, even, than trolls. They represent death and decomposition, plain and simple, that’s all. The vampires of Anne Rice and “True Blood,’’ so seductive and hungry for warm blood, epitomize the nexus of sex and eternity. They’re fabulously Byronic. And werewolves — think Taylor Lautner of “Twilight,’’ Joe Manganiello of “True Blood’’ — stand for our animal selves. They’re hot.

But the zombies, they just blankly stalk the characters in “The Walking Dead’’ like dim, grim reapers, visions of where we’re all headed sooner or later. They’re miserable, limping, humorless embodiments of the futility that the living try to evade and deny every day. When one of the humans in “The Walking Dead’’ shoots or bashes in a zombie’s head, it’s partly an act of charity.

So it’s a great accomplishment that this new series, which premieres Sunday at 10 p.m., is so fully dynamic and engaging. Adapted by writer-director Frank Darabont from Robert Kirkman’s black-and-white comic-book series, “The Walking Dead’’ is a promising human story built over a sea of grunting corpses. It’s a scare-fest at points — who’s turning that doorknob?! — and it’s definitely extremely bloody, as zombie guts splatter all over the place like chunky borscht. The 90-minute premiere is a gory Halloween horror event, for sure.

But the show, as it begins to unfold more fully next week, takes full advantage of serial TV’s ability to intimately explore interpersonal character dramas. “The Walking Dead’’ ultimately focuses on the microcosm of the post-apocalyptic survivors near Atlanta, especially two cop friends, Shane (Jon Bernthal) and Rick (Andrew Lincoln), and the woman between them, Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies). The walking dead function primarily as the ever-threatening backdrop, just as the island and its aggressive mysteries did to the crash survivors on “Lost.’’