AMC's Walking Dead
So incyr and I watched AMC's pilot for The Walking Dead comic adaptation yesterday. I haven't read the comic, but man was I blown away by the show so far. The makeup is literally scary-good, I'm impressed that it was shot on location in Atlanta, and the acting is amazing. I was variously on the edge of my seat or cowering during the whole show.
What sticks out for me the most were two things, the first being the main character's (for some reason I didn't catch his name) awakening into the hellish new world zombie order. I was so glad to see a grown man in full-on panic mode where it wasn't played for laughs or as a way to insinuate the character wasn't a "real" man. That's EXACTLY how I'd react and how I'd expect anyone else would react in such a situation. The second thing that sticks out for me was Dwayne's father trying to come to grips with his wife's un-death. I really felt for him.
Okay, three things. For all the other horrific zombie violence, the most terrifying thing about this episode was zombie wife shambling to the door and trying to open it. Something about her blank-eyed stare and the way it looked like she was trying to talk scared me way way more than all the other partially decayed nighmares did all together.
As I said via Twitter, an hour and a half of this show had more genuine emotion than the whole run of Lost. I will even controversially say that if the quality stays at this level and the show isn't dragged out needlessly that it could supplant Battlestar Galactica as the best scifi-drama series in the last ten years. I'm so looking forward to watching next week's episode.