arrroaugh. rargh. uhh. muhhhrr. gahhk. 4 itchy tasty
The general consensus on The Walking Dead--the Darabont-helmed AMC show based on the great comics by Robert Kirkman--seems to boil down to two reactions:
1.) People who've read the comic loved the pilot.
2.) People who haven't read the comic thought the pilot felt like pretty much every zombie movie ever.
I definitely fit into the first category. I wasn't thinking, "What's gonna happen next? Oh, so they're hitting the same zombie movie beats we've seen a million times before," because... well, that's what happened in the comic. I was expecting exactly that. What I wasn't expecting was for the show to do it better.
Because look, I love the comic, but like much of Kirkman's work, it takes six or so issues before it finally kicks in and takes off. Kirkman likes to set up ways that feel like going through the motions, so that he can then tear it all down with what the story's really about. Walking Dead, in particular, had a rather standard start that worked at the time because it felt refreshingly back-to-basics and old school in the sudden Fast Zombies boom with the Dawn of the Dead remake and 28 Days Later*. It was so refreshing to see someone doing classic Romero slow zombies again as an ongoing series that I cut Kirkman some slack.
But since then, zombies have over-saturated the market to the point that such an opening episode feels like "classic" and more "cliched." Should Darabont have rewritten Kirkman's opening to make it fresher and more distinct? Only if it could mean the people in Category #2 could be as excited as those of us in Category #1.
The reason I loved it so much was because, even though I knew what the story was going to be, and what was going to happen next, I was awestruck by the storytelling. Darabont understands the essential, oh-so-basic rule that no one seems to frickin' understand: nothing is scarier than silence. Almost any other show/movie (especially modern zombie ones) would fill those spaces with creeeeeeeepy music, and uh oh, it's getting creepier and more suspensful, so you know something's about to happen, whoooaaaa!
No. Fuck that. For true horror, silence is golden. Silence doesn't give you the safety net of clues to tell you what to feel. Silence lets your imagination run wild. When Rick was walking through that hospital, the casual background images of the bullet holes in the walls was all you needed to know. Even when we saw the zombies, there was no music. The horror speaks for itself in this dead world.
BUT... it's only when Rick went back to his house, desperately searched for his wife and son, found nobody, and broke down crying... that's when the dramatic soundtrack swept in. And I just wanted to kiss the air, like a compliment to a fine chef. Because the music was humanity. The music was only for the living, and the feeling. And it was only when the very living sorrow broke through that the silence was itself broken, if only for a moment. Fucking beautiful.
The rest of the show carried on magnificently, I thought. After soundtracks, the second greatest reason why most horror movies suck today is "BOO!" scares. Ughhhh, there's nothing so lazy in horror as the "BOO!" scare. True horror comes from letting your imagination fill in the gaps, as your dread mounts. That's what TWD show did so wonderfully. For now, there were no big action sequences, so Savini Showcase gore effects, just character-focused moments, interaction, and dread.
The pacing just made me extremely happy. Henchgirl (who fell into Category #2) said it felt like a 70's film. For me, I think that's a fantastic thing, and I hope it's maintained throughout the series. I also hope the show does start getting more original and distinct, as the comics themselves have, now that the familiar groundwork has been so expertly laid.
Until then, I hope it rises above the over-saturation of today's market (I think it's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies that really killed the trend) and catches on with more people, especially those from category #2. Because damn it, I want to geek out about this with more people. Especially once Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer) joins the cast.
For now, I just have one thing to say to those of you in category #2: if the show is anything like the comic, then don't get too attached to any of the characters. Even the ones you assume are safe. Even the lead. There was a point when I seriously thought Kirkman was going to kill off the entire cast and continue the series focusing on the father-son team of Morgan and Duane. It wouldn't have been surprising.
Man. I hope they bring in the Governor. *shudder*
*In fact, with 28 Days Later evoked, let's look at TWD's opening. Both the comic and the show featured the main character waking up in the hospital, having been in a coma while the zombie outbreak started.
Most people accuse Kirkman (and now the show here) for ripping off 28DL, but what few realize (so few that it's not even mentioned on Wikipedia) is that 28DL itself ripped off a New Zealand film called The Quiet Earth. In it, a man wakes up (in the same full-frontal nude shot that was replicated in 28DL with Cillian Murphy) to discover that everybody else on Earth has vanished.
So, yeah, give ripping off credit where it's due.
1.) People who've read the comic loved the pilot.
2.) People who haven't read the comic thought the pilot felt like pretty much every zombie movie ever.
I definitely fit into the first category. I wasn't thinking, "What's gonna happen next? Oh, so they're hitting the same zombie movie beats we've seen a million times before," because... well, that's what happened in the comic. I was expecting exactly that. What I wasn't expecting was for the show to do it better.
Because look, I love the comic, but like much of Kirkman's work, it takes six or so issues before it finally kicks in and takes off. Kirkman likes to set up ways that feel like going through the motions, so that he can then tear it all down with what the story's really about. Walking Dead, in particular, had a rather standard start that worked at the time because it felt refreshingly back-to-basics and old school in the sudden Fast Zombies boom with the Dawn of the Dead remake and 28 Days Later*. It was so refreshing to see someone doing classic Romero slow zombies again as an ongoing series that I cut Kirkman some slack.
But since then, zombies have over-saturated the market to the point that such an opening episode feels like "classic" and more "cliched." Should Darabont have rewritten Kirkman's opening to make it fresher and more distinct? Only if it could mean the people in Category #2 could be as excited as those of us in Category #1.
The reason I loved it so much was because, even though I knew what the story was going to be, and what was going to happen next, I was awestruck by the storytelling. Darabont understands the essential, oh-so-basic rule that no one seems to frickin' understand: nothing is scarier than silence. Almost any other show/movie (especially modern zombie ones) would fill those spaces with creeeeeeeepy music, and uh oh, it's getting creepier and more suspensful, so you know something's about to happen, whoooaaaa!
No. Fuck that. For true horror, silence is golden. Silence doesn't give you the safety net of clues to tell you what to feel. Silence lets your imagination run wild. When Rick was walking through that hospital, the casual background images of the bullet holes in the walls was all you needed to know. Even when we saw the zombies, there was no music. The horror speaks for itself in this dead world.
BUT... it's only when Rick went back to his house, desperately searched for his wife and son, found nobody, and broke down crying... that's when the dramatic soundtrack swept in. And I just wanted to kiss the air, like a compliment to a fine chef. Because the music was humanity. The music was only for the living, and the feeling. And it was only when the very living sorrow broke through that the silence was itself broken, if only for a moment. Fucking beautiful.
The rest of the show carried on magnificently, I thought. After soundtracks, the second greatest reason why most horror movies suck today is "BOO!" scares. Ughhhh, there's nothing so lazy in horror as the "BOO!" scare. True horror comes from letting your imagination fill in the gaps, as your dread mounts. That's what TWD show did so wonderfully. For now, there were no big action sequences, so Savini Showcase gore effects, just character-focused moments, interaction, and dread.
The pacing just made me extremely happy. Henchgirl (who fell into Category #2) said it felt like a 70's film. For me, I think that's a fantastic thing, and I hope it's maintained throughout the series. I also hope the show does start getting more original and distinct, as the comics themselves have, now that the familiar groundwork has been so expertly laid.
Until then, I hope it rises above the over-saturation of today's market (I think it's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies that really killed the trend) and catches on with more people, especially those from category #2. Because damn it, I want to geek out about this with more people. Especially once Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer) joins the cast.
For now, I just have one thing to say to those of you in category #2: if the show is anything like the comic, then don't get too attached to any of the characters. Even the ones you assume are safe. Even the lead. There was a point when I seriously thought Kirkman was going to kill off the entire cast and continue the series focusing on the father-son team of Morgan and Duane. It wouldn't have been surprising.
Man. I hope they bring in the Governor. *shudder*
*In fact, with 28 Days Later evoked, let's look at TWD's opening. Both the comic and the show featured the main character waking up in the hospital, having been in a coma while the zombie outbreak started.
Most people accuse Kirkman (and now the show here) for ripping off 28DL, but what few realize (so few that it's not even mentioned on Wikipedia) is that 28DL itself ripped off a New Zealand film called The Quiet Earth. In it, a man wakes up (in the same full-frontal nude shot that was replicated in 28DL with Cillian Murphy) to discover that everybody else on Earth has vanished.
So, yeah, give ripping off credit where it's due.