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The Walking Dead: Season 1 (2010)

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Overall Rating 82%
Overall Rating
Ranked #67
...out of 20,203 movies
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Connections: The Walking Dead

Sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world dominated by flesh-eating zombies. He sets out to find his family and encounters many other survivors along the way. --TMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: January 24, 2011
And to think, just a couple of weeks ago, I was discussing how the zombie genre needed to be put to rest for about a decade in order to revitalize it. I'm as a big a fan of zombies as you'll ever meet, don't get me wrong, but the genre has been stagnant for a good long while now. Sure, there have been some innovators along the way and some great films, but as a whole? The genre has just reeked, truth be told. Then along came Frank Darabont's interpretation of The Walking Dead, and now I'm wanting to see more. Please, somebody... if you can do it even half as good as this, send more shows.

Based on the series of graphic novels that I haven't read but have already ordered, The Walking Dead takes place about half a year after a zombie outbreak. You know the drill: zombies rule the world, small patches of humans loot and fight for their survival, people die every day, etc. This is our world, and our hero comes to us courtesy of Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), a deputy who was shot in the line of duty before everything went to hell. You see, his gunshot wound left him in a coma, and when the zombie outbreak occurred, the hospital that he was laid up in shut down. Thankfully, no zombies found their way into his barricaded room, and we begin the tale with him awakening from his coma with no idea as to what is going on.

I hate to tell you much more, but let's just say that his first goal is to find his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and their son, and along the way, he will meet up with oodles of other survivors. Amongst them are his best friend Shane (Jon Bernthal), sisters Andrea (Laurie Holden) and Amy (Emma Bell), an old fellow by the name of Dale (Jeffrey DeMunn), Glenn (Steven Yeun), and plenty of others whose appearances I will leave as a surprise.

If you want to break it down into pieces, The Walking Dead brings nothing new to the table. At its core, it's just another slice of zombie fiction: the undead have taken over, the humans try to survive, insert plenty of carnage, kill off some of the humans along the way, and then call it a day. What makes the series work as nicely as it does is the human factor, the same thing that served Romero so well in his zombie classics. We care for these people, we want to see them succeed, and we want to see the antagonists get their comeuppance. There's nothing fancy here, but the characters make it work.

Take Rick and his search for his family, for instance. This is one of the first real pieces of the storyline that we dig into, and in the brief amount of time that we build up to it, we become instantly attached to him. The writers did a damned fine job of making this piece of the story work, the actor convinced us that we should care about it, and when they finally become reunited, well... that is just one of a handful of scenes that will bring a tear to your eye. Heart-wrenching scenes in a show about zombies? It sounds crazy, but I'll be damned if they weren't there.

Speaking of the writers, I felt that they did a damned fine job with this season of the show. I'm not sure how much of it remains faithful to the comic and how much the series writers brought to the table, but the final product got me hooked and fast. There's no outrageous plot twists in here and there's not much in the way of cliffhangers, but the story is solid and it keeps us intrigued. Everything except for the fate of one character was resolved by the time this season ended, yet I still can't wait to dive into the next one. That is the sign of a good series: wanting more because of how good it was, not because you want to know the result of that huge twist at the end of the season finale.

Just to spice it up even more, the effects work found here was amazing. The zombies look as terrific as a rotting corpse can look, and the blood comes fast and furious. I was a little worried about how far they could go with this series airing on AMC, but my fears were quickly put to rest when I saw brains flying and guts being ripped out. Gorehounds will not be disappointed, and those of you looking for excellent effects work on the zombies will be in heaven (just wait until you see the crawler).

Overall, The Walking Dead gets a huge thumbs up from me. I'll admit to being just a little biased towards a good piece of zombie storytelling as it is one of my favorite genres, but when the show is so freaking good that it gets the woman of this particular house (a die-hard hater of the undead) sucked into it, well... that should tell you something. I can not recommend this one enough, and I only hope that the next season lives up to the high standards set by this one. 10/10.
Crispy #1: Crispy - added January 24, 2011 at 2:40am
Everyone I've talked to loved it, but I found it average at best. Agreed the zombie effects were amazing, but there wasn't enough of it. I found the human element you raved about to be boring, cliche and incredibly pretentious. Don't think I'll be returning for season 2.
Lucid Dreams #2: Lucid Dreams - added January 24, 2011 at 2:55pm
I agree with Chad and I can't wait for the next season. 10/10
shaughnn #3: shaughnn - added January 24, 2011 at 10:00pm
Chad, your dead on. This is what I needed. The only thing I hated was only having 6 episodes. Great 10/10. cant wait for season 2
Doug #4: Doug - added January 25, 2011 at 4:39am
I love the comic books, it's so hard to keep up with them though. So when I herd that they where doing a show, I couldn't wait for it to premier. I really enjoy'd it, but was disappointed with how much they drifted away from the comic. Either way, this show is still worth checking out if your a fan of the comic book or just a zombie/horror fan in general. Can't wait for Season 2.
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