Last night, "Fear the Walking Dead" started. I haven't watched season 5 of Walking Dead yet, but it's my understanding that this companion series is watchable for anyone; although, if you haven't watched Walking Dead at all, you just won't have as much information, and it may not be as fun.
AMC's Walking Dead spin off has a title that already gives us more information than the original series by telling us we need to fear the zombies. In case, you know, you weren't sure whether dead people trying to eat your face is supposed to be scary.
But scary isn't really a good description for what we've seen so far. Fear is instead portrayed through lack of information — on the part of the characters, not the viewer. Because we know what's about to happen to the world as they know it, we're put in god-like spot of wondering how long it will take for everything to break down.
We're in the same world, but a new location — L.A. — providing some fun new scenery (drug church with cool lighting flowing in, palm trees, street art, etc.). Freshening things up with a new setting helps bring out the realization that this is happening everywhere, and so far we've only seen one subset of that.
There's no horror in the first reveal of a zombie, because there's not much groundwork to lay here. Even for new viewers, there has to be a general understanding that at some point there's going to be a zombie apocalypse. I found myself expecting anyone facing away to spin around and be a zombie, but that fades after some obvious fake-outs.
Because it's set some time before the beginning of Walking Dead, we quickly see that, despite many people supposedly having some kind of flu and a few walkers popping up and scaring the bejesus out of young junkies who look like they wish they were Johnny Depp in the '90s, things are fairly normal in the world. Regular life is the main narrative, instead of being represented in flashbacks. There's regular-life drama — work, missing junkie kid, teen love, split family dynamics — to serve as a framework to slow things down and spread out the reveal of what's going on, helping create tension and anxiety.
I found a few moments eye-roll-worthy, such as the Jack London lesson in English class when a student scoffs at needing to learn how to survive (because we know how much that skill will come in handy very soon). But the pilot has some creatively subtle moments, too, including a hospital code that uses slow motion off and on, and the scramble of teachers and kids leaving school in a routine, herd-like manner.
At the end of the pilot, you'll probably be guessing at who's going to survive or get separated or eat someone. Don't expect any hordes of zombies to attack in this first episode, but enjoy the slow burn of watching things unfold.
If that's not enough to make you want to watch, then give it a chance for creepy kid, who doesn't care if he's hurting his chances at getting into a good college, especially after a viral video surfaces of a suspect shot by police who just won't die. Creepy boy says: "No one's going to college. No one's doing anything they think they are." He's a bit much, but still entertaining.
Read more at http://koala-infestation.com
AMC's Walking Dead spin off has a title that already gives us more information than the original series by telling us we need to fear the zombies. In case, you know, you weren't sure whether dead people trying to eat your face is supposed to be scary.
But scary isn't really a good description for what we've seen so far. Fear is instead portrayed through lack of information — on the part of the characters, not the viewer. Because we know what's about to happen to the world as they know it, we're put in god-like spot of wondering how long it will take for everything to break down.
We're in the same world, but a new location — L.A. — providing some fun new scenery (drug church with cool lighting flowing in, palm trees, street art, etc.). Freshening things up with a new setting helps bring out the realization that this is happening everywhere, and so far we've only seen one subset of that.
There's no horror in the first reveal of a zombie, because there's not much groundwork to lay here. Even for new viewers, there has to be a general understanding that at some point there's going to be a zombie apocalypse. I found myself expecting anyone facing away to spin around and be a zombie, but that fades after some obvious fake-outs.
Because it's set some time before the beginning of Walking Dead, we quickly see that, despite many people supposedly having some kind of flu and a few walkers popping up and scaring the bejesus out of young junkies who look like they wish they were Johnny Depp in the '90s, things are fairly normal in the world. Regular life is the main narrative, instead of being represented in flashbacks. There's regular-life drama — work, missing junkie kid, teen love, split family dynamics — to serve as a framework to slow things down and spread out the reveal of what's going on, helping create tension and anxiety.
I found a few moments eye-roll-worthy, such as the Jack London lesson in English class when a student scoffs at needing to learn how to survive (because we know how much that skill will come in handy very soon). But the pilot has some creatively subtle moments, too, including a hospital code that uses slow motion off and on, and the scramble of teachers and kids leaving school in a routine, herd-like manner.
At the end of the pilot, you'll probably be guessing at who's going to survive or get separated or eat someone. Don't expect any hordes of zombies to attack in this first episode, but enjoy the slow burn of watching things unfold.
If that's not enough to make you want to watch, then give it a chance for creepy kid, who doesn't care if he's hurting his chances at getting into a good college, especially after a viral video surfaces of a suspect shot by police who just won't die. Creepy boy says: "No one's going to college. No one's doing anything they think they are." He's a bit much, but still entertaining.
Read more at http://koala-infestation.com