Slashfilm is reporting that the proposed television adaptation of Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard’s brilliant Walking Dead comic series that we blogged about several weeks back has moved a step closer – Frank ‘Shawshank Redemption’ Darabont pitched the idea to AMC who have now commissioned a pilot.
“This is not about zombies popping out of closets. This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way,” AMC VP of programming, Joel Stillerman, talking to Variety.
I think this could make a compelling horror-drama series; regular readers will know that I’m a big fan of the Walking Dead (published by Image). There are a lot of zombie stories out there and even to a horror fan like me it takes something extra to stand out from the decaying crowd; Kirkman and Adlard do so by making the drama and character’s as important, or indeed more important, than the horror-fantasy elements. Rather than simple shock value (although there are shocks and disturbing scenes a-plenty) they follow in the footsteps of the master, George Romero, to do something horror often does very well, comment on human nature and society by pushing both to the edge, while also drawing you in to a fascinating, often terrifying tale of survival.
Its a long way from a pilot to a series, of course, but the current climate is very favourable to telefantasy for adult audiences right now, so fingers crossed the pilot impresses and we get a series from it, especially one coming from Darabont’s guiding hand, because we know he has a good track record in adapting books well to films and I’d imagine he’d handle this with respect for the source material.
Fri, Jan 22, 2010
Comics and cartoons, Film, TV and radio