Remember when we said that there are not too many TV series featuring zombies? Well… we lied. There are plenty of zombie fish in the TV sea and we ran away from the real world zombies, kept our brains intact and used them to bring you the best TV series with zombies. But before we get to the list, let us point out what are the biggest differences between zombie themed TV series and movies.
As you might have noticed in our previous article, movies featuring zombies pretty much have the same theme – a group of people, mostly teens or scientists facing a zombie invasion threat in an ante- or post- apocalyptic world. They all hide in abandoned places, only to be found by zombies.
Flirting with zombies
When a TV series is mainly made of individual stories such as supernatural themed TV series, it is only a matter of time until it is decided to add a zombie story line, no matter how short it will be. Therefor we have nice glimpses at various concepts of living dead. We are going to give examples from a classic – Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the second episode of its third season, a Nigerian mask acquired by Buffy’s mother causes an entire army to rise up from the grave and attack Sunnydale. The ones introduced are the typical mindless corpses meant only to crawl and kill, who can only be truly killed once the brain is no longer connected to the body.
A newer version was brought by NBC’s Grimm in its second season finale, when the main character, Nick, is infected by a toxin, Cracher-Mortel, which induces him in a zombie trance – Dammerzustand. Going through paralysis, cataplexy, death-like phase and becoming more violent, the very disorientated and confused victims can only be cured once their brains are stimulated. With such ideas, it makes one sad that they only use these plots for a couple of episodes.
The future of our addiction
We can say that this decade has brought many zombie gems, whether we are talking about movies or TV series. Perhaps it is the rediscovery of this genre after the successful 80s and 90s movies or maybe is the unexplainable obsession with zombie apocalypses. So, with the huge success the zombie subgenre creations have, it is only normal for movie and TV producers to milk the cow as much as they can. So far, the only sneak peek to any future TV series featuring zombies comes from Sam Raimi.
After many discussions and attempts to reprise the Evil Dead movie franchise, Raimi is ready to release this month, on Starz, the horror comedy TV series Ash vs Evil Dead. With the hero from the Evil Dead franchise, Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) returning to what he was never able to get over despite the years passing by – fighting the animated corpses. While you can find more about this in our previous list, we invite you to discover the shows you can already watch until Ash vs Evil Dead comes on your TV.
Disclaimer
With Halloween approaching and with an unavoidable zombie movies and TV series marathon, you risk falling under the “zombie fighter spell”. We have been there and we know how it is. So we tell you from the bottom of our hearts – you do not really want a zombie apocalypse to happen. You know you can barely bake a muffin, less fight a zombie with your bare hands. Besides, the right weapons do not fall from sky and unless you are from the USA, it is quite difficult to have access to them. Not to mention that people are not so eager to make friends in crisis times, so you might end as the bait or someone else’s shield. So put your dreams aside, read our list and prepare yourself for the Halloween marathon.
Read more:
- Top 10 Best Zombie TV Series 10th-7th
- Top 10 Best Zombie TV Series 6th-4th
- Top 10 Best Zombie TV Series 3rd-1st