Taking the thrill out of the (WALKING) dead

Zombies scare the shit out of me. I can’t see them on film without almost peeing in my panties. Maybe it’s the rotting flesh which exposes the brains and all the gooey red things we keep inside our bodies (brain, spleen, stomach and the intestines). Maybe it’s the fact greenish-black hue of their skin, the sunken eyes (missing an eyeball, at one point) or the sights of limbs falling out. And that skin-crawling sound that they make (hhhhhrrrrrghhhhhhh!!!!)

But for as long as I can remember–zombies bring out the wussy in me. I’ve never seen any of the great zombie movies, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and even Resident Evil, which my over-achieving nephew-in-law claim to love. The one zombie movie which I managed to finish without crying (due to insane fear) or having a bad nightmare after, is Zombieland because who the hell gets scared with Zombieland right?

Then I met The Walking Dead.

Imagine a world where zombies have taken the land of the living — where people die, only to come back as rotting, flesh-hungry corpse intent on making the human their next meal. Then the so-called victim will come back as the newest card-carrying member of the flesh-eating population. This is the premise of The Walking Dead, where a small group of survivors living in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. Most of the story takes place in the Atlanta metropolitan area, as the survivors search for a new home away from the shuffling hordes of the undead (or “walkers” as they are called by the survivors). The plot is focused primarily on the human element of a post-apocalyptic world and the way the struggling humans survive. The group is led by Rick Grimes, who was a sheriff’s deputy in a small Georgia town before the zombie outbreak. As their situation grows more hazardous, the group’s desperation to survive pushes them to the brink of insanity. At every turn they are faced with the unbearable horrors that come from having the dead walk again, the changing dynamic of their group, as well as facing hostility from the scattered remains of a struggling human populace who are focused on their own survival, now that the structures of global society have collapsed. (from Wikipedia)

My favorite character is Daryl, the red neck who used to have issues with the group and also zombie-bait Glen. The lead character, Sheriff Rick Grimes is okay, except there are times when I feel that he should be less of a moral compass and “good boy” and more of a take charge kinda guy. He can act so doormat-like sometimes that the crazy, newly-shaved anti-hero Shane (his partner, his best friend and also the guy who boinked his wife when they thought that Rick Grimes was dead) has a tendency to walk over him.

Something should be written about this guy, Shane. He is so morally ambiguous that I as a viewer don’t know whether to like him or not. But so far, all the things he did (from season 1 to season 2) made me want to dangle him as bait to the ravenous rotting masses so that zombies can nibble on his annoying ears like they were finger food in an awkward mixer. I kept praying that an undead and very much hungry Otis will show up and make Shane his breakfast. Served the skinhead right for shooting him and leaving him to die!

The best episode for me so far is the mid-season break episode Season 2, “Pretty Much Dead Already”. I loved the fact that the mystery of Sophia’s disappearance was finally settled. When she emerged from the freaking zombie barn awkward and ensure but clearly hungry and UNDEAD, I can’t help but utter a cry of disbelief. When Rick pulled the trigger, finally lodging a bullet to her brain and making REALLY dead, I was both sad and relieved. It was one of the best episodes of the series. For me, this also cemented their fate that they should move on and leave Hershel’s farm. And quite personally, I’d rather that they move and travel than be stuck in that farm.

Every time we tune in to this show, I always ask my hubby what he’ll do if I become a “walker” (that’s what they call the zombies). After laughing at me (and maybe just to humor me), he’d said that he’ll most likely bound me with a chain to a pole. I asked if he will shoot me (yes, I can be this annoyingly morbid) in order to shut me up for good, he said he won’t. The hubby can be melodramatic like that. But when it was his turn to ask me, I told him I’d shoot him good. Hehe! My reason is because I don’t want him get grosser any second (intestines showing, rotting face and brains falling off) then be out and about walking the earth. I love him like that.

Being engrossed with the show also made me ask if its really possible for us to experience a zombie apocalypse in this lifetime. I have to know cos first, I want to be really prepared and second, I kinda lived near a cemetery which entombs hundreds of thousands of corpses so I need to know if I should be looking for a new place to live, somewhere far from the city cemetery at least.

In the event the zombie apocalypse happens, for sure I will be the first one to die — not of zombie bite or anything, but the mere reality that I’ll be seeing them face-to-face will make me die of heart attack. Didn’t I just said I am such a wuss when it comes to them zombies?