Warning: Minor Spoilers Ahead
Many reviewers and “Walking Dead” fans, (including me)
feared that “Fear the Walking Dead” would be at best an inferior version of its
parent series, or at worst, a cynical cash grab. Both of those expectations
could not have been further off the mark. Instead, as the moody “Fear” heads
into its sixth and final episode of the season, it stands as flat out the
scariest piece of television drama since the early seasons of "The X-Files" (as well
as Chris Carter’s other 90s horror series, “Millennium”).
The writers and producers have given us insight into
something most “Walking Dead” fans have always wondered. How did everything go
down? What was happening in those early days when Rick was in a coma? How
exactly did the world end?
Well, as one character says in the pilot episode (and was
again re-iterated last night by the great Ruben Blades in episode 5):
“When the world ends, it ends fast.”
The show runners behind “Fear of the Walking Dead” astutely
took a very different approach than the parent show. “The Walking Dead”,
despite it horror trappings, is essentially an action adventure show. The
walkers are part of the landscape, and to be sure, despite their familiarity by
now, hordes of flesh eating zombies can still be terrifying. But the true
horror in “Walking Dead” comes from the evil humans in the form of governors,
gangs, child rapists, wife beaters, and even flesh-eating (literally) cannibalistic
humans.
But while “The Walking Dead” hit the ground running in one
spectacular staged action sequence after another—“Fear the Walking Dead” has
been unleashed in a simmering, slow burn of orange-hued cinematography amid the
urban angst landscape of a drought plagued L.A. Setting the series deep in the
heart of Los Angeles and telling the story via a “modern” family of very real
(and very relate-able) people is another wise move.
A tense sense of dread permeates
everything in the early on in the pilot episode, and the atmosphere of suspense
continues to build slowly throughout each show.
This is a drama that understands the art of patience and payoff.
Ground your story. Create realism and draw the audience into the world of the
characters. Then when the horror does it—it will be all that much more
effective.
This is also a show that understands the art of the
payoff—how to effectively build the suspense. We first only hear about the “infected”
who have the “flu”. Then we get glimpses of them on social media video footage.
Then, when have our first true encounters with the undead, it is absolutely terrifying.
There are three sequences in this series, (Nick’s drug
dealer, Maddie and her student facing down the Principal in the eerie, desolate
school, and the neighbor zombie in the house scene), that are riveting,
talk-back-to-screen, clench your jaw, cover your eyes, super scary.
Of course, strong writing, brilliant on-location
cinematography, and great atmosphere mean nothing without the right cast, and
this cast is outstanding!
Kim Dickens as Maddie anchors this series with the same
impressive gravitas and charisma that lead to her stealing “Gone Girl”. She is
this show’s Rick, and just like Andrew Lincoln, this role will cement her
reputation as a major star who can carry anything. The entire supporting cast
is equally up to the challenge, but the true standout here that must be
mentioned is Rubin Blades as Daniel Salazar—what a great character!
What is terrifying about “Fear” is how closely the on-screen
horror mirrors our own brooding real-life reality. When there were a couple of
isolated Ebola cases in the U.S. last year, fear-mongering madness ensued. An
American nurse returning from East Africa, with no symptoms of the disease, was
detained and locked into a cage by blow-hard loud mouth New Jersey Governor Chris
Christi. The rhetoric on all sides was apocalyptic as paranoia ran rampant. Now
imagine what would happen if anything even remotely close to any widespread
epidemic were to strike—not to mention an actual zombie virus.
Chilling stuff. There is a scene in “Fear of the Walking
Dead” where I actually felt the need to begin stockpiling weapons for the day
when that epidemic hits. This is a show that will get under your skin.
Bottom line: **** (out of four)
Creepy, chilling, brilliantly photographed and scored, with strong performances from Kim Dickens and Ruben Blades—“Fear the Walking Dead” is scary stuff.
Creepy, chilling, brilliantly photographed and scored, with strong performances from Kim Dickens and Ruben Blades—“Fear the Walking Dead” is scary stuff.
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