"The Walking Dead" presents its Season 10 cap on Oct 4, but it'll be a spell before Season 11 (its reputed last) manifests. Even so, that inevitable, final stretch is overdue for some, while others lament the fated punctuation.
Until the "Daryl and Carol" (if that's what it's to be called) series arrives to carry the torch in 2023, there'll be lots of pressing pauses to endure, during which one can revisit the series' prior seasons (or even "Fear the Walking Dead", plus the franchise's comic-book foundation) to get a flesh-feasting fix.
However, "Walking Dead" isn't the only means to fill the ghoulish void. There are many other zombie-saga variants to see and/or revisit.
The most obvious are George A. Romero's springboard classics: "Night of the Living Dead '68" (which in all fairness, is as much a John Russo tale), "Dawn of the Dead '79" and "Day of the Dead '85", as well as the Romero/Tom Savini, '90 "Night" remake: quite a quality quartet to strike that ideal, macabre chord.
It should be noted that "Walking Dead" holds numerous nods to the aforementioned productions, with a farmhouse salute in the guise of Hershel's home (in honor of "Night"); cameos by a Steve/Flyboy zombie, a machete zombie and plaid-shirted, bald zombie (in honor of "Dawn"); and Bub, Dr. Tongue and Greg Nicotero's constant, creative presence (in honor of "Day"). For many fans, these supplements tie Romero's lore to "Walking Dead", but even if these homages are no more than inconsequential stuffing, boy, do they ever resonate to those in the know!
Romero's second series, "Land of the Dead" (an apparent prequel to "Day"), "Diary of the Dead" and "Survival of the Dead" are also worth investigating. I mean, if one's a Romero fan, how dare one turn a blind eye to them? (For the record, Romero's son, Cameron, is planning an entry entitled "Rise of the Dead", which I, for one, hope reaches fruition and births offshoots of its own.)
Beyond the Romero chapters (and their various remakes, prequels and sequels by other filmmakers), there are additional, zombie submissions inspired by George's ghoulish mythology, including "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" (aka, "The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue"); "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things"; "Grapes of Death"; "Zombie 2" (only named as such since "Dawn" played as "Zombie" in various parts of the world); "Dead Girl" (an overlooked gem); "Zombie Honeymoon" (another overlooked gem); "Return of the Living Dead" (and its many raucous sequels); "Fido" (an alternate-history romp); "Zombieland 1 & 2"; and for you old-time, old-schoolers, "White Zombie"; its quasi-sequel,"Revolt of the Zombies"; "I Walked with a Zombie"; "King of the Zombies"; "Plague of the Zombies"; and "The Dead One" (aka "Blood of the Zombie"), to name but a voodoo few.
With all that said, there's no need to go through zombie withdraw, for "Walking Dead" is but the tip of the gnawed iceberg when it comes to this monumental, monstrous sub-genre, whether Romero-imprinted or not.
In the meantime, "Walking Dead" still has a ways to go before bidding bye-bye. Whatever enfolds will certainly commemorate one of the greatest, horror series ever to splatter one's home screen, while adding a further splash of deathly memories to last a post-apocalyptic lifetime.
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