AMC has brought its four-minute The Walking Dead trailer online, finally giving those who weren’t at Comic-Con their first real, non-camera-phone-recorded look at the adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s zombie graphic novel. If you’re one of those people who's already sick of zombies thanks to 40-plus years of George Romero knock-offs, 28 Days Later, Zombieland, etc.—well, this preview will probably seem awfully familiar. But seeing as Walking Dead is a television series, there’s also some real potential here to explore some of the pathos that almost always gets glossed over in favor of getting to the next gut-chewing scene, and at first glance it looks like producer-director Frank Darabont intends to do just that. (And we've heard great things about his original draft, or however that meme goes.) As a bonus, the zombie makeup effects look top-notch, and it makes excellent use of an awesome Walker Brothers song. Let’s look for the silver lining in the zombie apocalypse here, people.
Along with the trailer’s debut, the network has announced that The Walking Dead will officially launch on October 31, Halloween night, during AMC’s annual Fearfest horror marathon, and that the first episode will be an extended 90 minutes. No need to buy that Situation costume and go to a dumb party this year.