{"id":4064,"date":"2015-09-04T05:50:03","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T12:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=4064"},"modified":"2015-09-04T05:50:03","modified_gmt":"2015-09-04T12:50:03","slug":"review-fear-the-walking-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=4064","title":{"rendered":"Review: FEAR THE WALKING DEAD"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Screen<\/a>I have a confession to make.\u00a0 After season two of \u201cThe Walking Dead,\u201d I stopped watching.\u00a0 Not only was the second season a bit of a letdown, but I missed a portion of the third season and just couldn\u2019t get back to it.\u00a0 And now, the idea of spending a week catching up seems less like entertainment and more like work.<\/p>\n

And so for those of us in a similar position, the makers of \u201cDead\u201d deliver a spin-off companion series entitled \u201cFear the Walking Dead.\u201d\u00a0 The pilot makes a good case for a family drama that also features the occasional zombie.\u00a0 Of course, as the zombie outbreak expands, it is likely that \u201cFear\u201d will begin to look more and more like the show that inspired it.\u00a0 The good news is that \u201cFear\u201d gives you an opportunity to restart your zombie narrative without having to binge on all the rotting zombie goodness that if taken in small doses can be fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cFear the Walking Dead\u201d sadly for the local economy isn\u2019t based in Georgia.\u00a0 Taking place in Los Angeles, the story finds guidance counsellor Madison Clark (Kim Dickens) and English teacher Travis Manawa (Cliff Curtis) struggling with their new relationship.\u00a0 Both have children from another marriage with Madison beset with son Nick (Frank Dillane), who is addicted to heroin.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Travis\u2019 ex is still mad at him for their breakup and their son, Chris (Lorenzo James Henrie) shares mom\u2019s anger.\u00a0 The love\/relationship\/children turmoil plays out against the overheated backdrop of the impending zombie apocalypse.\u00a0 But as we see in episode two, all Hell will break loose in very short order.\u00a0 And whenever the drama gets flat, a zombie can show up and make things interesting again.<\/p>\n

The reason that the pilot episode works so well is primarily because the viewer, who is, at least, aware of \u201cThe Walking Dead,\u201d knows the future. \u201cFear\u201d is a prequel that may ironically work best with less zombies.\u00a0 Because the society is more akin to the ordered world we inhabit, it was easier for me, at least, to relate to the characters.\u00a0 And the ominous tone that hangs over everything deepens the drama albeit artificially. But the added weightiness makes the narrative seem more important.<\/p>\n

And that import is assisted by a gifted cast led by Dickens who\u2019s been doing great work for years.\u00a0 Here she provides a credible face as things fall apart in a fantastical fashion.\u00a0 Effort is taken to construct a complex family dynamic that might be worth watching even without the zombie threat.\u00a0 This combines nicely when veteran actor Rub\u00e9n Blades is added in a critical role.<\/p>\n

The setting also helps \u201cFear\u201d work.\u00a0 Sure, it\u2019s not the rural expanse that has worked so well with its parent series, but the urban setting, which is continuously teased in between segments is haunting.\u00a0 Ironically, the look is reminiscent of the future LA shown in \u201cPredator 2,\u201d which also featured Blades.\u00a0 Everything looks hot and sweaty with washed out tones and grainy, gritty imagery.\u00a0 It makes you appreciate the comparative clean-living in Georgia.<\/p>\n

One concern that I have after the chaos that erupts in episode two is whether time will be taken to let the apocalypse develop.\u00a0 Sure it probably would unfold quickly, but the set-up is what this show is all about.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to see days pass slowly as the family and zombie dramas progress.<\/p>\n

Finally, many readers might be wondering whether watching \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d is a prerequisite to watching \u201cFear the Walking Dead.\u201d\u00a0 Part of that is like asking whether one should have read the graphic novel series prior to diving into the television adaptation of it.\u00a0 The easy answer is \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not necessary to have watched a single episode of \u201cThe Walking Dead\u201d before starting \u201cFear.\u201d But knowing the future in which the world is overrun by zombies where society breaks down makes everything that happens in \u201cFear\u201d a bit anti-climatic.\u00a0 No matter what the characters do to starve off the zombie invasion, the walking dead are inevitable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan ponders whether this prequel will work for non-Dead fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4067,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4064\/revisions\/4067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}