Halloween Horror: Costumes Inspired New Zombie Show, The Walking Dead

By Chris Frey
October 28, 2010

(video provided by YouTube)

Thanks to the knock out success of shows like "Mad Men” and ”Breaking Bad," AMC has joined the ranks of cable TV powerhouses HBO and Showtime as a network that delivers quality, envelope-pushing, highly addictive programming.

With its latest TV series, "The Walking Dead," it's possible that AMC will do for zombies what HBO's "True Blood" has done for vampires. Premiering, appropriately, on Halloween Night, "The Walking Dead" series is based on the contemporary comic book of the same name, which tells the story of a group of people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse in Atlanta, Georgia. AMC has stayed true to the original story, even seeking actors who closely resemble its characters.

"The Walking Dead" pilot was written, produced and directed for AMC by Frank Darabont a film director well known for “The Shawshank Redemption”, “The Green Mile” and “The Mist,” all film adaptations of Stephen King books.

The Walking Dead

In 1968 George Romero's terrifyingly realistic film "Night of the Living Dead" singlehandedly defined the zombie movie genre. Since then we've seen many adaptations on film, most adhering to the zombie horror genre's version of a post-apocalyptic landscape sparsely populated with groups of humans fighting to survive. More recently, the zombie genre has expanded to include humorous takes, such as Britain's "Shaun of the Dead" and "Zombieland," now the top-grossing zombie movie of all time, which comically crossed into buddy movie/road trip territory with a zombie survivalist twist.

On television, however, zombie TV series haven't received this much buzz on television since Michael Jackson’s epic "Thriller" video. But unlike Jackson's 80's horror movie parody/homage, "The Walking Dead" on AMC promises visual effects, production design and zombie costumes that rival those of any big budget film being made today.

In the spirit of the show, not to mention the upcoming Halloween holiday, we thought it fitting to sift through the over 44,000 eBay auctions that appear when you search the word "zombie" to find frightening last-minute Halloween costume ideas. (It's no surprise that, in the past 30 days leading up to Halloween (9/23-10/22), sales on eBay of items with the term "zombie" are up 58 percent and listings are up 30 percent compared to the prior period.)

The Walking Dead

As a zombie you forever wear the clothes you had on when you became "zombiefied," so the zombie costume ideas are truly endless: 80's prom dress, hospital scrubs, business suit, wedding gown, etc. You will find all the zombie costumes here, blood-splattered and shredded.

Note that when dressing as a zombie, you absolutely must have the corpse-like zombie skin and hollowed black zombie eyes. It also never hurts to include some signs that you've been living the rough and tumble zombie life: disheveled punkish hair, fake blood and/or battle wounds, and rotten teeth. Add the stiff, zoned-out, flesh-eating zombie walk, and you're ready to haunt every house in the neighborhood.

(images provided by AMC)