AMC has been pulling out all the stops to prepare viewers for the bloody Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead. The network is releasing enough promos and interviews and cryptic sneak peeks to amp up as much excitement as possible. Now, however, AMC has gone above and beyond to scare to pants off of the show's fans by posting a 360° zombie apocalypse experience on its YouTube page, and it's awesomely terrifying. Take a look!
Having watched the 360° zombie apocalypse video on both my laptop and my phone, I've finally been able to answer the question of whether I'm a fight or a flight person. Evidently, I'm a "give up and be eaten alive" person. It's a good thing to know when planning for an actual end of the world.
In all seriousness, the brief clip of zombies swarming the device-holder is a pretty cool way to get folks excited for the return of The Walking Dead. Any viewer who has stuck around the series for six years already is probably pretty used to the jump scares of zombies suddenly lunging out at characters, but most of us probably haven't experienced being immersed in a forest full of flesh-eaters ourselves. The video is less than a minute long, but it's pretty damn effective.
Kudos to the production team for making the 360° quasi-VR experience surprisingly realistic, made all the more effective if using Google Cardboard or another immersion-focused headset. The snarls and shuffles of the walkers really do sound awfully close, and I can safely say that I probably won't look at fog the same way for a while. The clip could have easily been super lame and laughable. Instead, it's as crazy and creepy as any of us could have asked for out of 46 seconds in the zombie apocalypse. And what's more, executive producer and effects master Greg Nicotero has directed more of these unique promos that will be released throughout the season.
Of course, the clip probably would have been scarier if it had surrounded the viewer with a bunch of jeering Saviors rather than zombies, which could certainly happen in the future. The Walking Dead has made it clear over the years that people who are pushed to the edge for survival are far more dangerous than any old horde of zombies. If I'd had to choose between being surrounded by Saviors and being surrounded by zombies, I'm pretty sure I'd pick the zombies. Sure, being eaten alive seems like a bummer, but it's been shown as easier to avoid than being beaten to death by a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. For most.
Tune in to AMC on Sunday, October 23 at 9 p.m. ET to catch the Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead. Feel free to immerse yourself in the zombie apocalypse via the 360° clip to help you prepare for the scares that are sure to come when we next see Rick and Co. Check out our fall TV premiere schedule to see what else you can watch on the small screen.
