New zombie series coming to AMC

[froodle]

We’ve known since late July that Greg Nicotero will be producing a horror series for AMC. Shock Theater will be an anthology show, with a different cast and crew to excite audiences weekly. But today we learned something new: Shock Theater will also have elements of comedy.

Nicotero—best known as the co-executive producer, make-up effects supervisor, and frequent director of The Walking Dead—told EW that Shock Theater’s spiritual successor isn’t Dawn of the Dead but...Shaun of the Dead?

“I think Shaun of the Dead is probably the closest in tone that I can ever think about for Shock Theatre because it was funny and thrilling, and you love the characters, and it was scary, and had great moments in it, and was all-around completely entertaining.”

This is great news for people who find that screams are best tempered with laughs. Z Nation and Ash vs. The Evil Dead are current entries to this field, but as Twilight Zone episode “Twenty-Two” will tell you, there’s always room for one more.

Nicotero also name-checks another favorite for fans of horror comedy, American Werewolf in London. He looks to American Werewolf for inspiration because:

"I want the characters to be real and I want them to be funny and I want them to be relatable. And a lot of horror movies, you know, it’s not quite the same emotion than if you start with something where you have characters that have some humor to them because it’s always a great balance between the humor and the horror, and that’s something that we’re looking forward to doing."

Nicotero didn’t say when AMC will be airing the upcoming show. However, we can expect it some time in 2018. Until then, we have the hijinks of Bruce Campbell in Ash vs. The Evil Dead to keep us laughing and screaming.