historically the least scary, most boring of all horror movie monsters
(even the great George Romero essentially used the shuffling undead as
props to shore up his satires on consumerism), would be the focal point
of not one but four hit series, each with its own unique style?

Dead Set carried on Romero's satirical legacy by letting rabid zombies
loose in the Big Brother house. The Walking Dead put flesh on comic
book characters and then let the hungry hordes tear it back off in