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“The Walking Dead” Season 7B Has Been a Fun Vacation from the Most Depressing Show On TV

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One of the cool things about “The Walking Dead” is that the show is constantly re-inventing itself; by splitting each season in half, AMC has essentially allowed themselves to pack two mini-seasons into every one season. Why is that such a good thing? Because it allows the story to evolve according to the state that the characters are in at any given point in time; and never has the hit zombie series been more tonally in line with the characters than in the now-airing seventh season.

To say that the Season 7 premiere was downbeat would be a massive understatement. We all knew that something horrible was coming, but actually watching Glenn and Abraham meet Lucille was utterly disturbing and downright depressing. By the end of the episode, we were as broken as Rick and the rest of the survivors; of course, that was very much the idea, but many viewers nevertheless vowed to never again watch the show. They complained that the series had become “misery porn,” for lack of a better term, and they weren’t exactly wrong about that.

The first half of Season 7 was highly depressing, as Rick was reduced to a shell of his former self in the wake of Negan making his presence known. Our heroes had become beaten down victims, and it damn sure wasn’t fun to watch. But the mid-season finale offered a glimmer of hope: Rick got his mojo back and the whole gang reunited inside the walls of the Hilltop Colony, vowing to take back their independence and bring the fight directly to Negan. It was one hell of a satisfying moment, paving the way for a new batch of episodes that promised a massive tonal shift.

We’re now four episodes into the second half of Season 7 and indeed the show has once again evolved into something completely different than it was when the season started. The back half of Season 7 has been, tonally speaking, worlds apart from the front half, and the shift couldn’t have come at a better time. Just as the show was starting to become a bit too oppressive, the mid-season break allowed the writers to change the game, and I’m not sure there’s ever been a point in the show’s history where it’s been so much fun to watch. Granted, “fun” has never been the name of the game when it comes to “The Walking Dead,” but fun is precisely what it needed to be after turning off many viewers by being so, well, hard to watch.

Last night’s new episode primarily centered on Rick and Michonne having sex, killing zombies, eating chili mac ‘n cheese, and foraging for supplies; they even made a pit stop at an abandoned carnival that quickly became one of my all-time favorite episode settings. There was a very light tone to the whole hour, as Rick and Michonne gleefully (and easily) dispatched zombies and mostly acted like they didn’t have a care in the world; even when they fell through a roof, they couldn’t help but laugh. Sure, the threat to their lives and the lives of their loved ones was still present and addressed, but it mostly took a backseat to a side adventure that was something of a vacation for Rick and Michonne. Rick’s goal was to spend a few days away from the harsh reality he’s rarely afforded the luxury of escaping from, and when you think about it, that’s what the second half of Season 7 has been all about: a vacation, more or less, from the most depressing show on TV.

In the past four episodes, we’ve seen Eugene play Yars’ Revenge and make a homemade bomb; we’ve met a bizarre community that lives in a junkyard and has its own language; we’ve come face-to-face with a fortified heavy metal zombie that quickly became an undead icon (bring on the toy, McFarlane!); and we even saw Rick and Michonne work together to kill literally hundreds of zombies at once in a Ghost Ship-inspired moment that totally blew our minds.

In other words, we’ve seen some of the show’s most all-time fun moments since Season 7 returned last month, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve been having a total blast with all the wackiness. The episodes have put the characters we love into situations and locations we’ve never before seen them in, and they’ve showed that fun can still be had in a show that seemed totally stripped of any and all future joy just a few months back. I was sure, post-Season 7 premiere, that the show (and characters) had been irrevocably broken on many levels, so seeing Rick battle a gladiator zombie in a junkyard arena and have some fun at the carnival has been an unexpected treat that I’ve enjoyed the hell out of.

As we build to the all-out war that’s not far away, we can pretty certain that “The Walking Dead” is about to get traumatic again. Important characters are going to die. We are going to be depressed once more. And we are probably going to shed some tears. But for now, we’re taking a vacation away from the horror. And right now, a vacation was just what the doctor ordered.

After all, even the post-apocalypse can’t be depressing all the time.

Here’s a sneak peek at this Sunday night’s new episode…

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

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leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

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Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

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