When it comes to zombies, there are tons of different kinds. Hell, we highlighted this in a video showing the evolution of the creatures that we posted earlier this week. And when it comes to “The Walking Dead“, special FX guru Greg Nicotero has created a wide variety of the shuffling baddies, from bone thin with no legs to the “Can’t ya see I’m decaying and decomposing as I’m walking here?” variety. But even he admits that there is one type of walker that he’ll never attempt nor choose to recreate. However, it’s not because of any sort of reservation or inability. Rather, it all boils down to practicality.
Nicotero explains via The Walking Dead:
The only thing you’ll never see is a Ray Harryhausen (-inspired), perfectly clean skeleton walking around because obviously, there’s no muscle. We still try to keep to the reality of [needing] muscle to move the bone to move the body, but it’s just something that we continue to push every season with new sculptures and pushing the elements of what we can.
It makes sense that no such walker would ever be seen in the universe of “The Walking Dead”. Films like Jason and the Argonauts have a rich mythology and world of magic behind them that allows for these villains to exist but “The Walking Dead” functions in the “real world” where real physics and real human physiology is a serious factor.
Still, as a fan of those old Harryhausen films, I miss that charm and glory that came along with those stop-motion sequences. The Medusa segment in Clash of the Titans used to terrify me as a child and that remains one of my favorite films.
