After becoming a hugely-discussed home for transcendent televised drama series with Mad Men and Breaking Bad, cable network AMC surprised a whole lot of people The Walking Dead, a large-scale apocalyptic zombie tale based on the comic book by Robert Kirkman.  Despite initial trepidation from many potential viewers, the series premiere dropped last Halloween to huge ratings and widespread acclaim.  Directed by showrunner and The Shawshank Redemption helmer Frank Darabont, the premiere boasted the polish and sophistication of any feature film, and the bonus features included on the impending Blu-ray and DVD release of the first season provide insight into the production. 

A behind-the-scenes clip entitled 'We Are the Walking Dead' has made its way online, and it shows Darabont appraising an under-construction Abrams tank interior, as well as KNB Effects mastermind and consulting producer Greg Nicotero showing off the tremendous varieties of corpses.  There's even a look at "zombie school."

As moviegoers, we're generally inclined towards simply having a good time and spending two hours working up to a happy ending.  Some films, however, take a more difficult and arguably more rewarding approach, dragging their audiences into despair and back in order to dole out a sliver of hope to nourish our battered psyches. 

In the acutely-observed new drama Beautiful Boy, for example, Maria Bello and Michael Sheen play a shattered couple in the aftermath of their son's school shooting rampage.  While it is appropriately depressing, it also provides the faith that, eventually, its characters can and will recover.  Today, we're happy to present ten recent films that, like Beautiful Boy, dare to devastate, which makes their ultimate hopefulness that much more meangingful.

Stephen King is the most popular horror novelist on the planet, and the first season of AMC's highly watchable zombie series The Walking Dead featured some uneven writing, so how better to spice things up than to have King write an episode of the show's second season?  It makes sense, as the author has an established relationship with The Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont, who adapted King's The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist for film.

The Walking Dead are among us! And it seems that people are pretty darn excited about it. The AMC’s 90-minute series premiere of "The Walking Dead" kicked all sorts of butt on Halloween night. This zombie series had the largest numbers in AMC history, which means it surpassed both "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad". Yet that is not all, an estimated 5.3 million viewers tuned in to make it the largest 18-49 audience of any series premiere on any cable channel this year.

If you’re a fan of horror, or even just a fan of zombies, your blood is likely boiling in anticipation of AMC’s upcoming series The Walking Dead. Not only is the project rumored to be amongst the most graphic series’ to ever hit television, it’s got a wonderful creative team behind it.

AMC has released a new trailer for its upcoming small screen adaptation of The Walking Dead, which premieres Halloween night, October 31 at 10pm. The new trailer seems to be more action-focused than the previous advertisements - it is almost edited together like a trailer for an intense action thriller. Executive produced and written by three-time Academy Award nominee Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile). Watch the trailer above now!

Synopsis: Police officer Rick Grimes leads a group of survivors in a world overrun by zombies.