Skip to main content

The 'Fear' formula makes for good TV

By


Have you been watching Containment? It's about a viral epidemic that breaks loose in Atlanta and starts sending everyone into a fear induced frenzy of looting, and not trusting one another, and surviving by any means necessary. Sound familiar? It should, because it has all the makings of you typical zombie outbreak.

The similarities between The Walking Dead and Containment might be obvious to some, but if you think they're not this is what seems similar:

  • Both take place in Atlanta
  • Both deal with some type of virus threatening mankind
  • Both have focus on how humanity can help/hurt one another during an apocalyptic epidemic.
  • Both feature a member of law enforcement in a troubled, leadership role.

That's not to say the CW show is a bad rip-off. The good part about it is that it is showing society's breakdown from the outbreak stage. It also helps to know it is only a six-part series so fans know there will be an end to it. The Zombie genre is a favorite of hours here at +The Blogboard Jungle but Containment has made us think. Maybe it's just the fear of society breaking down that makes for a good story, not the zombies.

It made us look at Zombie classics like, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and all of Romero's "Dead" films. It also made us look at Fear the Walking Dead, that looks to fill the void between what happened when the outbreak first began. Distrust, society breaking down, looters and marauders rise. All of this happens because of the fear spreading like the disease they are fighting in these stories. If the acting is done well, and the stories can relate to real life scenarios, it can make for good television.

Because the outbreak scenario uses the same playbook as any mass outbreak, the CDC made a "Zombie Preparedness" guide to use the same formula that draws so many eyes to the TV shows mentioned here. The formula works to educate people too if it gets enough attention.

Photo:Containment Official Facebook Page|Facebook.com




Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Better Late Than Never Review: All The Phantasm Movies

By
The Phantasm Series Shows Players Riding Out Their Passions I just recently watched all the Phantasm movies.  I watched the entire franchise in two days after not seeing any of the films since I was a kid. I know things are opening up and the weather is nice, but we're not quite out of the COVID-19 woods yet. Since that is the case I am still re-watching old horror flicks and catching ones I might have missed . The Phantasm series stretches to almost 40 years of horror, beginning in what I feel was the best time for horror films, the 80s. The first one, Phantasm (1979) came out when I was still wet behind the ears, barely a kid. I didn't even set eyes on it until the early 80s. All I could remember about the movie was "The Tall Man,' played by Angus Scrimm in all the films, those flying chrome-plated death spheres, and little dudes in cans.  Along with Scrimm, the film stars Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornberry, and Reggie Bannister. Baldwin plays Mike Pearson, who is the...
2 comments
Read more

Brush Fire and How I Finished My First Novella

By
Brush Fire is the first of many stories that I hope to write. Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash Some years ago, in 2015 I attended the NJ Comic Expo . I was covering it for this site, to gain experience and get my feet wet covering events since it was something I knew I wanted to do for my freelance work. Writing is something I never thought I would get into, but I fell into it through my love for martial arts, reading, and film. It's why I made this site, so I can write about the things I love. By looking for things to write about, I found that my love for reading balances out with my love of writing. Usually, I do one, then the other but a lot of the writing I do is inspired by the work I do for combat sports. I don't want to be a one-trick pony. I want to evolve my writing and I'm always looking for ways to get better.  Some of my favorite stories in various mediums come from Stephen King . So, when I went looking for instruction on how he writes, I found his book ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sony ZV-1 Field Tested

By
Photo by Ravi Palwe on Unsplash I got to field test the Sony ZV-1 camera outside of just using it for streaming and let me tell you, this is a great camera for folks that want to get into video content. A few weeks ago I was back at my first event covering MMA since COVID-19 hit when I went to cover Bellator 282 for MyMMANews.com. After over 2 years of covering events remotely through ZOOM it was time to get back on the road. Not traveling left me with time to invest in equipment for covering events on the road.  Previously I used a Go PRO Hero 5 with a mic attachment, which worked well a while but had its limitations. Check out this interview with Valerie Loureda from 2019: During the two years of being stuck at home, I focused on what I could from there and decided since I was saving so much money from not going anywhere, I'd invest in better equipment. So, I got a stronger laptop to handle video content, and I picked up the Sony ZV-1. It was initially just to get a better...
2 comments
Read more