Review

Still trapped in a tank in the middle of a zombie infested Atlanta, Rick Grimes is getting advice from someone he hasn't meet. A narrow escape, involving multiple zombie carnage moments and Grimes is relatively safe with Glenn and a group of scavengers holed in a department store. Only problem is Rick has attracted even more zombies to the multi level store by capping a few that got in his way. The situation is further worsened by Merle, a redneck, who is doing the sniper thing from the roof.

We learn the scavengers are part of a group living outside Atlanta, and the inference the Audience get is Rick's family are with that group. With things looking desperate Rick devises a plan to get out of dodge that involves some axe work, a walk through hell, and using one of the zombie's senses against them.

Guts kicked off a bit of controversy in the States, and surprisingly that controversy had nothing to do with the high gore level the episode delivers. If you haven't seen Guts be warned we're talking taking an axe to a corpse and smearing the resulting debris on a couple of people, it works in terms of the mythos of The Walking Dead world okay. The issue was a sex scene shown early in the piece, and I have to say if you have a problem with a pretty mild off screen bonking scene as opposed to the high level of violence displayed then you really should re-evaluate your values system. The Audience actually get to see Sarah Waynes Callies' white bra and tummy, and they can check out Jon Bernthal's upper body gym work. Jesus I've seen more on kids shows on Aunty. Yanks can be very strange people, or at least their moral majority can.

Guess we should be taking note of some of the ideas being tossed into the mix in The Walking Dead to see if Darabont and minions keep the mythos true or divert when the script needs it. In Guts we learn zombies are attracted by human smell, or I guess the idea is they are attracted by anything that doesn't smell dead, (Grime's horse in the previous episode and a rat in this episode). They are also attracted by noise, numerous indications of noise attracting hordes of them like flies to poo. What we don't know is how zombification is transmitted and how and where the apocalypse started. I'll keep a running record of zombie facts people, and then if Darabont breaks one of them we can go geeky on his arse at conventions yo.

Episode two ups the gore quota as we learn more about the walking dead

Michelle MacLaren gets to take over the Director's chair in this episode and delivers a solid 45 minutes of entertainment, though it was sans the money shots Darabont had happening during Days Gone Bye. Here I'm excluding the final freeway scene as Darabont nailed that one in the first episode, we're not impressed with re-shoots over here kids. I'm wondering if the film crew didn't use 16mm hand helds for some scenes, as we get all close and personal with Grimes in the tank but for the rest of the episode are back to normal camera angles and viewing distance. MacLaren uses her angles well and we get some fantastic looks at the zombie makeup effects going down, the Director inherently knows to show that aspect off without overstaying her welcome with it. Overall I'm pretty happy with MacLaren as a television Director, she paces her 45 minutes well and gets a couple of tension filled scenes happening, but think she might be slightly at sea with a motion picture. MacLaren doesn't seem able to nail the shock scenes and lets the Audience off a change of undies in a number of possible sudden jump moments. Guess there's only so far you can go on the television before the censors stir themselves from their slumber in the swamp of homogeneous pap.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for mine was the fact that we now know where Rick's family are and I assume Rick will get to them in the next episode. I was hoping for an epic journey across post apocalyptic mainland USA, but seems we are going to miss out on the salty goodness there. Still have to say there's some simmering hostility likely in future episodes when Rick discovers what his wife has been up to, and more importantly with whom.

In keeping with zombie apocalypse scenarios Darabont points out that the walking dead aren't the only ones you need worry about. Merle Dixon is as great a danger to the scavengers as the walkers outside the department store, and is possibly a greater menace due to clear Roos in the top paddock issues. I've got a feeling Merle is going to come back to bite T-Dog (one of the scavengers, at least, in the arse at some stage. Avoiding a big spoiler there kids.

Steven Yeun (Glenn) was rocking for mine. Yeun nails the wide eyed follower who is prepared to take a risk if asked, that has developed a nice survivor instinct. The actor convinced me his character would survive the initial outbreak, but you get the feeling Glenn may not survive much beyond that event. Each time risk taking is called for Glenn is at the front; rescuing Rick from the tank, checking the underground sewers, and taking that walk through the zombie hordes. I'm kind of hoping Yeun at least lasts the first season, his sheer jubilance at driving a sports car during Guts brought a smile to my face.

I mentioned last episode that the gore level is fairly high for a television show, well Guts as the name might imply goes the tonk on that aspect. Besides some pretty rotten walking dead, we get plenty of head shots, and Rick taking to a corpse in fairly graphic detail with an axe. What they do with the corpse pieces should have lead to an extended DVD version following enforced cuts on the televised edition. Surprisingly a couple of the Masters of Horror episodes had cuts but not The Walking Dead, go figure.

Guess I should be mentioning the North American viewing figures. The first episode managed a very solid 5.35 million viewers, Guts saw a contraction to 4.71 million. AMC (American Movie Classics) were so impressed with the figures that they immediately ordered a second season of thirteen episodes after the first season's episode two aired.

I should also mention I'm writing this guide off the Anchor Bay Region 1 DVD release as our Distributors are still unable to get it together for a Downunder release.

Guts backs up the first episode, we're talking a pretty decent zombie outing here. I was pleased to see shufflers rather than runners as well I should add. For sure I'm having a good time with this season, the show lives up to the hype. Highly recommended, get your zombie on folks!

ScaryMinds Rates this episode as ...