With the final season underway,The Walking Deadhas raised the stakes for the remaining survivors. For over 10 years, AMC’s post-apocalyptic horror series has been terrorizing audiences with gore, zombies, and the worst of humanity.
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While the show can sometimes dip in drama, writers have made sure to be consistent in delivering the fear factor.The Walking Deadwill leave behind a successfully frightening legacy. It’s already hard to forget the moments that had fans watching from between their fingers.
10. “Prey” (Season 3, Episode 14)
The Governor (David Morrissey) prides himself as the perfect stranger. In season 3, Andrea (Laurie Holden) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) are given shelter inside Woodbury. The Governor welcomes them with open arms, but Michonne senses something off about their new ally. Her suspicions are right, uncovering a dark secret.
In “Prey”, Andrea reconsiders where her loyalties lie, and sets out for the prison. A game of cat and mouse ensues. The Governor doesn’t take lightly to the betrayal. “Prey” has many slasher horror conventions throughout. Between the threat of walkers and The Governor, Andrea’s clock is ticking, and she must rely on wit and stealth to escape a fate worse than death.
9. “No Way Out” (Season 6, Episode 9)
The walls of Alexandria are breached. Rick (Andrew Lincoln) resorts to a classic walker evasion maneuver to ensure survival. However, Sam’s (Major Dodson) panic attack endangers the rest of the survivors, forcing Rick to make a fatal decision for Carl’s (Chandler Riggs) safety.
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The Walking Deadbounces back into shape with this mid-season premiere. Nothing can prepare viewers for the domino effect that changes the trajectory for the following episodes. Not only are the deaths of Sam and Jessie (Alexandra Breckinridge) grotesque to witness, Rick’s disbelief of what’s happening is devastating.
8. “A” (Season 4, Episode 16)
“A” follows the group’s journey as they fight to reunite. As Rick, Michonne, and Carl head for the Terminus, they are ambushed by The Claimers – with Daryl (Norman Reedus) in tow. The episode highlights that walkers aren’t always the greatest danger in their world. Morality is challenged, raising questions on how far people will go to survive.
Like other entries, “A” is psychologically sinister. Seeking revenge, the leader of The Claimers taunts Rick with the brutal assault of Carl and Michonne. Alongside Daryl being heavily beaten, Rick is triggered by an animalistic rage. When he grasps ahold of their leader,Rick tears his throat outwith his own teeth, leaving a mentally scarring image for the rest of the series.
7. “The Calm Before” (Season 9, Episode 15)
Walkers are the least of their worries when survival find out the living roam amongst them. The Whisperers are easily camouflaged in a herd, and have taken more from the group than anyone else. Under the command of merciless leader, Alpha (Samantha Morton), there is no reasoning with them. Fans learn here that they can blend in just as well with the living as they do walkers.
Alpha flies under the radar and infiltrates the Kingdom. This is an unnerving move. The enemy is directly under their nose. “The Calm Before” serves as a reminder that no where is ever safe. Alpha fulfills a dark intention. Several characters are kidnapped, including: Tara (Alanna Masterson), Henry (Matt Lintz), and Enid (Katelyn Nacom). The revelation of their fate is soul-destroying.
6. “The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be” (Season 7, Episode 1)
Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) arrival is highly anticipated throughout season 6. He makes his first appearance on the show during the finale “Last Day on Earth.” Season 7 picks up immediately from where it leaves off: the group lining up to meet their fate. The events that follow are nothing short of psychological torture cast upon Rick and his friends.
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Rick meets his match in Negan. He is ruthless with punishment. This contains some of the show’s most haunting moments; thedeaths of Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz)barely break the surface of what Negan is willing to do. Andrew Lincoln gives the performance of a lifetime as Rick struggles to break his catatonic state.
5. “Days Gone Bye” (Season 1, Episode 1)
“Days Gone Bye” is a memorable opening episode for a number of reasons. While there is the classic ‘character wakes from a coma to a zombie apocalypse’ cliché,The Walking Deadworks tirelessly at bringing its comic counterpart to life with a distinctive style – and it succeeds. Rick spends a large portion of the episode alone, adjusting to the world’s new reality. From the second he appears on-screen, there is an eerie urgency of desolation.
The whole hospital sequence creates an immediate edge-of-your-seat intensity. Except for bicycle girl, most of the walkers still retain their living form. It makes the episode all the more terrifying when Morgan’s (Lennie James) undead wife behaves as if there’s still humanity inside her. Rick’s ambush in Atlanta leads to a scenario no one ever hopes to be in. Just when he thinks he’s escaped the herd, he realizes he’s trapped inside a tank with a walker.
4. “Beside the Dying Fire” (Season 2, Episode 13)
Season 2 quite literally closes itself in a fiery blaze of glory. At the beginning of the season, the group find solace at the Greene farm. It’s the closest they’ve had to normality. Idyllic bliss is shattered as Shane grows unhinged. After Rick and Carl put an end to his tyranny, the gunshot alerts a herd of walkers to their whereabouts.
The early seasons of the show are frightening. Walkers descend upon the farm as the group scramble for survival. There’s no salvaging the Greene home. Not only does Hershel (Scott Wilson) watch his beloved farm burn, he loses two of his closest allies. Then, with Carl and Rick trapped inside the barn surrounded by walkers, viewers can only watch helplessly.
3. “Evolution” (Season 9, Episode 8)
Daryl, Jesus (Tom Payne), and Aaron (Ross Marquand) embark on a rescue mission when Eugene (Josh McDermitt) is injured. They note the peculiar pattern of movement with a herd and try to steer clear of them. The tone shifts from strange to creepy as Eugene informs the group that the walkers are actually whispering to each other.
Soon enough, the group are trapped at a cemetery. If that’s not freaky enough, their vision is limited by severe fog. The atmosphere becomes tense, waiting for the ball to drop. It’sJesus who meets his demiseafter a ‘walker’ retaliates and drives a blade through him. “Evolution” shifts the whole dynamic of the show. The Whisperers have arrived, and they make their debut in spectacularly alarming fashion.
2. “Squeeze” (Season 10, Episode 9)
Alpha manages to trap Daryl and the group inside a cave housing a ferocious horde of walkers, but that’s not all they must fend off. At every corner, the survivors are overwhelmed by a new foe. Whisperers and walkers block their exits, forcing them to fight tooth and nail. Tensions run high between the characters. They are left with no choice but to put their differences aside and work together.
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“Squeeze” is a claustrophobic nightmare. It leads with the implication that someone is doomed. The close quartered setting puts Daryl and Carol at odds, heightening the strain they are all under. The entire episode is a heart-stopping, exhilarating misadventure.
1. “On the Inside” (Season 11, Episode 6)
Admittedly, season 11 hasn’t been the most engaging of the series, except the sixth episode. “On the Inside" opens with Connie (Lauren Ridloff) and Virgil (Kevin Carroll) – last seen with Michonne in season 10’s “What We Become” – on the run and looking for a safe haven. They quickly find it in an abandoned cabin, but something much more disturbing than walkers lurks between the walls.
The cabin belongs to a pack of feral cannibals. Taken from Connie’s perspective, the episode utilizes the impact of silence to its full potential. It’s extremely tense; like Connie, the audience cannot hear whenever danger is looming around the corner – or directly behind her. “On the Inside” builds around nail-biting anticipation and incorporates well-timed jump scares without overly relying on them. Every sequence is pure terror, and reintroduces the finest conventions of horror back into the series.
