Lately, zombies are everywhere. From their humble beginnings in George Romero's “Night of the Living Dead,” zombies have somehow managed to infect every aspect of our culture, from movies and TV to comic books and video games. But with AMC's super-hit “The Walking Dead” off the air for a while, zombie lovers might be looking for something new to tide them over. Luckily the Internet has you covered with a unique podcast called “We’re Alive.”
“We're Alive” is a story of survival during a zombie apocalypse. As far as zombie stories go, the set-up is pretty standard. Zombies start eating people and a small group of survives find a place to hold up during the chaos. The storyline may be familiar but the show takes the zombie apocalypse scenario to places it has never been before. Without ruining the story for anyone, these are not Romero's zombies.
The show is put together in a classic radio-drama style. Producers Shane Salk describes it best as a “movie you listen to” and the crew puts a lot of effort into pulling this off. The sound effects for the show are better then a lot of movies and really help draw the listener into the world, despite the audience not being able to see it. On top of that, the voice acting is phenomenal.
What really makes “We’re Alive” so unique is the fact that it's a podcast. There are no visuals, so it cannot rely on the gore and scares like most zombie stories do. The story focuses more closely on human elements. What it's like for these characters to survive in this situation and, at the same time, get along with a group of fellow survivors they may not like. Similar to “The Walking Dead,” much of the show’s drama does not come from the zombies at all, but the relationships between the different characters and their struggle to cope with the situation.
Some of voice acting does cause problems for listeners. Each voice needs to be very different from the rest of the cast and easily recognizable to the audience. This causes some of the characters to sound like stereotypes when they are first introduced — the biggest offender being the foreign maintenance man Datu. However, as the character has been fleshed out with a strong storyline, the stereotype has been quickly overcome.
The show is currently in the middle of its second season but all the episodes are available for download on iTunes and can be streamed online at Zombiepodcast.com.
Reach the reporter at tkuipers@asu.edu
