Horror Legend John Carpenter Is Thoroughly Unimpressed With 'The Walking Dead'

'Halloween' director John Carpenter thinks 'The Walking Dead' is just "milking" the George Romero legacy.

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Rick Grimes and company may have a new enemy to fear: fear itselfJohn Carpenter. The horror legend shared some brief but highly quotable thoughts on AMC's The Walking Dead during a recent chat with comedian Marc Maron, attributing the public's seemingly never-ending infatuation with zombies to fellow legend George Romero.

Speaking on the current state of the horror genre in both film and TV, Carpenter mentioned The Walking Dead as a mere extension of Romero's vision. "That was a movie that George Romero made back in '68 [Night of the Living Dead], and they have milked … people have milked it and they're still milking it," Carpenter said on Maron's WTF podcast, as first noted by Bloody Disgusting. "It's unreal."

In fact, Carpenter seems pretty unimpressed with today's horror in general. "Horror is due for a new beginning," the iconic Halloween director said. "It's due for a resurgence. They have to change it. We have to change it up. We can't keep doing these cheap Poltergeist movies either. Paranormal? It's just a cheap movie!" That, dear readers, is a top-shelf example of keeping it real as hell.

To be fair, The Walking Dead more or less wears its Romero influences proudly on its sleeve. However, even Romero himself isn't exactly the biggest fan of the unstoppable AMC hit. After describing the series as a "soap opera with a zombie occasionally" during an interview with The Big Issue, Romero elaborated on his disinterest during a lengthy chat with the Telegraph in 2013:

"That's what I don’t particularly like. Even though I think Frank [Darabont] did a great job. I don't know what the hell happened there, something political no doubt, when they canned him after the first season."

The Walking Dead returns for another round of frustrating but ultimately hella entertaining teasery this fall, much to these legends' collective chagrin. Spoiler: Negan (kinda sorta) killed everyone.

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