THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD CITY (2023)

3 stars

Acorn Media International. Blu ray, DVD and Digital. Out Now

Another day, another short run, six episode spin-off from THE WALKING DEAD Universe – though, like the Darryl Dixon one this has been picked up for a second season already. As with the others, this takes popular characters from the main show and features them front and centre – this time out we have Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) reprising their roles.

They are heading to the ruined city of Manhattan, which is filled with hordes of zombies. Long cut off from the mainland to try and contain the mass of munchers, they need to go there to try and find Maggie’s son Herschel, who has been kidnapped. She meets up with Negan, who is on the run with teen Ginny (Mahina Napoleon), and being hunted by the law. He is the last person she wants for assistance in her mission, but she has little choice – promising Ginny will be looked after at Hilltop. She informs her new partner that her offspring has been taken by The Croat (Zeljko Ivanek), who Negan knows from old and that he is dangerous.

Thus begins a very uneasy partnership – of course going into a city that is full of deadly undead might not be the best idea. Not only will they have to deal with them but also Perlie Armstrong (Gaius Charles), one of the Marshals from New Babylon, who has followed them there and also The Croat’s minions. Hooking up with some of the locals still living in the post apocalyptic environment, they set out to try and find her son.

Throughout we get flashbacks, to fill in things like Negan and Ginny’s story, Maggie’s relationship with Hershel, but also the brutal episode where Negan used his baseball Lucille to bloody effect. The setting in the city gives the show a slightly different slant, and the CGI and set dressing to show the now derelict buildings is impressive. Negan is still a great creation – suitably played by Morgan, easily switching from niceties and claiming he is a changed man, to explosive violence in the blink of an eye. Cohan is also good as the sometimes, sometimes emotional Maggie. Zeljko Ivanek – a face you will likely recognise from numerous TV shows and films – is suitably nasty, creepy and psychotic as the villain of the piece. The show itself has some well staged set pieces, however it is a bit on the slow side. The promotional poster art is clearly a tribute to John Carpenter’s ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981).

Steve Kirkham