TV on Blu-ray Review: The Walking Dead - Season III (2012, 2013)

I've always really had a soft spot of for the zombie sub-genre but unfortunately over the past ten years we've seen an influx of zombie movies to the point where just can't appreciate the rotting creatures. It's been almost an epidemic of poor quality, horribly written garbage that's been an embarrassment to what George Romero essentially created 40 plus years-ago with 

Night of the Living Dead. Even Romero has himself sunk into the cesspool of bad zombie movie-making. Have you seen Diary of the Dead or Survival of the Dead?

I really thought there was no hope for the struggling genre, until of course I got to experience the visceral rollercoaster that is, Robert Kirkman's surprise hit of 2010, The Walking Dead. Now after a solid season two, Kirkman and his team have taken the show to some new equally terrifying places which can now be seen in the comfort of your own home thanks to the folks at Anchor Bay Entertainment.

After getting away from the zombie carnage and fire that took the farmhouse, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and the group find themselves taking over a prison that's been overrun by flesh-eating zombies. After cleaning it up and swiffering some zombie guts, the survivors make the klink their home. Some of the group unfortunately gets separated as the chaos of the farmhouse incident Laurie puts Laurie on the run to fend for herself...that is until she meets up with the sword-swinging, zombie killing machine, Michone (Danai Gurira). The ladies together find sanctuary (or is it??) in a small town run by the maniacal power-hungry, Governor (David Morrisey).

Each of the episodes goes back in forth with some story being told in the town and the other showing the prison take-over. This season is much grimmer than the previous seasons, but boy, aside from three of the later episodes out of the sixteen, The Walking Dead - Season Three packs a consistent wallop. The return of Merle (Michael Rooker),  his fantastic character arc and the performances by newcomers David Morrisey and Dani Guirira are huge in what makes this season the best of the three. Hell, even Chandler Riggs is likable.

(Spoilers)

Anchor Bay has not skimped at all on the extra features as you can choose to listen to some commentaries over select episodes, some solid short featurettes that seem to be the kind that are included throughout the season as promo item and deleted scenes. One deleted scene of interest to some that have watched the series has Laurie as a zombie. It's very hokey and I'm not surprised they cut it, but it's very cool nonetheless.

I can't say enough as this is an excellent release that will surely be a nice watch for any fan of this awesome series. Before the season opener premieres in October be sure to pick this up! Highly Recommended.