Summary
- "The Returned" has better Rotten Tomatoes ratings (97%) than "The Walking Dead" (79%)
- Stephen King praised the scary and sexy vibe of "The Returned" on social media
- The French zombie series "Les Revenants" won an International Emmy & follows eerie supernatural occurrences.
When it comes to epic zombie shows, The Walking Dead tops the list of many fans' best post-apocalyptic TV series', but it's far from being the only one to set horror lovers' hearts racing, as a fairly unknown French show called Les Revenants (The Returned) has better Rotten Tomatoes ratings than the popular AMC series, and it's a favorite of Stephen King.
As fans know, King loves to give mini-reviews of the movies and shows he watches on social media. While many might have thought that since he created so many iconic horror stories, he mightn't be so easily scared but according to "The Master of Horror" himself, that couldn't be further from the truth, as The Changeling, a 1980 supernatural horror film directed by Peter Medak, scared the daylights out of him due to its terrifying atmosphere. Previously, Stephen King said that his number one scariest film as an adult was watching George A. Romero’s low-budget creation, Night of the Living Dead, while also mentioning that when he was 16 years old, Robert Wise's 1963 movie The Haunting was the scariest film at the time. For those who love their zombie watching sessions with a touch of supernatural spookiness, and are missing The Walking Dead's focus on human survival, King's recommendation for your next watch could be a great weekend or after-work binge.
‘Much More Believable’ Stephen King Fans Praise The Long Walk Trailer for Making One Crucial Change
The trailer for Stephen King's The Long Walk adaptation has finally been released, and fans applaud the change to one unrealistic feature.
Stephen King Loved The Returned’s Supernatural Zombie Atmosphere
Even though zombie TV shows and movies have been around for many years, like Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, The Walking Dead, and iZombie tapping into viewers' fear factor of the world they live in, some inevitably slip through the net. However, thanks to Stephen King's usually stellar recommendations, a lesser-known French series, which he called "scary and sexy" on Twitter, has had the spotlight placed on it recently. Les Revenants (The Returned), a French supernatural drama television series created by Fabrice Gobert, was released in 2012 and is based on the 2004 French film They Came Back. The show's first season was a hit among viewers and even won an International Emmy for Best Drama Series. Not only that, but Les Revenants has a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes compared to The Walking Dead's 79% Tomatometer.
"Watching THE RETURNED. Scary and sexy. Fun to see a foreign TV show that hasn't been Americanized. That kid Victor's giving me nightmares."
Les Revenants follows the story of people who died in disturbing circumstances, who then reappear in a French village alive and well again. In a bid to get on with their lives again, strange supernatural occurrences begin to happen, which include power outages and the water level subsiding at a reservoir to reveal dead animals and a church. In 2015, an adaptation of the French series was released on A&E called The Returned. However, unlike the original show, the U.S. Version faced a multitude of challenges in capturing the same level of viewer engagement and acclaim, which saw the series get canceled after only one season.
For zombie fans who would like to check out Les Revenants, it is currently available to watch on Amazon Prime Video or Netflix.
Stephen King Calls Next Movie Adaptation 'Merciless', And It Has The Potential To Be His Bleakest Outing
Even Stephen King called his story in The Long Walk "Merciless," and it has the potential to be the author's bleakest adaptation to date.
Source: Glass Almanac