'The Walking Dead' Effects Guru Greg Nicotero Details His New Anthology Series

09/08/2017 12:09 am EDT

One element that makes The Walking Dead one of the biggest pop culture sensations of the decade is its graphic depictions of rotting corpses, most of which are masterminded by special effects savant Greg Nicotero. From producing to directing to taking cameos, there's nothing on the set of the show he can't do, a skill set he aims to bring to his new anthology TV series Shock Theatre.

When speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Nicotero explained of the series, "Shock Theatre is my homage to '50s horror movies. I've always loved that genre, the idea that people would take things that they were terrified of in society at that time and turn them into some sort of fantastic outrageous sci-fi monster movie. Back then it was the Cold War, it was going to outer space, it was radiation. Everything that people were afraid of, they're like, 'Well, listen, if this is something we're afraid of, we're going to figure out a way to deal with it psychologically, so we're going to do a little movie about it and try to clear our conscience, so to speak.'"

There have certainly been similarities to society on display in The Walking Dead, but not as strong as what we'll see in Shock Theatre, but with a slightly more humurous tone.

"Shock Theatre is taking relevant themes today and putting that kind of fun Shaun of the Dead twist on them," Nicotero added. "I think Shaun of the Dead is probably the closest in tone that I can ever think about for Shock Theatre because it was funny and thrilling, and you love the characters, and it was scary, and had great moments in it, and was all-around completely entertaining. That's the goal."

Other horror series currently on TV, like American Horror Story, focus on a different theme and storyline each season, but Shock Theatre will be much more accessible, as each episode is its own story.

"We're writing now, and it's an anthology so every episode will have a different story and a different cast and a different vibe and a different feel," Nicotero detailed. "So I think that that allows us a tremendous amount of freedom and a tremendous opportunity to do a lot of different things."

Shock Theatre will eventually debut on AMC.

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