Fans of ‘The Last of Us’ Need To See the Unique Infected of This Overlooked Post-Apocalyptic Horror

The popularity of zombies can be a double-edged sword for filmmakers and showrunners today. On the one hand, they’re tapping into a large fanbase already primed to be interested in a new movie or show. But that popularity means that those same fans have a plethora of zombie-themed media from which to choose, so creators need to have something really special to stand out among the crowd and not get lost in the shuffling of so many zombie feet. Among the Living is one of those standouts, offering both a terrifying hybrid of popular infected tropes and a haunting, emotional journey of a brother trying his best to protect his younger sister as they travel across a post-apocalyptic Britain. If the end of The Last of Us TV series has left you needing more unique zombie action with a character-driven story, Among the Living is the perfect follow-up.

The Infected in ‘Among the Living’ Combine Two Classic Monsters

The main hook of most zombie media is, of course, the zombies themselves — what they look like, how they move, where they came from, etc. Even if the story leaves something to be desired, at least the audience knows they’ll get some cool zombie action for their time. Among the Living is set in a world that was recently turned upside-down by a pandemic that turns its victims into feral, cannibalistic monsters. The infected in Among the Living hook you in because, in addition to the mindless shambling of traditional zombies, they also have traits similar to another popular monster, the vampire. Once infected, victims turn pale and their eyes become pitch black; they also have a sensitivity to bright lights, much like a vampire’s weakness to sunlight. And while the infected do attack and eat their human prey in a very zombie-like fashion, they aren’t seeking brains or even flesh; instead, they specifically crave blood.

Joel and Ellie standing overlooking a garden in The Last of Us.

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For more post-apocalyptic emotional wreckage.

Considering that our protagonists, Harry (Dean Michael Gregory) and his little sister Lily (Melissa Worsey), are trekking through the backwoods on foot to reunite with their father, the rough terrain and dilapidated, abandoned buildings they pass through dramatically increase their chances of a bleeding injury. The preferred solution is to seal any and all wounds with duct tape — a common product to which virtually everyone has access and can easily use, right? Or maybe not — how many times have you struggled to peel off the end of a roll of tape, even without a howling horde of zombies swarming toward you? Because once the infected in Among the Living catch the scent of fresh blood, their familiar shambling gait turns into a frenzied run. The simple additions of a heightened sense of smell and speed dramatically raise the tension in Among the Living, even during the quieter, more dramatic moments when there are no infected onscreen.

‘Among the Living’ Highlights How Easy It Is to Become a Monster in the Apocalypse

Once Among the Living has you invested in the terror of their infected, it seals the deal by also giving you a sibling relationship similar to the surrogate father-daughter relationship of Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us. Harry is much older than Lily, and although the two get on each other’s nerves, it’s clear that he’s willing to do anything to protect his little sister, just like Joel does for Ellie. But the key difference between the two stories is how they handle the idea of how the struggle to survive in the apocalypse can fundamentally change you, and often for the worse. In Joel’s case, he’s had 20 years to harden himself to do terrible things in order to survive, and while his relationship with Ellie brings back some of his humanity, he still knows how and when to make choices that would be unthinkable in the world before the Cordyceps pandemic. Among the Living shows the beginning of that journey for Harry but takes the tragedy of it one step further by showing that, while brutal actions are sometimes necessary, it’s not always a guarantee that you know when that is.

When the siblings meet and spend time with Karl (George Newton) and his own young ward, Tom (Leon Worsey), Karl scolds Harry for not being around when an infected gets too close to the kids. Harry responds that he’s not like Karl, that he’s still learning how to protect himself and his family. That admission ends up being the crux of Harry’s emotional journey, as his inexperience and anxiety over his sister’s safety causes him to fall victim to tunnel vision. He refuses to help a stranger out of fear that she’ll draw the infected to them, but later discovers that she survived, at least for a little while longer; he likely could have helped her without bringing danger to his sister. And later, Harry’s determination to protect Lily leads him to actively imprison and kill another person because he believes it’s his only choice. Killing is no easy thing, but the real horror comes from Harry’s realization that there was likely no reason for him to do so; he jumped to the wrong conclusions and not only murdered someone in cold blood, but robbed someone else of the same support that he was trying to give to Lily.

It’s heartbreaking to realize how easy it is to make the wrong decision in a high-stress situation, and Among the Living captures it terrifyingly well. Zombies, vampires, infected, whatever term for the physical representation of the apocalypse you use, are frightening on their own. But the emotional toll of experiencing the end of the world as you know it can be just as haunting.