The Last of Us: How scary is HBO’s hit zombie show? Explained.

For die-hards, no horror movie can be too scary. This time, it’s The Last of Us, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s HBO series based on the landmark video game. Like the game, the show follows Joel and teenage Ellie through the wastelands of the United States 20 years after an outbreak that turns most of the world’s population into fungus-ridden zombies basically overnight. It becomes obvious fairly early in The Last of Us that the story doesn’t really require anyone besides Joel and Ellie, which means every person they meet is effectively living on borrowed time. Neither The Last of Us’ persistent melancholy nor its occasional brutality fit the textbook definition of scary, but the show can be downright unsettling at times, in ways that last much longer than the occasional jolt.