The Walking Dead is a brutal comic book story that sees series protagonist Rick Grimes and the rest of his ragtag crew of survivors do their best to live in a world overrun by the undead. When asked about where his inspiration for the series came from, Robert Kirkman reveals that not only is his zombie-tinged narrative inspired by the many horror films of yesteryear, but that it was also Kirkman’s parents who unintentionally helped him dream up the bloody tales he would eventually tell.

A series that started in 2003 and ended 193 issues later in 2019, The Walking Dead — written in its entirety by Kirkman and initially drawn by Tony Moore with illustration duties passed off to Charlie Adlard — is a sprawling post-apocalyptic epic that takes all the best elements of the zombie genre and makes them its own.

Speaking with Rolling Stone in 2016, Kirkman discussed how he was first introduced to horror movies, and like many future fans of the genre, it all came about after being forbidden to watch them by his parents, only for Kirkman to sneak-watch them anyway.

Robert Kirkman Was Forbidden To Watch Horror Movies By His Parents

Robert Kirkman: Inside ‘Walking Dead’ Creator’s Twisted Mind, New Show – 2016 (Rolling Stone)

In an interview conducted around the premiere of the then-upcoming The Exorcist-inspired show, Outcast, based on another of Kirkman’s horror-tinged comic series, Kirkman explains, “I wasn’t allowed to see horror movies as a kid — my parents would rent them and watch them in the basement, and I’d hide behind the couch and sneak peeks. So there was always a fascination with them.” After moving out, Kirkman caught Night of the Living Dead on TV and thought “This is crazy,” with the revelation that George Romero had made sequels leading Kirkman to buy them and watch them “every night for months.”

It makes sense that the movies Robert Kirkman wasn’t allowed to watch as a kid became his eventual obsession as a creator, with these influences helping to shape every Walking Dead story beat, character development, and gory kill, all thanks to some of the greatest zombie films ever made. Furthermore, the bloody and violent imagery of some of Kirkman’s other comic properties — specifically Invincible — have benefitted from his love of horror, putting them in the same league as The Walking Dead in terms of where their inspiration came from and how far Kirkman pushes the envelope with their brutal stories.

Not Being Allowed To Watch Horror Movies Inspired The Walking Dead‘s Creator

Taking cues from iconic Hollywood films as well as even the most obscure genre movies has always helped creators fine-tune their craft as storytellers, or at the very least, helped them to stimulate the kind of thinking that leads to unique tales, giving people like Kirkman the creative firepower needed to really wow their audiences. Unfortunately for fans, The Walking Dead has been over for some time now, but considering the franchise is still going strong in the live-action space, more than a few options remain for fans to see Robert Kirkman’s forbidden love of horror movies become a reality.