'The Walking Dead' Wants Some Tongue Action With Season Finale Tribute Zombie

Greg Nicotero is sure showing us what a 53-year-old man with a penchant for zombies can do with his tongue, and it looks like the SFX on #AMC's #TheWalkingDead are ramping up the gore for the Season 7 finale. We only may be six episodes in to TWD's 16-episode run, but Scott Gimple and co. have already wrapped up what is sure to be another blood-soaked finale. SFX aficionado and horror legend Greg Nicotero posted a video to his Instagram to celebrate the end of another sickening season, but can you spot a homage to one of the great zombie films of yesteryear?

I volunteer as tribute.

Nicotero is well known for littering his episodes with tribute zombies, pulling from the late and the great horror films of our time. So far we have had the likes of Night of the Comet, Jaws, and Creepshow to name but a few. Nicotero has even included zombified versions of himself and Johnny Depp for those who look hard enough. However, Season 7 will close by reanimating the well-known "Dr. Tongue" from the depths of cinematic hell.

What sounds like a nightclub perv's nickname for his pulling technique, Dr. Tongue was made famous in George A. Romero's Day of the Dead as the first zombie of the film to appear on our screens. Nicotero is bowing out of this season in style with something of a personal flair. Day of the Dead was Nicotero's first foray into the world of zombie makeup, where he worked under the master tutelage of Tom Savini. TWD has already paid tribute to Day of the Dead several times, including a lookalike of Bub (possibly the most infamous zombie in cinema), however, it was only a matter of time before Day of the Dead reared its rotting corpse once more.

We did already see a Dr. Tongue tribute zombie all the way back in the show's fourth episode, "Vatos," but it looks like the updated Dr. Tongue is set for a glorious comeback, and to cause some trouble for our intrepid survivors in the finale.

If you don't already, you should really follow Nicotero's Instagram account, which offers some gruesome BTS insight into the work that his team puts in. Everything from a post-Lucille Steven Yeun, to slow-motion zombie kills, it certainly looks like Nicotero will be pulling out all the stops for the finale. Given a season as dramatic as 7 has/will be, we wouldn't expect anything less. Didn't your mother ever tell you it is rude to stick your tongue out?