AMC has announced that their annual horror-themed festival Fearfest, which runs the last two weeks of October, climaxing on Halloween obviously, will be launched on Sunday, October 16, 2011 with the Season 2 premiere of The Walking Dead and will feature original programming and the network television debuts of several horror films from recent years. AMC will also air a slew of classic horror films during Fearfest, including The Omen, Bride of Frankenstein, Halloween, the 1958 and 1986 versions of The Fly, and the original Night of the Living Dead.

While the ratings indicate cable television viewers all around the globe love The Walking Dead [READ: “˜The Walking Dead’ Premiere Draws Huge Ratings], AMC only ordered six episodes for the first season — meaning last week’s “Tell It To The Frogs” marked the official halfway point.

The good news is AMC has already announced that the show is coming back for a full 13-episode second season. The bad news, unfortunately, is that fans may have to wait until late October 2011, which would mark it nearly a full year since the Halloween debut of the show.

Why so long of a wait?