I agree with that. Less about scares, more about action sequences and "will they get away?" Suspenseful.
And the zombies are done up pretty horrifically. The pilot showed, for example, the top half of a zombie (sans pelvis and legs) with entrails hanging out the body, the face half-eroded, dragging itself through a park by its arms. Hordes of zombies are also getting shot, bludgeoned, decapitated, skewered, etc. The pilot also featured a poor horse getting eaten by a zombie mob, although we didn't really see the details of it; we did also see humans getting eaten/bitten badly.
It's decent movie-style makeup and prosthetics here, it looks pretty real.
Some great character drama, which makes it more poignant than just a "zombie movie" though. It's more about the people dropped into this horrible situation, than about the zombies per se.
My kids don't watch it, but they're teens and are really good at figuring out what's good for them. I think the eldest would watch it and find it interesting. My daughter would never come near it, she'd have nightmares. My middle kid could go either way, depending on mood, but not be really into it.