Movie Info
Movie Name: The Dead
Studio: Indelible Productions/Latitude Films/TriCoast Worldwide
Genre(s): Horror
Release Date(s): August 30, 2010 (Frightfest)/September 2, 2011 (UK)/October 1, 2011 (US)
MPAA Rating: R
Hey! I want to eat you!
Africa has been overrun by zombies. A United States engineer named Brian Murphy (Rob Freeman) is trying to get out on the last flight when tragedy strikes. Murphy finds himself trapped in the deserts and plains of Africa as he tries to reach home and his family. Meanwhile an African soldier named Daniel (Prince David Osei) has defected from the military in an effort to locate his son…Brian and Daniel find the numbers of the dead are growing but the danger of the land also could lead to death.
Directed by Howard J. Ford and Jonathan Ford (collectively known as the Ford Brothers), The Dead is a zombie horror movie. The film premiered at Frightfest in 2010 before getting a wider release in 2011. The film received moderate to positive reviews.
The Dead was simply a case of looking for a horror movie and finding one that did not look completely cheesy or cheap. With a typical Night of the Living Dead set-up, the movie distinguishes itself from other films of its genre simply by changing the location…and for the most part, that works.
I am Lawrence of Zombaria!!!
The movie is very, very basic. The zombies are taking over and the humans just want to survive. Apparently other zombie movies don’t exist in this world of zombies because the characters don’t “go for the kill” when trying to stop them (aka shoot them in the head) at least at first, and the zombies for the most part are slow and lumbering…only succeeding in sheer numbers. The other thing that the characters seem ignorant to is that they believe this is a containable outbreak…which ends up being a downfall (they should have watched Dawn of the Dead).
The cast is fine and rests on the shoulders of Rob Freeman and Prince David Osei. While both actors are fine, it is a shame that the movie is more from the perspective of the Brian character since the Daniel character feels more unique, and it seems like he has a better story to tell…I wanted more of Daniel than I did Brian. I do commend the interesting bond between the characters which does enrich the film.
Lunch!
The zombies are pretty standard fare, and I wish they showed up more in the film…much of the film is spent driving around. In this sense, the Africa setting does help. Too many zombie movies are just repeats of zombies walking through the basic United States world…or occasionally England. The location gives it a different perspective, but I would have also been interested to see more interaction with the natural world…do zombies eat wildlife or does wildlife eat them?
The Dead is worth seeking out. It isn’t the best zombie movie you’ll see, but it is better than most of the later true “Dead” movies by George A. Romero. There is definite room for improvement, but I think in general The Dead has the right idea but fails at points in the execution. The success of this film did spark enough interest for a sequel. The Dead is followed by The Dead 2 (sometimes called The Dead 2: India) in 2013.
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