Our popular culture is suffering from a zombie glut. There’s no getting around it. Zombie novels, zombie movies, zombie episodic television; we’re clearly only a step or two away from a zombie sitcom.
‘The Dead’, however, deserves your consideration in spite of all this overexposure of the undead.
First of all, it’s not set in dystopian American suburbia. It’s set in dystopian rural Africa. That may not sound like much, but it adds some interesting texture to the proceedings.
It’s also quite ballsy in its way. It’s a Romero-esque slow-zombie flick. There is no explanation of the outbreak, and there is no hope of a cure. Our leads just want to get to someplace safe, like Sierra Leone. You heard me. In the context of this movie, Sierra Leone seems like a place you escape TO. Really, that’s all you need to know.
It looks like they shot it for about 300 bucks, give or take, but the zombies are impressively creepy and there’s even a plane crash to get things started. Clearly none of the tiny budget was wasted on limos and craft services – what little they had is all on the screen.