The dead have risen in Africa, and when what was supposed to have been the last American plane out crashes, Air Force engineer Brian Murphy (Rob Freeman) finds himself stranded and alone in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. He soon crosses path with Sergeant Daniel Dembele (Prince David Osei), an African man whose village has been destroyed by the zombies. The two men form a shaky partnership: Murphy is handy with a wrench and has commandeered one of the few working vehicles left by villagers fleeing the zombies, but he doesn’t know the roads. Dembele, a local, knows the area but needs a ride.
Facing danger from militiamen and zombies alike, the two men – both fathers – form a bond: Dembele is looking for his son, who survived the attack on his village but was apparently taken to a refugee camp. Murphy, fearing that the zombie plague has spread beyond the African continent, wants to find an airport and get home to his own wife and daughter.
Directed and written by the brothers Howard J. and Jonathan Ford, The Dead wastes no time in establishing its horror bona fides. Within a few minutes of the movie’s opening credits we’re treated to a terrifying scene: a dead man comes to life aboard an airplane and bites one of the passengers. The bitten man puts a gun in his mouth and pulls the trigger. As blood and chaos spreads, the plane itself begins a nosedive into the ocean. Things hardly slow down once Murphy washes up on the beach: the dead are there to greet him. In one of the most chilling scenes I’ve ever witnessed in a zombie film, Murphy tries desperately to bust open a crate full of weapons that washed up with him, and all the while zombies are shambling ever closer.
Despite its exotic locale, The Dead’s zombies – and the story itself – is classic Romero: the zombies stumble along silently, grabbing at any living beings who fall within their grasp. There’s no running or growling here at all, and their eery silence and somnambulistic shuffle amps the terror up to an unbelievable degree. Whenever the protagonists stop moving the zombies always show up: first one, then two, then three, until the men are surrounded. With ammo and other supplies low, the men more often than not have to resort to desperate measures to break free of their pursuers. The story itself, as I mentioned, is also classic Romero: historical and racial differences have to be put aside to survive the apocalypse. Those who cling to the rules of the old world will eventually find themselves chewed apart in the new one. Had Romero not jumped the shark withDiary of the Dead (not to even mention the unwatchable Survival of the Dead), this would have been the kind of movie he might have made.
The Dead isn’t a new movie (It was released internationally in 2010), but without a wide theatrical release domestically, only a relative handful of Americans have been able to see it – mostly at conventions and festivals. The film premiered on video on demand this month, giving it the wider audience it deserves. Look for it on iTunes, Comcast Video on Demand, XBOX Live, and other digital providers, as well as on DVD at your local movie vendor. If you love zombies, then The Dead is a movie you will not want to miss.
~http://suvudu.com/
In my opinion this is the absolute best Zombie Movie since Romero's original Dawn of the Dead! Excellent review!
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