The Dead

[thewingchun]

Just finished watching The Dead. A must see Zombie movie. One of the top 5 zombie movies of all time, maybe top 3 and since NOLD is #1 going to be hard to find better. If they need new show runners for The Walking Dead they should call the Ford brothers. They understand Romero zombies.

Looks like a bit of influence from The Naked Prey. Couple of other scenes that tingled the back of my mind but I can't recall the movies. Only two mistakes that dedicated members here wouldn't make but the lead does learn from them. Only one " I don't think so" scene but it works or you let it go because the movie is enjoyable.

Only 3 credited actors. 5 star zombie flick.

[LesterBlackstone]

Fantastic movie. Probably the most believable zombie film I've seen.

[Fu Shen]

Great movie. Best thing about being set in bumblefunk, Africa is that there aren't any stores to loot or convenient survivalist treasure troves left behind by people who, somewhat ironically, didn't survive. Focus really was on survival. It was also nice to see a military response that wasn't your typical American-style "just kill everybody, go wild, and be general jackasses."

Had some weak points, like the OP said, but overall certainly a 5 star zombie movie.

[DFWMTX]

They did a lot with such a small budget. Really ramped up the terror and suspense with slow-moving zombies.

Did anyone notice the white guy's pistol keeps changing back and forth? Looks like it switches between a Walther and a 1911.

[Fletch]

I loved this movie, especially the scene with the mother and baby.

Nuff said.

[Pinkmist]

Did anyone notice the white guy's pistol keeps changing back and forth? Looks like it switches between a Walther and a 1911.

He had two pistols. One from the first few moments of the film and another pistol he got from another guy off the crash.

I really enjoyed this movie. There were only a couple of face palm moments and I can chalk those up to the characters not being the most highly trained of military types and they are both likely exhausted and not thinking clearly. With the one exception, but that was probably necessary for the plot.


******Possible Spoiler******
One random thought. The one character abandons his post to go and search for his son. His son is only alive because he was rescued and protected by soldiers who did their duty instead of doing like the character. I found that ironic.

[Braums]

Just watched it tonight and I also highly recommend it. One of the creepiest things was all those zombies slowly walking and following you. Always there no matter where they stopped.

[Dirty Bob]

The Dead is now available on DVD at Amazon, Target, etc. I found it at Walmart's website for $9.96 and chose the free "ship to store" option. I expect to get the text to pick it up next week. I can hardly wait!

All my best,
Dirty Bob

[Bubba Enfield]

Destined to be a classic of the genre. A must-see.

[FordGuy2001]

Got it this weekend and all I can say is WOW!!!!!!!!!

[UndeadInfidel]

This was just recommended to me this weekend. I have to check it out.

[On Point]

Sitting down with the wife tonight to watch this after the kids go to bed.
We're excited. Thanks for the recommendation.

[colemoge]

Excellent movie.

[UndeadInfidel]

I watched it over the weekend as well. Wasn't too impressed, really.

[Joshua_Steele]

I thought it was good but me and the wife had a few issues with it.

**************************************************************Spoilers below**************************************************************

Pro: I loved him actually stopping to check for supplies on the bodies after he put the zombie down.

Con: Flashlight? If you can't see inside a dark building don't stick your head in the doorway.

Pro: Play your strength. You are a mechanic, find a vehicle, fix it up.

Con: Don't complain about how fragile it is and then run into ever zombie you can find.

Pro: Lay out a trip wire before you go to sleep.

Con: Sleep through the warning signal and get swarmed by the dead.

Pro: Worry about your family, try to contact the outside world.

Con: When you find out that things are crap everywhere don't just give up. Worst ending to a movie EVER!

All in all it was a good zombie movie, far better than some of crap that has been put out in the last few years.

[Projo]

I thought it was awesome. My Son liked it so much he bought a copy on DVD. I hope a sequel comes along to finish the story.

[SPQR]

Just caught this courtesy of Netflix (disc only). Wow. What a great movie, I was utterly engrossed from the first five minutes. The slow, deliberate pace of the zombies, the relentless presence they project on every moment in the movie screws the tension right on up. Being set and filmed in Africa, with 99% African players and shot on 35MM film with, as far as I could tell no CGI at all made it feel very real and very scary.

[ninja-elbow]

Great movie, liked it a lot, been awhile since I actually liked a zombie flick. See? See what CAN be done with a few mdiocre actors, wrtiers, directors? Why do we keep producing such shit when it comes to the zombie-genre?

[Tetra Grammaton Cleric]

Great movie, liked it a lot, been awhile since I actually liked a zombie flick. See? See what CAN be done with a few mdiocre actors, wrtiers, directors? Why do we keep producing such shit when it comes to the zombie-genre?

Truth.

Dead Sno and the original Rec were perfect examples of low budget indy original ideas/reworking of the genre and what can be done.

The Dead is another.

-

[sniperfrog]

Boring.

[DJH]

I didn't find it boring, but it's been a while since I yelled at the TV.

"YOU JACKASSES! SOMEBODY NEEDS TO STAY AWAKE FOR A WATCH! %$#@&%**!"

[Witchdoctor]

Awesome movie!

[VinnieD]

I loved it. The Dead now goes up there with my favorite zombie movies of all time. On a low budget it does better for special effects using just makeup effects than could ever be done with CGI.

The protagonist barely talks through the whole thing. Through the first 15 minutes of the movie he entirely builds his character with actions. There were few dumb horror movie mistakes made aside from that idiot on the plane in the opening.

I do have a few nitpicks though. SPOILERS BELOW:




Didn't grab the shotgun from the shotgun soldier after he was zombified.

There just happened to be a pistol in that crate with a loaded mag in it.

It bugged me the whole time that he never finished tightening the lug nuts on that truck. There is no way two finger tightened nuts are going to hold the tire on through that much tough terrain.

Probably could have used the airbase as a means of stocking up on fuel and supplies, and a place to rest if they cleared and secured it. Bring the truck in closer and load it up.

As many have pointed out, sleeping in the open at the same time with a lousy alarm. Could have slept in a tree, could have alternated taking watch, both of which they've done before. Maybe exhaustion is gettng the better of them.

Black robes for keeping off the desert sun? Should have been white, or tan.

The ending is a tad rushed. I'd like to have seen a bit more time spent at the base before it's overrun. The wall spontaneously failing like that was a bit hard to believe. Sandbags could have been piled and sploped up to the walls to reinforce them, in fact that's usually standard procedure for fortifying a position.


Now for stuff I liked also containing spoilers.

The protagnist is an engineer. He is by his very nature a problem solver, and it shows in his ability to survive even when out of his element.

How resouceful the protagonists are int heir own way.

Their meeting over doing someone a simple favor. Amazing what an act of kindness can do for cooperation.

Clearly spelling out that there are no sides except living and dead now.

Entering the base by massacring zombies until he built a slope to climb up. Completely out of left field, unrealistic but so badass.

The final point where you think there's going to be nothing but a downer ending, you see a moment of renewed hope and determination and you just know he's going to kill his way through all those zombies. I think hope was the core concept behind the whole movie and how through enguinuity, resourcefulness, and determination, you can accomplish anything if you hold on to hope.

[Enter_Narne]

Holy sh!t this movie is great. I'm currently watching it on Syfy. It's in commercial right now. I knew in the first 5 minutes this movie was different in an awesomely good way.

I'll update when the movie is over, but so far WOW!

UPDATE: SPOILERS!!!1
Just finished watching it! Very very satisfying. I read all the posts in this thread after watching it. I disagree with some comments and agree with others.

PROS:
It was different enough from other zombie movies to keep me surprised. For example there wasn't a jerk in the group of survivors that the audience wants to see killed. There weren't constant shock moments. A huge part of the film takes place in broad daylight... which in a way brings its own kind of horror.

I couldn't tell the actors were acting. Their performances weren't over the top melodramatic like what I've become accustomed to with other horror movies.

It reminded me of The Gods Must Be Crazy. I had trouble deciding if this is a pro or con because I like The Gods Must Be Crazy so much. I didn't want one to spoil the other. I put it in the pros because it made the setting familiar enough that the people and culture weren't so foreign to me.

I like that the main character isn't some glamour boy. He's a grizzled older guy. He's not an ultra trained special forces trooper, he's not an expert cage fighter, he's just an average Joe that's surviving and learning from his mistakes along the way.

Mother begging for him to save the child and put her out of her misery... heartbreaking.

I like that we aren't told why there are zombies. Classic style zombie story!

I liked his badass scene mowing down the dead to make a ramp into the base. (see cons below)

I like that his ultimate hopes were dashed, but a new hope presented itself at the end.




CONS:
Lug nuts should have been tightened.

Why stick your face into a boarded up darkened house? Especially when you've got a freakin flashlight?

Why try to clear that air strip building alone? His soldier friend was just outside filling a can with gas.

Why did he have a fever?

That campfire should have been in a pit or a can or put out as soon as the cooking was done.

One of them should have been on watch while the other slept.

We didn't see the main character put his soldier friend out of his misery.

There was no use of the wildlife as dangers. It doesn't have to be a lion or jaguar. A swarm of ants or a meddling monkey would have worked. I mean it's Africa!

His American soldier friend on the other end of the radio conversation said something that I thought was kind of dickish. The main character asks, "What about my family?" American friend says, "You hear that noise? That's them breaking in."

Even though I liked his ramp made of zombies, that should have been how the dead got into the base... not a wall breaking down just hours after he got in. Too convenient to the story.

I don't like the title. Too plain. Doesn't match how awesome the movie is.
___

There you have it. The pros outshine the cons. I haven't been compeled enough to write about a zombie movie in a long time. This movie was great.