Review: The Dead

Ever since I saw the preview last year, I've been dying to get my hands on the British indie flick--The Dead. Unfortunately, it wasn't being released for the states until Valentine's Day, but fortunately I have a husband who truly understands what makes me tick...and so guess what I got for Valentine's Day? I'll give you a hint; it wasn't chocolates.

The DVD actually ended up arriving a few days after the release date, but the minute it came in the mail I made my husband watch the whole thing with me over dinner. First note? This is not an "over dinner" movie. I have a pretty thick skin, but some of the images here were super gory (and therefore also super awesome). Check out this movie if you want to see a few cars run over zombies, zombies dining on the flesh of the living, bones sticking out of skin, and about a million disembodied limbs adorning the set. Everything looks really gross and really real; clearly they were doing this the old fashioned way.

Aside from the well done gore and effects, this movie was successful in its ability to creep you the heck out. I was sure that I'd have nightmares (but I didn't), and I had a number of audible gasps and shrieks. Also on a positive note, the movie takes on an appropriately bleak tone throughout. They've picked a stark and frightening...and yet hauntingly beautiful...background that suits the tone of the piece well. As a viewer, you can feel the oppressive emptiness and futility of the situation. They aren't safe, not even for a moment, and neither are you.

Overall I liked this flick, but it does have a few larger flaws that are certainly worth noting. The acting...especially the acting by Lieutenant Brian Murphy, played by Rob Freeman. Freeman emoted visually very well, but the directors should have cut every single one of his lines. Some of his line readings were literally laughable, which is such a shame. There have to be better actors out there, even for a small budget piece. I mean I'm watching crappy SyFy channel movies right now and the acting is better in most of those. Sgt. Daniel Dembele (Prince David Oseia) is a little better. Not great, but he makes the stoniness of his character a little more believable and a little less Acting 101. The good thing though is that the dialogue in the movie is less than abundant. It's largely a flick about moving through space and trying to outrun the inevitable, and that apparently just doesn't involve a lot of chit chat. So if the dialogue starts to bother you, just remember that each scene of dialogue will be followed by at least five minutes of bleak visuals and a pretty darn nice score.

The only other complaint I'll make is about a cut away scene that happens at the climax of the film. The conversation it involves had to happen from a plot point of view, but I'm still not sure why we needed to see the speaker on the other end of the radio. All of a sudden the effects looked extremely cheap and the quality of the picture instantly dropped like 50%. Why couldn't the conversation happen in voice over? Changing locations like that was generally unnecessary and robbed the ending of some of the punch it deserved.

But it's definitely worth a watch. I'll watch it again. If nothing else, I have to commend this film for its grittiness and tone. It is truly a zombie film for old fans of the genre, with a simple storyline and good, old-fashioned shuffling ghouls (as opposed to those new-fangled running ones). And if none of this grabs you (or you need a selling point to make your girlfriend watch it), Prince David Oseia is hot...like really hot...and there's a sort of unnecessary scene with him shirtless at a water pump...so there's that.