My days of blindly watching a zombie film are pretty much over. As a lover of the flesh-eating undead, I'm sick and tired of all the zombie movies that have been saturating the market. What's that, you say? Shouldn't I love being buried in a cinematic pile of rotting flesh? You're right, I should love it. But I don't, because they're not good films. I love the accessibility of filmmaking these days. The advancement of technology and the advent of the internet allows talented people to follow their passion without having to wade through studio bullshit. However, it also allows any jackass with a camcorder and a gore fetish to whip together some bastardization of a Romero flick and shove it down everyone's throats. This saturation is diluting the undead. Absence makes the heart grown fonder. Overabundance makes the heart grow whatever the opposite of fond is.
Alright, my tirade is over. I wanted to thoroughly explain the attitude I brought into The Dead, so that when I say it's a good zombie flick, you know exactly where I'm coming from. The Dead does just about everything right and it's few flaws - some cheap looking sets and questionable acting - can be attributed to a lack of a bigger budget, something it's hard to fault the filmmakers for.
The major difference between The Dead and countless films like it is the setting. Instead of shoulder-to-shoulder zombies crowding the streets of major cities, the film takes the undead epidemic to Africa, something we've never quite seen before - at least, not to my recollection. The change is more or less purely aesthetic, but it sure does look beautiful. And our heroes trying to survive a trek across the scorching deserts of Africa amidst the walking dead is certainly an interesting dynamic.
A common thread among zombie films is the idea that the undead are a secondary threat, acting more as a catalyst for something else. Man is often portrayed as the primary threat, his quest for survival revealing his true barbaric nature. And yet here, in a country known for its violence and chaos, humankind has united against a common enemy. It's certainly powerful, but lacks any sort of coherent commentary. It feels like there's an idea under the surface wanting to get out, but then again, I could just be imagining that because Africa is such a political hotspot. Even without an underlying message, The Dead works well as a straightforward horror film in the truest sense. Whereas Romero's films often contained some sort of ironic (and incredibly dark) humor, The Dead is as a serious as a walking corpse and that makes it truly terrifying. Still, not taking advantage of the political landscape seems like wasted potential.
Guest author Dylan Duarte has a love/hate relationship with the undead. When he's not complaining to the internet, he’s writing about Halloween costumes. He can be reached at dylnduarte@gmail.com
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