THE DEAD, which I caught at zomBcon, tells the story of a combat engineer stranded in Africa during a mass evacuation of Westerners during a continental zombie outbreak. Some have described the film as a bit dry, and the barren landscapes and the often emotionless characters certainly cultivate that reaction, but I enjoyed it. It’s innovative (zombie apocalypse on the African savannah), the scenery is beautiful, the storyline is realistically presented (even though the main characters sometimes make bad decisions that may seem obvious to the viewer), and the film’s plotting keeps things simple. The ending provides the notion that maybe the world is ending, but a new world can be forged by the people who can stick it out. One thing disturbed me, which was how slow the zombies were–they made Romero zombies look athletic. I’m okay with slow zombies, but even more than usual with slow zombies, it begged the question how the zombie plague swarmed across the vast continent so quickly, and how the zombies could in fact have gained significant numbers at all. Check it out for something new in the genre.
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