Minor spoilers may follow, This movie had few high points to offset what was overall a somewhat lackluster outing for a zombie flick.The story follows Rob Freeman's character (Lt. Brian Murphy), who after surviving a plane crash off the coast of Africa, must make his way across the African landscape, in an attempt to find a way out. On his journey he meets up with Prince David Oseia's character (Sgt. Daniel Dembele) who is on a mission of his own; to find his son.The movie's premise, although very promising, fails to deliver. The movie does a good job setting up the atmosphere of the situation, but pacing issues, as well as a few dead zones tend to cause it to drag on a bit.The 2 lead stars of the movie Rob Freeman and Prince David Oseia are likable enough characters, each with their own quest ahead of them. However, sub-par acting from both cause a few cringe inducing moments that make it hard to really buy into their characters plight.The true stars of the movie are the Zombies. They have done a truly wonderful job retaining the Romero"esque" features of the zombies. The makeup and movement of the zombies are very traditional and one of the few highlights of the movie.The setting, although beautiful, does not really add to the overall ambiance. Finally, the story, although very traditional in the zombie movie landscape does not offer anything new, exciting or even unique to the genre.Final verdict, my review on this movie is based on "my" overall experience with the movie, which in no way means the movie will and has not been enjoyed by many others. If you are looking for a different zombie movie, then perhaps give it a try. However, if you are not completely into this genre then perhaps skip this one.CL

"The Dead" is a fairly decent zombie movie — I'd rate it a 7 out of 10. It's a lower-budget feature, and some of the acting is a bit flat, but this is a movie that does a lot with a little. The film wisely makes the most of its African setting, and has an intelligent, if slowly paced, story. It focuses on its two military protagonists' needs for food, sleep, shelter, fuel and vigilance, during the course of a lengthy overland trek. That's refreshing in an era of "Strippers vs. Zombies" (2012), and various fairly lackluster clones of "Shaun of the Dead" (2004).Best of all, however, is the film's skilled manner of evoking "slow burn" or "creeping" horror. The zombies in "The Dead" usually move quite slowly. They might be the slowest zombies I've ever seen. This might be the anti-"28 Days Later" (2002). But that makes the vibe here unique among the spate of modern zombie films — and maybe a little reminiscent of George A Romero's pioneering early films. If you're reaction is like mine, you'll find it a little unnerving to see them gather en masse at a snail's pace.

After surviving a plane crash, a white engineer fleeing the chaos of zombie-torn sub-Saharan Africa gets swept back into the danger zone, where he teams up with a black soldier in search of his lost son.The sense of the vastness of Africa with its little localities is well done. And I love the idea of zombie picaresque, with a sequence of odd encounters under the constant threat of slow moving brain gobblers.But this is not good. It runs 20 mins too long, was probably 150 mins before editing, suffers from a plonkish story structure, and sucks diesel for characterisation and dialogue. The opening half hour is uncomfortable in its assumption of colonial values, and I'm not far off calling it racist - although it does become more humane when the soldier enters. A concept with so much potential, but every trick of story telling is missed.Impossible to judge the actors when they're ordered to deliver such drek. At least it didn't sign off with the US army saving the day.The music is beautiful.Overall, a disappointment after the combined IMDb and meta- scores.

When I first saw this film, I was stunned. To see a zombie film that actually cares about the story and characters and not just about the gore is something that more writers and directors should do. I myself love gore but to me it takes a backseat to story and characters. Where to begin with this film? I will first start with that the setting is genius and looks unbelievable on film. One of the finest settings in any film I have ever seen. The music is also great as well, though it is usually played at minimum, but when it is played it is moody and atmospheric. Another great thing about this film is the story. It has been years since I have seen a zombie film with such a good story. Not to spoil the story but the film centers on two main characters trying to get to both of their respective families. One is an American engineer while another is an African soldier. The two actors do quite good jobs and really display their frustration, fear, and loneliness quite well. There are also many terrific side characters as well (including a shaman who managed to impress me without uttering a single line of dialogue). Then there of course the stars of the film, the zombies. Oh. My. God. These are seriously the best zombies since Fulci's 1979 classic Zombie. They are very blank in their design but something about them makes them so menacing and down right scary. It is probably their eyes (seriously freaks me right out), which are ice blue and blank. The gore is also impressive, though it doesn't stand out from other zombie movies (although gore doesn't matter to me much anyways). The scares are also extremely effective. That's right. A zombie film with Romero style zombies that scare the living s*** out of you. Now that is impressive on it's own right. Another thing to mention is the scenes that take place during night. Those will haunt you for quite a while, definitely not for the faint of heart. One thing to note is that is also very Romero like in that is sprinkles in political and social commentary, and in this case this would be about the United State's and the world in general's relation to Africa. Fortunately this is downplayed and if you don't even believe it, you won't even notice it. To wrap things up this is seriously one of the greatest zombie films of the last 10, nay , 20 years. Definitely not something to be missed, a classic in the making.