Following a zombie outbreak in Africa, an American engineer and a local soldier try to make their way north. The soldier is trying to reunite with his son who was evacuated from their village. The American is trying to get off the continent and back to his own family. This simple plot is all that The Dead (2010) needs in order to create a successful addition to the zombie sub-genre.
There's nothing terribly new here, yet by planting the story on another continent brings a freshness to the proceedings. The zombies here are incredibly slow, even slower than George Romero's. Their appearance is one of general emaciation and with dead white eyes, and their motor skills seem off. They can pick up their pace a bit when their prey is within their reach, but the way the protagonists generally handle them is to simply walk away. Even so, the zombies are an ever present threat and sense of dread. They are everywhere, which is particularly amazing since most of the story takes place on a little used back road through bush and fields in the middle of nowhere. Their homing instincts in locating living humans is incredible. You can easily see how they could overcome the living simply by forcing them to constantly remain on the move with no time, or safe place to sleep.
I really enjoyed The Dead and recommend it.
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