The Dead

In West Africa, an American must brave the scorching environs and avoid non-stop walking dead as a zombie outbreak has overtaken the continent. He needs to find safety not only at some sort of encampment but out of the continent as zombies come out of every nook and cranny.
****

Let me just say right out of the gate, that The Dead is BLEAK and doesn’t flash a smile by film’s end that everything’s gonna be alright. I have watched my share of zombie films, but my memory of this hugely popular sub genre couldn’t really provide a film like The Dead that just never lets up on the hungry dead coming from all directions. This movie hardly ever wavers in that regard. Barren desert landscapes of West Africa (as described by the film at the beginning, to give us a setting’s description) that seem body-less all of a sudden yield the walking dead.

Our hero, mechanic, fixer-upper engineer, Lt Brian Murphy (Rob Freeman; whose grizzled face is excellently photographed to convey exactly what the situation proposes) is left in West Africa on his own (for a while) after an American plane crashlands killing the rest of the passengers and crew upon landing in the ocean. Upon surfacing to the beach front, having used a wooden crate carrying items from the plane, Murphy immediately finds the dead gradually coming towards his direction, momentarily drawn to a badly-mangled survivor (his leg was broken). Because the dead gravitate towards the wounded soldier, Murphy benefits by breaking free (with a rock) a lock, removing some clothes, supplies, and a handgun, killing a few, giving him just enough time to get away, soon finding a beat-up pick-up with no windows and a missing tire.

Again, like previously with the wooden crate, just having time to get it open before the dead got to him, Murphy has just enough time to get another tire on the truck, driving away with some resistance (the windowless truck itself is a detriment because the dead can reach inside to possibly grab/bite him). When the truck is caught in a sand/rock pit, it looks as if Murphy is in deep shit, trying to dislodge the tire unsuccessfully, as the dead come from out of the woodwork yet again, slowly but surely approaching him, with his salvation coming in the form of an African soldier, Sgt Daniel Dembele (Prince David Oseia), removed from his troops in search of his son (his son was in an attacked tribe, relocated to another camp), using a machine gun to rid themselves of the threat momentarily. With a passenger in the truck, Murphy thankfully was able to get out of the predicament, but, as the film often reminds us, the dead are everywhere and do not cease to show up.

The Ford Brothers go to great lengths to establish that even as the dead move at a turtle pace, strength in numbers matters. One member of the walking dead can be run over, or shot isolated from the mass, but as a pack, the zombie threat is downright frightening. Their eyes were, to me anyway, reptilian. They creep up, too. I think these walking dead are just scary because there isn’t a level of decomposition, and they still harbor human traits. I think we see here in The Dead that whatever created this outbreak, it must have been recent. I don’t recall a really rotted corpse throughout the film.

The infection is quick, also. Dembele’s mother dies and is a zombie not long after. On the plane that carried Murphy, they lose a member of their entourage to the bite, practically a zombie once he takes his final breath. So the zombie outbreak is even more dangerous because preparation time for those to protect themselves is put to the test. I’m not sure if the outbreak started in Africa but the film keeps the plot centered in the continent; the ending seems to indicate that even if Africa was the starting point, the world’s in a heap of trouble.

The plot, how to kill the zombies and their flesh-eating habits, is really not far removed from the tropes of this particular sub genre as a whole. What sets this apart is the incredible setting with its harsh climate—uncompromisingly sun-baked, impoverished, and absent food and water—and lack of places to hide, no concealment from the dead. The film also comments on the war-torn status of the continent, soldiers patrolling and attempting to keep the undead population under control (becoming harder to do so as the numbers continue to increase), and with the walking dead development now very much complicating matters, men fighting men takes a backseat to men fighting corpses trying to eat them.

The film, though, remains focused on how Murphy tries to survive the elements and the flesh-eating dead, trekking after the truck gives out on him (and his colleague is caught sleeping by the hungry dead who engulf and attack him, soon taking a bite out of him) across the desert, soon taking to the mountains and hills, eyeing a camp that could provide a refuge (this location provided by Dembele) from the dangers. The filmmakers stay true to Romero by applying the “shoot ‘em in the head” method for killing the zombies, as well as, the way they walk is shambling, lethargic speed, although they instinctively eye the prize (humans’ flesh) and make their way to lunch determined.

I think what cripples many of the lesser zombie films (and there are so many that have flooded the gates since Romero's '68 masterpiece) is that it is believed the jubilant audience that loves this genre return time and again for the gore alone. Sure, that's a definite appeal and expected, but if 100 low budget zombie films are designed specifically around the human populace being besieged by a zombie plague, getting eaten, without something substantial in plot or characterization to differentiate one from the other, they all blur. At least, The Dead brings the basics into a very real Africa, and those under siege seem totally believable; already dealing with war torn Africa, now the people come under attack by their own friends and family. Average folk occupying villages, with no association in regards to one regime or another, must encounter their very loved ones in the most hostile of conditions. Brother eats brother. Mother eats son. Zombies don't discriminate or choose based on familial ties; lunch is lunch.

The driving plot device of The Dead--besides Murphy finding safe haven--is Murphy finding Daniel's son. While that might be a reasonable accomplishment, The Dead doesn't skirt the issue regarding those pesky walking dead who continue to keep coming, just because Murphy might find Daniel's son. The walking dead could care less about whether or not Murphy and Daniel's boy meet; happy endings are meaningless to them.You see barricades put up--walls--to keep the dead from intruding, but what The Dead proves is that a large number of zombies with a hunger that never ends will keep forwarding ahead until barriers no longer divide them from their meal. This doesn't give us Murphy and the kid on a beach all happy and jovial. Nope, these two are trapped, looking straight ahead as the shadows of the army of the dead send off a definite feeling of impending doom. Quite a *gulp in the throat* moment.