The Dead (2010)
Written & Directed by Howard J. Ford & Jonathan Ford
Starring Rob Freeman, Prince David Oseia

When this first came out, I was amazed at how well done and effective is was. I recently got the soundtrack, which made me want to revisit it for the first time in over a decade. I was still amazed how good it still is and realized that I had never officially reviewed it here on the Krypt. That is now fixed! For a sub-genre that is a half of a century old (yes, I am making Romero’s Night the starting point) and has hundreds of entries, it is very difficult to make one that is entertaining, let alone effective and scary after all this time. But with a very small cast to carry the story, some incredible special effects, and a land as barren and sparse as one’s hope in the film, the Ford Brothers has created one of the best zombie films in these last 50 years.

One of the themes in a lot of zombie films is just the absence of any hope, that it can’t be cured or at least contained, and that we’re pretty much all doomed. Like the walking corpses, it just seems to keep moving. This film tries to convey the essence of hope, but I must tell you, it’s a tough thing to hold on to. The story is really about two men, one American military mechanic (Rob Freeman) who is over in Africa on a mission of aid, while everyone tries to figure out just what the hell is going on and why the dead are coming back to life. Finding himself alone after the escape plane he was on crashes, he starts wandering the barren wasteland trying to find a base or something. He meets up with a young soldier (Prince David Oseia) who deserted his post to return home to find his family, only to discover that his son had escape their village’s attack and was possibly taken to a military base 200 miles north. They work together in trying not only to find the young Sergeant’s young son, but also to stay alive.

The zombies here are the traditional ones, moving very slowly and with that hunger for human flesh. While most of them are in recent forms of decay or partial dismemberment, they continue to look for food. These are some of the most realistic looking zombies I’ve seen in a long time. These are not half rotted corpses like on The Walking Dead, mainly recently deceased with minimal makeup, but still very scary. There is one zombie, that I’m not sure how they managed it, either with CGI or a real life amputee actor, but as he shuffles towards our hero, it looks like his leg below the knee is barely connected, turning in unnatural ways, that is not only creepy as hell, but a highly incredible effect.

That is one of the things that I found so amazing about this film is just how scary it is. Plenty of times they build the suspense up with our two heroes trying to accomplish something, like just putting gas in their car, with the dead inching their way towards them. While they are walking through the desert, especially at night, not being able to see that much, never knowing when you’ll run into a group of them, or even just one, is unnerving. Not to mention when they try to catch a bit of sleep! The special effects are also top notch, including a scene where it really looks like they plow into a walking corpse in their car. Kudos to the entire effects team, from the makeup to the stunts. Working in those conditions, in that heat, had to be just brutal, not only for them but for the actors as well.

Written and directed by brothers Howard and Jonathan Ford, as well as covering the jobs of cinematographer (Jonathan) and editor (Howard), they have given fans a zombie film that while it doesn’t really break any molds, it does give us a very different setting, with a minimal cast, but makes it highly effective, with a strong emotional impact. The young Sergeant speaks of never giving up hope, even though everywhere you look, there doesn’t seem to be any. It’s a tough message to chew but it does show the power of humanity.