MOVIE REVIEW: The Dead (2010)

The movie reviewed here is definitely NOT for children, and probably not for most other people either.

  • GENRE: Zombie Horror
  • ACTORS: Rob Freeman, Prince David Oseia, Dan Morgan, Glenn Salvage, David Dontoh, Julia Scott-Russell, Katy Richardson, Sergho Dak Jean Gustaphe, Ben Crowe, Anne Davaud
  • RATING: R
  • PARENTAL NOTE: Not intended for children. Unlike most zombie movies, the language was not overly profane. Other than extreme mayhem and zombie violence, there were no real questionable situations. Graphic killings, including a few disembowelments. No nudity or sexual situations.
  • INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie is intended for fans of the genre, and may not be appreciated by others.
  • GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) The living try to avoid being bitten by the undead. The undead try to eat the living.
Warning: The following clip is the extended, RESTRICTED official movie trailer, for mature audiences–NOT for children, or the squeamish. It contains actual video of zombies biting humans and of zombies be shot at close range.

  • REVIEW: This film is almost non-stop zombie violence, from start to finish. The violence is “realistic” and extreme. The zombies in this movie are the slow moving variety, as in the original Romero films, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead. No running zombies here. Personally, I think that fast moving zombies are a bit scarier, but there are those who disagree. There is an subtle element to this movie–never explicitly mentioned, but which, in the end increases the terror level by at least a thousand percent. Specifically, although extremely slow (think of a minimum wage sales clerk at a low end department store, who is working with a hang-over), the zombies are innumerable, and relentless. They just never stop coming, albeit slowly, no matter where you go. There is no rest, and you can’t hide. If you stop to rest, a few will show up, looking to gnaw on your limbs. Wait long enough (a few minutes in most cases) and their zombie friends with join them. There will be dozens of the undead in a matter of minutes. Remember the 1994 movie, SPEED? It’s the movie, where the people couldn’t stop the bus, because it was rigged to explode, if its speed dropped below a certain level. THE DEAD is the zombie version of SPEED, in slow motion. You can’t stop. You can’t rest. If you do, you’ll die. …before you rise again as one of the undead.
  • RECOMMENDATION:1 This is a zombie horror movie. Many people will be highly offended by every movie in this genre because of the graphic violence, gore, language and other questionable elements. However, if you are a fan of this genre–You need to watch this movie. It is one of the best zombie movies I have seen in a long time. In fact, I call it one of the best films ever made. Terrifying, realistic, and eXtreme. You can’t ask for much more in a zombie movie. In short, this is a MUST SEE MOVIE! Highly recommended.
  • RATING (out of 5 stars):

MOVIE RATING SYSTEM:

Start with zero (0) out of five (5) possible STARS

  • Add one STAR if it looks like the movie was made by professional film makers–not 4 or 5 guys with a camcorder.
  • Add one STAR if the film has a story, theme or plot (optional for horror and/or zombie movies); or if the movie makes any sense.
  • Add additional STARS for special effects, acting, good moral message(s), realistic zombies, scariness, interesting theme or plot and the like.
  • Subtract STARS for extreme bad acting, COMPLETELY awful themes/messages, overall INCREDIBLE trashiness, graphic and persistent lewdness, and the like.

FOOTNOTE:

  1. If you wonder why zombie themes and horror films have space on a Christian website like K_Line Christian Online, please see my blog post on point

Survey: How do you get most of your information about zombies?

Scene from 'Night of the Living Dead'
Scene from Night of the Living Dead

How do you get most of your information about zombies? (select all that apply)

  • The iNternet: websites such as this or emails (24%, 18 Votes)
  • Word of mouth: Friends, family members, coworkers, police officers, etc (18%, 14 Votes)
  • TV News (14%, 11 Votes)
  • School or trade groups (14%, 11 Votes)
  • Word of mouth: from zombies themselves (13%, 10 Votes)
  • Newspapers, magazines (12%, 9 Votes)
  • All of the other choices listed (4%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 20

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NOTE: Although the survey question is unclear, we assume that “word of mouth” from a zombie also includes actual zombie bites

Top 20 movies of all time (forget what the EXPERTS say)!

This is CLEARLY a case of the readers of this blOg (K_Line Christian Online) having better taste in cinema than the “so-called” experts. The following are selected results from an ongoing survey as to the best movies of all time. If you’ve watched a film or two in your day and want to weigh in on this survey, go to the survey on www-K-Line.ORG.

Top Twenty (20) Movies of All Time:1

  1. 28 WEEKS LATER, 2007* (64%)
  2. DAY OF THE DEAD, 1985* (57%)
  3. DAWN OF THE DEAD, 1978* (57%)
  4. RE-ANIMATOR, 1985* (57%)
  5. BRAVE HEART, 1995* (50%)
  6. DAWN OF THE DEAD (remake), 2004* (50%)
  7. 28 DAYS LATER, 2002* (50%)
  8. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, 1968* (43%)
  9. PULP FICTION, 1994* (43%)
  10. DEATH PROOF, 2007* (43%)
  11. WE WERE SOLDIERS, 2002* (36%s)
  12. RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, 1985* (36%)
  13. Any of the HARRY POTTER/HOBBIT/LORD OF THE RINGS, or movies with the word “PRINCESS” in the title, mostly made after 2000* (29%)
  14. SHAUN OF THE DEAD, 2004* (21%)
  15. SNAKES ON A PLANE. 2006* (21%s)
  16. [ANOTHER MOVIE, not listed here] (21%)
  17. MAD MAX, 1979* (14%)
  18. THE GRADUATE, 1967 (7%)
  19. FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, 2007* (7%)
  20. SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, 1952 (7%)

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FOOTNOTE:

  1. Top 20 movies of all time, according to an ongoing survey at K-Line.ORG. Respondents were asked to vote for their top 10 movies of all time, in no particular order. The percentages listed shown are the frequency each film was ranked as one of the top ten.

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