"Dead Set" Episode #1.3 (2008)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Yann Demange

TV Series:

"Dead Set" (2008)

Original Air Date:

29 October 2008 (Season 1, Episode 3)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Horror

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Big Brother | Zombie | Show Within A Show | Satire | TV Channel

Cast

Jaime Winstone	...	Kelly
Andy Nyman	...	Patrick
Riz Ahmed	...	Riq
Chizzy Akudolu	...	Angel
Liz May Brice	...	Alex
Warren Brown	...	Marky
Shelley Conn	...	Claire (credit only)
Beth Cordingly	...	Veronica
Adam Deacon	...	Space
Kevin Eldon	...	Joplin
Raj Ghatak	...	Grayson
Kathleen McDermott	...	Pippa
Jennifer Aries	...	Sophie (credit only)
Cavan Clerkin	...	Dennis
Drew Edwards	...	Colin (credit only)

Runtime:

UK:141 min (5 episodes)

Quotes:

Joplin: Veronica...?
Veronica: Yeah?
Joplin: Would you like a cup of tea?
Veronica: Alright, thanks...
Joplin: Sorry... is that "alright, thanks" as in you would like one, or, er, "I'm alright thanks, I wouldn't"?
Veronica: Second one!
Joplin: Sorry, is, is...
Veronica: I *don't* want one!

Still not enjoying it.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Dead Set (#1.3) starts as Kelly (Jaime Winstone) manages to get to the pharmacy in the supermarket to steal the medical supplies needed to help the bitten Angel (Chizzy Akudolu) back at the Big Brother house. However while looting the pharmacy & supermarket for supplies two armed policemen show up. Meanwhile Pippa (Kathleen McDermott) & Patrick (Andy Nyman) are still trapped inside a room by a zombie Davina McCall as they all fight for survival as the flesh eating zombies continue to take over & at the Big Brother house Angel finally dies...

The third episode of five of this British produced zombie TV mini-series which is also available as a complete two plus hour edit I have to say yet again I remain firmly unimpressed with this despite seeing so many positive comments about it. Maybe I have horror fatigue or maybe I am just not getting it or maybe, just maybe it's total crap. Personally I'd go for the latter of those options. At only twenty five minutes in length this moves along at a good pace but not that much is going on, the script has settled down into following three sets of human character's, Riq & that woman, the producer & Pippa & Kelly & the house-mates & I find it all rather boring actually. The excursion to the supermarket is alright & adds a bit of variety but I don't understand the two policemen or why they are so unhelpful & aggressive to them, I just don' get it & there's no logic to it either. I am really starting to hate everyone in this, I really wish the zombies would just kill the lot of them although Patrick the producer is still quite funny & the bit when he takes a dump complete with fart noises is this episodes highlight, or lowlight depending on your point of view. Some of the character's are really stupid, have none of them ever seen a zombie film before? If someone is bitten they turn into a zombie themselves, it's not a difficult concept to understand so why do they continue to insist on trying to help those who are injured & end up getting themselves killed? Episode two ended on a bit of a cliffhanger while this one ends much more slowly & quietly.

The main aspect of Dead Set that I hate is the way it's shot, it has this bleak grey colourless tone to the picture & that shaky hand held camcorder cinematography is truly awful, awful, awful. The scene when the Angel zombie gets dumped into the jacuzzi is so badly shot & edited it's literally impossible to see what has happened. Then the sight of this zombie flapping around in a jacuzzi that is no more than two feet deep not being able to get out is a ridiculous & annoying sight indeed. I am amazed by comments saying Dead Set is gory, for a start you can barely see any blood or gore because of the awful photography but it's not gory anyway, there's a guy with a bitten neck, the usual blood splatter, a pair of scissors is stuck in a zombies head & that's it for this episode. Even the scene when the two policemen are killed & the zombies crowd round to eat them nothing & I mean nothing is shown as it just cuts away when we could have seen some cool intestine eating. If this was a George A. Romero living dead flick he would have shown it.

Dead Set (#1.3) is another totally forgettable episode in a largely forgettable & clichéd TV mini-series that I am hating even more with each passing episode. I honestly don't care if I watch episode four or not but I will since it's free.