The Dead (2010)

Directors:

Howard J. Ford
Jonathan Ford (co-director)

Writers:

Howard J. Ford
Jonathan Ford

Genre:

Horror

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Broken Down Car | Zombie Survival | Blood | Survival | Truck

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Rob Freeman	...	Lt. Brian Murphy
Prince David Oseia	...	Sgt. Daniel Dembele (as Prince David Osei)
David Dontoh	...	The Chief
Ben Crowe	...	Mercenary Leader
Glenn Salvage	...	Mercenary
Dan Morgan	...	James
Julia Scott-Russell	...	James' Fiance
Laura Jane Stephens	...	Drowning Woman
John Dunton-Downer	...	lieutenant Frank Greaves
Nelson E. Ward	...	Pilot
Mark Chapman	...	Pilot
Anne Davaud	...	Doctor
Gaal Hama	...	Daniel's son
Leala Tall	...	Daniel's wife
Tolu Ajayi	...	major Mayhem
Garard Ouadraogo	...	Lead soldier
Josaphine Kabora	...	Dying woman
Halimata Nikiama	...	Woman with baby
Reine Pauline Tangolo	...	Baby
Katy Richardson	...	Murphy's Wife
Fae Ford-Brister	...	Murphy's Daughter
Sergho Dak Jean Gustaphe	...	Survival Camp Leader
Kerry Moallemi	...	Mother on Plane
Amir Moallemi	...	Father on Plane
Kian Moallemi	...	Baby on Plane
Amanda Ford	...	Woman on Plane
Alicia Reilly	...	Woman on Plane
John Reilly	...	Man on Plane
Benjamin James Elliot	...	Mercenary
Mark Loberg	...	Mercenary
Michael Kuper	...	Mercenary
Mark Van De Banks	...	Dead father
Lucy Harding	...	Daughter
Dan Rickard	...	Son
Howard J. Ford	...	Dying mercenary on beach (as Howard Ford)
Jonathan Ford	...	Shotgun mercenary (as Jon Ford)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Elizabeth Akingbade	...	Survivor
Benjamin C. Akpa	...	Survivor
Stephen Asare Amaning	...	The Dead
Anthony Arinze	...	Survivor
Kwesi Asmah	...	The Dead
Edward Bruce	...	The Dead
Genardo Campbell	...	Survivor
Frank Owusu Darko	...	The Dead
Chamberlain Dembele	...	The Dead
Ofuya Elias	...	Survivor
Baiden Kweku	...	Survivor
Joseph Sakey	...	The Dead
Basil Senior	...	Survivor

Directed by
Howard J. Ford
Jonathan Ford		(co-director) (as Jon Ford)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Howard J. Ford
Jonathan Ford

Produced by
Howard J. Ford	....	producer
Amir S. Moallemi	....	executive producer
Amir S. Moallemi	....	producer
Nader Taghan	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Imran Ahmad

Cinematography by
Jonathan Ford		(as Jon Ford)

Production Design by
Daniel Gomme

Art Direction by
Daniel Gomme

Makeup Department
Max Van De Banks	....	makeup artist
Max Van De Banks	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Marie Laure Babouram	....	unit production manager
Fadul Wahab Dembele	....	unit production manager
Barbara Tettey	....	unit production manager

Art Department
Sami Goddard	....	art department runner: UK

Sound Department
Antony Bayman	....	adr mixer
Paul Brooker	....	sound recordist
Adam Daniel	....	sound mixer
Graham Daniel	....	sound mixer
Peter Dobson	....	additional sound
Francis Ward Lindsay	....	sound designer
Terry Tu	....	foley editor
Terry Tu	....	foley supervisor
Andrew Wilkinson	....	sound designer

Special Effects by
Dan Rickard	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Lucy Harding	....	focus puller
Leke Ibadu	....	gaffer

Music Department
Jeremy Biggs	....	additional music effects
Paul Golding	....	score mixer
Sass Hoory	....	musician: percussion
Alex Teymour Housego	....	musician: flute
Jally Kebba Susso	....	musician: kora
Saba Tewelde	....	musician: vocalist

Transportation Department
Amudu Salifu	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Simon Bennett-Leyh	....	production assistant
Lauri Blue	....	publicist
Ashley Drakeford	....	production assistant
Patrick Gatov	....	distribution assistant
Marjolaine Gout	....	distribution coordinator
Omid Moallemi	....	production assistant
Shahram Moallemi	....	production accountant
Sarah Rasmusson	....	marketing assistant
Liz Rodriguez	....	publicist
Melissa Suncin	....	marketing assistant
Ellie Taplin	....	production assistant: UK unit
Matt Wiles	....	production assistant
Thomas Yardley	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Indelible Productions
• Latitude Films

Distributors

• Anchor Bay Entertainment (UK) (2011) (UK) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2012) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Aventi (2012) (France) (DVD)
• Future Film (2012) (Finland) (DVD)
• Hopscotch Films (2011) (Australia) (all media)
• Roadshow Entertainment (2011) (Australia) (DVD)
• Zeno Pictures (2012) (Belgium) (all media)

Other Companies

• Creative Clearance  copyright and title search
• EMRMedia  publicity
• Goldcrest Post Production London  sound post-production
• Point1Post  sound re-recording

MPAA:

Rated R for bloody zombie violence and gore

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:MA15+ | UK:18 | Ireland:18 | Germany:18 | Finland:K-18 | South Korea:18

Filming Locations:

Burkina Faso

Company:

Indelible Productions

Trivia:

Rob Freeman didn't use any safety gear for the scene in which he climbs a steep rock quarry.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the US Air Force Engineer dreams he has returned home and is greeted by his wife and children, he is wearing a US NAVY, white-dress uniform, and not a blue Air Force uniform..

Zombie realism in a wondrous locale, something of a minor gem

The Dead. Its not the most creative of titles, reading it you pretty much know it's either going to be a James Joyce adaptation or a film about zombies. This time it's the latter and the stripped down title actually works, since this is pretty much a stripped down zombie film. Moving away from fast zombies, crowd pleasing style and "fun" gore gags, The Dead is bleak, numbing and even repetitive, an approach I actually enjoyed as it seems to get far closer than many films to the real horror of such events. It stuns with visuals and draws the heart with an inspired central heroic partnership, but by and large is many leagues away from the shallow silliness of all too many popular zombie films these days. Following at first the journey of Lt. Brian Murphy, wanting nothing more than to return home from a zombie outbreak stricken Africa, then Murphy and Sgt. Daniel Dembele, the latter trying to find his son, this is a quest film as much as horror, the journey as important as the grue. A first time feature for writers/directors/brothers Howard and Jonathon Ford (the latter also co handled cinematography with Jon Ford), The Dead moves at a dignified, steady paced, sporadically shot through with brief but intense bursts of tense violence heavy on head shots, laced with a growing respect and friendship between the two heroes and occasionally touched with poignancy shining in the gloom of the situation and ardour of the trek. Its skilfully handled, laconic stuff with a documentarians eye for the location (I never knew Burkina Faso was such a beautiful place), characters suitably rounded and likable and a powerful finale, overall it's a film with a punch. Rob Freeman as Lt Murphy plays things like a tough guy character actor of yore, impassive and resourceful determination with a human edge, while Prince David Oseia does equally well as Sgt. Dembele, carrying himself with authority and intelligence. As with any such film, the zombies are a major part of the experience, and The Dead succeeds nicely here. Make up effects are handled by Max Van De Banks and the zombies are simply portrayed, dead eyed, pallid, dirty and some bloodied, they move at a refreshing ominous creep as well, taking after the terrors of Romero pictures rather than any cheese of recent years. Gore is decent too, a realistic approach is taken over setting up lots of fun gimmicky kills, the headshots can get repetitive but there are a few other methods on display, a couple of which are real grisly crowd pleasers. By and large I had a fine time with this one and I hardly even expected too, having gone to watch it on a whim. The film does lag in the middle, stuttering a bit even in its already measured pacing, but it doesn't take too long to return to its groove. More irksomely, there are one or two undeveloped scenes which are too rapidly glossed over, as if time or the budget ran too short, there are some editing blips as well, though this may well have been intentional it still comes across a bit of a niggle. Still one of the best zombie films I've seen in a while though, well recommended.