Well into the latest season of England's reality TV hit, Big Brother, a zombie plague suddenly breaks out. With chaos erupting outside, the house-mates are safely locked away in the Big Brother house without the faintest idea that anything's wrong.
I watched this back in January after receiving the DVD from Amazon UK, and what can I say? I suppose that I could best sum it up by just saying wow! Dead Set is a brilliant serial, not to mention the best damn thing to come out of the UK's horror scene in well over a decade. To hell with The Descent, Charlie Brooker's zombie opus is horror to be proud of! I really appreciated the nihilism on display here. There's satire, and it's spot-on. However, make no mistake about it, this is a bleak piece of work. The use of the Big Brother house is very inspired, and depending on how you look at it, the fact that the contestants are the only people who are truly safe just adds to the depressing nature of the series. Of course, human nature can ruin that safety net real quick.
That brings me to the characters. Most of them are annoying, as they should be. This is Big Brother we're talking about here! The only 100% likable character in the series is Alex (Liz May Brice). She's also the only character with no connection to the reality series, big shock. Then there's Patrick (Andy Nyman), the show's tyrannical director. He's an over the top lunatic, but he's so much fun to watch. Donkey Punch's Jaime Winstone gets the lead role of Kelly, the producer who clues the house-mates in to the carnage going on around them. Of the show's contestants, Joplin is the most memorable. Again, he's not exactly likable, but I did find myself feeling a bit sorry for him. The others in the house treat him poorly and refer to him as Gollum behind his back. Kathleen McDermott plays Pippa, the most grating house-mate. If I have one complaint, it's that they killed Davina McCall off far too quickly. Pippa should have been offed instead.
This thing doesn't hold back on the gore either. There's some nasty stuff here, often accompanied by jet black humor. Just look at the bit where Patrick goes off on a hilarious diatribe while cutting up a body to distract the zombies. I also got a kick out of the nods to George Romero's films, such as Patrick's demise and Mark mistaking Riq for a zombie.
I watched all five episodes back to back. At about 140 minutes complete with "previously on" intros, this feels like one big zombie epic. I loved the absolute hell out of it.
I watched this back in January after receiving the DVD from Amazon UK, and what can I say? I suppose that I could best sum it up by just saying wow! Dead Set is a brilliant serial, not to mention the best damn thing to come out of the UK's horror scene in well over a decade. To hell with The Descent, Charlie Brooker's zombie opus is horror to be proud of! I really appreciated the nihilism on display here. There's satire, and it's spot-on. However, make no mistake about it, this is a bleak piece of work. The use of the Big Brother house is very inspired, and depending on how you look at it, the fact that the contestants are the only people who are truly safe just adds to the depressing nature of the series. Of course, human nature can ruin that safety net real quick.
That brings me to the characters. Most of them are annoying, as they should be. This is Big Brother we're talking about here! The only 100% likable character in the series is Alex (Liz May Brice). She's also the only character with no connection to the reality series, big shock. Then there's Patrick (Andy Nyman), the show's tyrannical director. He's an over the top lunatic, but he's so much fun to watch. Donkey Punch's Jaime Winstone gets the lead role of Kelly, the producer who clues the house-mates in to the carnage going on around them. Of the show's contestants, Joplin is the most memorable. Again, he's not exactly likable, but I did find myself feeling a bit sorry for him. The others in the house treat him poorly and refer to him as Gollum behind his back. Kathleen McDermott plays Pippa, the most grating house-mate. If I have one complaint, it's that they killed Davina McCall off far too quickly. Pippa should have been offed instead.
This thing doesn't hold back on the gore either. There's some nasty stuff here, often accompanied by jet black humor. Just look at the bit where Patrick goes off on a hilarious diatribe while cutting up a body to distract the zombies. I also got a kick out of the nods to George Romero's films, such as Patrick's demise and Mark mistaking Riq for a zombie.
I watched all five episodes back to back. At about 140 minutes complete with "previously on" intros, this feels like one big zombie epic. I loved the absolute hell out of it.