Harry says the closest tonal zombie film to the opening of DAWN OF THE DEAD is the Ghana shot THE DEAD

Hey folks, Harry here with a film I saw at Midnight, Saturday Night at FANTASTIC FEST - and Man. When this zombie film was over... Greg Nicotero was standing at the back smiling like a happy ape and looking anxiously at the Ford Brothers wanting to meet them. And I spotted Greg, and made the introductions - and Greg is a HUGE fan of THE DEAD - and it is easy to see why. First off - THE DEAD isn't really a MIDNIGHT horror film - it is however, a balls to the wall awesome ZOMBIE Film that never goes for giggles, doesn't go with hamfisted political or allegorical overtones... No, just imagine. You're in GHANA when the Zombie Apocalypse comes. You're an American Military mechanic that was forced to take off while still attached to fuel trucks still pumping. The plane ends up crashing a bit later - and our hero, Rob Freeman (X-FILES), that mechanic washes up on a beach with a crate of supplies and a very urgent and immediate need to get that box fucking open pronto. People are dying on this beach, and it doesn't end there. It actually gets worse. Significantly worse. The dirt roads with overgrown plant live everywhere, hiding a non-stop barrage of the undead. The physical ZOMBIE look is predominately with contacts and a beautifully subtle makeup job... Then the bladders and blood that spurts is just gorgeous. The Gore is frankly jaw-dropping. Imagine if WALKABOUT was brought about by THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE. And these are full on Romero rules zombies. And they're scary as fuck. There's a great Team Up between Rob's character and a native Ghanan actor - and DAMN He's Great! The White & Black Team-up common in Romero's films is even more poignant here. The Ford Brothers literally went where no Western Cameras had apparently gone before. We're talking tiny villages and extreme modest size towns - and hired the local people to be in their Zombie film. Employing whole communities. Faced with bandits and government thugs, disease and dysentary. Directing while projectile vomiting... These guys let it all hang out and for me, it rated as a 9 out of 10 on my voting card. The cinematography, the land, the story, characters, music and gore were all excellent. With some very very scary situations. SO HAPPY I saw the first Continental Screening of this one. If I were you - try not to miss this second showing. SO GREAT!