MovieChat Forums > The Dead (2011) Discussion > So many glowing reviews on this board...

So many glowing reviews on this board...


Got my hopes up, only to be met with a long, boring and dull film.

The main lead just cannot act at all, seriously, every line was delivered in the same non-emotional monotone. Sure the settings were spectacular but the script and story were terrible, the zombies looked OK but they were so slow and there were so few of them that you were left wondering why anybody was scared.

Every scene you were supposed to fear for the leads life was just hilariously un-scary because he could have easily walked up to each and every zombie there and machete'd them to death without a fear in the world.

If you have slow zombies you have to have A LOT of slow zombies in order to convey fear to the audience, there is no way any organised army would ever be overrun and defeated by those zombies, they were slower than slow zombies, they took fast shuffle steps instead of slow lunges.

Just a poor film all in all, I honestly can't see why so many people on here seemed to have loved it.

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cancelled too soon:
-Firefly
-New Amsterdam
-Journeyman
-Life
-terriers

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I agree. I only made it 30 minutes in before I shut it off. Way too many scenes that just annoyed me. Right when he washes up on shore at the start. Why is he in such a panic to open that locked box? The zombies are slow as hell. Just get up and walk around them and come back. Then again he runs into a zombie in the cornfield, and lets one sneak up on him while fixing the tire.

Then the 2 main characters meet. The guys truck is stuck on a rock (how did that happen to begin with?). Then he shoots at a zombie and runs out of bullets. In a situation like that, you would be an idiot not to know how much ammo you have in your gun. Hes then surrounded be 3 zombies who walk ultra slow. a Child could have done better. And hes supposed to be military?

When I watch a zombie movie I put myself in a characters shoes. When a character does somethign so painfully dumb that it gets them killed or in trouble, it really annoys me. The zombies in this film were just way to slow to be of any sort of threat in any of the situations presented. Horrible movie. Very dissapointed in imdbs board reviews here.

DOTD (original and 2004) + 28 days later are my fav zombie movies. The put a sense of fear and struggle.

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I couldn't agree more Rob Freeman was so bad in this movie. I thought he was so bad I had to look at this IMDB page to see if he acted in anything else, or this was his first film. He was terrible..

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Tell me about it!

I hate to rip on the guy, but he really was terrible in this role. Good luck to him though, maybe if he takes some classes...

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cancelled too soon:
-Firefly
-New Amsterdam
-Journeyman
-Life
-terriers

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Can't disagree with you more. This is how zombie movies are supposed to be. They've since been ruined by Hollywood, and this generation of fans expect zombies to be running backs, and to flip upside down and scurry on the ceiling. This is a return to true form, and it couldn't have come at a better time. The zombie genre is plagued by *beep* finally something more in the styling of '85's Day of the Dead.

"Nothing says "OBEY ME" like a severed head on a fence post."

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Sorry but if you took the time to actually read what I said, I in no way implied I want zombies to 'flip upside down' and be as fast as 'running backs'.

No, I said if you have slow zombies then you need ENOUGH slow zombies to add tension, something the original Day of The Dead did very well. Slow zombies are scary but not if you can simple WALK AROUND them with no hassle at all.

Simply put, there were not enough slow zombies to be a credible threat to him.

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cancelled too soon:
-Firefly
-New Amsterdam
-Journeyman
-Life
-terriers

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It was the entire continent of Africa. No, scratch that, it was the entire world. Nothing left but zombies. Only a few survivors. Are you saying you need a full on horde scene to enjoy a movie? I'll give you that it's not an action film. It's a character driven drama that happens to be set post zombie apocalypse.

"Nothing says "OBEY ME" like a severed head on a fence post."

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So?

These zombies were so slow it left me wondering how on earth any organised military force got overrun. When one man can drive across Africa, then walk a long long way, then machete his way through a couple hundred zombies all on his own....

How exactly did the world fall again?

They needed either faster zombies, or more zombies! It was a nicely filmed movie, don't get me wrong, I loved the cinematography but it all got a bit dull. The acting from the lead was terrible as well.

There were zero situations within the film that I thought 'Oh damn what could I ever do to survive in that situation!!', the answer was always 'Erm... I'd just walk around the zombies at a regular walking pace'.

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cancelled too soon:
-Firefly
-New Amsterdam
-Journeyman
-Life
-terriers

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I liked the open area idea. Instead of a city.

And I'm fine with slow zombies. But I think it is a mistake to make them want to blindly eat you. I think better idea would be they are rather mindless and dead but their bite turns, sure. It gets you through the virus. So even spit or blood or tissue on you would turn you. So open space would be deadly. And they'd be relentless. You never get to sleep. Or relax. And, this gets me. They never seem to have any climbing ability. So how do they get in through a window etc? But I digress........

But you are correct. Hard to imagine that few zombies overrunning anything. Give me 10 big men, or women, with crowbars (any blades get stuck in bone to much) and room to swing and we can kill a thousand a day easy. Give me twenty men with rifles and I'll pile them up like cordwood for an Alaskan winter.

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My sentiments exactly.

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cancelled too soon:
-Firefly
-New Amsterdam
-Journeyman
-Life
-terriers
-SGU

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What you are describing is not a zombie movie, it's a "virus" movie, made popular by films such as 28 Days Later, and often confused for a zombie movie. Zombies have no reason to be running track. Also, in the great, classic zombie films, the nature of the outbreak, and the exact way that it spreads is never revealed. Yeah, if you're bitten you turn, but Romero has always suggested that it's not the actual bite that turns you into a zombie. The bite just kills you, and anything that dies returns to life as a zombie. I can see how this film will not appeal to everyone, but IMO it's one of the best in decades. I think the ADD generation has been barraged with zombies with superhuman abilities, cut together with flashy quick-cut MTV editing, and screaming popular music. Anything shy of that seems to strike people as "boring".

"Nothing says "OBEY ME" like a severed head on a fence post."

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This is statement directed to ShawnoftheLiberalDead.

People, stop arguing with this troll for god's sake. If you take the time to look at every thread in this board, you can see that the only thing he's done is to defend the movie like a blindfolded imbecile.

This is a pathetic way to market a pathetic film...

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You've got that reversed. A virus type movie is more zombie ( in the original meaning) than a Romero type, which would be considered ghouls or revenants. But in pop culture zombie is a name for either type. But does it really matter?

Fact: 87.3% of IMDB users belong to the secret society of cynics.

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What I am describing is a zombie.

And I'm not of the "ADD generation" as you put it. Likely older than you. I said I have no problem with slow zombies. In fact, I actually prefer them. What I do have a problem with is their usage in this film. I like the idea of using them in rural as opposed to the standard urban setting. But if you are going to do that you simply cannot be afraid of the zombies in this film. They are too slow and far, far too few. I mentioned virus because in this setting, the only real fear would be splatter contamination. Other than that, it is rather absurd to think they could overrun any one that saw them coming.

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Isn't what makes the zombie threat so scary, the fact that they move in a horde?

Also there are slow zombies and there are zombies that were WAY too slow to be effective....and I think if this is a character driven drama, you need to have people who can act in the roles otherwise it completely loses it's effectiveness. I didn't believe for one second that that lead actor was scared/sad/angry/happy anything. They could have cast a robot. I truly believe the acting is what killed this movie.

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Sorry i have to agree with the OP.. he makes a point.. After watching dawn of the dead(2004),28 days later and REC,manz,i gotta say fast zombies are alot scarier and more effective in placing a fear in me.. Imagine being chased after by a few fast zombies and one army of slow zombies... i would prefer to run away from the latter...


Don't you guys agree on that? Anyway, just my two cents :)

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Honestly it wasn't horrible, it just offered nothing new. It was endless footage of slow moving zombies combined with soulless characters. There also were glaring Hollywood type mistakes, which invalidate the claim this movie was somehow better.

Being desert trained military, there was one really dumb blonde don't do that, don't go in there moment that really bothered me. He's hot, dehydrated and he kills a zombie wrapped in BLACK clothing takes this clothing which saves him, and reinvigorates him....ummmmmmmm nope, this would kill him! I understand why they went for this, now he looks like a desert mercenary bad-ass, however......

Black clothing absorbs heat! Here's a little experiment for yah next time it's 90 degrees wherever you are, wrap yourself in black and see how you feel after 15 minutes. You'll be throwing that off in a hurry! Looks great in a movie, but it's not realistic, not at all! Nobody moving around in this environment wears black! ONLY in movies such as The Mummy so the character looks cool, or thinner. The only people you see in these areas wearing black are women. The men in these areas MAKE them wear it, on purpose, not for comfort, but for another reason. People actually living in, working strenuously to stay alive in this environment would tell you this would be like pouring gasoline on yourself and lighting up.

Also the continuously moving around in a beat up truck at night thing was just plain stupid too. The zombies have the advantage of dark cover to sneak up on you, it just doesn't make sense. What you would do is find shelter before dark, not constantly imperiling yourself, and instead moving around during the day when visual is much wider.

Then there's the truck stuck in a rut thing. We're trained to look where we're parking our vehicle...duhh. But worse, they don't even try to to explain how he did that, they just needed him to be stuck, so he could meet the other main character. Some of these 'Hollywood' movies employ 'writers' to think about things like this and say "lets show him swerving, or stalling, or something so he gets stuck, so our other main character can be introduced" Low rent, no thought movies just show him stuck. Also you know they're slow moving, they follow you anywhere, you'd get out of the truck, walk away, make noise so they all followed you, and then after leading them a good distance away, you'd run back to the truck and try to start it, duhhhhhhh. Don't give me the 'just a movie' crap line, this isn't supposed to be a dumb blond!

So now you combine bad acting, no story, no thought to situations and dumb/life threatening situations by a trained military professional? And try to tell me all these people loved the movie so much they signed up for the first time to IMDB to declare it the best zombie movie in 25 years? What are you smoking? Like I said it's not horrible, but it's far from great. Visually it was very good, but so aren't Imax movies. But it was terribly weak in story, acting and plot. If that's all it takes to make you happy I guess...light up another fattie in your parents basement and enjoy it again.

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[deleted]

Agreed - these fools are smoking crack

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He's right about the ridiculous slowness of the zombies. These zombies were zero threat. a pack of pissed off dogs could have torn apart the entire zombie population.

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[deleted]

loser... stfu

http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=42385905

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loser... stfu

How articulate of you.

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cancelled too soon:
-Firefly
-New Amsterdam
-Journeyman
-Life
-terriers
-SGU

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I did't mind the zombies, but I agree, there needed to be more of them. I could appreciate the mood the director established in a couple of scenes. I thought the opening 5 minutes were great.

BUT the lead single handedly ruins the film. He is so awful and his character is so boring. There is not a single remoted interesting character in this movie: they are all deathly dull. The film also needs at least 15 minutes cut from it.

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long, boring and dull film,

says it all

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I think the main reason for that is that many zombie film lovers like myself are happy to see the old-style brought back. I thought they did it well, and it reminds me of the best (Romero). I wouldn't write a "glowing" review. It had its flaws (most definitely the lead actor) but I liked it and it was nice to have a less predictable zombie film without the usual Hollywood flair that is paired with no real story or unique style.

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I don't even read good reviews anymore because they're all written by paid shills. It's getting worse and worse every year as everyone involved with a movie go and promote it online. See everyone in the credits? I'm sure every single one of them wrote something nice about this movie.


"Baba Booey! Baba Booey!"

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