‘The Dead’ Fight South African Corrupt Cops and Tribal Curses!
by Marc Patterson
Last week we gave you an early glimpse into the nightmare of making the The Dead, a new zombie film shot in South Africa that is now slated to premiere at Film4′s FrightFest later this month. (see article here) The Dead, a mash up of 28 Days Later meets Lucio Fulci’s Zombi follows the saga of Lt. Brian Murphy whose plane has crashed off the African coast. This would be a bad enough survival situation as it stands, except he’s up against more than just the elements and crash survival. He has to fight off the living dead. He’s joined by a local military man and together they struggle to make their way to safety, if there are any safe spots left.
The nightmare behind the production continues in the newest installment where the filmmakers must deal with corrupt cops, equipment that doesn’t work, local tribes making sacrifices, and the real possibility that their very production itself has been cursed. It’s starting to sound like the making of might be more interesting than the film, if it weren’t for the fact that the film itself is so damn original.
Howard tells us “It’s hard to explain how tough it was trying to keep the production going and keep spirits up when everything that could have gone wrong does, and everyone around you seems to be either sick or in danger of disease or death – some of the things we had to go through to bring this film to audiences I hope never has to be repeated by any living soul… We truly stared death in the face and it was,sometimes, a very dark and lonely place…“
Sorry for your pain and anguish Howard, but your pain is our pleasure.
Enjoy folks…
