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With its desiccated plains and rotting crops, the Africa depicted in the Ford Brothers’ zombie flick proves an evocative setting.

Starting strongly, with American engineer Rob Freeman washed up on a ghoul-filled shore after a plane crash, The Dead has much to recommend it: head-splatting brutality, great cinematography and make-up, plus a racially charged subtext.

A little light on plot and characterisation – even by the standards of the genre – it’s an accomplished effort only let down by a second half that meanders like a savannah stream.

Matt Glasby is a freelance film and TV journalist. You can find his work on Total Film - in print and online - as well as at publications like the Radio Times, Channel 4, DVD REview, Flicks, GQ, Hotdog, Little White Lies, and SFX, among others. He is also the author of several novels, including The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film and Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting To This Is England.