The Dead review

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.