2008 (UK)
Broadcast 2008 on E4, a 5 part mini series. Also available on DVD and 4OD.
Contains mild spoilers.
This had been on my
radar since discovering it existed about a year ago. A Channel E4, 5 part
mini-series written by the dry wit English comedian/social commentator Charlie
Brooker, it took the setting of the Big Brother house and production studio and
dropped it kicking and screaming into a full-on global zombie apocalypse. It
sounded fun and quirky but if I'm honest it wasn't top of my list of things to
watch; I mean Big Brother, mini-series, Davina McCall, come on. How wrong could
I have been. Putting on the first episode thinking I'd watch a bit before going
to bed and suddenly it's early morning, I've watched all two and half hours,
I'm exhausted but I've had my zombie itch well and truly scratched.
It's Friday night,
eviction, night at the Big Brother UK house. The seven remaining contestants
are going through their usual pre-show tantrums and self-idolising, locked up
away from the world wrapped up in their own little bubble. Outside the
production team lead by the pompous-arse Patrick Goad (Andy Nyman) are getting
ready for their big night, worried the weekly show-piece might get taken off air
as the news media are focusing on an ever increasing number of cases of civil
unrest and rioting.
The house is filled
with the sort of self-aggrandising utterly vacuous contestants you'd expect;
from the barbie doll page 3 wannabe air head to the self-opinionated
pompous vegan who's not on the show for
fame. They're all irritating but brilliantly fleshed out and acted, and it
doesn't take long till you find yourself actively looking forward to them being
ripped apart.
Here Brooker and co.
show real focus and confidence in what they're doing. Just when you think
you're in for a long overdone, as tense zombie films all too often do,
calm slow build up to the storm they
bring the horror and frenzy of the horde smack bang centre stage at the first
opportunity with brutal and bloody ferocity. One minute they're bemoaning being
taken off air, the next they're running and screaming for their lives. And
let's get one thing straight here, the zombies of Dead Set are not the slow
shambling Romero, nor comical Brains
groaning parodies, they are rabid, nimble, visceral brutal killing machines.
Definitely moulded after Boyles 28 Days Later infected, they are single minded
mobile slaughter-houses interested in one thing and one thing only; flesh. Oh,
but unlike Boyles monsters, there's no zombie ambiguity
here, these guys are definitely dead.
Early on Patrick
Goad comments that someone has 'a face like a Manchester Morgue' and it was here I clearly
realised Brooker probably possessed more than a passing interest in zombies and we were in safe hands. The
undead denizens of Dead Set are the most feral, frenzied and down right nasty
I've seen; they are brilliantly realised and complete, and perhaps, just
perhaps, my favourite to date. Seconds after passing away, gone is the human
that once owned the body and immediately as if stabbed by adrenaline the
monster is up and active, violent and strong. The reaction to these guys is
real and appropriate too; there isn't any careful manoeuvring around them or
pushing them away, the only thing to do is run, and run very, very quickly. The
make-up and effects are as good as you're going to get and groans and sound
effects are genuinely uncomfortable and frightening. Special mention must also
go to zombie Davina McCall (the UK presenter of Big Brother and household name) who makes one darn scary critter.
Everything about
Dead Set works. The story other than one small side track is tight,
claustrophobic and personal. The pace is relentless with no filler and the
ending satisfying. I do love the apocalyptic survival zombie story and this
ticked all the boxes. Brooker and the team have perfectly captured what you
feel is a small story in a bigger world. I was expecting more to be made of the
Big Brother setting; more play with the house-mates ignorant in their own
microcosm but on reflection they got it spot on and never overstretched
something that could have turned into a one trick pony.
I really don't want
to spoil this story so I'll leave it here with a massive thumbs up, 9/10.
Steven@WTD.
SOOOOOOO good.
ReplyDeleteI loved this series. I really need to watch it again, as it's been quite some time since I've seen it. Great review!
ReplyDeleteCheers, and totally agree. It's really quite the zombie gem. Thanks for the follow.
DeleteFantastic mini series and great review.
ReplyDelete