Dead set is E4's horror series in which the dead are returning to life and attacking the living. Curiously, there are a few people left in Britain who aren't worried about any of this - that's because they're the remaining contestants in Big Brother. Cocooned in the safety of the Big Brother house, they're blissfully unaware of the horrific events unfolding in the outside world. Until on eviction night when all hell breaks loose.
Kelly (Jaime Winstone), a production runner working on a fictional series of Big Brother, finds herself trying to fend off the walking dead alongside her producer boss Patrick (Andy Nyman), boyfriend Riq (Riz Ahmed) and the remaining Big Brother housemates. Featuring cameos from Davina McCall and several former housemates, this is a cruel and twisted take on one of TV's biggest game shows.
Agent Billy Brown-Dargan
Good. The mini-series is basically Dawn Of The Dead, but a UK version, and with original sub-plot. Each episode goes for a mediocre 10 minutes, and Episode One didn't quite satisfy in setting up the plot, it seemed more interested in getting behind the Big Brother side of things. There are a few good death scenes, and the fast paced sequences in the later episodes were great, but I don't quite think Dead set lives up to the standards of any other zombie movies. There were several plot holes within the thin and cheesy dialogue, and I really hate it when people are so up themselves that they behave like nothing has happened when they are smart-arses about some dead people.
The plot is somewhat original, with every zombie movie basically having the same outbreak pattern, but the original part was the Big Brother section. The dialogue was too weak and not very realistic if the disaster was actually happening in the world this very second. There was a huge plot-hole in the Big Brother scenes, in that a door that remains locked was just co-incidentially unlocked when the housemates tried to use it.
The acting was dull. There were no characters that shone, which in return, made the cast seem less than average actors. The gore was good, and I think that the series would've worked better if it was actually a feature film, and made by a big company, rather than some cheesy TV series.
Overall "Dead Set" has an intriguingly interesting premise, but doesn't live up to the expectations and standards zombie based programs have in the past.
The horror, zombie movie Dead set is directed by Yann Demange and stars Chizzy Akudolu, Shelley Conn, Raj Ghatak.
MA 15+ (Blood and gore; Strong horror violence and coarse language)
206 minutes (3:26 hours)
Disc: 11 November 2009
