Dead Set

Charlie Brooker breaks a number of boundaries in creating this magnificent series - but most importantly, he has written the only zombie television series to date, either in the UK or the US. Although the plot contains more gaping wounds than Davina McCall after a zombie's had a go at her, what it lacks in integrity it makes up for in sheer suspense and terror. The premise is laughable - a zombie outbreak is bringing Britain to its knees, and the only ones unaware of this are locked safely inside the "Big Brother" house - but this little gem turns out to be an extremely frightening experience.

While Big Brother host Davina McCall steals the show, she does not play a particularly challenging role, and finds her initial role of playing a fictional version of herself even more challenging than playing a bloodthirsty zombie. On the other hand, Jaime Winstone and the rest of the cast put in fantastic performances all round. One of the series' only faults is the very shaky and often frustrating camera-work, which can be effective at times in adding to the realistic "documentary feel", but often just makes it difficult to work out what is actually happening on screen.

While making a few jabs at the state of British television and celebrity culture - the world is coming to an end, yet Big Brother is still on - the series also manages to deliver truly terrifying scenes and a great sense of nihilism throughout.

For such an incredibly pervasive cultural icon (who doesn't have a Zombie Survival Plan?), the zombie is incredibly poorly represented by cinema. Most zombie films are terrible. In fact, the only zombie films that can really rank as classics even in horror movie terms are the first three Romero films. Beyond that you've got a band of competent efforts: some of the remakes of Romero, the comedy zombie films (Return of the Living Dead, Braindead etc.), the variations on the theme (Dario Argento's Demons, 28 Days Later, Versus) and Lucio Fulci's Zombie. All told that's less than a dozen films. Just about everything else has been terrible and I mean really terrible. Some of the worst cinema ever made is about zombies, most of it either zero-budget American dross or the worst Italy has to offer.

With that in mind, Charlie Brooker's mini-series-cum-TV-movie Dead Set stands out from the pack by miles as a treatment of zombies which is actually very good. It's very well written, mixing realistic dialogue, spot-on satire of reality TV contestants and dark humour without ever getting the tone wrong. It's gory enough to please any splatter fan, with the first competent "ripped apart by zombies" scene in ages, and it manages to create an authentic mood of apocalyptic despair, with the collapse of society sharply depicted. Brooker even manages to fit some decent social commentary into the mix, and does it in a far more holistic and subtle manner that George Romero's latest attempt. Zombies-as-metaphor has always been the preferred way to impart depth onto the death, and Brooker puts in enough subtext about the braindead masses and their mindless consumption of TV and cinema to give you something to talk about afterwards other than the gore effects, should you so wish.

What holds Dead Set back somewhat is its acquiescence to cliché. Like most 21st Century zombie outings, it's packed full of references, most of them to Romero, and the ultimate direction of the plot should be familiar to anyone who's ever watched a zombie film. Many of the shocks and outcomes to scenes will be utterly sign-posted to any fan of zombies, and even the gore effects are content to merely copy the work of Savini et al rather than strike out in his spirit of finding ever-more innovative mutilation of the human form. The over-use of shaky-cam is a more stylistic example of its unoriginality: using wobbly hand-held cameras to create that gritty documentary realism may have been original in 1998 in Saving Private Ryan, but in the decade since then it's been done to absolute death (excuse the pun).

While it does nothing new, Dead Set is still a triumph because it does the old far more proficiently than most have managed. And it's nice to see a British backdrop to the nightmarish apocalypse once again.

Although I'm fan of Big Brother, I have only just got round to watching Dead Set. I love the idea around this mini series and it turned out to be a great watch.

The characters were likable and portrayed well, they was like proper housemates. Having Davina as the host also made it feel more real. The plot was great and progressed at a nice pace, leaving you wanting more after every episode had finished. This action was extremely fast paced and gory, there was also quite a lot of humour which I liked, it was just a good solid drama series in general. Jaime Winstone who played Kelly really stole the show, she was great.

It was kept short and sweet with just 5 episodes, 4 of which were only 25 minutes. The set looked great and the zombies were very detailed. The action was thick and fast.

The way it all ended might not be everyone's favourite but for me that was inevitable. Overall an extremely good series, better than I thought it would be. Would recommend it to anyone, although it isn't that scary.

9/10.

An eviction night in the UK's Big Brother TV show is interrupted by worldwide zombie outbreak, the house-mates are left none the wiser locked up, but outside mayhem reigns as the living dead's numbers increase. For a TV production I thought it was very gory and the sfx were also of a very good standard. The script by Charlie Brooker is to the point and very amusing. I wasn't too enamoured early on with the TV producer Patrick, i thought his character was a complete bastard, but as the show went on, i grew to like him somewhat, he had some very funny lines and I guess he turned into an anti hero of sorts.. I did think it started quite slow but the pace and gore factor increased rapidly towards the end so i wasn't disappointed. The Big Brother factor was done quite well, i guess fans of the show will be happy seeing all the familiar faces and those who hate it will love the house-mates getting their comeuppances, so everyone goes home happy. Of course its not without its moments of social comment, the baying mob outside the BB house showing little difference to the real thing.

Considering this is a low budget TV film Charlie Brooker has pulled off a fantastic little gem, based on the premise of a Zombie Outbreak in England and the tale of a eclectic band of survivors (most of whom already hate each others guts) stuck in the Big Brother House, a satirical comment on the vacuousness of Reality TV to rival Romero's commentary of consumerism in the original Dawn of the Dead.

Taken as a gore fest with a huge dollop of black humour it works a treat and even the nihilistic ending fits so well into the message. Some great references throughout for Zombie Film Fans and Big Brother Fans alike. I like fast Zombies, much scarier and more threatening than traditional shufflers and considering the limited time this mini-series had they really were a necessity. Having some of the real ex-house mates and Davina as Zombies was a great touch.

If you enjoyed Dawn of the Dead (2004), 28 Days and Weeks Later, REC and Shaun of the Dead, Dead Set is definitely worth a viewing.