Dead Set

I was going to say this could have been really bad but the mind of Charlie Brooker probably wasn't going to mess this up, and it delivered on multiple layers. brilliant acting, brilliant characters, possibly too brilliant gore effects. This is so much more than a zombie flick and it really had to be to succeed.

Andy Nyman had many of the best lines but there were so many to go round, including Kathleen Mcdermotts delightfully dense pippa. all of em were engaging and believable, and Jamie Winstone obviously inherited some skills from her dad, she rules her scenes.

watching something like this renews your hope in TV. there's probably more depth than can be consumed in one sitting and its incredibly entertaining to boot. I'll be thinking about this show for the next few days. more please.

Wow! "Dead Set" is one of the better zombie entertainment installments I have seen in awhile. I bought the DVD from Amazon and I am really glad that I did. I had no idea what it was about, just that it was something with zombies, so of course I had to own it. I had put off watching it for awhile, a big mistake on my account.

The story in "Dead Set" is about an outbreak of zombies on a global scale. We follow the people inside a 'Big Brother' house, as they are shielded from the outside world and have no idea that the entire world outside is dying, literally, and coming back from the dead. But soon enough, the zombies come crashing through the gates...

I found that "Dead Set" was a lovely mixture of both types of zombie genres; the Romero zombies and the "28 Days Later" zombies. And it actually worked out quite well. Personally I am not a fan of agile, running zombies, but it was quite fitting in "Dead Set".

The characters in "Dead Set" were believable and realistic, and I loved the way they portrayed the people in today's society that are blinded by the media and lusting for their 15 minutes of shame in the eye of the public. It was really a great touch to the series that they portrayed some of the people like that, as it is as true to the reality of reality show competitors as it gets. Yeah, you guessed it, I have no love for reality shows, nor for the people participating in them.

"Dead Set" is driven by the great combo of the action, storyline, gore and the characters. The characters were really so greatly detailed and fleshed out, that you got a lot of chance to delve yourself into their situations and grow with them. I liked that about "Dead Set", because the characters (and the actors/actresses portraying them) were really helping along the series so well.

The zombies in "Dead Set" were great, nice details, nice gore, great aggression. However, and this is a personal preference of mine, but I didn't care much for them running around all agile and quick, that is not in my taste. And also the eyes, well it was a good enough attempt, but it would have worked better with some contact lenses that milked over the eyes, instead of making them have eyes like Marilyn Manson.

"Dead Set" is good entertainment and lots of fun. I enjoyed it from the very start up to the very end. It is a great addition to any zombie aficionado's DVD collection. If you enjoy zombie movies, then you definitely have to check out "Dead Set". And it is well worth checking out if you are a fan of the "28 Days Later" series or any of the Romero zombie movies - or both!

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.

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.

Maybe it's impossible these days to make a zombie movie which doesn't feel reminiscent of others; in the case of the Charlie Brooker-scripted TV movie Dead Set, too much of the zombie carnage feels lifted from 28 Days/Weeks Later and the Dawn of the Dead remake. But to focus on that would be to overlook the brilliant angle Brooker brings to the genre, not least its premise: that some of the few survivors of the zombie holocaust are the house-mates in Big Brother. Other horror films have been had reality TV settings, but this Endemol-produced flick has the advantage of featuring actual BB stars: Davina McCall and a host of former house-mates. Of the actors, Andy Nyman stands out as the BB director whose character is clearly Brooker's stand-in for himself, and whose comedy scenes are sensibly kept separate from the horror until the final scenes. And it's so well-written that you'll actually be rooting for everyone to survive.

If you love (a) zombie movies, or (b) Big Brother, Dead Set is *unmissably* good.

However, I would recommend waiting for the 138-minute DVD on 3rd November, as I can't imagine it having half the impact when it's chopped up into five episodes, complete with ad breaks, as it will be on E4 next week.

Hopefully Dead Set won't be quickly forgotten as a quirky little TV series on a minor channel, and will be recognised internationally as one of the decade's best zombie flicks.