Dead Set
2008
Original language: English
- drama
- sci-fi & fantasy
The story
Zombies are rampaging throughout Britain. Blissfully unaware of gory events outside, the Big Brother housemates are in for the ultimate eviction night...
What it’s like
Harsh, flat studio light and the relentless glare of a reality-TV house set the look: a sealed white-and-glass compound where cameras watch from every corner, then the grime bleeds in from outside as handheld, jittery footage and smeared, sodden London streets at night. The palette runs from clinical whites and hot studio reds to murky greys and blood-dark sludge, with a grainy, documentary-style texture that makes the chaos feel filmed rather than staged. Sound is all brittle presenter chatter, canned audience noise and rising shrieks, cut through with abrupt silences. The vibe is bleak, mordant and frantic, a sneering satire of celebrity voyeurism and of a country too busy watching itself to notice the end. It suits a late night with the lights low when you want something acid and gleeful rather than tender. Pacing is brisk and claustrophobic, the tension tightening room by room, and the emotional register swings between cynical laughs and real panic. Its characters are vain, self-absorbed people who slowly, and often too late, turn toward something like courage. Intensity is high: frequent, graphic gore, bloody zombie attacks, cruelty and bodily horror, with plenty of crude humour. This is for viewers who relish dark comedy, zombie horror and media satire, and who can stomach it being unrelentingly nasty.
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