Reality TV to Die For (Dead Set)

Member Name: SmilingBuddha

Product:	Dead Set
Date:	15/07/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Couple of interesting characters

Disadvantages: Dull at times, Gore not for some

Dead Set revolves around the Big Brother house, who remain uninformed (but not for long) after the sci-fi standard zombie outbreak which engulfs outside.

We follow three overlapping story lines. Kelly, a drone of the Big Brother production team, her boyfriend Riq and her bastard of a producer.

It's written by Charlie Brooker, who I admire for his Screenwipe & Newswipe programme so I did sort of have hopes for this.

Brooker has obviously been watching his Big Brother as manages to get the typical contrasting Big Brother housemates: a blonde slag, a chav type, an old pervert, a camp guy and a fame seeking playboy.

As you would expect from the premise, there is some satire to be found. They play the obvious fame craving housemate card a few times, but I didn't find it that funny. The way they contrasted the talk of something intelligent to be answered by something completely idiotic (similar to how intelligent housemates are often belittled in the actual show) made me laugh a few times.

The producer character will often be the mouthpiece for Big Brother skeptics, as he rants about how the housemates have never done any actual work and just want a "quick fix".

Alot of it is shot in the handheld camera style which some may find annoying but I found it generally did the job here and if anything, enhanced the gritty realism.

The first three episodes didn't do anything much for me, almost like they were treading water but it managed to redeem itself in the last two episodes. The final episode had me particularly well gripped.

Even though the whole setup appears be humorous it seemed to be veering more towards the realistic than the comic. The zombies are fast and pretty damn vicious rather than those shambling Shaun of the Dead type zombies. They keep a serious tone with characters being mauled by zombies and racing to get medical supplies to save a dying woman.

Don't get me wrong, they occasionally try and get laughs in - keyword there being "try". Maybe I'm simply being miserable but I just didn't find it that funny.

However despite feeling realistic, it didn't feel scary at all. There was no psychological impact, the scenes just feel too frantic to have any. Whether that was the intention, I don't know but if your easily scared you should be fine with this. On the positive side, the action began to start feeling more exciting as I gradually cared more about the characters.

On the other hand, there's lot's of graphic blood and guts, so you should avoid it if you don't like that kind of stuff.

The closest thing this remind me of is "Survivors" although I didn't find it anywhere near as addictive. That said, it was enjoyable although it took a while to get into it.

Summary: Zombie romp with a twist