Howard J. Ford and John Ford are directing partners and brothers who have spent their professional careers making commercials. Their dream was always to one day make a zombie film. That day has arrived, and now we get to see the fruit of their labors with the release of "The Dead."
The film begins when the last evacuation flight out of war-torn Africa crashes off the coast. American Air Force engineer Lt. Brian Murphy emerges as the sole survivor in a land where the dead are returning to life and attacking the living. I had the opportunity to speak with the Ford brothers about the movie.
"The Dead" is very much influenced by the slow-moving zombie films of the 1970s and the 1980s. Tell us a little bit about what drove you to do a film based on those movies instead of the newer faster zombie we see today.
John: It all started when watching George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" for me. That's the ultimate zombie movie and my favorite. It's a slow zombie movie. We do love the new zombie movies. I love "28 Days Later," the new "Dawn of the Dead," and others. [Those have] great style [but] it turns into an action sequence and you do lose the suspense and the slow buildup which in the end can reach a greater height.
Howard: I think the classics that influenced us back then like Lucio Fulci's "Zombi 2" had [an] impact on us as teenagers. It took us 20 odd years later until we actually got around to doing it so that was still in our hearts.
John: We actually would have made this at the time of the slow moving zombie movies. This is just a very late zombie movie from the old days to be honest.
Howard: We wanted it to be 1970s stylistically. [We tried] to give it a sort of 1970s look. [We] edited the film in a 1970s way. We wanted that vibe really.
Where did you shoot the film?
John: [In] West Africa. Not [in] the safest parts either. Pretty dangerous parts as it turns out. It was always going to be a fish out of water story. It's a story of survival. The main character should be a fish out of water. [He should be] out of his comfort zone. [It should be] a harsh terrain to survive in even without zombies. Africa came about when we were shooting some commercials out there. We realized it would be just the ideal place for it. [There are] no doors to lock [and] nowhere to hide. You have to keep moving. Survival on its own is a horror.
Howard: The film is ultimately about survival and death creeping up on you. It's hard enough to survive without zombies in these areas. We wanted the character to have lots of practical problems to overcome. It was a journey movie.
John: [There were elements about] the clash of cultures or the uniting of cultures. The fact that this is an American guy and this is a completely alien place to him. [He deals with] the different religions and beliefs, and a totally different way of living. [We] also show that these guys [an American soldier and African soldier] can come together to fight a common enemy. That was another interesting aspect of the African angle.
For more articles by Eric Shirey, check out:
Blu-ray Review: 'The Dead' Rise Again in Africa
Blu-ray Review: Carmen Electra, Brooke Hogan Suffer '2-Headed Shark Attack'
'Kill List' Satisfies Critics, Moviegoers
Eric Shirey is the founder and former editor of Rondo Award nominated movie news websites MovieGeekFeed.com and TheSpectralRealm.com. His work has been featured on Yahoo!, DC Comics, StarWars.com, and other entertainment websites. Eric has interviewed and worked with actors like Harrison Ford, Brooke Shields, Gerard Butler, Brendan Fraser, Selena Gomez, and many more.
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