Saturday 12 February 2011

The Dead - will it be dead good or dead in the water? You'll get the chance to find out soon...



UK produced Afro-zombiethon The Dead will get a cinema release later this year... that's the news I've got here in an email they have literally sent me today. For the past couple of months I've been getting regular bulletins from the makers on the hardships they've had to endure making the thing - that's REAL cannibals(?), gangsters of the scary, machine gun wielding kind you usually see in films like The Wild Geese, not to mention dysentery and malaria. Personally I think they're just showing off to make themselves look hard. Whether all that mither will have helped them make something worth watching is anyone's guess. But let's hope so...


Global Cinema Distribution and Starz Anchor Bay have acquired North American and UK theatrical rights to the Ford Brother's “THE DEAD” distributing throughout cinemas beginning with the US theatrical release summer of 2011.


Anchor Bay Starz UK Managing Director Rod Smith who snapped up all UK rights and will be releasing the film in cinemas in England followed by DVD by Halloween 2011.


All other rights for North America have been purchased by Anchor Bay Starz, who will release the film on DVD later in the year.


Shot on locations across Burkina Faso and Ghana, West Africa on 35mm including many never before committed to celluloid locations, THE DEAD is unlike anything horror audiences have ever experienced. Centered around the journey of an American mercenary, the sole survivor of a plane crash, who has to run the gauntlet across the terrains of Africa, battling against the living dead. Along his journey he finds an ally in a local military man who is desperately searching for his son amongst the chaos. They must band together to make their way through this brand new horrific world of the dead. The film stars Rob Freeman (“Saving Private Ryan”), and African up and coming star Prince David Osei, making his US Theatrical debut.


The making of THE DEAD turned out to be an incredible journey on its own. As producer/director Howard J. Ford revealed:


“We encountered real death on a daily basis and were also held up at gun point several times, encountered real cannibals, arrested, endured dysentery and the lead actor Rob Freeman very nearly died after contracting Malaria in the middle of filming”..


TriCoast Worldwide negotiated all sales for the producers of THE DEAD and are subsequently closing deals in many other territories.

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