The zombie has a rich tradition in literature that dates back as far as The Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the spurned goddess Ishtar rages, “I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld, I will smash the door posts, and leave the doors flat down, and will let the dead go up to eat the living! And the dead will outnumber the living!”
There is no question, though, that when, centuries from now, historians take stock of the canon, they will deem the present era—starting in 1968 with the premiere of George Romero’s black and white classic Night of the Living Dead and building in force with contributions like the Evil Dead series and Shaun of the Dead, to the precipice, a moment in which zombie preparedness handbooks are bestsellers and zombie preparedness conventions are well-attended—as the golden age of the flesh-eating undead.
The Dead, filmed on location in Burkina Faso and Ghana, brings new blood, flesh and splintered bone-sticking-out-at-an-odd-angle to the genre. The film follows the unlikely friendship of American Air Force Lt. Brian Murphy and Sgt. Daniel Dembele as they join forces to re-kill some re-animated corpses.
THE DEAD plays at 11:40pm Friday, Oct. 7 and Saturday, Oct. 8 at the Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. Tickets $6.50, 831.469.3220 or TheNick.com.
