The dead start rising from the grave and attacking the living in West Africa. Those that can - mostly foreigners - evacuate, attempting to escape the chaos. The locals of course, have no choice but to stay and fight.
Also stranded is a US engineer/mercenary whose evacuation flight crashed just off the coast. Teaming up with a local soldier who is searching for this son, the two attempt to stay alive.
The Dead has no time for your revisionist modern zombie films and their new-fangled "fast" zombies: it's Romero-style shamblers all the way here, with the undead shuffling and plodding after their victims, slowly but tirelessly and implacably. The film-makers actually do a good job of using the lumbering nature of their undead to the film's advantage, with several scenes being a race against time as the undead slowly encroach while the living attempt to resolve some issue they're facing. It's smart work.
I'll also give them points for setting their film outside of American suburbia. The movie was filmed on location: a decision they probably had some cause to regret as their lead (who is regrettably a grizzled white guy) contracted a serious case of malaria.
Really I only have two complaints with the film, but they're enough to make me degrade the rating from a qualified recommendation to a not recommended. The first is that the lack of other characters outside of the two mains undermines some of the tension and restricts the interactions you can have. The second is the final act, which falls apart a bit. It looks to me like they're once more trying to emulate Romero but they do it a loss less successfully on this occasion (mind you, old George himself hasn't hit the mark in a while).
Ultimately, if you're a zombie buff it is probably worth your time, but it's not going to convert you to the genre if you aren't already a fan.
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