Dead Set [DVD] [2008]: Amazon.co.uk: Chizzy Akudolu, Shelley Conn, Raj Ghatak, Jennifer Aries, Cavan Clerkin, Drew Edwards, Elyes Gabel, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Madra Ihegborow, Maxi Moffatt, Rachel Ogilvy, Jaime Winstone, Tat Radcliffe, Yann Demange, Chris Wyatt, Angie Daniell, Annabel Jones, Charlie Brooker, Chrissy Skinns: DVD

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Starring Jaime Winstone (Donkey Punch, Kidulthood), Dead Set is E4’s new horror series in which the dead are returning to life and attacking the living. Curiously there are a few people left in Britain who aren’t worried about any of this – that’s because they’re the remaining contestants in Big Brother. Cocooned in the safety of the Big Brother house, they’re blissfully unaware of the horrific events unfolding in the outside world. Until an eviction night when all hell breaks loose.

Kelly (Winstone), a production runner working on a fictional series of Big Brother, finds herself trying to fend off the walking dead alongside her producer boss Patrick (Andy Nyman, Severance), boyfriend Riq (Riz Ahmed, Britz) and the remaining Big Brother housemates. Featuring cameos from Davina McCall and several former housemates, this is a cruel and twisted take on one of TV’s biggest game shows. Dead Set was created and written by Charlie Brooker (Nathan Barley co-creator and Guardian writer).

Synopsis

BIG BROTHER gets a NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD makeover in horror spin-off DEAD SET. The action takes place during a fictional series of the reality TV show, with stories unfolding both on camera in the 'house' and with the staff behind the scenes. When a zombie outbreak occurs the contestants are blissfully unaware inside their secure little bubble, a bubble which soon becomes a fortress when outsiders seek refuge from the walking undead. Inevitably, the infection spreads into the 'house', turning the popularity contest into a scene of carnage, with cast and crew uniting to escape the ultimate 'eviction'.

Jaime Winstone (KIDULTHOOD) stars as production-runner in peril Kelly, with Andy Nyman (SEVERENCE) as hotheaded producer Patrick, Kevin Eldon (HYPERDRIVE) as a disgruntled housemate, and even a surprise appearance from Davina herself. The innovative show is the creation of writer and cult television satirist Charlie Brooker (SCREENWIPE, NATHAN BARLEY) so be prepared for some dark humour, as pop-culture turns zombie and feeds on its own kind.

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28 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charlie Nails the Horror Genre, 27 Oct 2008

By	Benjamin Collins - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a review for "Dead Set" the episodes, NOT the DVD (and associated extra features) as it has not been released at the time of writing.

Dead Set is a very respectable zombie horror. It is a classic tale of a small group of isolated survivors in the face of a zombie apocalypse. Whilst this is horror/drama it does not suffer from the common affliction of taking itself too seriously. There's plenty of black humour and lighter moments as a counterpoint to the scares and gore.

The scenario borrows from Dawn of the Dead, with the survivors holed up in a secure compound (once they've dealt with the immediate threats). The twist is that the compound is the Big Brother house and the contestants are initially unaware that anything is wrong with the world outside. By the time they find out it is too late to do anything but sit tight!

Another thing this has in common with the DotD remake is that the zombies in this are "new skool" running zombies (of the type first seen in 28 Days Later). This may upset some purists who insist that all zombies should be shamblers but fits perfectly with a modern day, fast paced scenario. The speed with which the infection spreads is frightening and the undead are like a pack of ravenous animals. With shuffling zombies it's usually sheer weight of numbers that overwhelm the heroes but with the visceral, panting, lightning fast beasts they are unnerving and dangerous individually and terrifyingly deadly in a group.

Like all good zombie horrors, once the immediate danger of the undead is kept at bay, the danger then comes from internal conflict. With most of the survivors having already spent the best part of 2 months in each others' company tempers fray pretty quickly, leading to fatal consequences. Because this is the BB house the characters are mostly obnoxious, obscenely thick, gratingly annoying, utterly weird or infuriatingly arrogant (or a combination of several of those!). There is the risk that with such potentially dislikeable people as our survivors that we don't positively look forward to seeing them torn apart! However, the groups' humanity is kept intact by a few "normal" people and enough redeeming characteristics in the group as a whole to make us care about them.

The acting is mostly convincing (although a couple of characters are deliberately OTT) and whilst there are a few moments that are unintentionally funny, most of it is believable (well... as much as a zombie apocalypse is believable anyway!).

All in, this is a reputable stab at the horror genre by Charlie Brooker. There are some genuinely scary moments, a lot of tension and welcome comic relief. The prosthetics and make-up are all very convincing and gives the impression of it being much higher budget than it really is. I was going to give this 4 stars but genuinely couldn't find a reason not to give it that extra one. If you like zombies or horror then you shouldn't be disappointed.

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16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Excellent, 12 Nov 2008

By	KM (England) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

`Dead Set' is a TV show based around a fictional season of Big Brother during a zombie apocalypse. The remaining contestants as well as some of the production team try to survive in the only place that seems safe - the BB house.

I wasn't expecting much from this to be honest. I love zombie films but I despise Big Brother but I watched the opening episode on E4 a few weeks back and by the end I couldn't wait until the next night to watch the rest. I've since bought the DVD and watched it all again - it is that good! I thought as it is based around Big Brother it would probably be tongue-in-cheek and be similar to something like Shaun of the Dead (which I love, by the way) but it was more in the style of 28 Days/Weeks Later with its fast editing, vicious gore and is actually quite scary in parts. The special effects are great with some really gory scenes which really did turn my stomach at times. The setting of Britain in chaos was very well designed and felt very real. The acting from all of the cast is great too (hat's off to Andy Nyman who is especially superb in this).

Overall if you like zombie horror and would love to see Davina have her throat ripped out, then I can't recommend this highly enough!

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11 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Would the zombie ripping out Davina,s throat please report to the diary room. , 1 Nov 2008

By	russell clarke "stipesdoppleganger" (halifax, west yorks) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

Charlie Brookers "Screenburn " column in the Guardian is one of the highlights of any week it is actually in the paper . He has forayed into TV before with the hit & miss media satire Nathan Barley( which he co-wrote with Chris Morris) but for zombie apocalypse horror drama Dead Set Brooker takes a solo writing credit . Brooker had alluded to his fascination with the zombie genre( one i share) with his last book of collected writings Dawn of the Dumb: Dispatches from the Idiotic Frontline , which it could argued is the titular precursor for this series.
Shown on E4 week commencing 27th October Dead Set sees an outbreak of zombiefication strike with the drama centred around the Big Brother house on eviction night.( The eviction for Dead Set was actually filmed on a real eviction night) Studio gofer Kelly ( Jaime Winstone ) is being given the run around by obnoxious foul mouthed producer Patrick(Andy Nyamn). She is also on the cusp of cheating on her boyfriend Riq ( Riz Ahmed) - first seen hanging around a train station- with work-mate Danny( Eyles Gabel) but just as she is about to the zombies attack.
The habitants of the Big Brother house- the usual array of social nematodes including a crass Northerner(gee thanks Charlie) a flamboyant cross dresser, a neurotic cerebral older chap and the obligatory thick as a whale omelette blonde- are oblivious to the zombies rampaging around at first . Kelly , proving herself adept in a crisis soon acquaints them with the facts and a siege ensues with the contestants barricaded in the house and the producer (callously locking doors behind him as he flees and condemning others to death) in an office with the latest evictee where he gorges himself on canap�s and champagne cleverly mirroring the voracious zombies prowling around outside. Meanwhile Riq wants to find out if Kelly is still alive and teams up with no- nonsense gun toting Alex ( Liz May Brice)
Many will make a correlation between the zombies and the inhabitants of the house and by proxy the people who watch them and view Dead Set as making some sort if sociological point. Brooker has denied this ,though it seems to me there may have been something whirring away subconsciously . I was expecting more verbal dexterity from the script( though it is very good at times one BB character referring to "Palastinia" and another wandering into in a office declaring "It smells of fingering in here") in but Brooker has played in pretty straight , though the high levels of profanity would probably upset some more than the extreme gore - which for a drama commissioned for TV is extreme, though it,s obviously in keeping with the genre.
The cast acquit themselves very well with Winston and May Brice both excellent and special mention must go to Davina McCall who throws herself into her role as a zombie with terrific gusto. I cannot deny a certain frisson of pleasure as the usually annoying BB host had her throat ripped out but fair play to her for taking part. Director gives the drama a slightly eerie silvery sheen and doesn't stint on the gore factor- indeed this must easily be the most gory programme ever made for British TV and it is , as you would expect nowadays, very realistic.
Brooker has opted to eschew the usual shambling drooling rotting cadavers of classic zombie fiction and go for the faster screaming maniacal creatures from 28 Days Later ... [2002]. This may upset the purists but there is no doubt these zombies are far more terrifying and dangerous. No explanation for the zombie outbreak is given in the narrative but the characters speculate -terrorist attack, virus , something to with GM crops ( read Sarah Pinboroughs ridiculous novel "Breeding Ground" for a GM angle on apocalyptic fiction) and given the dramas limited scope this is to be expected.
This brings me to the only real problem with Dead Set .Setting it in the BB house means the narrative is pretty static and even though we get to see the effects of the zombie outbreak on the outside world through the eyes of Riq it,s more a tantalising glimpse than anything. Still this is an audacious drama given TV ,s normally conservative nature. If you didn't catch it on TV( i suspect it will never make it on to Channel 4 or if it does in a graveyard slot -no pun intended) this DVD is a must and the promise of some juicy extras( cast interviews and behind the scenes stuff) makes it even more essential.
Dead Set , despite Brookers assertion otherwise seems to me to be a coruscating comment on Britain and it's 24 hour surveillance and fascination with what other people are doing . The final shots of numerous cameras focusing on the vacuous mass of zombie kind , their empty expressions staring back into the lens is Bookers view of us reflected back at ourselves. Now that really is scary.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Some salt with that?
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Published 1 day ago by Pedro the Llama

5.0 out of 5 stars The best modern zombie horror I have seen
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Published 2 months ago by Mr. Douglas J. Mcwhinnie

5.0 out of 5 stars big brother meets dawn of the dead
i watched this and loved it!!!!!
if your a fan of big brother and zombies then this is definately worth a watch, especially when davina mccall gets attacked then turned into... Read more

Published 3 months ago by playgirl

5.0 out of 5 stars The antidote to 'Big Brother'
Let's face it, us Brits are brilliant at Zombie movies. This sits very nicely along side '28 days later'.

Published 3 months ago by Markie Bee

4.0 out of 5 stars Zombie fun
We really enjoyed this series. Whats not to like about the Big Brother cast getting eaten!! To say this was made for TV it is a lot better than a lot of the incredibly naff and... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Dove2224

4.0 out of 5 stars Ticks all boxes
This does to reality TV what Dawn of the Dead did to shopping malls.

Dead Set has everything you want in a zombie movie: gore, satire, a smattering of fabulous... Read more

Published 8 months ago by Gee of Death

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as clever as Charlie Brooker thinks he is
On the surface, the idea of Dead Set is surely a can't fail one - during the zombie apocalypse, the last outpost for a group of survivors is the Big Brother house. Read more

Published 8 months ago by Mr. Od Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
If you are a fan of Dawn of the Dead 2004, 28 Days Later, or 28 Weeks later, you will love this TV show. It was amazing!!!

Published 8 months ago by The Dragon Reborn

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