Dead Set (Tv Series) Movie Review

Directed by Charlie Brooker

Available so far only on Region 2 dvd such as amazon uk.

Even after the new zombie resurgance as of late I still dont have zombie fatigue yet. I love pretty much any and all zombies. Running zombies, walking zombies, demon zombies, infected people that look like zombies, it dont matter to me. Not dont get me wrong if a movie sucks Ill call bullshit on it, but I'll praise it if it keeps me entertained. There have been some good ones recently like Flight of the Living Dead, Zombie Strippers, Hide and Creep and Day of the Dead remake but there also have been some bad ones like Gangs of the Dead and the abomination, Diary of the Dead. Luckily Dead Set fits into the former not the latter group. Also the movie takes place in a fictional Big Brother house which is also one of my favorite reality shows. In my mind when I heard about the show I was thinking: zombies + Big Brother = Sweet!
Dead Set was a 5 part mini series that aired on E4 which I think is on British cable? It aired with extremely good viewer ratings and the imdb ratings on it are also extremely high. I saw all 5 parts back to back which is basically the equivalent of a 2hr 15 min movie.
The story takes place during the middle of a big brother tv show series on eviction night. For those who arent familiar with Big Brother the show is about a bunch of strangers that live in a house for a few months and each week one contestant is eliminated. The final contestant wins a big prize. In the American Big Brother the house members vote each other out but apparently on the British version the viewers at home decide who goes bye bye. Anyways during one eviction episode there is a zombie outbreak and all of England and perhaps the world are run over with this invasion. The whole station gets taken over and only a few workers there find shelter in time. The Big Brother guests are sheltered from the outside so they have no idea of whats going on around them. The next morning they wake up to see that none of the video cameras are filming them. One of the station worker girls breaks into the house and reveals to them whats going on. Of course they dont believe her until one of the zombies break in and they have to smash its brains in with a fire extinguisher. The rest of the movie focuses on the group surviving in the house while a few outsiders are trying to make their way to the Big Brother house to help them.
Yeah its your typical zombie invasion scenario but its very well done. The zombies and gore are top notch. Most of the actors are also very good. It has a very serious tone and vibe which reminded me a lot of 28 days later. The ending was fairly predictable but still somewhat satisfying. As a tv mini series it was phenomenal but as a stand alone movie it was just a solid zombie film. I wish they would have made it a continuing weekly series and it would have easily been one of my favorite tv series ever. But they didnt so I can only give it a zombie lovers recommendation. So on a scale of 1-10 I give this a 'shitting in a bucket' 7.9 out of 10.
Heres the trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQjq639WPiU