Rob Freeman earns his title of “journeyman-actor.” Freeman and the cast and crew of “The Dead” spent their time filming the movie in Burkina Faso and Ghana, where the cast and crew came up on harsh conditions. “We lived that film for three months,” he said. “We were in an area where bribery and corruption are rampant–there, they call it survival. We had to bribe people [and] officials to get across the borders, our vehicles were held for ransom, AK-47s were pointed at us,” he said.
The inhospitable conditions helped give a realistic, disturbing affect on the film, which Freeman calls a “road movie…in the genre of a horror film.” “It’s a classic example of the rise of oppression in which a westerner, a non-African, has to cross the landscape of the rising dead,” he said.
Quite a bit of the film is set in the daytime, which makes the film even more intriguing. “Not too many zombie movies can scare you in the daytime,” he said.
The fact that this film does provide daytime scares set against sun-baked landscapes and social and political strife has allowed “The Dead” to earn accolades on many horror sites’ lists. Freeman compared the film team’s efforts to football teams vying to win the Super Bowl. “We gave every ounce of effort to this film,” he said, going on to say that along with filming in inhospitable conditions, the film was made with very little money. “We didn’t have any security, no studio behind us,” he said.
For Freeman, a political slant could be read into “The Dead.” “What is the rising dead? It’s repression,” he said. “Horrowr allows people to get back at the repressors. It’s the rise of repression.” Freeman stated that the allegorical usage of zombies in Africa is great. “It’s genius,” he said. “It’s brilliant.”
Even though political and social arguments can be made, the one overriding feeling Freeman wants audiences to feel is being “scared.” “I hope that they went in and had a roller-coaster ride and were shared shitless. And if you want to have a discussion about it afterwards, that’s fine, too.”
“The Dead” comes to DVD Valentine’s Day.
Written by: Monique Jones
