this movie is great. i briefly recall seeing the poster for it a while back but i'd since forgotten about it up until the other day when i took a gamble on watching it and was happy within the first 10 minutes after seeing the style and effects.
like another reviewer stated, the movie is shot on 35mm film, not on digital like modern Hollywood flicks. this gives it a very classic look and feel, reminiscent of the George a Romero film like dawn of the dead in '78 and day in '80.
the zombie effects and makeup as far as i could tell used no CGI whatsoever and the gore, though not too frequent, looks great when it's on screen.
the undead are also nearly always on screen, and combined with their excellent makeup, great camera work and complete lack of unnecessary music, have a very menacing feel as they creep up on the films 2 protagonists.
the films setting is beautiful and a fantastic change from the norm's of busy city streets and urban environments. it is shot in west African locations such as Burkina Faso and Ghana, as well as the Sahara desert. it really is a breath of fresh air in the zombie movie genre.
the story is fairly simple. an American military engineer washes up on the coast of west Africa after his evacuation flight crashes. as the sole survivor he attempts to reach a northern military air field to re-attempt his escape, and runs into a soldier of the African military who is trying to find his son during the chaos.
overall i give this movie an 8 out of 10. and that's only because i wasn't keen on the acting by the American protagonist played by Robert freeman, and a couple small sections of the movie are quite slow.
the film does leave itself open for the possibility of a sequel and i would be more than happy to watch it if it mirrors the quality of this.
