DEAD EARTH Review: A Sultry, Mininalist Survival Thriller All About Counting On Your Loved Ones

Wych Kaosayananda’s forthcoming release of The Driver will soon cohese with its predecessor, Dead Earth, starring Milena Gorum and Alice Tantayanon. Ideally this title would have been released first though the goal seems clearly to put the two actresses on radar with the Mark Dacascos-starrer first, with a pending release date for this one coming soon from what I hear.

Formerly titled 2 Of Us, Dead Earth features Gorum and Tantayanon in the roles of Sylvia and Rose, a couple living out their quiet, idyllic lives in an desolate paradise resort in Thailand in the wake of a deadly zombie massacre. Their stay at the resort is a quiet, often pleasant provided they survive their periodic excursions for food, weapons and other essentials.

Of course, their time is running out as they know their personal luxury paradise can only be safe for so long until the walking dead trespass. Their follow-up goal will ultimately be to find the much-rumored Haven, a safe refuge for survivors of their current dystopia.

Steve Poirer penned the screenplay for Kaosayananda’s once inagural zombie apocalypse chapter. It’s a slow burn at the start with great cinematography captured by Kaosayananda who, like with The Driver among his credits, runs point on cinematography.

The dialogue alone presents a minimalist drama centered on our heroines, firstly illustrating a quiet tale of idyllic life for a couple as normal as any. Little is said as they both strategize their daily routine with breakfast, yoga and other matters of recreation.

There’s a small backstory that echoes sparingly as the drama eventually develops, though more attention is given to the current events. It’s merely a hint of what came before and feels a bit like an addendum, so its more or less suggestive depending on how pertinent you feel it is to the rest of the film.

Zombie kills and spills are abound in the second half as Sylvia and Rose eventually break out the artillery. Some of these moments are pretty cool and well-coordinated with both gunning down the zombies and double-teaming the undead onslaught with a bat at one point.

The excitement and action are all constrained to the second half and there are a few compelling and truly suspenseful moments that leave you wondering just which of the two will survive. To that affect, Dead Earth is a feasibly watchable, decent, intriguing minimalist thriller ancillary to its successors… I’m being plural there on purpose.

With this, Kaosayananda presented the latest teaser poster for the newly titled zombie survival dramatic thriller which you can view below. 2 Of Us reads like the better title though I can understand the need commercial viability required for films of this sort. Ah, film politics at work. Nice ink though. Peep it, and stay tuned for an official trailer and further coverage of The Driver.

Lee B. Golden III

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Native New Yorker. Lover of all things pizza, chocolate, pets, and good friends. Karaoke hero. Left of center. Survivor. Fond supporter of cult, obscure and independent cinema - especially fond of Asian movies and global action cinema. Author of the bi-weekly Hit List. Founder and editor of Film Combat Syndicate. Still, very much, only human.