I had some serious issue staying asleep last night and accidentally stumbled upon a series called Dead Set on Space Channel (Canada’s version of Sci-fi). From what I can gather, Dead Set is an original series created for the E4 network in the UK and aired in 2008.

The show follows the contestants and some crew members during the filming of the popular TV show “Big Brother”. On eviction night however, something goes horribly wrong as an audience member is bitten by a zombie and thus begins the shit storm that follows.  When I turned it on, I noticed the film grain was pretty low quality and I had no idea who any of these actors and actresses so I really wasn’t expecting much but as a sucker for anything zombie related, I felt compelled to at least give it a chance. I was pleasantly surprised by the series.

The acting was better than expected and the story was more than entertaining albeit filled with cliches that are expected in all zombie stories. The make-up effects really shine through in here. The zombies looked visceral and scary and made some great guttural sounds that could raise the hair on the back of your neck and be sure to pay special attention near the end as an obvious nod to the master George Romero’s Day of the Dead is displayed in all it’s bloody glory. While I enjoyed most aspects of the series, one thing that stood out as annoying was the over abundant use of “Shaky Cam” which, given the fact that this was supposed to be a reality series gives it a form of relevance to the presentation but I think there is such a thing as too much.

While it’s no Walking Dead series, I sure enjoyed this show and would love to see another go around from the same people. If you can find it somewhere, I strongly recommend you check it out.