The day before the world premiere of The Dead last Monday (30st August), I got to sit down with directors Howard and Jonathan Ford in the throng of Film 4 FrightFest 2010 to chat all things zombie.

The Ford Brothers are clearly passionate about their debut movie and show absolute adoration to George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. During our half-hour talk we explored the appeal of the zombie genre, the craziness of shooting a low budget film in previously unseen parts of Africa, the travails of the actual shoot and why zombies should never – ever – run.

Shot in Burkina Faso and Ghana, The Dead is the story of two soldiers attempting to escape the world of chaos and mayhem that surrounds them when corpses begin to rise. It’s a richly photographed movie set amongst arid landscapes and sun-bleached vistas to possibly make it the sleekest-looking zombie film ever made.

The Ford Brothers are great and lively company. Howard talks really fast while Jon chips in with his own observations and insights into zombie movies, shooting in Africa and why the film became a labour of love.

Filmshaft: This has been a film twenty years in the making… why so long?

Jonathan: We wanted to make a zombie movie straight after seeing Dawn of the Dead because it blew our minds away… we were hooked. I started to write a script in the ‘80s and I’ve been chipping away at it ever since. Down the years we always tried to make it happen. It’s the film I’ve always wanted to make.

Howard: When we told people about making a zombie film they would laugh us out of the room. But we knew we had to do it.

What was it about Dawn of the Dead that so captured your imagination?

H: It is set in broad daylight and big open spaces yet the horror is still there. It took horror into the light.

J: People get scared of the dark but I’d get scared of walking down the street.

H: Yeah, I remember after seeing it we walked home in the middle of the road. We couldn’t be anywhere near people. I wanted to harness that power… that exhilaration and feeling.

J: I don’t think anybody will ever beat it… until the end of time! It’s not only one of the best zombie films – it’s one of the best films full stop!

How did you decide on shooting it in Africa?

H: We wanted do something that had never been done or seen before.

Was it always the idea?

H: We always knew it would be set in an exotic landscape and that it would be a fish-out-of-water story, but the idea presented itself when we’d shot some commercials and we kept saying ‘can you imagine a zombie movie here?’ I wanted it to be a beautiful film and for it to be a journey movie. Not just a shoot ‘em up horror.

J: And we shot it right next door to Benin where the original zombie legend comes from, which is also French-speaking West Africa.

How did you choose Burkina Faso, was it from shooting there previously?

H: We shot in Ghana and Burkina Faso. We wanted it to be a dry location and it turned out Ghana wasn’t dry enough. We did the beach scene there where he washes up and then we went for a location recce to Burkina Faso.

J: It had big open spaces and even though they are slow zombies – which I have to admit are my favorite kind – and you can walk right by them, sooner or later you have to stop to rest and sleep… they will still be coming for you.

Was there anything non-zombie related that influenced your film?

J: Very much so. You wouldn’t believe some of the non-genre influences that went in there like Wages of Fear, Ice Cold in Alex, Lawrence of Arabia.

H: There were so many things Jon and I discussed while writing the script. It’s an accumulation of all the things we love and channeled.

So what were some of the worse things that happened during the shoot?

H: I was mugged, held at knifepoint and gunpoint and money was extracted a lot… there was death all around us. We’d be shooting in a hut at a village and there would be the remains of dead relatives in these big pots. The lead actor Rob Freeman caught malaria… he was within three days of actually dying… it was horrific. Then it took five weeks to get the actual filming equipment into the country even though we had the entire crew there. We planned for a six week shoot!

Okay then, running zombies: discuss

J: Don’t get me wrong, I love 28 Days Later and did like the new Dawn of the Dead (2004). I went in thinking I’d hate it but actually quite enjoyed it… but no.

H: Jon and I discussed from the very beginning that it would never be running zombies. Absolutely no way. Running zombies in a film turns it into an action scene. It loses the horror and suspense. And we didn’t want to make an action movie. We wanted something that would stalk you, not sprint at you!

J: If a dead body would to be re-animated rigor mortis would have already set in and logic would dictate they would walk in an awkward way. Everything had to play by the rules of Romero.

Did you approach the special effects in an old-school way?

H: The special effects are old school… there’s a few enhancements. We tried to keep it to a minimum. Jon and I aren’t really fans of CGI. If somebody gets shot in the head in the film – which happens a fair bit [laughs], we had a physical effect. We wanted the actors to have a reaction.

On a scale of one to ten – how gory is The Dead?

H: Okay before I give my number… there are some gory bits but it’s not an incredibly gory film. There are some proper good gore scenes! I’d say five or six.

J: Really? I’d have said six.

H: Okay… there are machetes, guns, exploding heads… actually there’s quite a lot. But it’s not Brain dead, which gets a ten!

Will there be a sequel?

J: There’s enough to do a sequel.

H: It’s definitely a world and story I’d want tor re-visit.

Something slightly larger in scope, perhaps?

H: Yeah but it wouldn’t be like Mad Max 3… you know, Beyond Thunderdome. Some sequels can be disappointing… we’d be aware going into it. If fans want to see it and support the first one and don’t watch it on a pirate [laughs] they’ll be supporting the next one… and we’d give them it.

J: Films suffer from that sequel-it is problem where they think they’ve got to be bigger and they lose track of what made the original good in the first place. We’d expand the story.

Howard and Jon, thanks for taking the time to chat.

J: Thanks and I hope you enjoy the film.