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Dead Within

Play trailer Poster for Dead Within 2014 1h 30m Drama Horror Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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Six months after a plague that almost wiped out the human race, a man and a woman who survived by isolating themselves in a remote cabin are now starved for resources and must face horrors that await them inside the cabin -- and out.

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Dead Within

Critics Reviews

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Felix Vasquez Jr. Cinema Crazed A compelling, and maddening bit of zombie apocalypse fodder that examines the psyche of the survivor... Oct 14, 2014 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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ieat c Completely predictable within first 5 min on how it will end. Once again Dummy-Wood writers go the lazy route and drag out 1 1/2 hours of pure boredom for a few minutes of something happening at the end hoping the viewers are dumb enough to rate it highly on that alone (notice I did not say action at the end, just something other than two people boring the heck out of the audience). If it’s not a reimagining, reboot, sequel or prequel they’re rewriting old stories and trying to pass them off as a new idea. Putting the tag horror on this is a complete misnomer as zombies have absolutely nothing to do with the plot. They could’ve used a nuclear attack, riots, quarantine, war zone or even a light thunderstorm. The “zombie” catch is only to keep them in the house isolated from anyone else. There is nothing horror about this but the writing (no wonder no one supported the SAG writer’s strike). The movie is about two people stuck together for an extended period of time boring each other and the audience to death. If you’re an insomniac this will cure ya, anyone else avoid like a real zombie apocalypse. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 12/16/24 Full Review Mary M 2 people. In 2 rooms. For the whole movie. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 11/12/24 Full Review Audience Member A entertaining movie. My only complaint is that we don't get to see enough of the zombies. Otherwise pretty good. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Do not watch while drunk. wth lol Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member "Baby, maybe we're just both crazy. What if we're, like, in The Truman Show ? There is no plague. And...there's cameras everywhere." I'm certain that many will speak disparagingly about this movie. Typical statements as a total lack of tension, a deadly dull storyline, a cheaply produced film at a single location and the absence of confrontational, brutal and bloody images with zombies feasting on human flesh, will be used in abundance. But admit it, most zombie films use the same clichéd image of a slow walking living corpse, hungry for fresh blood, with a pale gray face with lifeless eyes in dark eye sockets staring into nothingness. "World War Z" used a very different approach to the phenomenon zombie and their characteristics were highlighted in a very different way. In "Dead Within" you only have the nasty outside sounds and short excerpts of transformed creatures. And frankly, I thought the opening fragment with those awful noises was quite frightening: the primitive growling and screeching nocturnal creatures (weird but it reminded me of "Jurassic Park") and the cries in terror of the victims being dismembered. Turn the sound wide open and those hysterical cries will give you the shivers. Apart from the opening scene (a staggering three split view with out of sync customized images) and the final scene, the complete film takes place in a wooden cabin somewhere in a forest at an unknown place. We see how Mike (Dean Chekvala) and Kim (Amy Cale Peterson), along with their newborn baby Lily and dog Teddy, arrive at the cabin of their friends Todd and Erika, where they probably expected to enjoy a long relaxing weekend. First there are fragments of them socializing. But this is abruptly broken off, and we see Mike and Kim on a dowdy mattress with a machete and a kind of riot-gun by their side. After a while we learn that they are hiding for 6 months already in this barricaded hut, letting no one inside because a deadly virus has spread (though if that happened locally or globally is a non-answered question) which transforms living creatures into black-eyed undead with ink black blood flowing through their veins. Apparently it affects every living being (the dog Teddy is a living proof of that). I asked myself at that time if there could be deadly squirrels or rabbits creeping through the woods. For the horror freaks who enjoy gory movies with plenty of severed limbs and gore scenes, I can already tell them that this will be a total disappointment. The only thing we are witnessing is the gradual change that Kim is undergoing caused by the total isolation. Mike is the only one who leaves the cabin on a regular basis (where he is risking his health and life every time) to seek for food and other consumables. Kim tries to kill her time by cleaning up once again, playing the guitar and to create a wall painting. It's obvious that after a while the two survivors not only need to fear what's wandering outside, but also realize that the growing paranoia and the realization that their situation seems to be hopeless becomes a threat. We see Kim evolving into a state of fairly psychotic behavior with delusions and conversations with imaginary people. Is it an excellent movie? No, not exactly. The repetitive situations and the lack of information won't make it an exciting movie. The use of flashbacks provide a partial explanation but after a while that starts to innervate anyway. The minimalistic use of real horror images also isn't an advantage. Is it a dreadful movie? No, not exactly either. The inner tension and the constant threatening atmosphere made sure it was entertaining in a way. And especially the performances of the two protagonists is magnificent. It's not obvious to portray such a situation in a convincing way. It's the same familiar situation as with two people who sat together for a long time in a confined space and trifles start to irritate them. "Dead within" is an atypical zombie movie where the emphasis is more on the psychological state of mind of survivors than on the destructive nature of mutated creatures. A survival film avant la lettre with anxiety, guilt and madness as a central theme. More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Dead within is it okay for movie about a couple stuck in there are home while people outside are being infected what the black goo substance in their eyes. B- (2014) Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Dead Within

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Six months after a plague that almost wiped out the human race, a man and a woman who survived by isolating themselves in a remote cabin are now starved for resources and must face horrors that await them inside the cabin -- and out.
Director
Ben Wagner
Producer
Matthew Bradford, George Folsey Jr., Saul Herckis, Charlotte Pai
Screenwriter
Dean Chekvala, Amy Cale Peterson, Ben Wagner, Matthew Bradford
Production Co
3:41am, This is Just a Test Productions
Genre
Drama, Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
May 22, 2017
Runtime
1h 30m
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