SIEGE OF THE DEAD

Produced by Chris Kaylor, Doug LaVigne, Kurt Zettlemoyer
Directed, Edited, and Photographed by Chris Kaylor
Written by Kurt Zettlemoyer

Lloyd - Doug LaVinge
Lane - Joshua Spearing
Martin - D.W. Beck
Gib - Kurt Zettlemoyer

It goes without question that George Romero and crew birthed the modern zombie film with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. With each entry into his DEAD series, Romero examined, with deeper and deeper insight, intellectual culture as it collapsed inward upon itself. The films weren't concerned about romanticizing the horrific figures terrorizing mankind, as had been done with Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolfman, so much as using the zombies to represent the underlying themes plaguing mankind at the time. The walking dead became metaphors for Vietnam, consumerism, and political oppression. As each movie in the series takes place, man's existence is one step closer to extinction, due in large part to mankind's own vanity.

Horror purists hold these films in high regard. They are to horror what Star Wars is to Science Fiction - the Holy Trinity. At their core lies a world with a groundwork so solid that fans have adopted it for the foundation for their own zombie masterpieces.

The rules of Romero's world are simple:

1) Zombies can only die by a blow to the head.
2) Zombies eat constantly to survive.
3) Zombies lean towards man as a favorite dish.
4) Only the strong of heart can survive against the zombie plague.

From there, all bets are off. The films are as wildly different as a Bar Mitzvah and a Vegas strip show. The one thing they all have in common is a love for Romero's work.

If Chris Kaylor's SIEGE OF THE DEAD had to be placed in a specific time frame, it would take place during Romero's third dead film, DAY OF THE DEAD, where the world has been overrun and man is an intestine's width away from being an afterthought. The only people holding out are survivalists, people who have spent most of their time preparing for Armageddon.

In Romero's film, the central group of characters were underground in an abandoned army facility. For the most part, they were safe from the world above, a world we don't see much of as the action almost entirely takes place in the bunker. It's that above world that Chris Kaylor and his writers are concerned about, and it's that story he explores.

Low-key and zen-like, Lloyd wanders the open country roads wielding his baseball bat like a samurai sword. A Zatoichi for the modern-day world. He carries himself with a downplayed self-assurance; if anything undead gets in his way he makes with a Hank Aaron, bashing brains all over the pavement in a single swing, and keeps on trucking without ever breaking stride. He's the kind of guy that's so cool that he could care less.

Of all the characters in SIEGE OF THE DEAD, Lloyd is also the most three dimensional. Everyone else falls into two categories, those Prepared for the zombie holocaust and those Unprepared. The Unprepared see the Prepared as security, while the Prepared see the Unprepared as dead weight. Those that control the firepower control the power, and if you want to stay afloat, you need to at least know how to use some sort of firepower. Supplies are limited, if you can't fend for yourself, or the group, you aren't worth letting live.

Knowing that there isn't much chance for survival, and certainly no chance to outgun a seemingly infinite number of undead, the group decided to head north, as far north as they can walk.. If it's too cold, the dead will just freeze solid, allowing man to move around free from worry in his warm coats and winter gear. That's a keen observation, and I'm surprised no one else has thought of it before. If you want water, just thaw some ice in your igloo. If you want some meat, kill a polar bear. If you want your leafy greens...I guess you're screwed.

SIEGE OF THE DEAD centers around the preparation of this journey north. The gathering of men and supplies in a sea of walking zombies is similar to Noah and the Ark. If one listens to the callings, and does their tasks without question to the best of their ability, they will be spared the Wrath of God. And like Noah, it will be Lloyd's responsibility to help rebuild mankind.

The primary difference between SIEGE and Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD, is the underlying thread of hope. DOTD was bleak to the point of depression. While there was an escape, no one really thought they could make it. In SIEGE, no one loses sight of that possibility. As bad as things get, there's always hope. To survive, all you need to do is your job.

The film opens and closes with shots of long desolate roadways signifying that this is just one of many stories waiting to be told taking place just over the next hill or around the bend. I can't think of a better, more significant cinematic world for those stories to be told than George Romero's. Mankind will be its own undoing, and Chris Kaylor explores the moral dilemmas of life, death, and survival with brutal honesty and clinical matter-of-factness. Here's to hoping he has something more planned once Lloyd gets to that next bend in the road.

Lead Rain Entertainment