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The Dead Lands

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The Dead Lands
Film poster
Directed byToa Fraser
Written byGlenn Standring
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyLeon Narbey
Edited byDan Kircher
Music byDon McGlashan
Production
companies
Distributed byTransmission Films
Release dates
  • 4 September 2014 (2014-09-04) (TIFF)
  • 30 October 2014 (2014-10-30) (New Zealand)
Running time
108 minutes
CountryNew Zealand
LanguageMāori
Box office$906,158[1]

The Dead Lands is a 2014 New Zealand action film directed by Toa Fraser. It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival[2] where it had its world premier on 4 September 2014.[3] It was selected as the New Zealand entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.[4][5]

Plot

Tane, the chief of a Maori, his 15-year-old son Hongi and their tribe allow a rival tribe access to the remains of the second tribe's fallen warriors. Hongi does not trust the rival tribe's leader, Wirepa, and follows him. As Hongi suspected, the visit is a ruse, and Wirepa desecrates the grave site as a pretext for war, blaming Hongi for disturbing the remains. Tane believes his son is innocent, but offers to kill Hongi if it will prevent war. Wirepa refuses, saying war is imminent. Wirepa's tribe returns later in force, kills the men of the tribe and beheads Tane, taking his head as a trophy. Hongi is knocked away from the battle, and survives.

Hongi leaves and attempts to track down Wirepa. On the way, he discovers that Wirepa and his men have entered the Dead Lands, an area where any men who venture into are believed to be killed by a monster. Hongi, suspecting that the monster is in fact a man, tracks him down and, although reluctant, the monster agrees to help Hongi hunt down Wirepa. The monster is in fact a warrior (who is never named in the film) who murdered all the men of his own tribe, and he kills anyone who ventures there to prevent his tribe's historic lands from being occupied. The warrior is motivated by a desire to redeem himself and thus be led to the afterlife by his vengeful ancestors.

While tracking down Wirepa, Hongi has a series of visions of his long dead grandmother, who helps them on their way. Hongi and the warrior track down Wirepa, and several of his men are killed before Wirepa and his surviving warriors flee. Hongi and the warrior go after them, and the warrior kills a small band of hunters they come across to keep his identity a secret. Hongi is devastated by this, and screams at the warrior. The two separate, but the warrior has a vision from his ancestors that convinces him to continue helping Hongi.

Wirepa and his men are tracked to a mountaintop fort, where they barricade themselves inside. Wirepa taunts Hongi with his fathers head, angering him, but the warrior convinces him to regroup and return later. Wirepa's men leave Tane's head on a spike, and most of the men leave the fort. Again, this is a ruse by Wirepa to lure Hongi in. However, when the trap is sprung, the warrior and Hongi get the upper hand and kill most of Wirepa's men. While Hongi battles Wirepa, the warrior is severely wounded but manages to return and save Hongi. Wirepa, distracted from his battle with Hongi, beats the warrior to the ground before returning his attention to Hongi. This time Hongi gains the upper hand, and is about to kill Wirepa. This pleases Wirepa, because it will allow him to be remembered as a great warrior who died in battle about whom songs will be sung, and stories will be told. Hongi denies Wirepa this honor, spares his life and makes him swear to leave his land, and allows him to leave. Defeated and alone, Wirepa walks off in shame.

Hongi returns to the warrior, who is mortally wounded. Hongi adopts the warrior into his tribe, so that his own ancestors will guide the warrior into the afterlife. The film ends with a final vision of Hongi's grandmother, who is very pleased, as Hongi begins his return home.

Cast

Reception

The film received mixed reviews. It has a 69% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The critics consensus reads: "The Dead Lands doesn't add anything new to the primeval quest genre, but its battle scenes boast enough visceral thrills to carry viewers through the more mundane moments."[6] According to Metacritic, which sampled 14 critics and calculated an weighted average score of 59 out of 100, the film received "mixed or average reviews".[7] Simon Abrams of RogerEbert.com gave the film 2 stars out of 4.[8] Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter put it in her top ten films of the year.[9]

TV adaptation

In 2019, AMC Entertainment's streaming service Shudder and TVNZ said they would create a TV series based on the film. The first two episodes of The Dead Lands premiered on 23 January 2020 on Shudder's platforms. It also aired on TVNZ OnDemand in New Zealand immediately after its international debut. Subsequent episodes premiered on both Shudder and TVNZ OnDemand weekly.[10][11]

Cast

  • Darneen Christian as Mehe
  • Te Kohe Tuhaka as Waka Nuku Rau
  • Jordi Webber as Rangi

Episodes

No.Title [12]Directed byWritten byOriginal air date [12] Viewers
(millions)
1"Tell the Dead I'm Coming"UnknownUnknown23 January 2020 (2020-01-23)N/A
2"The Sins of the Father"UnknownUnknown23 January 2020 (2020-01-23)N/A
3"The Kingdom at the Edge of the World"UnknownUnknown30 January 2020 (2020-01-30)N/A
4"The Exorcism of the Boy"UnknownUnknown6 February 2020 (2020-02-06)N/A
5"Generational Warfare"UnknownUnknown13 February 2020 (2020-02-13)N/A
6"A Question of Identity"UnknownUnknown20 February 2020 (2020-02-20)N/A
7"Broken Promises"UnknownUnknown27 February 2020 (2020-02-27)N/A
8"The Sacrifice of Innocence"UnknownUnknown5 March 2020 (2020-03-05)N/A

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2014 New Zealand Film & Television Awards Best Film The Dead Lands Nominated [13]
Best Director Toa Fraser Nominated
Best Actor James Rolleston Nominated
Best Supporting Actor Lawrence Makoare Nominated
Best Supporting Actress Raukura Turei Nominated
Best Screenplay Glenn Standring Nominated
Best Costume Design Barbara Darragh Won
Best Make-Up Design Davina Lamont Won
Best Visual Effects George Zwier Won
Best Sound James Hayday, Lee Herrick, Sven Taits Nominated
Best Score Don McGlashan Nominated
Best Editor Dan Kircher Nominated
Best Production Design Grant Major Nominated
Best Poster Design Jeremy Saunders Nominated

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Dead Lands". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  2. ^ "New Zealand Film 'The Dead Lands' to have Toronto World Premiere". NZ Film. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  3. ^ Farrier, David (5 September 2014). "The Dead Lands premieres in Toronto". 3 News. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  4. ^ "Oscar Race: New Zealand Picks 'The Dead Lands' for Foreign-Language Race". Variety. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  5. ^ "Oscars: New Zealand Selects 'The Dead Lands' as Foreign-Language Candidate". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  6. ^ "The Dead Lands (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  7. ^ "The Dead Lands Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  8. ^ "The Dead Lands movie review & film summary (2015)". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  9. ^ "Critics' Roundup: 10 Best Films From the Major Fall Festivals (So Far)". Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  10. ^ Collis, Clark (5 December 2019). "The newly deceased hunt the living in trailer for Shudder TV's The Dead Lands". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  11. ^ Webb-Liddall, Alice (24 January 2020). "How The Dead Lands hopes to change New Zealand television". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 24 January 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  12. ^ a b "The Dead Lands – Listings". Next Episode. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  13. ^ Baillie, Russell (12 December 2014). "The Dark Horse sweeps NZ film awards". NZ Herald. APN. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
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