8 Insanely Dangerous Film Shoots That Nearly Killed Their Stars
6. Muggings, Malfunctions And Malaria - The Dead
An underrated horror from 2010, The Dead follows the struggles of an American engineer trapped in Africa during a zombie outbreak. He has to cross the sun scorched country in a crappy little car whilst being stalked by the undead at every turn. Its an intense movie, and its behind the scenes troubles are just as intense. The director of the film was mugged at knife point on his first week in Africa. The equipment needed to shoot it arrived 3 weeks late, and the punishing location led to frequent malfunctions. The low budget meant the shoot often ran out of money, and the crew had to work long nights without food or water. Prop weapons and vehicles often failed to work, and most of the crew fell ill on the location. And to top it off lead actor Rob Freeman contracted malaria and nearly died in the middle of the shoot. He was put on a drip for a few days, and became noticeably thinner and sickly in the film itself. But after all the nightmares the film was finally finished and became something of a cult hit, and even managed to spawn a sequel.
