Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Dead Lands’ on Shudder, an Exciting and Funny Ancient-Maori Riff on the Z-word Genre

Maori culture is at the heart of Shudder’s The Dead Lands, a fantasy series set in an ancient mythical version of New Zealand (or Aoteoroa, as the indigenous Maori call it). Glenn Standring created the eight-episode series — which debuts with two episodes, and subsequently will arrive one per week — as a new riff on his screenplay for the 2014 film of the same name. The show trumpets its authentic take on Maori culture while also aiming for a wide, international audience, filming in English and debuting simultaneously on Shudder and Television New Zealand’s on-demand service. But does it succeed in its quest for crossover success?

THE DEAD LANDS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A dense fog envelops a mountainous wilderness.

The Gist: Waka Nuku Rau (Te Kohe Tuhaka) is a legendary, ferocious mercenary warrior, but he’s killed quite unceremoniously in the show’s opening moments. This isn’t a spoiler, promise — it’s the core premise. To say Waka hasn’t been honorable is to call the Grand Canyon a pothole; there’s much talk of his vile actions, but we don’t see them, so fingers crossed for a nice, bloody-terrifying flashback or two in future episodes.

Anyway, he’s at the gates to the heavenly afterlife, but he’s been such a ruthless prick, his ancestors won’t tell him where the hide-a-key is. Instead, they give him a quest: He’ll rack up some much-needed honor points by using his considerable strength and skill to save the world’s ass. Specifically, he’ll go back to the waking world and find a way to end a nasty epidemic of not-dead-but-not-living people (I hesitate to use the Z-word, but that’s basically what they are) that’s overtaking everything.

Where does Waka begin? Well, he stumbles across Mehe (Darneen Christian), who wants his help, namely, to save her father from the not-Z-words. They dragged the old man into a pretty terrifying little cave that probably has not-Z-word bats and not-Z-word kiwi birds and stuff in it. Mehe’s a little naive, but fiercely determined and, dare I say, almost plucky. He reluctantly agrees, as irascible dinks like him tend to do. They trek across the land, hiding in trees from the not-Z-words. Soon enough, they encounter her tribe, who’ve written off her father as dead, and don’t want anything to do with Waka and his grubby reputation. Mehe and Waka are on their own.

About 12 feet into the bat-and-kiwi cave, they find the old man, bloody and suffering. He wants to die. Mehe does what she has to do, and they sneak out before the non-Z-words find them. Meanwhile, Waka finds himself in the in-between, where he has a heart-to-heart with his mother (Vicky Haughton). She gives him some advice: Kill the girl as a sacrifice to the god of war, and drink her blood for strength. Yikes! But Waka passes up an opportunity to off his fellow protagonist so early in the series, and together, they begin their crusade to save Aoteoroa.

Our Take: The debut episode of The Dead Lands is an enjoyable iteration of the Z-word genre: The locations are nicely photographed, the action and production values are solid and our two protagonists — heroine and anti-hero — show potential for some charismatic chemistry. Most importantly, it doesn’t feel like your typical Z-word story, so give credit to Standring for working the Maori angle not just for representation’s sake — the series employs Maori actors and was inspired by indigenous stories and rituals — but also for a fresh contextual angle.

The series’ secret weapon, however, is its comedy, which is understated and effective. It gives us a little Xena, Warrior Princess nudge in the ribs, implying that we shouldn’t take all the poker faces too seriously. But unlike Xena (which also was filmed on location in New Zealand), The Dead Lands isn’t interested in full-frontal camp. It prefers to punctuate a scene of heavy exposition with a joke, swirling a little tonal color into the narrative — and it works nicely.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: A towering crane/drone shot as Waka and Mehe walk a determined path through the wilderness.

Sleeper Star: As Waka’s dead mom, Haughton gives us a serious eat-your-vegetables/wear-your-coat-it’s-cold/commit-ritual-murder-in-the-name-of-dubious-religious-tradition finger-wagging vibe. But somehow I doubt Mother knows best in this situation, as she’s obviously not woke enough to realize the series is better with a strong female co-lead.

Most Pilot-y Line: “It’s a good hole!” Waka says to Mehe, and I’ll drain all the fun from the quote by contextualizing it: She’s appropriated a shelter he once dug, and he suggests she stay there — until he realizes she may be the key to restoring his honor, of course.

Our Call: STREAM IT. So far, so good. The Dead Lands is a promising series, tickling viewers’ desires for action and laughs. Here’s hoping future episodes don’t indulge too many Z-word cliches.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream The Dead Lands on Shudder