Deadland is a 2009 American science fiction film directed by Damon O'Steen, written by Gary Weeks, and starring Weeks, Brian Tee, and William Katt as survivors in a post-apocalyptic society five years after the United States is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. Plot As Sean Kalos attempts to mend his relationship with Katie, his estranged wife, his cell phone goes dead. Kalos enters a gas station and requests assistance, only to find that the phones there have also died. The attendant, who is raptly watch a television broadcast, reveals that a nuclear war has broken out, and, outside the station, they watch the sky fill with incoming missiles. Five years later, the world has more-or-less acclimated to the changes, and a brutal post-apocalyptic society has sprung up. Although he had previous given up his wife for dead, Kalos attempts to avoid survivalists as he searches for her, following his discovery of an encrypted message that seemingly references her. With the help of Shiv, a quirky codebreaker, Katos learns that his wife may be the victim of experimental research in mutated super-soldiers. Kalos, skeptical of the existence of mutants, recruits Jax to help him rescue his wife from Commander Rufler, the brutal warlord of a local militia. He is aided by the Underground and their leader, Red. Cast Gary Weeks as Sean Kalos Brian Tee as Jax William Katt as Shiv Harrison Page as Red Chad Mathews as Harris Cullen Douglas as Nathaniel Mark Rickard as Tereshinski Emily-Grace Murray as Katie Philip Boyd as Anderson William Colquitt as Commander Rufler Production Deadland was shot in Georgia and California in 2007. Writer Gary Weeks was inspired after he left his cell phone at home. After going through technology withdrawal, he began thinking of the times when he lost access to other technological advances. He set the film five years in the future because he wanted to show a society that had adjusted to the most pressing dangers. He wanted the protagonist to find a reason to live, and, as a romantic, Weeks decided to make the plot a love story. Release Deadland premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival on April 18, 2009. Phase 4 Films released it on DVD on November 23, 2010. Reception Jeff Marker of The Gainesville Sun wrote "Deadland demonstrates what great things can be done by talented people on a shoestring budget." Curt Holman of Creative Loafing wrote