[2] It was screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival[3] where it had its world premier on 4 September 2014.

[4] It was selected as the New Zealand entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.

On the way, he discovers that Wirepa and his men have entered the Dead Lands, an area where any who venture in are believed to be killed by a Taniwha.

Wirepa taunts Hongi with his fathers head, angering him, but the warrior convinces him to regroup and return later.

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.

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.

[10] In 2019, AMC Entertainment's streaming service Shudder and TVNZ said they would create a TV series based on the film.

[11][12] Decider called it an exciting and funny Ancient-Māori Riff on the Z-word Genre [13] Locus Magazine saw it as a first-rate action adventure supernatural horror series.

[14] Siena Yates for the NZ Herald wrote, “The Dead Lands delivers all you’d want from a Hollywood supernatural action thriller but wraps it beautifully and carefully in Māori culture and myth to create something the likes of which I’ve never seen before.”[15]