In 1968 while driving to New York city with a little film that he had just shot, which eventually eventually be titled Night of the Living Dead; George Romero, while listening to the radio, soon would learn that civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was killed. George didn’t think anything of it, but the ending of Night of the Living Dead would make not only the film the cult hit it is, but would launch the filmmaker’s career as the godfather of the zombie flick. Romero never intended the ending of Night of the Living Dead to reflect King’s death. According to him, the film just happened to end that way.
Romero would go on to direct five more zombie films over the next forty years. His latest and sixth zombie flick to date is Survival of the Dead. Survival is a film that brings back the old style of filmmaking from Romero and is a film that gets its roots from the past zombie films, making it a solid one.
Survival of the Dead takes place on an island off the coast of Maryland. The local residents have decided to kill off the undead, and live their lives out peacefully and silently alone on the island with no outside interference from the living or the dead. The leader of zombie killers on the island, Patrick O’Flynn (Kenneth Welsh), and his crew of men have been kicked off the island by a group led by Seamus Muldoon (Richard Fitzpatrick). Seamus does not agree with Patrick’s views of killing the dead; instead, he wants to wait for a cure or to teach the dead not to eat humans. Patrick and his gang are sent to the mainland where they set up shop in a local port. Meanwhile a group of renegade mercenaries is looking for a place to escape the dead. After seeing an ad on the internet, they head down to the port where O’Flynn and his boys are hanging out. However, fighting ensues and the living dead show up as a third party. The mercenaries and O’Flynn find their way onto a ferry and make their way back to the island, where they try to take back the island from Seamus and his thugs and rid it of the living dead.
Survival is different in its tone. It is not as scary as the previous living dead films, however Romero himself has said that there is an underlying satire to the film and that the humor is intentional. The script has a story that reflects some political influence that many of the past Romero zombie flicks have, but the statement made in the film’s conclusion does not overshadow the film’s great storyline.
With this film, Romero goes back to his roots with the way in which he put this film together. Survival of the Dead has the same feel of Dawn and Day of the Dead in terms of its style and feel. Romero chooses some great actors for the roles without casting a star in the lead. The make-up effects are good and the zombies have a very similar look to the ones in Day of the Dead, however some of the visual effects in the film do look fake.
The two-disc Ultimate Undead Edition DVD has many special features. On Disc One, there is an introduction to the film by George A. Romero himself along with audio commentary with Romero and his crew. There is also a featurette titled “Time with George,” and HDNet’s: A Look at Survival of the Dead. Disc Two includes the “Walking After Midnight” documentary, a short film called “Sarge,” “A Minute of Your Time” – 13 Behind the Scenes Shorts, Storyboard Comparison: Head on Stakes and How to Create Your Own Zombie Bite.
During the mid nineteen nineties, I lost my interest in horror when it was on the decline. It was not until late one night in October of 1998 that Night of the Living Dead was on television and I was reminded of good old George Romero that horror will always be great because of classics like Living Dead. Romero is a genre vet who has survived under the radar and gone through hard times trying to get his films made. He is a true filmmaker with an independent gut who know the true meaning of what it takes to make a great horror film. Survival of the Dead is a great film that just proves the Godfather of the Dead still stands at the top of the sub-genre.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
