Shoot the dead.
Diary of the Dead follows a group of college kids as they’re in the midst of making a campy horror film in the woods when the dead come back to life and bloody havoc consumes the world. They ban together to simply ‘get out of there’ and film their journey.
Casting a bunch of unknowns, the brightest spot of the film is played by Michelle Morgan. Her boyfriend has taken it upon himself to “Chronicle” the events, so everyone knows how it went down. He calls this documentary The Death of Death. With an eerie voiceover from Michelle at the beginning, she mentions how exactly they shot, edited, added music to its effect and uploaded it for the world to see. Romero covered his technical bases with that monologue.
Armed with cameras, the wild bunch leave their production, hop in a Winnebago and travel the Pennsylvania countryside and have a few interesting encounters along the way before holing up at their friend’s massive estate.
Zombies wander in the distance as they discuss the disconnection of society due to technology and the government re-editing the captured news footage of the zombie outbreak, manipulating the media and saying it’s a result of terrorist activities.
Insert a slight groan there.
There are a few good things sprinkled about this film. A couple scares. A few laughs. If you listen closely, you can hear the voices of Stephen King, Guillermo Del Toro, Simon Pegg, Quentin Tarantino & Wes Craven providing the newscast voiceovers.
Romero is the godfather of zombies. In the sixties, he created a living nightmare from old world lore that truly frightened audiences while feeding them socio-political commentary that resonated. 30 years later, he has given us the same zombies that have now learned about Myspace & Youtube.
Another stepping stone for this film is the absence of longtime collaborator Tom Savini. He’s nowhere to be found. Greg Nicotero has been handed the reigns of zombie carnage.
I’ll be the first to admit that I enjoyed 2005’s epic zombie tale; Land of the Dead. For whatever reason, the studio didn’t let Romero flex his muscles on this film and dumped it into a crowded summer marketplace. Never being a true fan of the system, he set out to re-invent his beloved child. But that was two years ago. And Cloverfield struck first.
The two films mirror each other; a group of kids, handheld cameras and an unholy force of destruction chasing them. I’ll give Romero kudos for tinkering with a tired concept and giving a fresh spin on his epic series, but in the end, there wasn’t really anything new.
Diary of the Dead clearly reboots Romero’s vision, but it still shambles along at a lethargic pace.
It’s a shame that Zack Snyder’s beautiful 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead was so fucking brilliant and fast paced. How I long for someone to remake Dead & Buried.
It’s time for Romero to put the dead to bed.
– Jack Reher
- 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
