Diary of the Dead
Monday, 10 Mar 2008 17:00
Pesky zombies get in the way in George Romero's Diary of the Dead.
Directed by George A Romero, out March 7th on general cinema release, starring Joshua Close, Scott Wentworth, Michelle Morgan and Zombies, running time 95 mins.
In a nutshell…
Culturally aware, flesh-chomping fun from the master of zombie cinema.
What's it all about?
In 1968, while George A Romero was trying to sell his low-budget debut feature Night Of The Living Dead (NOTLD) across the US, Martin Luther King was assassinated in a Memphis hotel.
Unfortunately, the fledging director and screenwriter chose to make the unprecedented move of allowing a black character to not only play the hero of his movie, but also die at the hands of a trigger-happy lynch mob during the film's harrowing climax.
Hugely controversial on its release, NOTLD would become the first of a series of films exploring the brutality of cannibalism, set against a social commentary in the era in which they were set.
Having tackled racism in the '60s, consumerism in the '70s, vivisection in the '80s and most recently class-war, the latest 'Dead' movie considers a zombie plague through the eyes of the YouTube generation.
Who's in it?
Some people carry a camera, some people die, some people die then live and someone narrates. But who is in the film is less important than who is not.
The last of the 'Dead' series featured star turns from Dennis Hopper, John Leguiziamo and Asia Argento - daughter of Italian horror legend, Dario Argento.
However, this movie returns to the tried and tested formula of casting unknowns in the lead roles - allowing the viewer to engage with the action more directly.
As an example…
"In addition to trying to tell you the truth, I am hoping to scare you. So that maybe you'll wake up. Maybe you won't make any of the same mistakes that we made. Anyway here it is... the death of death." - Debra tells the viewer what they are about to see.
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
Slim. However, critics and fans are likely to welcome the arrival of a bloodthirsty thriller that does more for the genre than the Saw and Hostel franchises have over the past few years.
What the others say
"It's a good solid attempt to reinvigorate what has become a franchise, it does have a certain amount of stuff to say, it's done with the usual panache and it's... pretty solid." - Mark Kermode, BBC Radio Five Live.
"This is hardly a new idea by now and Romero does it to death with ponderous musings about camcorder culture and the ethics of stopping to look, not to help." - Tim Robey, the Daily Telegraph.
So is it any good?
Horror movies of the 1970s drew on the fears of the public and linked them to social and political elements of the era, spawning a number of classics that would define the genre, but since then horror has proved to be a little bit hit and miss.
However, Romero's 'Dead' series has continued to buck this trend, providing sustenance for those who crave a little more flesh on their cinematic bones - and Diary Of The Dead is no exception.
Focussing on 'the YouTube generation' and the ease with which people interact with modern media, the director gets the chance to spin another dumb zombie tale but with a little more to offer the audience.
The film also goes some to restoring faith in the series, following 2004's disappointing Dawn Of The Dead remake and Romero's own Land Of The Dead the following year.
Using "found footage" to tell the story is an interesting twist and is used well, but this is something that has been utilised many times before with The Blair Witch Project and more recently JJ Abrams' monster blockbuster Cloverfield.
In a genre suffocating under the weight of mindless trash such as the Saw and Hostel franchises, George A Romero will continue to be a breath of fresh air. However, if the dead are to continue to walk the earth the director may need to focus a little more on the story he is telling rather than relying on a single plot device.
6/10
Noel Mellor
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