Zombob's Zombie News and Reviews

Diary of the Dead (2007)

 

Director: George A. Romero

Writer: George A. Romero
Synopsis: While filming a horror movie of mummy in a forest, the students and their professor of the University of Pittsburgh hear on the TV the news that the dead are awaking and walking. Ridley and Francine decide to leave the group, while Jason heads to the dormitory of his girlfriend Debra Monahan. She does not succeed in contacting her family and they travel in Mary's van to the house of Debra's parents in Scranton, Pennsylvania. While driving her van, Mary sees a car accident and runs over a highway patrolman and three other zombies trying to escape from them. Later the religious Mary is depressed, questioning whether the victims where really dead, and tries to commit suicide, shooting herself with a pistol. Her friends take her to a hospital where they realize that the dead are indeed awaking and walking and they need to fight to survive while traveling to Debra's parents house.

After all these years...

1) ACTING: I thought the acting was really good for a "low budget indie." I felt that the relatively lesser and completely unknown actors added to the movie's realism, because I really think if there was a "name," it might've distracted from the movie. All the actors were competent and comfortable in their roles, and I had no problem with any of them...well except for the Texan lady. She seemed a little forced upon viewing the movie again.

2) PRODUCTION: As usual, Romero shows how much can be done with little money. While some viewers will not like the hand held camera type of filming, it does add to the tone of the movie and I think it is done well. The Blair Witch Project used similar tactics, but (in my opinion) often there were many scenes that were almost unviewable due to the rapid movement of the camera. Romero keeps the scenes well under control. Romero also has successfully combined the usual high quality film making with the social commentary and our beloved zombies (along with some great zombie kills!)

3) ZOMBIES: What can I say? These are the wonderful Romero zombies that we have all grown to love.

4) THE CAUSE: Let's see...what was the cause in 1968's NotLD? (you all should know this!)

5) NUDITY: None.

FINAL:

What can I say? Many people have put Romero on a pedestal with his zombie movies. Some have said this was a sad swansong for him, others have praised him for showing he still has what it takes. To each his / her own. I saw what I wanted to see. A zombie movie made by George Romero. I really don't watch zombie movies lookin' for Shakespearean drama. I enjoyed this movie a lot, and it is nice to see that Romero still "has what it takes" to crank out another zombie opus.

RATING: 4 out of 5