Diary of the Dead

by Lauratheaxewieldingmaniac
(Philly, Pa)

Shoot the Dead

Reader Submitted Review

Like a lot of zombie movie fans, director George Romero does no wrong in my book!

Diary of the Dead is put together like a student film. The camraman is one of the main characters and we only see and know what they do. It's filmed using standard college video equiptment. Think Cloverfield and Blairwitch only not as shakey. Actually, I was really worried about this as I absolutely loath this type of filming! Sure it's clever... or WAS clever but there's way too much running in horror films and most of the time I just get dizzy. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised! The camra was very steady and they edited it as if it were a real movie and not just lost footage that's being replayed. There's background music and a few different camera angles which is all explained in the film which the students cleverly title "The Death of Death". Ill get back to this later...

Anyway, the story starts off with a group of college kids in PA (around where I grew up actually - scary) who are making some kind of mummy movie. While shooting they hear reports over a radio about the dead coming back to life. Although they don't believe it at first they decide to hit the road. Along with their professor (who's a functioning alcoholic) the group travels across PA trying to get to their respective homes.

I think I'm trying too hard to love this movie. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome but it definitly fell short in a lot of areas. I guess now it's time for the age old question - Do you want the good news first or the bad news?

The part I liked the best was that Romero made these zombies in a very updated oldskool style. They moved very traditionally and unlike the newer zombie flicks they were slow. It was more about being stalked than chased. A lot of the scenes involved a zombie catching someone off guard. Don't get me wrong, the speed by which the new zombies move is friggin scary but its nice to see Romero returning to his roots!

There was also some awesome death scenes! I wont ruin them with details. Just know they got pretty creative! The downside was there just weren't enough of them. That is one of my biggest complaints! There wasn't NEARLY enough death or zombies.

There were a few good moments of comic relief! Pay attention to the scenes with the Amish guy! Oh and, I almost forgot, pay attention to the voices of the news announcers. Sound familar? Well they should, they are the voices of well known horror directors such as Tarantino, del Toro, King, Craven, etc. I was told this before watching and the second the movie started I completely forgot to pay attention (I thought I'd at least recognize Tarantino's voice because it's so unique) and missed it!

I like I said before, I was pleasantly surprised with the filming. That's one aspect that could of ruined it for me (just like it ruined The Blair Witch for me). It was actually done very nicely though. Well as nice as they could have done this type of movie - I still think it would of been better if it wasn't done in the first person, but whatever.

I happened to watch this movie w/ another horror/zombie movie fan and we had a pretty in depth discussion about the film afterwards. One of the things he brought up was the unrealisticness (wow, I really don't think that's a word!) of the film. Now I dont go to see a horror movie if I want to see something realistic... ya know, not the place to go.... as much as I wished I could be a super sexy badass b**** that killed zombies and vampires, that kinda thing just doesn't really happen! Anyway, I do see what he means with this comment regarding Diary of the Dead.

A lot of the way this student film is put together is clearly done for convenience. It just doesn't make much sense. They explain why you hear background music and why you see different angels and why there are uploaded news videos but it kind of comes across as cheesy. Kind of like "Oh look we found another high tech movie camra at the hospital! How convenient!" and even though the world is quickly being distroyed thousands of people are uploading youtube videos or checking myspace.

The part that stood out to me the most was why the camra guy was filming. They try to explain that this guy, Jason, grew obsessed with documenting everything that was going on which is why he refused to put the camra down even to help one of his friends who was being attacked but it just came across as shallow and uncaring. The realism isn't a deal breaker in my book but I'm not writing this review for myself either...

Ok ok, I know I like to talk so let me end this review before I write a book. There's just a few quick things that have to be said:

• I didnt go into it because every other review about this movie will say this: The movie was predictable and the acting was horrible horrible horrible. Both are true.

• To sum it up, Diary of the Dead wasn't one of Romero's best but it definitly not one you want to miss. I enjoyed it a lot as I'm sure my fellow zombie fans will.

Cheers!
Lauratheazewieldingmaniac