DIARY OF THE DEAD (2008)

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"A unique take on an old genre of horror that doesn't make a lasting impression, but is entertaining nonetheless"

George A. Romero's newest zombie flick isn't a masterpiece. It is, however, a gem hidden among a secret stash of horror movies. I say this becuase the film was given a limited release, meaning that only a select few of people(mostly hardcore zombie and Romero fans) saw this and were offered the opportunity to express thier opinions: I am neither a zombie nor Romero fan, and I still had the urge to check this out, and while I wouldn't spend my money on this to see it in theatres, I'm glad I decided to watch it online for the sole purpose of reviewing it, becuase it is a good movie for what it is.

Romero's Diary of the Dead centers on a group of college film students and thier professor as they try to escape the hordes of zombies popping up across the globe, while Jason documents thier entire journey, much to his friends, and especially his girlfriend Deb's, chagrin.

Jason acts as the film's main filmer, and most of the movie is from the viewpoint of his camera, much like Cloverfield. However, the film cuts from Jason's camera view to another camera and even to downloaded videos off the internet to further the film's story. Romero took a chance with this tequique, but it worked out for the better, and he was bound to do something defferent anyways.

The characters themselves seem poorly characterized, and while this might be a "documentary," the movie fails to make us care about the not-yet-dead characters, proving that the zombie's will always be the focal point, even in a unique take like this. Deb serves as the film's narrator, voicing over the more important scenes and summarizing the events of what is going on. The professor seemed like he was forced into the movie and didn't quite fit in with the rest of the cast. He mainly serves as a drunk with a few "mentoring" oneliners, but is mostly good for his archery(what?) skills. The rest of the cast of characters don't need to be discussed, as most of them die anyway, but I will say this: wouldn't a girl be a little more upset that she had to kill her boyfriend before he ate her?

As for the zombie's, Romero sticks with the thought that they should be slow, after so many films, including Zach Snyder's remake of Dawn, have portrayed them as fast-moving creatures. The idea is even dealt with in the dialogue of the movie, as Jason often exclaims that the dead aren't fast, they move slow. I took this as a "fuck you" from Romero to the fast zombie movies. Even the fact that woman always fall when running from an antagonist in most horror movies, and then get killed by a person or thing that is moving as slow as a turtle, is brought up.

There is major violence throughout the film, which is to expected, and while Romero took a turn with the filming style, he still stayed faithful to the bloody gore of zombie films. But the movie isn't scary, if anything it's funny as hell to watch the zombie's get struck down in numerous fashions, and most of them aren't the least bit suspenseful-just ammusing.

The movie, while being violent and gory, also delivers a message. Since the movie is like a documentary, the film brings up the subject of onlookers filming instead of helping a person in need. Just the other day on the news, it showed a person getting run over by a car that just kept on going without stopping, and even people on the street wouldn't help the person. People seem to be more interested in getting "cool" footage than helping a dying person, and the film, while not excessively, does focus on that subject for a time.

Overall, Diary is a unique take on a genre of horror that, quite surprisingly, always finds new ways of being interesting. However, even it is unique, Diary is still a zombie movie-but not one of the best.

AR's score: 3.0 stars(6/10)