Movie Reviews: GEORGE A. ROMERO’S DIARY OF THE DEAD

Saturday, February 16, 2008
Movie Reviews: GEORGE A. ROMERO’S DIARY OF THE DEAD
IN THEATERS




DIARY OF THE DEAD

A group of film students document the rise of the living dead in George A. Romero's latest zombie epic.

Cast Michelle Morgan, Josh Close, Shawn Roberts, Amy Lalonde, Joe Dinicol, Scott Wentworth (more)

Director(s) George A. Romero

Writer(s) George A. Romero

Status In theaters (wide)

Genre(s) Horror

Release Date Feb. 15, 2008

Running Time 95 minutes

MPAA Rating R - for strong horror violence and gore, and pervasive language

Review:

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead is another dose of classic social commentary veiled as gore hound fun. Romero's movies always carry hidden meanings; this is why his zombie movies stand apart from the millions of imitators that have appeared over the last 40 plus years. Diary is no different and like his previous Dead installments his new film is a snap shot of the world at the time and Romero's critique of it. Here Romero dissects our voyeurism gone wild with technology and how the mainstream media is incapable of hiding uncomfortable and sometime horrific facts from the masses. It's hardly subtle; Romero doesn't bother to hide his agenda very much, from the opening shots we get his message mixed with his typical humor and gore. While the message gets heavy handed at times Romero's Diary of the Dead does work as a film. The point of view style isn't used as heavily here as in Cloverfield or The Blair Witch Project, a fact explained away early on in the movie as we are watching a cut and edited version created by one of the characters. It's not meant to feel raw, it's meant to feel artificial and somewhat detached. While some may say that the point of view device used here is passé it can have some effectiveness if used properly, Romero's use here would have been more effective if he'd gotten distribution for his film last year pre Cloverfield too. Acting wise we get some unnatural performances. Ranging from stilted to forced the acting, from a cast of virtual unknowns, feels like something you'd find on youtube but I suspect it's all part of Romero's master plan. Now if you are expecting to go into this film and be scared you'll probably be disappointed as this movie isn't meant to terrorize in typical horror movie fashion. That being said there is plenty of inventive zombie kills and gore abound to keep blood lust at bay. As a whole, Romero's new film does what his old films did; examine our society and its present ills coupled with slow moving gore filled zombie guides.

B