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George Romero's Diary Of The Dead (2008) DVD Review
George Romero's Diary Of The Dead (2008) DVD Credits:
George Romero's Diary Of The Dead (2008) Directed by:
George A. Romero
George Romero's Diary Of The Dead (2008) Written by:
George A. Romero
George Romero's Diary Of The Dead (2008) Cast:
Shawn Roberts
George Romero's Diary Of The Dead (2008) Released by:
Artfire
Region:
1
George Romero's Diary Of The Dead (2008) DVD Release Date:
19th May 2008
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George Romero's Diary Of The Dead (2008) Synopsis:

The storyline revolves around a group of film students who encounter real zombies when making a horror movie in the woods.

George Romero's Diary Of The Dead (2008) DVD Review:

Thomas Schatz, a famous film scholar, wrote a book about genre films in Hollywood. The ideas in this book are what Schatz is best known for, and one of the theories is that genres and subgenres have a certain lifespan in which they complete a cycle. George A. Romero can essentially be single-handedly given credit for the birth of the modern zombie film as we know it today. While Night of the Living Dead was made decades after the first zombie film, it revived and began a cycle of its own. You could also argue that Romero’s latest zombie film would not be possible if it were not for the revival of the genre by Danny Boyle with 28 Days Later, but Diary of the Dead relies on the trailblazing effort of several films. Romero no longer seems to be leading the pack, but instead trails behind as a fitting last-nail-in-the-coffin for zombie films. I suppose it is fitting that the man who set the standards for the genre should be the one to kill it, but I can’t help but feel disappointed no matter how much I try and justify the failure of Diary of the Dead.

At certain points in the film Romero has fun with the fact that many recent zombie movies have fast moving zombies, inserting an entire scene of dialogue about the logistic impossibility of a corpse moving fast without the ankles snapping. This is one of the few inspired moments of dialogue in the low-budget film, but it is also a sore reminder that Diary of the Dead seems to rely heavily on the rejuvenation these films brought back to the genre, not to mention the similarities in the use of digital filming. Another recent horror film to make use of digital film is Cloverfield. This film has a great deal in common with Diary of the Dead, which is about a group of film students who begin filming when a zombie outbreak occurs. The difference between this and Cloverfield, which was a home video turned into documentation, is that the characters filming in Cloverfield never seemed insensitive or obsessive as much as they were stupid to be concerned with the camera. In Diary of the Dead the zombies are not nearly as much the focus as the debate about filming is.

Perhaps Romero meant to make a commentary on the viewer, much the way Rear Window brilliantly causes us to examine the act of being voyeur in comparison to film-watching. The problem is that at several points in the film it becomes difficult to relate to the people holding the video camera, especially when the people that love them are distressed and pleading for them to put the camera down. If this is a more personal commentary coming from the director himself it might serve some insight into the filmmaker’s life, but I’m afraid it does nothing positive for the horror genre. The characters are sadly one-dimensional, filled with unknown actors and unimportant sub-plots that lead them away from zombies. Essentially a road movie in the same way that 28 Days Later is, the students keep moving in hopes of finding a place where someone will take charge. When nobody is found living, they keep moving, and the plot slowly follows along.

The DVD features special features that rival the feature film. There is a commentary track with Romero along with the cinematographer Adam Swica and editor Michael Doherty, but even their justification for certain odd choices wasn’t enough to sway me as far as the film is concerned. There is also a great feature-length documentary about the making of the film, on-set footage, and a featurette on the inspiration of the film. There are also five fan-submitted short films involving zombies that were from a Myspace contest, and some extra footage in the form of character confessionals that is best avoided. The best special feature is the outtakes from the cameos of famed horror celebrities, all of which were voices on the radio in the film.

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George Romero's Diary Of The Dead (2008) DVD review written by: Ryan Izay

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