The Zombies return in George A. Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD(2008).
© The Weinstein Company
Mania Grade: B+
DVD: Diary of the Dead
Rating: R
Starring: Joshua Close, Michelle Morgan, Amy LaLonde
Written By: George A. Romero
Directed By: George A. Romero
Distributor: The Weinstein Company/Genius Products
Original Year of Release: 2007
Extras: Audio Commentary by Romero, Feature length "making of" documentary, Five additional featurettes
Buy it now!
DVD: Diary of the Dead
Rating: R
Starring: Joshua Close, Michelle Morgan, Amy LaLonde
Written By: George A. Romero
Directed By: George A. Romero
Distributor: The Weinstein Company/Genius Products
Original Year of Release: 2007
Extras: Audio Commentary by Romero, Feature length "making of" documentary, Five additional featurettes
Buy it now!
DIARY OF THE DEAD
By: Tim JansonReview Date: Monday, May 26, 2008
George Romero’s four previous zombie films have all followed a natural progression. The Zombie outbreak started in Night of the Living Dead and by the time we reached Land of the Dead the zombies had become the dominant species. However, Romero takes the series back to its roots with Diary of the Dead in more ways than one. Consider this a reboot or a re-take on the start of the zombie outbreak. We are back in Pennsylvania just as the first few reports of the dead returning to life are being broadcast on local news stations. A group of University of Pittsburgh students, working on their own horror film for a class project, pile into a motor home to try and get home. Jason (Joshua Close), the director of their film, decides to start recording the entire event on his camera.
The group has their first encounter with a zombie along the highway as a burned up state trooper tries to stop their RV. The full realization of what is happening finally hits them as they take an injured friend to a hospital only to find it empty…except for a few undead doctors and nurses. Even as the carnage unfolds, Jason continues to film, uploading his footage onto the Internet even as his girlfriend Debra chastises him for his insensitivity. Immediately you’re thinking Night of the Living Dead meets Cloverfield because of the handheld camera. The camera work in Diary is certainly less jerky than in Cloverfield and much of the time you’ll barely notice it.
Diary is the closest zombie film yet in terms of scope to Night of the Living Dead. It’s a small cast working within the confines of a handful of sets and locations. There are fewer zombies than in any previous Romero zombie film since “Night”. This is all by design. Romero wanted to return to a smaller, independent feature. His intent was to make the film for under a million dollars. This was a very personal film for George, one that he could do entirely his way without having to please studio bosses. Romero talks quite candidly about this during the making of documentary. While he certainly enjoyed working with the bigger budget he had with Land of the Dead, you get the feeling that he’s more comfortable with a smaller film.
The cast is largely unknown but not inexperienced. Most of the actors have at least a couple of dozen credits in both film and TV. No one stands out but no one hams it up either. What the film lacks, however, is any real tension. The difference with Diary and the rest of the series is that our survivors are mobile, and are not trapped within a farmhouse, shopping mall, underground bunker, or a walled city. The one time they are pinned down within an old barn they are able to make a quick getaway.
Diary is also less bloody than Romero’s previous films, in part because of the camera work. Since the whole thing is supposed to take place through the lens of Jason’s camera, some of the zombie feeding activity must be imagined. There are some notable special effects, such as the zombie who gets a jar of acid busted over his head and his skull slowly is dissolved down to the brain. Still, you have to admire Romero. He could have made another big-budget zombie film but he told the story that he wanted to tell.
Extras
Pulling up the grade on the DVD is a nice set of extras. Romero, Director of Photography Adam Swica, and Editor Michael Doherty provide a lively audio commentary. The best extra is the feature lengths (80+ minutes) making of documentary covering the cast, crew, special effects, make-up, and more.
Other extras include featurettes on the first week of filming, character confessionals, and the inspiration for the film. Romero recruited some well-known horror personalities to do some of the voices you hear over the radio and TV in the film and these are covered in a featurette called “Familiar Voices”.
Finally there are five short zombie films, winners of a Myspace contest that are quite entertaining and well-made.
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