Review: Diary Of The Dead

Day Trip To The Zoo: Of The Dead.
Bunch of zombies go to the zoo for the day, and have a nice time and a couple of them get balloons to take home.

I just roll my eyes a bit when the next zombie film is announced. What spin will they come up with now?

I've heard mixed reviews. I know it got a standing ovation at the Venice and Toronto film festivals. The idea has a lot of potential but I'm not convinced cowboys are the best way to go about looking at the right to life/death.

http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/102/1024701p1.html

IGN review of Survival of the Dead not very positive. Shame, the premise has promise.

I'll give it a chance - the first three are amazing, Land less so, but still enjoyable, but Diary I hated from first to last.

Next Romero Dead film finally has a title. Survival of The Dead premières in September, so should be out here around February. Here's hoping it's better than Diary.

Thought this was very poor indeed. I understand that Romero needs to have social commentary in his films, but I thought it would be woven into the story, not explained by a heavy-handed voiceover. And what's the point of shooting 'real' with a handheld camera if you explain right at the beginning that you're watching the final cut of a film shot by a film director? Doesn't that make the style entirely redundant? The film had music, sharp cuts, reaction shots etc, in other words, everything a normal film would have. Handheld POV is just a gimmick, nothing more.

See REC for what this film should have been. Very disappointed and the first time I've ever really disagreed with a review on my own site.

Saw it this evening, not quite sure what to make of it. (heavy-handed) social commentary aside, it doesn't feel like part of the other 4 movies. I'm still not convinced by the first person view either but i'd still say this is a better film than 95% of the crap that passes for horror these days.

"Apparently it's dreadful - straight to DVD in America and nothing to do with the Dawn remake. It's a standalone film, probably because it stinks. And Ving Rhames is in it."

And apparently the Bub zombie character isn't a brainchewer as before he reanimated, he was a vegiterian. Urm...

I'm not too bothered by this one. I'll watch but I'm not rushin out to see it. The possibility of a version of Max Brooks World War Z, on the other hand.....

Apparently it's dreadful - straight to DVD in America and nothing to do with the Dawn remake. It's a standalone film, probably because it stinks. And Ving Rhames is in it.

For those who liked the Dawn of the Dead remake (i thought it was an abomination), the Day of the Dead remake is on it's way. I bet they're going to piss all over the corpse of Bub the Zombie.

I'm all for films having subtext, but sometimes I just can't be arsed. This sounds like it gets the balance right. I dunno, it's probably about Iraq or summat else I don't understand.

Mid-morning of the Dead.

Yep, thought it was weak. The original re-make of 'Dawn of the Dead' was absolute quality. 'Land of the Dead' i also enjoyed but this one i was just willing to end, some of the acting was really wooden aswell. Best bit was the deaf Amish guy and when the other two people in the cinema made a comment about how they thought it was called 'DAIRY of the Dead'. Opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

Oh, and this made me feel worse than Cloverfield motion sickness-wise.

No more "handheld camera" films for me.

I've had The Fountain sitting on my pile of unwatched DVDs for about six months now. I keep waiting for the right mood to strike me, but I don't think it's ever going to come. Same with Brick: I know it's good, but I just can't bring myself to watch it. I always opt for 300/Transformers etc. I am a man of simple pleasures.

Also, I'm done with handheld horrors for now. Was a little disappointed that this was a bit of a mulch: video, YouTube clips, internet footage, news broadcasts etc. Sort of dilutes it a little, no?

Yep, Solaris is fucking superb in a huge way. Still yet to see The Fountain.

I've been waiting for this for around 6 months, finally the release date comes and my cinema decides it's not that bothered about showing it. I was not pleased.
As for the film, i've heard mixed reviews. Romero fans have generally liked it while the people after brainless gory horror films obviously didnt. The only thing i've heard that i didnt like was that the narrator dumbs down the message of the film by explaining everything. Thats something i didnt like about Land, Romero seems to have decided that his target audience is too stupid to understand subtle social commentary.

Also, Mrs Goatboy seems to think this film is called "Diarrhoea The Dead" and thinks that would be more awesome.

But then she liked Sweeney Todd

Oi, don't knock Solaris or The Fountain - I liked those a lot.
This has been getting lacklustre reviews so I'll be interested to see it. Synder's "Dawn" remake was actually great fun, sprinting zombies aside but Romero is The Daddy.

Saw this today and thought it wasn't bad if a bit hammy. I laughed out loud a few times although I'm not sure if I was supposed to ...

My mate, who *has* seen the others, described it as "weak". I guess my expectations were lower than his!

This is something I'd quite like to watch, but the cinema doesn't seem the right place. I'll wait for the DVD I think. Thought Land of the Dead was okay, much preferred Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead. And, to my eternal shame, I've never seen Romero's original Dead trilogy - I'm working on it, I promise.