Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. I’m intrigued by the way this one seems to be dividing audiences. I quite liked LAND OF THE DEAD myself, so I’m hoping this offers another new take on this familiar material from the man who basically owns the genre. Let’s see what this spy thought:
Hey gang, Long time reader, first time contributor. I just caught a screening of George Romero's "Diary of the Dead" at the TIFF yesterday and thought I'd share a few of my thoughts on the flick. I know you guys don't give a shit how long I waited in line or what I had for breakfast yesterday morning, so we'll just jump right into the review. First and foremost, to anyone who lost faith in Romero after "Land of the Dead", you can rest assured that "Diary" is a return to form for the man who spearheaded the zombie subgenre. It's a very cool thing, because after countless pale imitations of his work, the only guy who could revive the zombie movie is the one who started it all. This, I think, is the mark of a true master. The story is basically told through camera footage taken from the beginning of the whole zombie phenomenon (one gets the feeling that Romero is rebooting his series for a new generation, with a brand new way of storytelling) The majority of footage is shot by one guy in particular, an aspiring director, who decides that it's his responsibility to document the whole thing. The movie centers around him and his film student friends as they travel across the state trying to find safety. Aesthetically, the movie is great. Like another reviewer said, this isn't "The Blair Witch Project" with zombies; the story is told cohesively and with a straight narrative stream, and whatever camera they shot it with provides clear and crisp images that are a far cry from the ones in BWP. Artistically, the movie feels very fresh and full of energy, too, and you leave with the impression that Romero put his heart and soul into making this one. "Diary of the Dead" is fast and focused, a lean piece of filmmaking that runs like a well oiled machine and actually manages to be scary at some points, which I didn't think was really possible in a modern zombie movie. The majority of the audience loved the film and I think one of the biggest complaints from the crowd was that the movie was over too soon (it ran just over an hour and a half and could have gone on for at least a half an hour more if the powers that be wanted it to). I shouldn't get too ahead of myself, though, because while the film is great and easily the best movie Romero has made since "Day of the Dead" it certainly has its flaws. One being a constant voiceover reminiscent of Sarah Connor's narration in Terminator 2. For example, a piece of narration that goes something along the lines of, "My friends and I decided to document the happenings as we saw them. I've put our footage together, along with videos I've downloaded from the internet to make this film. I've added music to the appropriate scenes to try to scare you. I want to scare you, so that maybe you can learn from our mistakes." …Okay, what the shit was that? The film is strong enough to work on its own merits, and clumsy voiceover narration like that feels amateur, lazy and superfluous. Another small complaint I had with the movie was the lack of gore we've come to expect from Romero's zombie movies. This could have more to do with a lack of budget than anything else (which, ironically, most of the great things about this movie can be attributed to as well), but aside from countless bullets to zombie heads, the trademark Romero gore (think Captain Rhodes in "Day of the Dead") is practically nonexistent. Another qualm I had with the movie was that much of the blood and gore that did appear was CG. This, as any horror geek worth his salt knows, is never a good thing. On the program, it said the film had been rated 14A (an Ontario rating that could be classified as something between a PG-13 and an R rating in the States), so the "blood and guts quotient" has definitely been toned down from a lot of Romero's previous work. Overall though, I think the horror community's reception to this film is going to be great. Not only is the film a completely fresh take on the Romero zombie mythology, but it's also a love letter to his previous films and the references to his previous work (as well as veiled criticisms of other horror films being made today) are fired rapidly throughout the film, and the social commentary is laid thick. "Diary of the Dead" heralds not only the return of a true master of the genre, but also the genre itself. And that, my friends, is a beautiful thing. If you use this, please call me Tarantinoholic.
