Diary of the Dead (2007)

A group of young film students run into real-life zombies while filming a horror movie of their own.

Director:

George A. Romero

Writer:

George A. Romero

Stars:

Michelle Morgan, Joshua Close, Shawn Roberts

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michelle Morgan	...	Debra Moynihan
Joshua Close	...	Jason Creed (as Josh Close)
Shawn Roberts	...	Tony Ravello
Amy Lalonde	...	Tracy Thurman
Joe Dinicol	...	Eliot Stone
Scott Wentworth	...	Andrew Maxwell
Philip Riccio	...	Ridley Wilmott
Chris Violette	...	Gordo Thorsen
Tatiana Maslany	...	Mary Dexter
Todd Schroeder	...	Brody (as Todd William Schroeder)
Daniel Kash	...	Police Officer
Laura de Carteret	...	Bree (as Laura DeCarteret)
Martin Roach	...	Stranger
Megan Park	...	Francine Shane
George Buza	...	Tattooed Biker

Storyline

While filming a horror movie of mummy in a forest, the students and their professor of the University of Pittsburgh hear on the TV the news that the dead are awaking and walking. Ridley and Francine decide to leave the group, while Jason heads to the dormitory of his girlfriend Debra Monahan. She does not succeed in contacting her family and they travel in Mary's van to the house of Debra's parents in Scranton, Pennsylvania. While driving her van, Mary sees a car accident and runs over a highway patrolman and three other zombies trying to escape from them. Later the religious Mary is depressed, questioning whether the victims where really dead, and tries to commit suicide, shooting herself with a pistol. Her friends take her to a hospital where they realize that the dead are indeed awaking and walking and they need to fight to survive while traveling to Debra's parents house.

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Plot Keywords:

hospital | mummy | film student | video camera | barn | 

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Taglines:

A new vision of terror from the legendary filmmaker

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

14A

Details

Official Sites:

Bac Films [France] Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 March 2008 (UK)

Also Known As:

Diário dos Mortos

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$275,061 (USA) (15 February 2008)

Gross:

$952,620 (USA) (25 April 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Artfire Films, Romero-Grunwald Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Quentin Tarantino:  Director of films such as Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994) cameos in a voiceover role as a newsreader.

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Goofs

At one point a radio report says that deaths will rise at four times the rate in eight days, and by a hundred percent after ten days, as if this is even more. However, to rise by a hundred percent only means that it doubles.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Police Officer: 628 Tremont. 6-2-8. Three dead. No, just the usual. Fuck. Usual. It's no big deal these days, right?

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Connections

Spun-off from Night of the Living Dead (1968)

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Soundtracks

Any Other Way
Written by James Parker / Scot Thiessen / Alina Tringova / Tim Walker
Produced by James Parker
Performed by The Captains Intangible

User Reviews

TIFF screening

At first I was apprehensive about this new entry in Romero's Dead series, but that pretty much disappeared after the first scene. The fact that the film was shot all in subjective camera doesn't result in a gimmicky, incoherent mess, like, say, the Blair Witch, but is used intelligently and effectively.

The scares and effects were great, and the movie actually takes a rather complicated approach to the topic of today's media-saturated environment, rather than being a crude polemic.

My only complaint would be that the voice-over and dialogue were a little clunky at times, overexplaining things that could have been inferred without too much trouble. That's a minor problem though. Overall, a totally worthy entry in the series.