Diary of the Dead (2007)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

George A. Romero

Writer (WGA):

George A. Romero (written by)

Release Date:

7 March 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Fantasy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Shoot the dead.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Professor | Film Student | Car Accident | Suicide | Pistol

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Michelle Morgan	...	Debra Moynihan
Joshua Close	...	Jason Creed (as Josh Close)
Shawn Roberts	...	Tony Ravello
Amy Ciupak Lalonde	...	Tracy Thurman (as Amy Lalonde)
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 DeCarteret	...	Bree
Martin Roach	...	Stranger
Megan Park	...	Francine Shane
George Buza	...	Tattooed Biker

Also Known As:

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead (USA) (complete title)
Land of the Dead 2 (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong horror violence and gore, and pervasive language.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:14A | USA:R | UK:18 | Ireland:16 | Argentina:16 | Portugal:M/18 | Australia:MA | Taiwan:R-18 | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:R21 (cut) | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | France:-12

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Artfire Films

Trivia:

Cameo: [Wes Craven]Director of films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Scream (1996/I) The Last House on the Left (1972), and The Hills Have Eyes (1977) cameos in a voiceover role as a newsreader.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When arriving at Deb's parents' house in Scranton, Deb comments that West Virginia (where her parents and brother were camping) is only 100 miles away. Even though we don't know where in West Virginia her family was, the closest point in the state would still be approximately 200 miles from Scranton.

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?

Movie Connections:

References Dead End (1985)

Soundtrack:

Any Other Way

Great film from Mr. Romero...

Alright, well I'll start right off the bat with, I loved this movie. I will bore you with a synopsis of the movie, cause you can read the plot somewhere else, and I am pretty sure most of you know the plot already. Instead of the movie starting off with saying "George A. Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD", it begins as a fully cut together documentary about what these students went through for the first few days of the outbreak. The movie has narration, and is told through a variety of cameras, security cameras, self phones, news footage…this makes for an already very interesting watch.

The movie starts out with a great opening scene which grabs you right from the get go, and already you can tell that this is not some Blair Witch knock off. Comparisons to Blair Witch will be thrown right out the window. In DIARY the camera acts as a character in the film, a lot of time I forgot I was watching a documentary esquire movie, and thought I was just watching a film. Instead of shaky cameras, off the cuff improv dialogue, we get a full more theatrical sort of experience. We still watch the whole movie through the POV of the cameras, and this never changes…which leads to some terrifying scenes. I have never found zombie movies scary, but this was quite a creepy film in parts. Most notably the "Hospital Scene", talk about a perfect creep fest…great location, great build up…great pay off.

From the get go, I can assume that this will be a movie that either fans or going to love or hate. It's very much the Romero world; there are little nods to Night and Day. But the overall feeling is something new all to itself, obviously one can compare it to Night, but even that would be a very loose comparison. What really makes this movie work is what you don't see. The film is not a zombie gore fest by any means, not by comparison to Land anyways (But don't worry, DIARY still holds a great deal of signature Romero moments that had the audience up and cheering). There are no huge crowds of zombies roaming around, they are here and there and they still very much are a threat, but still not the scariest. Radio reports and peoples actions really up the paranoia level of the movie, and make it a scarier experience. This is by far the scariest Romero Dead film of the series; it holds a great sense of dread with it.

In the negative department, of which I have very few complaints, I think some of delivery of lines where a little camp. And the staging of a couple scenes definitely played cheesy in a few parts where it should have been serious. Also, there were only a couple CGI moments that took me out of the movie (don't worry, there is no priest zombie in the movie, the CGI is very subtle). But all these complaints are few and far between each other.

All together, DIARY was a very impressive achievement for Mr. Romero, and I hope this film sees the light of day soon, cause I know I can't wait to see it again. I think the social commentary in this movie played stronger and better then it did in the other films. This was a nice touch; it really added to the overall experience, it brought a sense of reality to the whole concept…more so then the other films in my opinion. In conclusion, Romero fans won't be disappointed, the film has his dark humor and great zombie moments laced through out the film. And people looking for more then just cheap thrills, should also leave the theater feeling satisfied.