The Zombie Diaries (2006)

Directors:

Michael Bartlett
Kevin Gates

Writers:

Kevin Gates
Michael Bartlett

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Brace yourself... This time it's for real.

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Zombie | Infection

Cast

Russell Jones	...	Goke
Craig Stovin	...	Andy
Jonnie Hurn	...	John
James Fisher	...	Geoff
Anna Blades	...	Vanessa
Imogen Church	...	Sue
Kyle Sparks	...	Greg
Alison Mollon	...	Elizabeth
Victoria Summer	...	Leeann (as Victoria Nalder)
Jonathan Ball	...	Matt
Sophia Ellis	...	Anna
Will Tosh	...	James
Hiram Bleetman	...	Manny
Ralph Mondi	...	Amine
Leonard Fenton	...	Bill
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tony Adams		(as C/SGT Tony Adams)
Scott Ainslie	...	Sgt. Jim McCulloch
Mark Andrews	...	Creature
Alexia Angelis	...	Creature in bedroom
Eve Appley	...	Young Girl
Vicky Appley	...	Mother
Daryl Astbury	...	Creature
Carol Atkinson	...	Street Interviewee
Tom Atkinson	...	Street Interviewee
Michael Bartlett	...	Creature
Jess Biddle	...	Creature
Marisa Blagden	...	Creature
Neil Blagdon	...	Creature
Toby Bowman	...	Cpl. Jez Nicholson
Michelle Brice	...	Creature
Kiron Briggs	...	(voice)
Nina Jade Burkett	...	Creature
Scott Burkett	...	Street Interviewee
Kai Carter	...	Creature
Lucy Carter	...	Creature
Jamie Chambers		(as PTE Jamie Chambers)
Billy Conway	...	Creature
Dennis Daly	...	Creature
Rob Dawson	...	Creature
Olagoke Fagbemi	...	Creature
Juliet Forester	...	Sharon Buckley
Steve Foulds	...	Creature
Jessica Gannon	...	Creature
Simon Gray	...	Creature
Keeley Hale	...	Creature
Laura Harris	...	Creature
Chris Hatt		(as PTE Chris Hatt)
Clive Haward		(as C/SGT Clive Haward)
Barney Haywood	...	Creature
Mark Hirst	...	Creature
Alastair Holman	...	Creature
Bobo Jones	...	Decontamination Soldier #2
Steve Jones	...	Creature
Raymond Keene	...	Journalist (voice) (as Raymond Keene Obe)
Skippy Kelson	...	Lance Corporal 'Skippy' Kelson (as L/CPL 'Skippy' Kelson)
Lee Lawrence		(as L/CPL Lee Lawrence)
Natalie Loader	...	Creature
Alison Locke	...	Street Interviewee
Rich Luckins		(as PTE Rich Luckins)
Adam Lutz	...	Creature
Brett Lutz	...	Creature
Melissa Lutz	...	Creature
Sam Maughan	...	Decontamination Soldier #1
Manuela Maurer	...	Creature
Thomas Maurer	...	Creature
David Maylin	...	Creature
Lee McGuire	...	Creature
Lori Miller	...	Creature
Julian Newman Turner	...	Creature
Matt Nickolay	...	Creature
Daniel Oram	...	Creature
Mel Pimm	...	Creature
Geoff Preece	...	Mr. West
Stefanie Roll	...	Creature
Julian Simpole	...	Politician (voice)
Natalie Skalecki	...	Creature
Basil Smyth	...	Creature
Anthony Squires	...	Creature
Adam Taylor		(as PTE Adam Taylor)
Emily Trott	...	Creature
Phil Turner		(as PTE Phil Turner)
Jemma Warwick	...	Creature
Charlene Watson	...	Creature
Sam Weightman		(as PTE Sam Weightman)
Danny Willis	...	Creature

Directed by
Michael Bartlett
Kevin Gates

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Michael Bartlett
Kevin Gates

Produced by
Michael Bartlett	....	producer
Kevin Gates	....	producer

Original Music by
Stephen Hoper

Cinematography by
George Carpenter

Film Editing by
Michael Bartlett
Kevin Gates

Makeup Department
Cesar Alonso	....	special makeup effects artist
Scott Orr	....	special makeup effects artist
Mike Peel	....	special makeup effects artist

Sound Department
Rob Whitaker	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Julian Newman Turner	....	still photographer

Editorial Department
Kevin Gates	....	colorist

Other crew
Hakan Besim	....	production assistant
Stuart Folley	....	production assistant
Andrew Jones	....	production assistant
Bobo Jones	....	production assistant
Matt Nikolay	....	production assistant
Darren Williams	....	production assistant
Mark Wright	....	production assistant

Thanks
Matthew Hope	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Bleeding Edge Films
• Off World Films

Distributors

• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Albania) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Bulgaria) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Croatia) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Czech Republic) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Hungary) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Kosovo) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Republic of Macedonia) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Montenegro) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Romania) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Serbia) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Slovakia) (all media)
• Blue Sky Media (2007) (Slovenia) (all media)
• Accent Film Entertainment (2008) (Australia) (DVD)
• DNC Entertainment (2007) (Italy) (all media)
• Dimension Extreme (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Genius Products (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Indies Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Movie Bank (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD) (rental)
• Pan Vision Oy (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Revolver Entertainment (2007) (UK) (DVD)
• Splendid Film (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Videorama (2008) (Greece) (all media)
• Weinstein Company, The (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Escape from Living Dead" - Japan (English title) (imdb display title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence/gore, language and some nudity

Runtime:

UK:85 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:18 | Australia:MA | Netherlands:16 | USA:R | Finland:K-15 | New Zealand:R18 | Singapore:M18 (cut) | Portugal:M/16 | Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Manor Farm, Baldock, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Bleeding Edge Films

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Bad Movie Beatdown: Diary of the Dead (#3.31)" (2011)

Great Concept, Terrible Everything Else

The premise of the movie is great. After a zombie epidemic, various video diaries are recovered. These video diaries tell the tales of survival of 3 groups of people whose stories eventually interweave.

Sadly, the acting is terrible. The best acting is done by the zombies. The special effects and makeup appear to have been done by students venturing into their first foray into gore. The best makeup/special effect is the clouded contacts and anybody with 20 dollars and Wal-Mart nearby can pull that off. Some zombies look downright comical, almost as if they are wearing cheap Halloween costumes.

This movie has some of the comedy that has come to be expected in the genre, but it's not intentional. In one scene, a shot from about 20 yards away with a rifle takes about two seconds before the zombies head is (poorly) blown apart.

The camera work is terrible. There is no sense of a "diary" in any of the 3 scenarios. Just groups filming their goings on and there's too much of a random feeling to it. And not random in the good way. More like "Why in the world would they be filming THIS?" There should have been more asides and narrating from the cameramen. Instead of having a sense of "this is a diary that recorded their struggles for whoever may find it", you had more of a sense of "this is a bad class project done by middle school children". The dialogue is forced. Whether it was written or improvised, it smacked of trying too hard to "act", and this totally destroyed the feel of "this is real people reacting to real events".

There are about 3 scenes that could have been very powerful. One of them has been done in almost every zombie movie before and the main difference this time around was the age of the "victim". The other two scenes were more confusing than anything. There's a difference between leaving things opened for interpretation and just totally dropping the ball.

All in all, I was very disappointed. A great concept was ruined.