Survival of the Dead (2009)

On an island off the coast of North America, local residents simultaneously fight a zombie epidemic while hoping for a cure to return their un-dead relatives back to their human state.

Director:

George A. Romero

Writer:

George A. Romero

Stars:

Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alan Van Sprang	...	Sarge Nicotine Crockett
Kenneth Welsh	...	Patrick O'Flynn
Kathleen Munroe	...	Janet / Jane O'Flynn
Devon Bostick	...	Boy
Richard Fitzpatrick	...	Seamus Muldoon
Athena Karkanis	...	Tomboy
Stefano DiMatteo	...	Francisco (as Stefano Di Matteo)
Joris Jarsky	...	Chuck
Eric Woolfe	...	Kenny
Julian Richings	...	James
Wayne Robson	...	Tawdry
Joshua Peace	...	D.J. (as Josh Peace)
Hardee T. Lineham	...	Lieutenant Vaughn
Dru Viergever	...	Soldier Zombie
Shawn Roberts	...	Tony (archive footage)

Storyline

In the Plum Island, off the coast of Delaware, the long feud between the families of the patriarchs Captain Patrick O'Flynn (Kenneth Welsh) that intends to eliminate the zombies and Seamus Muldoon (Richard Fitzpatrick) that intends to keep his undead relatives waiting for a cure culminates with O'Flynn expelled from Plum. Meanwhile in the continent Sarge "Nicotine" Crocket (Alan Van Sprang), Chuck (Joris Jarsky), Cisco (Stefano DiMatteo) and Tomboy (Athena Karkanis) are plundering and seeking a safe place to stay. When they rescue the young Boy (Devon Bostick) from group of sadistic hunters, Boy decides to join the group and suggests them to head to Plum Island since he had heard a O'Flynn's broadcast inviting people to move to the island. When Sarge and his team arrive in the island, they are attacked by Muldoon's men and they see that the place is crowded of undead. Sarge's friend Chuck is killed and they decide to fight against Muldoon.

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Plot Keywords:

island | feud | zombie | boat | horse | 

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Taglines:

Death isn't what it used to be.

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong zombie violence/gore, language and brief sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp] Official site [us]

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 May 2010 (Germany)

Also Known As:

...of the Dead

Filming Locations:

Ancaster, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$54,605 (USA) (28 May 2010)

Gross:

$101,055 (USA) (9 July 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Blank of the Dead Productions, Devonshire Productions, New Romero

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film marks the first time that a character from a previous Living Dead film returns to star in a sequel, with 'Alan van Sprang' as Sarge "Nicotine" Crockett having been seen in Diary of the Dead, and also playing Brubaker in Land of the Dead. The only two other times this has come close to happening was Tom Savini reprising his role of Blades from Dawn of the Dead as a cameo in Land of the Dead in zombie form, and Joseph Pilato playing an unnamed police captain in Dawn of the Dead returning to play Captain Rhodes in Day of the Dead.

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Goofs

When Francisco is swimming to the ferry you can see the actors scuba mask on the zombie he bites the finger off of.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sarge 'Nicotine' Crocket: [voice-over] Last time anyone counted, fifty-three million people were dying every year, a hundred-fifty thousand every day, a hundred and seven every minute, and that was in normal times.

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Connections

Referenced in 20 to 1: Adults Only 20 to 1: Movie Monsters (2010)

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Soundtracks

"MAKE IT OR BREAK IT"
Written by Charlie Finlay
Courtesy of Charfin Music

User Reviews

How could he get it so wrong?

25 years ago, I sat open-mouthed in awe of the intense visceral horror experience that was George Romero's Day of the Dead; today, I sat jaw agape once more at the director's latest zombie flick, Survival of the Dead, although for a very different reason: utter disbelief!

How could George Romero, the creator of the modern movie zombie, get everything so totally wrong?

With Survival, it looks like the director has finally taken on board the criticism aimed at his last two films and ditched the heavy-handed social commentary (the messages are still there, but are far less 'in-your-face'); unfortunately, somewhere during the creative process, he's also unwisely opted to up the level of comedy, meaning that much of this film plays the global zombie threat for laughs.

Remember how Romero used the slapstick custard pie scene in Dawn of the Dead to momentarily relieve the tension? Well in this one, it's all 'custard pie' and absolutely no tension. During the course of the film, we get to witness several cringe-worthy comedy zombie slayings, a hilarious bitter feud between two stereotypical Irish clans, a zombie woman on horseback, a car ferry strangely moored in six feet of water, zombie fishing, plus loads of other nonsense that beggars belief. Not once, however, do we get a sense of dread. The closest Romero ever comes to delivering the goods is with a couple of cheap jump scares that are accompanied by loud noises and some admittedly splattery gore (that relies a little too heavily on CGI for my liking).

Had Survival of the Dead been made by anyone other than Romero, then I may have rated it as high as 5/10: it's never boring, I suppose. But coming from the guy who practically invented the genre, the film can only be seen as a massive disappointment—easily the worst of his 'Dead' films to date—and therefore fully deserves my lower score of 3/10.