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 & 1 nomination.

Cast

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

Shoot the dead.

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Guillermo del Toro: Director of films such as Blade II (2002), Hellboy (2004), and Pan's Labyrinth (2006) (a.k.a. "Pan's Labyrinth") cameos in a voiceover role as a newsreader.

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Goofs

At several points in the movie digital videos are shown to break up as an analogue signal would. This is inconsistent with the way digital video breaks up as it tends to go blocky.

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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

Featured in Survival of the Dead (2009)

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Soundtracks

The Yellow Rose of Texas
Traditional
[Ringtone of Tracy's phone and instrumental version heard when Tracy knocks Ridley unconscious and when she steals the RV and drives away]

User Reviews

My least favourite of the series

I never thought i would say this about a Romero zombie film but i was really disappointed by this one and in my opinion it's the worst one of the series. The zombie attacks are few and far between and when they do happen they're over so quickly that there's no time for any anticipation or fear to build up. There's hardly any gore. Anybody wanting lots of scenes of people being eaten by zombies had better stay away from this one. The thing that irritated me most and it's probably why i wouldn't bother watching the film again is the fact that when a character is being attacked hardly any of the group goes to help. They all either stand there or are too obsessed with filming it on their camcorders. OK i know it's only a film but if a friend of mine was being attacked by one of the living dead i would drop the camera and go and HELP. The female lead Deb was a stroppy cow who needed a good slap and Jason was a waste of space. I kept hoping somebody would smash the camera over his head and put him out of his misery. None of the characters were likable and the only interesting ones, for example Samuel, aren't in the movie long enough. I just didn't care what happened to any of them and i wasn't interested in what any of them had to say. That plus the fact that there is hardly any action meant that i found the film dull. It's well made but i wouldn't recommend it.

Details

Official Sites:

Bac Films [France] Official site

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 February 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$232,576, 17 February 2008

Gross USA:

$958,961

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,540,941

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