Diary of the Dead (2007)
Country: US/CAN
Technical: col/scope 95m
Director: George A. Romero
Cast: Michelle Morgan, Josh Close, Shawn Roberts, Scott Wentworth
Synopsis:
As the zombie plague declares itself, a group of Pittsburgh students head out on the highway in a Winnebago with their dipsomaniac professor. Everywhere around them the fabric of society is crumbling, but one of them is determined to catch it all on camera if it's the last thing he does.
Review:
Technically savvy and ingenious in the way it incorporates the credibility-taxing premise of a threatened character continuing to film into a coherent and credible narrative, complete with battery failure and downloading of surveillance footage to secure 'third-person' shots. To boot, this is no gimmick, for the whole subtext of the film is a post-9/11, Iraq war polemic about the essential and ubiquitous nature of 'home movie' footage at times of crisis, and the extent to which this degrades both the filmer and the viewer. As such it goes beyond the fairground aspirations of Cloverfield, which it superficially resembles. Romero's on-screen zombie makeup effects and 'money shots' are as arresting as ever, including a stunning closing, and rare, digital gag involving a 'real' woman's head being blown in half.
Country: US/CAN
Technical: col/scope 95m
Director: George A. Romero
Cast: Michelle Morgan, Josh Close, Shawn Roberts, Scott Wentworth
Synopsis:
As the zombie plague declares itself, a group of Pittsburgh students head out on the highway in a Winnebago with their dipsomaniac professor. Everywhere around them the fabric of society is crumbling, but one of them is determined to catch it all on camera if it's the last thing he does.
Review:
Technically savvy and ingenious in the way it incorporates the credibility-taxing premise of a threatened character continuing to film into a coherent and credible narrative, complete with battery failure and downloading of surveillance footage to secure 'third-person' shots. To boot, this is no gimmick, for the whole subtext of the film is a post-9/11, Iraq war polemic about the essential and ubiquitous nature of 'home movie' footage at times of crisis, and the extent to which this degrades both the filmer and the viewer. As such it goes beyond the fairground aspirations of Cloverfield, which it superficially resembles. Romero's on-screen zombie makeup effects and 'money shots' are as arresting as ever, including a stunning closing, and rare, digital gag involving a 'real' woman's head being blown in half.
Country: US/CAN
Technical: col/scope 95m
Director: George A. Romero
Cast: Michelle Morgan, Josh Close, Shawn Roberts, Scott Wentworth
Synopsis:
As the zombie plague declares itself, a group of Pittsburgh students head out on the highway in a Winnebago with their dipsomaniac professor. Everywhere around them the fabric of society is crumbling, but one of them is determined to catch it all on camera if it's the last thing he does.
Review:
Technically savvy and ingenious in the way it incorporates the credibility-taxing premise of a threatened character continuing to film into a coherent and credible narrative, complete with battery failure and downloading of surveillance footage to secure 'third-person' shots. To boot, this is no gimmick, for the whole subtext of the film is a post-9/11, Iraq war polemic about the essential and ubiquitous nature of 'home movie' footage at times of crisis, and the extent to which this degrades both the filmer and the viewer. As such it goes beyond the fairground aspirations of Cloverfield, which it superficially resembles. Romero's on-screen zombie makeup effects and 'money shots' are as arresting as ever, including a stunning closing, and rare, digital gag involving a 'real' woman's head being blown in half.