I have been a fan of George Romero's work since I was a kid. From Night of the Living Dead to Land of the Dead, which was pretty bad. Georges calling card has always been his social commentary in his films. It is always under lying and never the main point of the film but its there and obvious enough that people will pick up on it. In Romero's last outing, Land of the Dead, the social commentary was strained underneath the need of making a blockbuster film. I mean, the mans name is forever linked to zombie films, the guy fucking CREATED the genre! Thus, every film the man makes is supposed to be awesome, but his latest films have been less than impressive, much less actually good. Land of the Dead was a tolerable zombie flick and the social commentary was obvious and never explored beyond "The rich stay rich and poor get poorer". The film follows a group of college film students as the world comes to an end. Right from the start of the film, it is said that "what you are about to see is the film we made". You should know, or at least get a bad feeling in your stomach, from the title of the movie that this movie is supposed to be, The Death of (wait for it) Death. Awww yea. The Death of Death. Wicked. I should have walked out then and there.
Diary of the Dead attempts at taking shots at the internet age that we live in. He repeatedly reminds us that the only truth you can find is on the internets and the main stream media can not be trusted, even when they are telling you that the dead are walking. This movie doesn't feel like a Romero film at all or even a film that should be released into theaters. The entire things stinks of a straight to DvD release, from the camera work, the acting, the production value and the directing. I have to assume that some studio head decided to give this movie theatrical release only because Romero wrote, directed and had his named on the title and they were banking on that drawing the Romero faithful to the theaters. Yet there here we are, paying $8+ to get into a theater to watch this hunk of crap because we love us some Romero.
I honestly don't even know where to start trashing this movie. Its bad, from start to finish. There are tolerable moments but the majority of this film is terrible, even the damn zombies! I mean fuck! Excuse me for going on a mini rant here but Romero knows what he is doing when making a zombie movie. Even the zombies in his older films are more realistic than the ones in this. Its like he couldnt get a budget for make up, or even special effects. Its just awful. George should know better than this. Which is one of the reasons Diary doesn't look or feel like a Romero film. Its almost sad to watch really.
Ignoring the fact that Romero is sullying his good name by trying to make films and keep the indie feel that he once mastered, Diary is a failure. From the characters trying to make internet speak sound cool, to the terrible ideas that they take, the shitty camera work, the terrible direction...I mean just...really. Every fucking aspect of this movie. Bad. All of it. Bad. Terrible. Awful. I mean, in this film the characters are downloading and uploading to the internet for the sake of "telling people the truth". They ignore the fact that the internet isn't some magic thing that just exists. Servers? Bah. The internet isn't housed on servers, that require power or people to maintain them. The tv stations stop broadcasting, cell phones dont work, power is out but fuck me the internet still works. Right. Or lets look at the fact that people are STILL BOTHERING TO UPLOAD SHIT ONTO THE FUCKING INTERNET WHEN THE DEAD ARE WALKING THE FUCKING EARTH!!
I mean fuck. Suspension of belief is one thing but when you are basing your entire film on the internet being the end all be all of truthiness, thanks Colbert, then at least know the limitations of it! I can't stress just how fucking bad this movie really is, and it honestly does hurt me to say it. I love Romero and I wanted this to be another classic, instead it should not exist, or at least be a dvd extra on The Ultimate Romero Collection. I can think of a few ways this film could be better. Hire better actors for one, get a fucking budget so you can use blanks instead of CGI bullet effects or how about not filming it like its a fucking documentary and just have it be a movie about survivors learning what is going on.
So don't pay to see this film. Don't even rent it. Hopefully this will drive the message home to Romero and he will retire and let other film makers take up the mantle of zombie films.
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