Day 328: Diary Of The Dead

Diary Of The Dead

Dear diary: AAAAHHHHH!!!

It's no secret that I love George Romero's zombie movies. There's just something about the original Night, Dawn and Day of the Dead movies that he gets so perfectly right. They have the right amount of blood, gore, action, humor, and social comedy. So many movies try to emulate what he has done and about 95% of them fail. While I've reviewed some of Romero's non-zombie horror movies, they just don't compare to his ...Of The Dead series. I was absolutely thrilled when it was announced that George Romero would be making new zombie movies. While Land Of The Dead wasn't as good as the previous three movies, it still had plenty of good moments. Romero stuck by his formula for the most part and was able to squeeze out an entertaining, if flawed, movie. Could the same be said for his found footage follow-up?

Diary Of The Dead is a 2007 zombie movie written and directed by George Romero. The movie stars Joshua Close (The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, K-19: The Widowmaker) as Jason Creed and Michelle Morgan (Stargate: Atlantis, Heartland) as his girlfriend Debra Moynihan. Jason is filming a horror movie with his friends and adviser Andrew Maxwell (Scott Wentworth, Law & Order, She's The Mayor) for college credit at the University of Pittsburgh when the dead begin to reanimate and eat the living. Chaos quickly descends across the land, so the group, sans Francine and Ridley, hop in their RV and heads back to their dorm. Jason finds Debra and they head out of town towards her home in Scranton, taking back roads to avoid danger. Zombies start to fill the road and the driver Mary, a quiet, religious girl, is forced to run them over. Overcome with grief, she shoots herself, but does not die. The group bring her to a hospital, which appears to be abandoned. They encounter multiple zombies and learn to shoot them in the head in order to stop them. Jason continues to film everything with his camera rather than help, infuriating Debra and the rest of the group. They continue on the road until they encounter a problem with the RV's fuel line. They are helped by a deaf Amish man named Samuel, but are overcome by zombies and once again hit the road. Outside the city, they meet armed civilians who take them back to their compound. Jason edits and uploads his footage to the internet, which receives a large amount of views within minutes. Using the internet, they are able to see that the zombie outbreak has spread across the world. On the road, the are robbed of their supplies by National Guardsmen (who are the main characters from the follow-up "Survival Of The Dead"). With the world falling apart around them, how will the group survive and will anyone be around to see their footage?

"Oh no! She shot herself with Raspberry jam!"

Though Diary Of The Dead is the fifth "...Of The Dead" movie by Romero, it is not a sequel to Land Of The Dead. It is, in fact, a reworking of the basic zombie myth. While this could be good for a Romero newcomer, it is a little disappointing that the previous four movies are essentially ignored, in terms of story. There are references to previous movies, such as a news report from Night Of The Living Dead playing in the background. The zombies look good and are thankfully of the slow variety. There is some good violence and plenty of blood and guts. Romero didn't succumb to the trend of sprinting zombies, but he did make the movie in the found footage style. Unlike other found footage movies like Apollo 18 and Paranormal Activity, Diary Of The Dead has some music and quick edits. I give Romero credit for, through Debra's narration, explain why their is music and edits. Most movies would have just ignored that part. While it does give a unique first-person vantage and throws the audience into the middle of the action, it doesn't add much to the story itself and comes off as a rather unremarkable gimmick.

One of the biggest reasons why I love Romero's zombie movies is because of the social commentary. He never pulls his punches and the parallels between zombies and humans is eery and occasionally startling. The problem with Diary is not that it lacks commentary, but has too much of it. I felt dizzy from being bludgeoned over the head with obvious lines and thinly-veiled shots. The big target in this movie is society's love affair with technology and being connected at all times. It's good commentary and has only gotten worse with the explosion of cheap smartphones. There's just way too much of it and it takes away from the zombie part of the movie. It feels like every couple of lines, a character is saying something deep and heavy, when in reality they should be focusing on survival. Zombie movies need a good balance of horrific gory violence and smart commentary. Diary Of The Dead occasionally forgets the violence and makes me feel like I'm having a finger wagged in my direction. The acting is rather weak in some parts and the characters are fairly annoying. Jason is a complete douche from the start, which puts the audience in a weird position considering we're seeing the story through him essentially. Debra isn't much better. It would have been nice to actually like some of the characters. If I was part of their group, I probably would have tossed them to the zombies and booked it to Canada.

Ow

Diary Of The Dead retains many of the themes and essence of the traditional Romero zombie movies. There is plenty of fun violence and gore with enough of a story to keep things moving. There is a lot of social commentary which can feel more like a lecture at times. I don't disagree with what Romero was saying in regards to our obsession with technology and always being "plugged in". There was just too much of it. I didn't particularly care for the found footage style of the movie, though it did add a few more scares than if it were a regular movie. The acting is lacking in parts and some of the characters are incredibly annoying. While it's not the best from the "...Of The Dead" series of movies, Diary Of The Dead still has enough good moments to keep the audience entertained.

6.5/10

Day 87: Quarantine

Quarantine

This lime Jell-o has gone bad

There's a fine line between good and terrible when it comes to movies shot in the “found footage” horror style. Sometimes you get people wandering around for an hour an a half, boring the audience to the point where they cheer for the villain to kill them (The Blair Witch Project) and other times you get a roller-coaster of fairly believable action (Cloverfield). I remember seeing commercials for Quarantine a few years ago and thinking, “Oh jeez, another one of these shaky-cam first person horror movies where nothing happens.” Well, I was right about the shaky-cam, but wrong about nothing happening.

Quarantine stars Jennifer Carpenter (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Faster) as reporter Angela Vidal. Along with her cameraman, Scott (Steve Harris, The Practice, The Rock), Angela is tailing a Los Angeles firefighting crew. We see the entire movie through Scott's lense and tag along with them as the crew responds to a call to an apartment building. Details are unclear as to why they are called other than a woman was heard screaming in her room. The woman, Mrs. Espinoza, is disheveled and covered in blood. Out of nowhere, she attacks a police officer and bites him in the neck. They carry the police officer downstairs to get him help, but find the doors locked from the outside. While they are trying to figure a way out, Mrs. Espinoza throws a firefighter over the railing, sending him crashing to the floor below. Various apartment dwellers begin to turn into zombies and attack the other inhabitants. Angela gets to a TV and sees that the situation is being covered up by the police. Scientists in HAZ-MAT suits arrive to conduct tests and one informs the residents that this virus infecting people started in a dog and was unlike anything they have ever seen before. Will they be able to survive and get the video to the public?

Trucks go "Vroom!" Film at 11.

The movie's story reminds me of the opening scene in Dawn Of The Dead where police raid an apartment full of zombies. It feels like someone took that idea and made it into a full-length film. That being said, it's actually a remake of a 2007 Spanish horror film, REC. Quarantine combines a mixture of fear of present danger and fear of the unknown. The advantage of having the movie in the first-person perspective of the camera is that the audience is literally in the middle of the action. We share the same actions and emotions as the characters which creates a more real sense of fear. We only learn what they learn, we do not have the bonus of seeing what is going on outside of the apartment to know what is really happening. Jennifer Carpenter gives a very good performance as we witness her descent from a confident reporter into a jangled mess of terrified nerves. The zombies are geared more towards the faster side, but they're not sprinting like in 28 Days Later. I've come to accept fast zombies and the ones in this movie were believable. Speaking of action, there is a lot of it in this movie with plenty of blood. There is one scene where Scott kills a zombie with his camera. It's very creative and entertaining to watch as the audience is practically being smashed into a zombie's face.

Of course, with every found footage movie, the camera work is very jumpy at times. While it does create a sense of realism to the movie, it also leaves the audience very disoriented at times. That might be the point, but getting your audience dizzy and nauseous does run the risk of having them stop watching. As Spinal Tap once said, it's such a fine line between stupid and clever, it's a fine line between great story telling and vomit-inducing. There are a few minor plot holes I found myself pointing out during the film, but the movie does try to answer them as best as possible, like “Why don't they just break a window?” Answer: SNIPER! Director John Erick Dowdle does a good job of balancing the action and the emotion throughout the entire film. There is no music in the movie which does take some getting used to, but it doesn't hinder the action.

Golden Girls gets a gritty remake

Quarantine was a pleasant, entertaining surprise with lots of good action and suspense. The acting and directing is good all around. The first-person filming gets the audience right in the middle of the action, but is a bit unsteady at times and can be disorienting. This movie is definitely worth your time.

8/10