On Saturday night I was lucky enough to attend the Australian premier of the Diary Of The Dead at the Melbourne international film festival. On the night, all horror fans were in for a real treat as the legendary director of horror, George A. Romero was there in person to give a short introduction & 15 min Q&A at the end of the film.
This may explain why the movie line was spread out all the way down Swanston St & around the corner, 10 min before it was even set to begin. Thankfully the time was quickly passed by watching some dress up zombies nonchalantly smoking cigarettes & chatting with staff (some of the makeup nearly looked as impressive as the effects from the movie). After bypassing some pools of blood on the stairs I finally made my way into the near full capacity of the Capitol Theater & took a seat near the back, ready for the fun to begin.
The film starts with the general premise of the outbreak (someone gets bitten, turns undead, eats flesh,etc) and a voice over then explains that a bunch of student film makers are capturing the experience of the aftermath on camera to help depict the true nature of the events surrounding them. Rather than focus on the overall how & why of the zombie breakout, the films narrow viewpoint on these seven individuals is rather fitting as it helps you make up your own mind about what really happened
This filming method serves as an analogy for todays media which is the ‘white noise’ (Paraphrasing Romero’s words) that divides opinion, alters perceptions and obscures the truth to the public. This subversive message is particularly apodictic in the initial scene, when the original footage of the first outbreak ends up being altered by the media to allay public concern.
While the rest of the straightforward story - a bus load of people trying to make their way home - does rely on staple horror cliches (a scene near the end taking the piss out of these elements is particularly funny) all is forgiven when you remember that this film was made by a director that practically invented the zombie genre. As with all of Romero’s work there’s also some political & cultural undertones at play but their subtle integration can easily be ignored if you just want to view the film as a simple horror movie.
When the shit blood hits the fan, there’s also plenty of fun to be had with the usual terror stables. The inclusion of memorable death scenes (which are a must for any, unique horror film), will either have you squirming or laughing in your seat. These inventive death scenes are a lot of fun & range from someone stabbing themselves in the head with a scythe, a zombie that gets its brains melted away by sulfuric acid and another that has it’s eyeballs melted via some CPR electro shock paddles. In particular there’s also one scene involving a mute Amish man that’s almost slapstick in it’s delivery (similar to Dawn Of The Dead) & yet still doesn’t get in the way of building up the tension & horror.
While the camera work brings to mind Blair Witch & the recent Cloverfield (which was made after this movie), Romero makes maximum use of the digital medium without the usual camera shake phenomena that seemed to plague the above mentioned movies. Close up shots & reliable acting from the unknown cast also help to really build up a creepy atmosphere & pull you straight into the claustrophobic setting. While the ending is fairly open to interpretation it fits in with the overall theme of the film and ends up turning the camera upon ourselves & asking the question if we really are worth saving.
Final Verdict: Considering Diary Of The Dead was made in just under 4 weeks on a relatively minuscule budget (~$20 m) it’s impressive how overly tight it feels. The fact that it’s got George A. Romero’s touch to it, gives the film a unique viewpoint on the nature of todays media and helps to distinguish itself from the usual zombie fare. While it doesn’t quite have the same dramatic buildup and punch of his earlier works, its still a bit early to tell if his latest film will stand the test of time and achieve cult status. If your a fan of the old style horror film mixed with the new age of hand held filming then I would heartily recommend you check this one out.
80 / 100 pennies
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