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George Romero's latest zombie opus, "Diary Of The Dead," takes aim at a generation that has been so sucked into You Tube and of watching things not just from a distance, but an emotional distance as well. We have become so enamored of our watching disasters and car crashes from afar that we seem robbed of our ability to actually help and do something about it. As a result, Romero's vision of this generation is especially bleak as he is not sure if we as a whole are even worth saving. "Diary Of The Dead" can be seen as coming in too late as we just had "Cloverfield" released. Both films are filmed in a handheld camera style, but whereas "Cloverfield" used the technique as a gimmick, "Diary Of The Dead" uses it as a commentary on our fascination with watching the worst that life has to offer. Many people went crazy and beyond nauseous with the camerawork in "Cloverfield," but those same people will be relieved to see that Romero and his Director of Photography (Adam Swica) have reined it in to where it shouldn't alienate too many people. Whereas the previous Dead movies dealt with a world being constantly consumed by an ever growing population of zombies that get increasingly intelligent, this one goes back to beginning to when the zombie onslaught began as if the previous movies never happened. At first, I was a little disappointed by this as it would have been interesting to see where the world would be at when this movie took place. But in the end, it makes more sense that George Romero would do this as the world would probably not reach such an advanced technological level had the zombies start rising from the dead back in the 1960's. What George Romero succeeds in doing as a writer is give us characters who aren't simply types. If they come across as clichéd, they break those clichés to become increasingly unpredictable in their actions. One of Romero's other strong attributes is that he gives us strong characters with females and minorities. He started doing this a long time ago with "Night Of The Living Dead," and it continues on with this one. The female character that comes across as the strongest here is Debra, played by Michelle Morgan. She is driven to get back to her family who are back at home, and she is not about to get sucked into watching things through a camera lens. Michelle gives the strongest performance in the movie, and she also narrates the movie within the movie, so you have a pretty good idea of what happens to her character. The other interesting thing about the film is the way the characters and their reality are drawn out. Whereas in "Cloverfield," there was a chance for safety for victory for what has dominating the citizens of New York, there is no real hope for the characters in "Diary Of The Dead." Whether or not they make it home, they quickly realize that this is a conflict that will never cease. It will just get worse and worse until there is nothing left. The movie forces you to think about what you would do if you were in this situation, and that makes it all the more terrifying. One of the big and most effective differences in this specific "Dead" film from Romero is that, unlike the others, there is no military presence. None of the characters have a clear idea of there is even a military left in their country. They are left to fend for themselves in a world that has gone dead on them, and their only link to the world is technology and the internet. But with everyone voicing their opinions through videos and blogs, who is to be believed when they're so many different opinions circling around? All you have left is chaos and anarchy, and every man and woman for themselves. The characters in this movie are smart enough to recognize this almost immediately, and this makes the events for them all the more suffocating. I liked "Diary Of The Dead" a lot, and it shows that Romero is still a strong son of a b*tch in the world of independent filmmaking. While the first three "Dead" movies are pretty much untouchable at this point, I would put this one ahead of "Land Of The Dead" which I thought was good but necessarily great. That film may have been encumbered by too much studio interference from Universal which gave Romero the money and budget he had been begging for years to get. This time around, he's back to his independent roots and seems a lot more comfortable this time around. The movie's pace does slow down a but too much in its last half which had me a bit restless, and some moments last longer than they should, but this was definitely worth a visit to the Nuart Theater in West Los Angeles where the movie is currently playing in an exclusive engagement. Whether or not the movie gets a wide release remains to be seen. email this review to a friend
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