George A. Romero’s
Diary of the Dead is a return to form for the father of zombie films that successfully merges horror with political commentary. Although there are some unfortunate similarities to
Cloverfield, this is a vastly superior film with some truly gruesome and scary moments.
The past decade has been an absolute, please pardon the pun, feast for zombie fans. We have been treated to the likes of
28 Days Later, Resident Evil, Slither, 2006’s
Dawn of the Dead,
Shaun of the Dead and the highly underrated
Fido to name a few.
The genre has changed dramatically from the original 1968
Night of the Living Dead to incorporate humour and faster zombies, which personally was a welcomed change. With
Diary of the Dead, Romero once again shows the potential of using horror as a form of social commentary rather than the torture–porn that has become a permanent fixture with films such as
Saw and
Hostel.The film uses the hand-held camera approach, made popular by
Cloverfield earlier this year, to start a new chapter in the series. The events of the previous films are ignored and the story follows a group of University students filming an amateur horror film when all hell breaks loose. Rather than exploit the post 9/11 culture for horror as
Cloverfield did,
Diary looks towards our morbid obsession with popular culture and the desensitisation of the modern viewing audience. By no means is it subtle, but it is a refreshing and interesting topic for a horror film.
This film succeeds in creating some truly scary and creepy moments thanks to the low budget feel that adds to the reality. The group of unknown actors do a fine job of looking scared and the film succeeds in making the viewer feel like they are part of the action - which further heightens the scary and creepy fun of the film. Overall, this is a great new chapter in the horror legacy that will hopefully introduce a new generation of fans to the great George A. Romero.
- Review by Sebastian Cordoba.Diary of the Dead will screen at 9.15pm on Thursday, August 7 at Greater Union cinemas in Melbourne. For more information visit the Melbourne International Film Festival website.You can view the trailer for Diary of the Dead here on TheVine.