Diary of the Dead (Review)

This review was originally written to coincide with Diary of the Dead's release at the Sundance Film Festival. The film is now playing in limited release across the country.

If you’re a horror fan, you know all about what makes George A. Romero a legend: his films are studied and analyzed in film schools, he pioneered the rules for the zombie sub-genre which have been followed for decades, and his work has influenced generations of filmmakers after him. When Night of the Living Dead was made in 1968, no one could foresee how Romero’s influence would popularize the template for the power of horror’s socio-political implications; a trend that future filmmakers, and he himself, carried on for decades afterwards. 2005’s Land of the Dead, backed by Universal Pictures, brought moderate financial success and critical acclaim and introduced a wider audience to his zombie craft. This time around, Diary of the Dead has returned to the entirely independent roots of Night, Dawn, and Day of the Dead and I’ve so far read a few reviews brimming with excitement over the lack of studio intervention. However, I have to go against the grain on this one and say that this film would’ve greatly benefited by some producer’s checks and balances because, as much as it pains me to say it, Diary fails to live up to expectations and instead, hints that maybe perhaps it’s time for the pioneer from Pittsburgh to think about passing the torch.

Each zombie film Romero has ever made has carried a distinct critique on American society. In Diary, he tackles the slanted media culture in which we live and our voyeuristic tendencies in a society that gradually seems to be rejecting the idea of privacy. The film starts out with a voiceover of a girl; Debra (Michelle Morgan) explaining that the film we are about to see is what remains of a documentary of the undead epidemic made by her deceased ex-boyfriend, Jason (Joshua Close). It’s through this window of exploration (and possibly exploitation) of truth, she informs us, that we’re supposed to view the film. Because of this, the entire ninety-five minutes are shot handheld, primarily from the perspective of Jason with occasional B-camera footage picked up by a friend. After we some news footage of corpses reanimating at the scene of a murder, we cut to Jason and friends filming a low budget horror flick in the back woods at night. It’s with them that we remain for the rest of the story as they discover the widespread devastation and attempt to locate their families, and eventually, safety. In traditional Romero fashion, guts are spilled, necks are bitten, brains are splattered, and a mirror is held up to America.

Before I go on, let me just elaborate on how much it pains me to talk ill of Romero: he is my filmmaking idol, my inspiration, the reason I became interested in cinema. Criticizing his work is like Bogdonovich criticizing Welles, Oasis bringing down the Beatles, Stephen King bad-mouthing Lovecraft. But there comes a point in every director’s life where his craft begins to slip, even if it’s a craft he practically created. The strength in Romero’s past zombie films lies in his ability to project his social criticism subtly, with the zombies playing second fiddle to the human tension we primarily witness. He falls flat on that point by writing bland, interchangeable characters with little conflict between them that exist only to die by plodding along through clichéd horror conventions all the way up to predictable scene climaxes. He’s thrown all subtlety out the window in making his point by taking every opportunity to interject an overactive VO that explains instead of allowing us to explore. The B-camera footage attempts to uphold his message by giving us even more exploitative voyeurism and while it makes sense to have this extra footage from a coverage standpoint, it makes no sense at all in the context of the world the characters inhabit. By trying to nail the coffin shut, Romero has devolved from critiquing to preaching—an unfortunate trend that distracts from everything but the message.

On the plus side, the man still has a great eye and there are some truly spectacular and haunting shots as well as signature zombie gore we’ve come to know and love (and possibly get sick over). He is definitely still tuned into this country’s hubris, but his passion has become unbridled and his work could use the polishing of an outside perspective. Or, perhaps it’s time for him to look towards directing a script that’s not his own. Either way, he needs to look ahead because it’s best to leave Diary of the Dead
behind.

Background Buzz
Check out this interview with director George A. Romero