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I saw this film only because I'm working on a script that had a similar theme: people surviving after the 'zombie holocaust' happened. I can only say this: it sucked! George A Romero should retire from film. His latest 'masterpiece' looked like it was written and shot by a film school graduate as a very long demo reel.
The story is about a small band of army reservists who, along with a kid, make their way to Plum Island, a small island of the coast of Delaware. Supposedly, there are no zombies here but, surprise, there are.
The island is run by two feuding families that we'll call the Hatfields and the McCoys, as I can't remember their real names. The reservists take sides with the Hatfield patriarch who feel that all zombies should be killed. The McCoy patriarch feels that the zombies can be domesticated and trained to eat something else.
SPOILER SPACE
A lot of stupid and pointless shit happens and practically everyone dies without any resolution.
END OF SPOILER SPACE
The story could easily be condensed into a forty-five minute short. The family feud was explained four or five times when once was enough. On a good day, the characters are two-dimensional and cliche. The dialog was only good enough to get the point across.
Romero should retire. The king of zombies has become a hack filmmaker. Every second or third zombie kill ended up being a creative kill, or a stupid sight gag. None of them gets Woody Harrelson's Zombie Kill Of The Week prize.
If you want to see a better zombie film (and there are plenty of them out there), rent Zombieland, Shawn of the Dead, or even the original Night of the Living Dead.
I want to see this just because I think George Romero is a great guy when it comes to directing, despite what Diary of the Dead had become and parts of Land of the Dead. His classics were great, and I just wish he still made it that way where it focused on just small groups of people and really gave you that "end of the world" feeling. I think I might see it soon, just for fun. I'm not expecting a masterpiece, but just something to have fun with with friends or something, and just because it's George Romero and it has zombies. At least it's not a "Day of the Dead 2: Contagium."
I don't know. For me, Romero always got a pass because he never steered me wrong. However, it's true, Survival was fucking embarassing. And, that was really disappointing because as I watched it, I enjoyed the opening scene, despite the visuals and all. I'll give him a pass for only being on a $2 million budget but the story (which is usually what his movies rely on) was awful.
If you're a fan of Romero's stuff, check it out but lower your expectations before you do. If you're not a fan, skip it all together.
I saw Diary a couple of weeks ago and just could not believe how bad it actually was. The edge Romero once had is long gone. Amid all his attempts at social commentary, I think George forgot...the movie is supposed to be scary.
Reading the reviews for Survival, looks like things went from bad to worse. Maybe if its on at 2 am on SyFy I'll give it a look. Couldn't be much worse than SS Doomtrooper. Could it?
I think Romero got a pass his whole career... bad films that don't hold any value.
The only reason he came back was the popularity of zombie flicks and he should crawl back into his hole and be just another bad filmmaker.
I wanted to see The Crazies but after seeing the recent remake I don't care anymore.
And as far as I'm concerned the only reason to watch his films is through a commentary because my personal feelings about his so called career aside he does a half decent commentary track about the films.
The original Crazies was awful. It went on forever and there was nothing good about it.
Perhaps Romero did get a pass for his carer. He essentially started the zombie genre and a lot of people copied him because there was no other reference. The fact that zombie films are relatively cheap to produce probably hurt it.
I don't think he got a pass. The first three Dead films were brilliant. Sure, the commentary was kinda overblown but they were still fun, clever and creative. The characters were interesting, likable and had genuine personality. Even the commentary wasn't all that hard to swallow because it wasn't nearly as topical as it is nowadays. Creepshow was also fun even though it was probably more of a lark.
The same cannot be said for Romero's recent films. Much more topical and overblown in their messages, the characters are dull and overly serious... even the zombies seem to be ripping off other movies. Land had its moments but wasn't great. Diary was criminally bad. I really felt cheated leaving the theater. Survival is supposed to be a continuation of Diary's universe. As it happens, the two films aren't even part of the original series. Romero has officially said that Land was the last of the original Dead films. That said, I have no interest in continuing to follow his work.
Oh and the Crazies sucked too.
Overall, I'd say the guy's just way hit and miss. I wouldn't discredit him for genuinely contributing something to the genre and films in general.
Lol. It's odd. I mean, I understand the logic behind it but everyone hates Diary. I feel almost all by my lonesome on this. Does anyone else out there NOT hate Diary?
Diary sucked, plain and simple. The fact that the SOB with the camera refused to put the camera down when his girlfriend was being chased irritated the living shit out me. I would've beaten him to death for that.
Diary sucked, plain and simple. The fact that the SOB with the camera refused to put the camera down when his girlfriend was being chased irritated the living shit out me. I would've beaten him to death for that.
Phil
Didn't matter in the end. =)
Besides, people never change. It's just certain situations bring out who a person really is. Apparently, he didn't give a fuck about her.
I'll echo Phil's sentiments about the main character and go further to say that every character was terrible. I hated all of them, wanted all of them to die and was pissed off every moment I had to spend with them, much of which was them going on YouTube and Myspace.
So here's my question? What's not to hate about Diary? It wasn't one of those films where the ideas were good but the execution was bad. All the ideas were bad and executed exactly the way Romero wanted. I'm not speculating either. One of the reasons he was so excited about Diary was the amount of control he had over it. So what about Diary was actually good?
I'll echo Phil's sentiments about the main character and go further to say that every character was terrible. I hated all of them, wanted all of them to die and was pissed off every moment I had to spend with them, much of which was them going on YouTube and Myspace.
So here's my question? What's not to hate about Diary? It wasn't one of those films where the ideas were good but the execution was bad. All the ideas were bad and executed exactly the way Romero wanted. I'm not speculating either. One of the reasons he was so excited about Diary was the amount of control he had over it. So what about Diary was actually good?