Review of Diary of the Dead (2007) by Stephen S — 08 Mar 2010

"This is a diary of cruelty. In wartime, killing comes easily. When the enemy can be marked as this son of a bitch, or that son of a bitch, cruelty becomes justified." -Scott Wentworth as Professor Andrew Maxwell.

"It's interesting how quickly we find out what we're capable of doing. God had changed the rules on us. And surprisingly, we were playing along." -Michelle Morgan as Debrah Moynihan.

"What is it? What gets into our heads when we see something horrible? A horrible accident on the highway. Something keeps us from just driving on. Something holds us. But we don't stop to help. We stop to look." -Michelle Morgan as Debrah Moynihan.

[Jay] It used to be us against us. Now it's us against them.

[Debrah, narrating] He was right. It was us against them. Except they... are us.

I love how much quotable crap is in this movie. This, to me, seems like a more thought-out effort by Romero. He really focused on human nature and our animal insticts and stuff. My favorite of all the questions the movies asks is the last thing, "Are we really worth saving?" And especially the last scene that provokes the question. The acting was good and all, for what it was, nothing special really. The best actor was Scott Wentworth as the professor, he was really down-played and cool. Overall, the movie wasn't really mind-blowing, but then again, what zombie movie is? I feel the need to compare this movie to 28 Days Later, or even more so Carriers, and I must say, I prefer this one. 28 Days Later had some cool aspects to it that this one didn't, but this one had some cool things about it that 28 Days Later didn't. Ultimately, I'd say they're on the same level. But I prefer this one.