Review of Diary of the Dead (2007) by Stephen M — 19 Feb 2009

It always amuses me when the potential victims in horror movies seem to inhabit a world of their own, blissfully unaware of even the concept of the particular nasty that is out to get them, until they're running away from it, screaming. "Vampire? What the hell's a vampire? They drink blood!!! You're pulling my leg, right?" After intermittently shouting, "Shoot it in the head, you idiot!" at my TV screen for the first half hour, I can only assume that the characters in Diary of the Dead have collectively never seen a zombie flick, which is doubly amusing since they're supposed to be film students making a horror film.

Unlike a lot of other documentary-style horror movies, at least Romero's is intelligent enough to address the problem of camera battery life, but his handheld technical glitches look too much like what they are in actuality: cheap, half-assed post-production effects. If his intention was to draw the viewer into the story via the character of Jason - the film-within-a-film's director and chief cameraman, mostly represented by a subjective camera - Romero shoots himself in the foot by making him unsympathetic and unlikeable. Something's got to be wrong when the guy shooting the film-within-a-film you're supposed to be enjoying is the first person you want to see become zombie fodder!

As the film progresses, Romero allows multiple camera perspectives and attempts at comedy and suspense to creep in, by which time his mockumentary, which ought to be coldly dispassionate, begins to resemble a conventional low budget horror, masquerading as something more important. He even makes excuses for some of his artistic decisions, for example the use of a traditionally manipulative score, via the character Debra's voiceover at the very start of the film. For the first time, Romero presents the dead coming back to life as a global phenomenon; it's a pity that this expansion of his vision didn't coincide with a more generous budget and a resurgence of his talent. Not recommended. Life's too short; wait till you're undead ;).