Review of Survival of the Dead (2010) by Brenda M — 27 Aug 2010

Dear George Romero, please stop destroying your amazing legacy as the zombie movie master. You made one of the best-ever trilogies with Night, Dawn and Day of the Dead...hell, I even loved Land of the Dead despite it's flaws. I didn't care for Diary of the Dead, but at least you had something to say with that film. But this? What the hell is this? I felt like I was watching a first time filmmaker making a cheap Romero knock-off.

I'm not really sure what to say as I'm still in shock over how bad this movie was. The story is pretty much a joke, none of the characters were likable, it wasn't scary or interesting in the least, it was full of enough cliches for ten bad horror movies, and features some of the worst CGI known to man. And for the first time in over 40 years Mr. Romero has absolutely nothing to say with this movie. He brings nothing new to the zombie table. It painfully goes through the motions and just about anyone will be able to predict what'll happen a half hour before it does.

I know Romero was trying to go for the western vibe with the two feuding families, but it really doesn't work. It's just a big ball of cliches, fake Irish accents and ridiculous plot holes. Zombies have taken over the world, but at least people are still uploading YouTube videos to watch on their iPhones. Are you fucking kidding me? And as I said before, there are zero likable characters. No one to root for. I know part of the story is that there isn't supposed to be a clear-cut good guy or bad guy, but seriously, I could've cared less who lived or died. We go from Duane Jones, Ken Foree, Lori Cardille and Simon Baker to these douche bags? Beyond lame.

Despite the cliches, uninteresting story, lifeless characters, etc...the one thing that really annoyed me and showed just for far down the ladder Romero has fallen was the painful over-use of bad CGI. Practical makeup effects are part of what made his original films so amazing. Now we're not only stuck with CGI, but some of the worst you'll likely ever see. Seriously, this shit looks worse than a PS2 game. All the blood is CGI, all the head-shots, all the zombie kills. I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Savini threw-up in his mouth while watching this.

I think the only positive thing I can say about this movie is that the locations are beautiful (yay Canada). Yep, that's it.

I had high hopes for this one after the disappointing Diary of the Dead, but this one somehow manages to be even worse. Cliche after cliche, boring story, annoying characters, laughable CGI.....how the mighty have fallen. I've met Romero (twice), I love just about everything he's done, but if his future zombie films are going to be like this then I'm sure as hell jumping ship now before I lose any more respect for the zombie master. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go watch Night of the Living Dead to wash the bad taste of this movie out of my brain.