Review of Survival of the Dead (2010) by Shannon S — 16 May 2010

A passable, watchable zombie film, and honestly if this film had been directed by a young upstart horror director, I'd probably consider it a solid effort. However, considering the godfather of zombie films, George A Romero, authored the film, it was a little disappointing for me.

Yes, Romero's penchant for talking about larger social issues through his zombie films is still present in this film, and yes, the film has enough fun moments to prevent itself from being a really bad moments, but it seems like such a huge step back for Romero.

The makeup seems almost made-for-tv, the amateur actors leave MUCH to be desired (especially for a director who in the past has taken non-professional actors and gotten solid performances from them), and for a guy who has expressed much disdain in interviews for the emergence of CGI in films, he seems to have no problem using it excessively.

I also thought the "turf war on an island" story wasn't that engaging, and one of the lead characters was playing the "tough Irishman" stereotype to a tilt. The film is interesting at points, but in terms of quality it is a HUGE drop from Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and even Diary of the Dead.