Review of Survival of the Dead (2010) by Richard C — 10 May 2010

This is, essentially, a zombie-western. And you know what? It actually works. Romero hasn't run out of things to say, but he still doesn't quite know how to say it best. There are lots of interesting things going on.

..underneath the ham & cheese that is the characters and dialogue. Kenneth Welsh is the obvious standout here as crazy old fascist O'Flynn, but everyone else is basura. Despite the poor execution, this was much better than Diary of the Dead (Romero's worst in my opinion).

Let's face it, the Romero films have never been recognized for their performances or cinematography; its always been the themes and what's going on underneath that separates him from the rest.

You can tell that Romero doesn't want to do the big-budget zombie epic that you want to see (not that I didn't like Land of the Dead). He wants to use this world he's created and pioneered to tell smaller, intimate stories.

I'm with the consensus that the zombie genre is done, but Romero has made something so fresh and unique here that this might be the perfect time to give him another shot.