Review of The Dead Don't Die (2019) by Rentawil — 25 Jun 2019

Maybe I'm too dense to recognize political/social satire when I see it, or maybe I was too underwhelmed by the slow but steady pace of this hollow, seriously underwritten knockoff of the whole genre to get into it. I mean, how many heads have to come off for me to get the point that ya gotta Kill The Head to win this war, with half of those scenes blatantly pulled off with old school cutaway shots at the critical moment?

Just shooting a zombie flick inherently gives the director some free reign in satirizing fear of death, special FX and the medium itself, or just having a little fun with the concept. It shouldn't be an excuse to hire two of Hollywood's most deadpan actors and hope that somehow it will transcribe into biting social comment or rolling-in-the-aisles laughter. My attention WAS snagged by the milk toast layout and casually interesting story line, but only until the middle of the "action" when there was no denying this empty sucker is going nowhere.

Towards the very end I felt a tingle of ecstatic anticipation as Driver reveals to Murray how he knew that everything "was going to end badly", that this would signal a creative and worthwhile climax, making the whole film experience at least worth the price of admission. It was anything but.