Diary of the Dead

The thought of the dead rising and well basically taking over honestly terrifies me. Always has from the the moment I first stumbled upon Night of the Living Dead as a much much younger Nekko. I told myself the fear was simply because I live near all the major graveyards in my hometown but now I know better. Its the fear of not being able to win. You can't very well beat death after all, be it by old age, car accident, or stalking corpses. Its been a long long time since i felt that primal fear when i watched a movie. Suppose its fitting that George A. Romero, who sparked that fear in me oh so long ago, would be the one to give it back to me in all its heart pounding glory.

The movie itself its done in a documentary style and I suppose that is probably the reason I see so many borderline reviews of this work of gory art. The horror audience has been spoiled with fast paced "zombies" hyped up on PCP or some junk that chase down their victims like a pack of damn wolves. Oh course I could be the odd one out and simply think a slow stalking terror is just much more terrifying that the instant gratification the others give. Diary of the Dead isn't top dollar horror. The effects aren't that great, the CG is late 90s quality at best, but honestly that is about the only gripe I have with the production. The script is compelling drawing you into the decline of civilization showing the moral standard decaying just as fast as the dead roaming the street. You follow several film students trying to make heads or tales of just whats going on and get home and one student decides he wants to film everything that happens so whoever is left will know what really happened. Diary doesn't really fall into the cannon of the rest of the Living Dead series and probably could even be viewed as Romero's take on what Night of the Living Dead would be if he made it in the 2000s instead of the 60s, right down to the low budget.

I could go on and on about the movie but that would require spoilers and well this is a movie I don't believe needs to be tainted with a detailed review. Its not a movie for gore hounds. Its not a film for somebody looking for the typical high budget Hollywood thriller. What it is, is simply another gritty view of the decline of society in a disaster with zombies as the filter done only the way Romero knows how. Check it out with an open mind and you should enjoy it, hopefully as much as I did.

4.5/5 stars