'Diary of the Dead' (2007)

I know I said I was going for a movie a week but when I got home last night, I was in more of a 'movie mood' than I was a reading one (or writing a book post, really wasn't feeling it last night...) Plus there's also the fact that I'm deliberately going quick so that I can get 'Survival of the Dead' done and out of the way before moving onto the good stuff. What? It's my re-watch so any rules are liable to change with little or no notice ;o)

I never made it to the cinema to watch 'Diary of the Dead', probably due to not having a job and trying to save some cash here and there (note: when we first moved to London, I was bouncing between temp jobs like a pinball so there were times when I didn't have a lot of money in my pocket). This movie was a 'wait until it's in Blockbuster and then rent' kind of deal which is what I did, repeatedly and while stuffing my face full of chicken and chips. Happy Days... :o)

It's been ages since I last watched 'Diary of the Dead', long enough that that my DVD ended up in the 'mysterious box of disappearing stuff' (where everything goes that I've somehow lost in between moves) and I didn't even notice until a couple of days ago when I'd finished watching 'Night' and went looking for 'Diary' straight afterwards. Oh well, that's what Amazon is for... I grabbed myself another copy and watched it last night...

According to the timeline from the first post, 'Diary of the Dead' happens at the same time as 'Night of the Living Dead'. Just bear in mind that it's a soft reboot and try to ignore the fact that everything is suddenly modern. It's almost like thirty nine years have passed between these two movies... ;o) The main thing is that the zombies have only just started to walk and a new group of people have to get their heads round this and survive. This time, it's a group of film students who were making a horror movie and have now found themselves in the middle of a real life zombie uprising. Some just want to make it home without getting eaten; one wants to use the experience to make a whole new film that he hopes might save some lives...

Before we get started, a couple of bits that I didn't pick up on last time and am a little bit pleased with myself for noticing this time round. To be fair, there was no way that I'd have noticed the radio announcer talking about an autopsy, where the body got up and attacked people, that ended up being the starting point for Romero and Kraus' 'The Living Dead' (the book not having been written and all) but I love little links like that which tie everything together and draw a bigger picture. I can't believe that I didn't spot the George Romero cameo before now though; it's tiny but once you see it, that's it. Makes me wonder if he appeared in any of his other zombie movies (a quick Google says he was in 'Dawn of the Dead', it wouldn't surprise me if there were more though). And Shawn Roberts (Tony Ravello in the film) is Wesker in the 'Resident Evil' movies, so there you go ;o)

It's funny how a few years between watching a movie can soften me up a little bit and put me in a more forgiving mood. Romero loves to use his zombie movies to tell us something about ourselves and the first time I watched 'Diary', it was clear that he thought we were too into our gadgets and it's almost a fatal flaw for the players here. It's a strong message but what I couldn't get my head round though was Creed's insistence on carrying the camera around and filming everything, refusing to put it down even wen his friends were in trouble. If you're in the middle of a zombie outbreak, the last thing you're worrying about is charging the battery on your camera... And what about his friends? Surely, after the nth time he's let them down (because the film is so important), there'd be an ultimatum delivered along the lines of 'put the damn camera down or you can go and film by yourself...'

Well, I still feel the same but I was only getting half the message last time round. Romero is also saying that our reliance on electronic media is leaving us open to information being withheld from us or having information selected for us. I didn't see that but Creed does and that's why he wants to make this movie, so that people can see the truth (or a closer picture of the truth, that's a whole other conversation there). Creed's insistence on filming, no matter what, is still the single most infuriating part of the film but this time round, I can understand why he's doing it and that makes a huge difference.

The rest of the movie is our survivors learning, the hard way, how to make their way in this new zombie infested landscape. In this respect, 'Diary' has a lot in common with 'Night', although the group here are able to access vital information a lot easier then a bunch of people stuck in a farmhouse. The same mistakes are inevitably made though, the biggest of which is not keeping their options as wide open as possible. Zombies are dumb but if you let them back you into a corner then you're out of options very quickly. There is also the recurring theme of people not working together but what's interesting here is that there is now a clear divide between the working class who can work together, because they always have, and the establishment who clearly can't. The rogue National Guard unit is a great example of anarchy starting when the orders stop.

There's a lot to think about then but 'Diary of the Dead' is also a great example of Romero sticking to the tried and tested method of keeping the audience entertained by killing zombies in as many different ways as possible. My personal favourites were, well... all of them really but mostly death by electricity and death by hydrochloric acid. Both made for a great spectacle, not a way that any zombie would want to check out though.

If there's one criticism that I'd level at 'Diary', it's that the plot can be a little too straightforward sometimes with it's journey 'from A to B with occasional zombie interludes'. It's got that slightly manic energy to it though (which is what you'd feel if you were in the middle of a zombie outbreak) to balance things out and to be fair, isn't 'getting from A to B' more or less what surviving zombies is all about? It is so perhaps I need to go a little easier on this movie.

Two movies in and I think there could be something in watching the films in chronological order. 'Diary of the Dead' is a lot more fun when placed in this context (rather than being almost an afterthought in the newer movies) and a lot more accessible too as you're really in that feeling of 'this is all just starting to happen'. Would I recommend it? Of course I would but only if you can live with Creed lugging that damn camera everywhere...