Diary of the Dead 2007

Continuing with our Romero series of the dead, we happen upon the next in line, Diary of the Dead. This particular movie was released two years after Land of the Dead. It was given 4 stars on Netflix and 5.9 stars on IMDB. View trailer HERE.

It has become aware that George now understands what he has created in the Zombieverse and wants to make a bigger cut of the pie for himself. Falling back on the beginning of the outbreak just from the perspective of a group of film students and their progessor. It should be noted that most of this movie is shot from first person perspective as if we are looking at the world through the lense of a camera.

The movie starts out with commentary by a nameless voice explaining the outbreak and the breakdown of social order that follows. She also explains that Jason her BF recorded everything and she did the final editing in hopes of telling the truth about what happened.

Fade into Day 1 of outbreak: We find a group of college students and their professor out in the woods making a student film project. A horror movie. Once they realize that things are not in order they pack up into an RV and start making their way to various locations. For example Jason goes to get his GF Deb.  Phillip goes to check on his family, and the rest are along for the ride.

Along the way, Jason is determined to shoot everyhing that happens and pisses off quite a few of his fellow classsmates. Mary hits a couple of Zombies but cant believe that the peple were already dead so she tries to kill herself but unfortunately messes up the job and doesn't die immediately. The group go to the nearest hospital. This is where the first true Zombie interaction occurs. Mary dies and comes back, a few random Drs and nurses are left behind as zombies. Another student is bitten as they are leaving. Now one of the group is infected. 

He eventually dies and is put down. By this point in time it was obvious that things are really bad. The group encounters a variety of people including a deaf man who dies while trying to help them fix their RV. They are stopped by a group of survivors that hold them hostage for a time until realizing that they mean no harm and are simply trying to survive. They give them supplies and guns for protection and the group is off again on the road. Scared, tired and bewildered. But wait! HOPE HAS ARRIVED! The military shows up. But this is not the regular military. This is a group of awol soldiers who plunder. They are lead by none other than Alan Van Sprang. You might recognize him from Land of the Dead's Brubaker character. 

As Deb makes it to her house she finds the gruesome remains of her family and her brother zombified. From here they decide the best course of action is to go to Phillip's house. Once their they find Phillip acting funny and noone else in sight. It seems Phillip is infected and his family is dead and floating in the family pool. One by one the remaining cast is picked off including Jason, who insists on being videotaped as he is shot in the head. The two remaining students and the professor lock themselves in the panic room and await their fates. To die slowly waiting for help to arrive or to  go out and face the now multiple zombies roaming throughout the house and yards of the estate. 

It appears as if George has fallen into line with the genre that he helped create from something great. The characters are not very well developed and the storyline is loose and leaves a lot of open ended scenarios. Not much gore in this movie as it appears he tried to concentrate on the acting and story and less on gore. Zombie movies have become a genre that has surpassed it's creator and taken on a life all their own.

I give this 3.5 severed thumbs. And Remember

I watch this shit so you dont have to!

Shane

	Michelle Morgan	...	Debra Moynihan
	Joshua Close	...	Jason Creed (as Josh Close)
	Shawn Roberts	...	Tony Ravello
	Amy Ciupak Lalonde	...	Tracy Thurman (as Amy Lalonde)
	Joe Dinicol	...	Eliot Stone
	Scott Wentworth	...	Andrew Maxwell
	Philip Riccio	...	Ridley Wilmott
	Chris Violette	...	Gordo Thorsen
	Tatiana Maslany	...	Mary Dexter
	Todd Schroeder	...	Brody (as Todd William Schroeder)
	Daniel Kash	...	Police Officer
	Laura DeCarteret	...	Bree
	Martin Roach	...	Stranger
	Megan Park	...	Francine Shane
	George Buza	...	Tattooed Biker
	Tino Monte	...	News Anchor
	Matt Birman	...	Zombie Trooper
	Gregory Nicotero	...	Zombie Surgeon (as Greg Nicotero)
	Donna Croce	...	Zombie Nurse
	Nick Alachiotis	...	I.V. Zombie