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Romero's latest zombie movie "Dead" on arrival
TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - Not ready to let
sleeping zombies lie, George A. Romero, who was thought to have
concluded his "Living Dead" trilogy with the critically acclaimed
fourth installment, 2005's "Land of the Dead," is back for more.
The reconceptualized "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead" is a
stripped-down take on those earlier movies that both hearkens back
to the no-frills 1968 original and repositions those flesh-eating
corpses along today's information superhighway.But while the Romero movies were always as much social commentaries
as they were gorefests, in this case all the overt high-tech
references to uploading video and blogging are at the expense of any
palpable dread or real scares.
Give him props for trying to do something different, but this
"Living Dead" exercise delivers far less monstrosity and a great
deal of pomposity, not to mention dull characters who aren't nearly
as lively as those dead guys.While the film was acquired at the Toronto International Film
Festival by the Weinstein Co., its theatrical potential remains
questionable.Although Romero has his loyal fan base, this would seem to be a
better bet for DVD, given the recent proliferation of zombie movies
that have had mixed boxoffice results.
Taking the form of a documentary being made by a group of
Pennsylvania college students driving a beat-up Winnebago past all
those temporary corpses, "Diary" is just that, with no-nonsense
Debra (Michelle Morgan) providing a running commentary as part of
the online blog component.Between all those redundant observations, Debra, director Jason
(Joshua Close) and their shrinking crew do manage to blow up their
fair share of zombie brains, but most of the time they sit around
doing a lot of navel-gazing.
There are still the occasional sparks, like when the group
encounters a mute Amish farmer.And Romero manages to get a sly jab
in at all those movies with new and improved fast-moving zombies
when one of the characters notes that if one of the undead actually
tried to walk any faster, they'd break their ankles
But at the end of the day, Romero's most recent final installment
goes nowhere, fast or slow.No doubt, the dead will live again.
Cast:
Debra: Michelle Morgan
Jason: Joshua Close
Tony: Shawn Roberts
Tracy: Amy Lalonde
Eliot: Joe Dinicol
Maxwell: Scott Wentworth
Director-screenwriter: George A. Romero; Producers: Peter Grunwald,
Art Spigel, Sam Englebardt, Ara Katz; Executive producers: Dan
Fireman, John Harrison, Steve Barnett; Director of photography: Adam
Swica; Production designer: Rupert Lazarus; Music: Norman Orenstein;
Costume designer: Alex Kavanagh; Editor: Michael Doherty. |
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