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student film director Jason Creed (Joshua Close) and his crew just
shooting a cheap horror film about aq walking mummy when the news breaks
that the dead all of a sudden do rise again and attack the living - and
before you know it, Jason and friends - the usual crowd, including the
know-it-all firlfriend Debra (Michelle Morgan), the kid with the glasses
(Joe Dinicol), Tony the secondary hero type of guy (Shawn Roberts), the
wallflower Mary (Tatiana Maslani) who at one point just can't handle it
anymore and the Professor (Scott Wentworth), who of course has a British
accent - sit in a bus, going home (wherever that is) while Jason,
always the filmmaker, tries to capture it all on camera as a documentary
(that merely looks like reality TV to me though).
Soon enough, our motley crew runs into zombies and runs over them,
after which Mary, you know, the wallflower who at one point can't handle
it anymore, can't handle it anymore and shoots herself. Unfortunately, she
doesn't do too good a job about it and does remain alive, if barely, so
the others decide to take her to a hospital - unfortunately, because the
hospital is completely deserted - at least by all live staff, but around
every other corner, a zombies seem to lurk, slowly taking their toll on
our heroes. And then even Mary dies and becomes a zombie, forcing the
others to shoot her ...
Later: Our heroes run into a black gang, and though both groups
distrust each other at first, they quickly come to realize they fight on
the same side, and after a bit of more fighting with the zombies, Debra,
who proves she can be tough as nails, even gets some supplies from the
gang before Jason and company move on in their van.
Next stop: Debra's place ... but unfortunately, her parents and little
brother have since turned into zombies and have to be killed.
Last stop: Ridley's place. Ridley is a rich kid who lives in a mansion
which almost resembles a fortress with his parents, and Ridley has invited
them all over to sit this one out with him. Thing is, when the kids and
their professor arrive at Ridley's place, all doesn't seem so rosey
anymore, because everyone but Ridley seems to have been turned into a
zombie (whom Ridley to this point was able to contain), Ridley himself is
pretty drunk (and can you blame him, he had to witness his parents and
girlfriend being turned into zombies), plus he seems to have been bitten
by a zombie - which means he's slowly turning into one himself ... and
before you know it, all hell breaks loose, and most of the kids are
killed, even Jason, who in the film barely ever let go of his camera to
record everything for future generations - provided there are any. Only
three manage to escape the onslaught and make it to the mansion's panic
room, the Professor, Tony the secondary hero, and Debra, who all during
the movie complained about Jason doing nothing more than filming, and only
now understands the importance of his work - and decides to finish what he
has begun ...
George A.Romero's fifth Living Dead film takes us back to
where the saga has started with Night
of the Living Dead almost 40 years earlier, to the beginning of
the epidemic, however, the basic plot's subtext seems to be updated for
the internet generation - which is one of the main problems of the film,
because the blend of zombie film and media satire comes across a bit heavy
handed, and trying to portray the Web 2.0 as the only honest form
of media is simply short-sighted, especially in the context of this film,
which makes Diary of the Dead a lot less insightful than either Night
of the Living Dead or (Romero's original) Dawn
of the Dead. Plus in style, Diary of the Dead is too
similar to Blair Witch Project
(incidently one of the first if not the first film that owes its success
to the internet) to be really labelled original.
That all said though, Diary of the Dead isn't all bad, it's got
its moment of irony, sometimes the satire is really spot-on, plus the
zombie attacks are as gorey as they are imaginative. If only Romero had
thought through his political statements a little better, had put a little
more effort into his cast of characters and had a cast of more colourful,
contrasting actors this one could have been great. Like it is, the movie
is still entertaining - but miles away from being a milestone of zombie
cinema ...
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