review: DIARY OF THE DEAD

Dimension Extreme  //  Buy from Amazon.com A group of film students are making an independent horror film when they become trapped in a world being consumed by flesh-eating zombies. In an obsessive, unflinching eye, one filmmaker documents each death on camera. As the lucky survivors take final refuge, the film continues to roll, recording every detail for future generations... if any survive. On one hand, you have to give it to George Romero: the man literally invented the zombie genre, and delivered arguably the best zombie film of all time in "Dawn of the Dead." On the other, while I admire his recent forays into the genre to add to his repetoire of films, "Land of the Dead" wasn't too shit hot of a film, and now "Diary of the Dead" joins its predecessor at the bottom of the Romero zombie cannon. Was it a bad film? Not at all. It's actually pretty entertaining, and has some solid special effeccts. However, you slap "George A. Romero's" in front of a film and the gauntlet is dropped... you expect something spectacular... and unfortunately, this one fizzles rather than sizzles. Still, it is Romero, it is a zombie flick, and it's mostly entertaining, so it's worth your time. Video Given an anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfer, this film looks pretty darned good. Shot on (obviously high-end) video cameras, there's a genuine sense of reality in this one (despite the subject matter), and any of the stylistic choices to have blurry footage (to convey said reality) doesn't take away from the overall presentation one bit. Nice job. Audio Dolby 5.1 surround mix delivers the sonic goods in fine form. Documentary-style, so music and soundtrack take a back seat to dialogue and on-screen action/carnage. Extras audio commentary w/ George Romero, director of photography and editor "Character Confessionals" "The First Week" featurette "The Roots" featurette "Familiar Voices" featurette "For the Record" featurettes (5) MySpace contest winners - 5 homemade zombie films trailers Closing Thoughts Entertaining, but ultimately disasppointing zombie flick + loads o' extras = worth checking out, but it's probably the weakest in the series