Diary of the Dead (George A. Romero, 2007): USA

When you think of a zombie film, naturally you think of George A. Romero’s epic horror flick, Night of the Living Dead. Few films are responsible for creating their own sub-genre within a genre. Romero’s newest zombie film, Diary of the Dead, shown at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, uses his same decade old formula, to once again pull of movie magic. Romero knows his audience in way that many directors will never get a chance to. He combines the perfect amount of humor into his display of shocking gruesome horror. And to top it off, he provides us with a surprisingly deep social and cultural commentary. A fantastic film.

Romero takes an incredibly unique approach in terms of the narrative he uses. The story is told from the perspective of a student filmmaker. We see the story unfold from the perspective of his handheld camera. He is able to pull this risky form of filmmaking wonderfully. While certain things are done to make the camera work look like that of an amateur, it is evident that a brilliant Romero is behind the camera at all times. The director Jason (Joshua Close), is in the middle of filming his horror film for school, when chaos erupts, he leads his cast and crew in journey filled with carnage and terror. The entire time, shooting the horror that surrounds them.

All of the footage comes from one of two handheld cameras, recordings from cell phones, and the tapes from security cameras along the way. They called their film, The Death of Death. Romero takes the perfect amount of time to get the points across that he needs to. He is able to shock the viewer at will, while still engages them with brilliant over the top humor. A scene in which the crew of students encounters a deaf Amish man, who uses a scythe to kill the undead, will have you absolutely hysterical.

Throughout the film, we see instances of conflict arising between men, rather than the horror at hand. It is important enough to leave an impression on the viewer, but subtle enough to be ignore. Eventually, it all comes into play with some beautiful Romero insight. The camera itself serves as in important tool as well as topic during the outbreak of chaos. Diary of the Dead shocked me with the multiple layers that surfaced throughout, all of which pleased me. If you are a fan of horror films, or even undecided on how you feel about them, I strongly recommend you see this film. There have been more aesthetically pleasing films, films with better cinematography, better acting, and better screenplays. But no film in the Santa Barbara Film Festival was nearly as entertaining.