DIARY OF THE DEAD
(The Weinstein Company, 2007)

By Alex Ballard

George Romero celebrates the fortieth anniversary of his seminal Night of the Living Dead by taking us right back to the beginning of the end with his latest film, Diary of the Dead.

Having brokered an uneasy truce between the living and the dead at the end of Land, Romero starts the war all over again, as he presents the story of a group of young filmmakers fighting to survive during the embryonic stages of the zombie apocalypse.

The students, led by fledgling directors Jason (Joshua Close) and Tony (Shawn Roberts), are making a horror movie in the woods but hastily abandon set when bewildering news bulletins on a portable television interrupt the shoot.

The reports indicate that chaos has broken out and Jason's subsequent online investigations, coupled with those of his girlfriend Debra (Michele Morgan) suggest that the mainstream media is hiding the truth; furthermore, Jason becomes convinced that it is his job to document his own experiences of the crisis on his digital camera.

As the film proceeds, Jason develops an understanding of the crisis on a global level, by monitoring internet news-sites, YouTube, podcasts and other alternative forms of information, and contributes to the picture himself by uploading segments of his footage as he edits it.

And, of course, the footage he shares with the world is that of a group on the road fleeing an ever-growing army of flesheaters; from a hospital to a Mormon farm, and the ghetto to a huge mansion, the group's numbers are thinned whilst the ranks of the undead increase relentlessly.

Quite simply, this is an excellent film that brought the house down during its screening at Sitges 2007; for a start, at a time when the studios seem to be slowing down their output of zombie movies in a bid for the undead dollar (or, if you like, the putrid pound), it's great to see the master of the genre putting their sprinting, stalking ghouls in their place with his classic slouching flesheaters.

In addition, Diary features no nauseating “bankable” young stars, with Romero instead opting for a cast of unknowns, an acknowledgement of who the “stars” of the film really are.

That said, there's also a number of cameos worth watching out for, with the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Simon Pegg, Stephen King and Romero himself presenting news reports of the outbreak.

Freedom from the shackles of the studio also allows the director to work his magic without any interference, resulting in some graphic gore, which, when done well, is always a pleasure to behold.

And of course, there's the social critique inherent from the start of Romero's Dead series; this time, like Brian De Palma in Redacted,  Romero focuses his eye on the media and the ever diversifying forms of information dissemination and communication that seem to continually grow like a virtual web around us.

The inclusion of items such as YouTube clips of the crisis also lends a very expansive aspect to the narrative, as the clips and blogs from across the globe cultivate the sensation of worldwide panic and chaos as the dead rise, even though the characters themselves probably don't get more than 200 miles down the road.

Diary is yet another superb chapter of the Dead saga, and one that is sure to send millions scrambling for their cameras and laptops when the dead begin to rise.