Video: “Diary of the Dead” trailer
posted at 12:07 pm on January 13, 2008 by Allahpundit
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I’ll see it, although after “Land of the Dead” I can’t say I’ll be real excited walking in. This is Romero’s zombie/”Blair Witch” mash-up, which I thought was going to be a back-to-basics faux verite retelling of the story but judging by this looks like an excuse to shoot tragic hipsters walking around with video cameras as some sort of heavy-handed commentary on modern media. (Feast your eyes (no pun intended) on the poster.) His fans keep waiting for another “Dawn of the Dead” but instead they get movies with no subtext (“Day of the Dead”) or way, way too much (“Day”). Let’s hope this is the last one, however it shakes out.
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Wow…Talk about lame…
doriangrey on January 13, 2008 at 12:12 PM
What that guy needs, is a really huge frickin’ pair of massivly over-sized glasses.
TheSitRep on January 13, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Doesn’t this fool realize that Dawn of the Dead was a winning formula? We want to see blood and guts as the zombies take over, and people trying to survive. You could make that same movie over and over again and it would never get old!
Lehuster on January 13, 2008 at 12:14 PM
Go Cubs!
Cold Steel on January 13, 2008 at 12:17 PM
Cloverfield with zombies.
its vintage duh on January 13, 2008 at 12:19 PM
Yeah, that’s what it looks like.
Allahpundit on January 13, 2008 at 12:20 PM
I thought it was ‘the Dead’ as in ‘Grateful Dead…’
goddamitt.
Good Lt on January 13, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Let me guess: He’s voting for Ron Paul?
Gartrip on January 13, 2008 at 12:27 PM
No no, at Dead shows, the zombies were vegan.
trubble on January 13, 2008 at 12:28 PM
How many cloverfield type movies are going to come out in the next few years?
I sense it’ll be a few too many like those “dad and son change places through some magical phenomenon” from the early 90’s.
lorien1973 on January 13, 2008 at 12:30 PM
land was just aweful. I have been a fan of Romero since 1984, but land was a real let down. He tried to be too preachy with his making it about the Iraq war.
I like pretend zombies, but Huckabee supporters scare the living crapola out of me.
RobertInAustin on January 13, 2008 at 12:31 PM
I don’t care. I love zombie movies. Let the feeding begin!
manfriend on January 13, 2008 at 12:39 PM
The original Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead are two of the greatest horror movies ever. Unfortunately Romero seems to have regarded the success of these movies as a license to spew preachy lefty crap for the rest of his career.
packsoldier on January 13, 2008 at 12:41 PM
I like zombie movies with SOME subtext, but I don’t like any movie that BEATS me over the head with the MESSAGE, zombies or not.
Techie on January 13, 2008 at 12:44 PM
Romero should have gone with “Retirement Home of the Dead”. He could even star in it sans makeup.
Gordon_Freeman on January 13, 2008 at 12:49 PM
I don’t like preaching in my entertainment.
Musicians, just shut up and sing.
Zombies, just shut up and eat.
Fred!
RobertInAustin on January 13, 2008 at 12:51 PM
There’s always been preachy liberal subtext in Romero’s movies:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78358977@N00/2189500343/
manfriend on January 13, 2008 at 1:02 PM
Human Remains of the Day?
snickelfritz on January 13, 2008 at 1:03 PM
My comment is the sound of a very loud, obnoxious buzzer going off.
Come to think of it, this is what will happen if HRC wins. All the Clinton peeps who died mysteriously in the fabulous 90’s will come back to life. Vince will demand she divorce the First ‘Man’ before he eats him.
Christine on January 13, 2008 at 1:07 PM
I am with packsoldier on this one.
The original 1968 ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ is gritty, ballsy, claustrophobic, no-budget perfection that should never have been expanded upon or otherwise messed with.
Just as with Orson Welles, who got very lucky, very early on. George A. Romero has come kind of close, but has not caught lighning in a bottle a second time.
Romero’s 1979 ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ had its moments (mostly humorous)and more social commentary than was necessary.
In the words of John Ford: “Tell the story. Everything else is rubbish!”
Jack.
Jack Deth on January 13, 2008 at 1:30 PM
I always thought someone would make a movie about Zombie Rolling Stones. Mick and the gang in “Rolling Stone Dead Live!” (or would it be “Rolling Stones Live Dead!”?)
But then I saw them on their last tour and realized that Zombie Rolling Stones wouldn’t look or act any different than the ones we have now.
Probably would even smell the same.
Kasper Hauser on January 13, 2008 at 1:33 PM
That’s interesting. There’s also those fake UFO internet “home videos” that look so darn real. This seems like a neat new trend, where one adds expensive pro special effects to deliberately blurry/badly shot video (ie. fake “home video”). The effects are so meticulously done that they even deliberately blur the effect to match the camcorder’s struggling auto-focus, and jiggle the CG effect around to exactly match the camcorder user’s “shaky hand”. This technique facilitates the viewer’s suspension of disbelief, because people will reflexively assume that camcorder footage is authentic. After all, why would one spend time and effort meticulously adding complex special effects to lousy footage? If you’re going to spend tons of money on special effects, presumably you’d also spend on the initial camera and tripod too.
AP, kudos to you for bringing this up again. I remember your previous posts on easy photo and video manipulation. I guess these special effects might not be so expensive after all. Frankly, this kind of stuff scares the crap out me, because bad guys can use video manipulation in insidious ways. I hope we get more “obviously fictional yet photorealistic” video manipulation done by pro-Western good guys, to increase awareness of this possibility of misuse.
dave_lantos on January 13, 2008 at 1:52 PM
I guess I’ve never observed the ’subtext’, liberal or not, in the zombie movies.
*shrug*
Midas on January 13, 2008 at 1:55 PM
Did Forry die and leave George his eyewear?
(one coveted No-Prize to the first fellow geek who gets that)
splink on January 13, 2008 at 2:10 PM
I don’t go to movies, I rent (when applicable). Time has a way of killing hype. Most times I wander through a vid store and see what I used to want to rent, and know better just from word of mouth or online that most of them are really a waste of time.
Coronagold on January 13, 2008 at 2:10 PM
Here is the “Night of the Living Democrats”
http://mobyrebuttal.blogspot.com/
Fredalanche!© ◄ Donate!
TheSitRep on January 13, 2008 at 2:14 PM
I’ll go see any of his zombie movies. It’s good stuff.
RWLA on January 13, 2008 at 2:16 PM
Yep. Made the mistake of seeing Land of the Dead at the theater…very snoozy and preachy at the same time.
Better off getting Kolchak: The Night Stalker TV show off of Netflix.
splink on January 13, 2008 at 2:16 PM
I wonder if this one’s fake or real… why would the guy be filming it?
dave_lantos on January 13, 2008 at 2:27 PM
I’M SO READY FOR THIS…Might have to catch it on DVD I thinks this will only be in 500 Theaters.
tomas on January 13, 2008 at 2:39 PM
Hi, splink:
Did Forry die and leave George his eyewear?
Could that possibly be Forrest Ackerman, the creator of the phrase “Sci-Fi”?
Jack.
Jack Deth on January 13, 2008 at 2:45 PM
Sorry guys:
The original 1968 ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ is gritty, ballsy, claustrophobic, no-budget perfection that should never have been expanded upon or otherwise messed with.
Should read ‘Night Of The Living Dead’.
Jack.
Jack Deth on January 13, 2008 at 2:47 PM
You win, Jack. No-Prize is in the mail.
splink on January 13, 2008 at 3:21 PM
I prefer “Shawn of the Dead”
Now that was awesome….
Aggie85 on January 13, 2008 at 3:41 PM
Horror movies died forever when they released the first Halloween movie. After that they were all crap.
Warner Todd Huston on January 13, 2008 at 3:48 PM
Now that’s original! At least we won’t get pounded in the brain with how if we just left the zombies alone we’d have peace, except for the fact that if we tried to integrate zombies into our society they’d constantly try to eat us, even though we may have done nothing to them in the first place and they can’t change because it is their nature to eat us and we can’t change that. But otherwise, 9-11 was all our fault, err, zombies!
Neo on January 13, 2008 at 3:56 PM
Brain Salad Surgery
Kini on January 13, 2008 at 4:14 PM
Superb!
thejackal on January 13, 2008 at 4:47 PM
meh, Romero is making a living off of disappointing me. And I love zombie flicks.
Hollywood should let Rob Zombie take a stab at the uh…zombie genre. Thought his Halloween remake was pretty solid, proved he’s got a brain that’s effed up enough properly reconstruct the house that Romero built.
John from OPFOR on January 13, 2008 at 6:33 PM
How can you make today’s society look anything other than shallow? Romero hasn’t left us…we left him.
I take my munching, enjoy it and move on. I will be interested to see a World War Z movie. There are also movies in the works based on novels by Brian Moody, Brian Keene and David Wellington.
Zombies aren’t going anywhere…They have taken the place of Vampires in our psyche.
tomas on January 13, 2008 at 6:40 PM
David Moody sorry
tomas on January 13, 2008 at 6:42 PM
I guess I oughta at least make one comment here.
I’m more interested in seeing what the World War Z movie ends up looking like…
doubleplusundead on January 13, 2008 at 10:06 PM
My high school physics teacher was in the original Night of the Living Dead as a zombie. He was just the kinda guy you’d expect to play one, too.
amkun on January 13, 2008 at 10:46 PM
Yeah, will Hollywood go all out for the lefty teachable lesson or an edgier-than-thou postmodern deconstruction of the zombie subculture genre?
Could break either way…
ScottMcC on January 14, 2008 at 1:09 AM
Its a ZOMBIE MOVIE. You enjoy it for that SINGLE fact. You either like them or you don’t. Although this one seems to be the zombie blair witch/cloverfield. I for one will be renting it. I wonder what political message OTHER THAN its all the U.S. Armys fault they will beat us in the head with.
Bladerunner1701 on January 14, 2008 at 2:25 AM
I still maintain that in the original the “crisis” ended, and the world was not overrun. It was because of the movie’s popularity that the sequels changed that, but maybe I’m just being sappy. Anyway, Living Dead are the only monsters ever to scare me beyond the stereotypcial sudden appearance jolt.
hadsil on January 14, 2008 at 2:30 AM
Thread winnah!
inviolet on January 14, 2008 at 7:01 AM
Hey, give George the credit and kudos he has earned. Here is an average Joe who started off in advertising in Pittsburgh, invested less than $20,000 in a super ultra cheap horror flick project that wound up being not only the greatest horror movie ever made that is just as terrifying today as it was back in 1968, but one that is still making money even today. In addition, George has inspired who knows how many horror movie directors and writers to becoming successful in their own careers. George can easily be referred to as The Father Of The Modern Horror Film, and he did it his way. On that basis alone, the guy is a legend in his own right.
pilamaye on January 14, 2008 at 7:51 AM
I am too! I just started reading this one, right after I finished Brook’s other one, “The Zombie Survival Guide.” Sorry, but I think zombie movies might have a new guide, that would be Max Brooks (son of Mel Brooks).
For any zombie fans, you must read Brook’s two books, they are wonderful!
Torch on January 14, 2008 at 9:23 AM
I gave George a ton of credit for Night, but after renting Land of the Dead I found out I’d greatly overpaid and was owed a huge refund.
saint kansas on January 14, 2008 at 10:12 AM
I have read and advise others to google George’s script treatment of Resident Evil. I’d have loved to see that on the big screen, instead of the music-videoesque snooze we got instead.
Techie on January 14, 2008 at 10:19 AM
The problem being Sherri Moon-Zombie will be the main character in it. Sid Haig will be in a cameo (hope he’s dressed as a clown, that would be great). I like Rob Zombie’s movies, but he does like to cast the same people over and over again
LordDaMan on January 14, 2008 at 11:49 AM
You know, this entire movie look very much like The Zombie Diaries
LordDaMan on January 14, 2008 at 11:52 AM
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