Rama’s SCREEN

A man whose work doesn’t age as he does. George Romero’s movies adapt with time and he has brought us yet another Zombie flick, one thing he knows how to do best. Fans of this genre would love DIARY OF THE DEAD. It’s bloody, it’s gory, it’s nasty and it’s hella scary. This movie does a successful job in freaking people out. My friends Eli, Lorraine, and I went to the only theater that was showing it. The place was… a dump but it fit the profile for a theater that screens horror movies and independent films.

While filming their own amateur horror movie, a group of students run into real zombies and the event that change history. Capturing every moment is filmmaker Jason whose camera never leaves his shoulder. His friends eventually get tired of his obsession with documennting what they think should never be filmed in the first place.

Now, let me get this straight… I watch this kind of movie not for the storyline, not for the acting, and sorry Mr. Romero, but not for the directing either. I watch zombie movies cause there’s a part of me that wants to get scared.
We like the idea of going through fear and then survive it… like riding a roller coaster.
This movie delivers when it comes to shocking us with intense graphic sequences. DIARY OF THE DEAD is a scare fiesta.

This movie’s got that Cloverfield feel to it. The hand held camera action. But unlike that stupid monster movie, you heard me.. I despise Cloverfield, … DIARY OF THE DEAD on the other hand doesn’t get you dizzy because for the most part, it doesn’t shake that much and the screen’s still steady.
And unlike Cloverfield, this movie doesn’t waste too much time on the boring conversation part.
This movie’s always got moments where you just have that gut feeling that somebody’s about to be some dead guy’s lunch.

The acting is horrible, the directing is the usual, and the storyline cannot get any cheesier. There are other movies out there that have underlining message that talks about our declining society and the effect media and violence have on all of us and those movies convey those issues way better than this one.
That’s right. Tthis time George Romero tries to be some sort of horror Aristotle, he puts in his sermon in this movie. Gotta give him props for trying to be profound and wise but it kinda comes across as cheesy and come on… who really desires to go see a horror movie expecting to be taught a lesson?!

The visuals are pretty good and so are the make up and the costume and the special effect. Like I said, he adapts his work to today’s time and technology. To see how the zombies get killed and how the humans get eaten…Wow! It’s just the sight to see… or not, if you’re one of those who like watching scary movies with your hand covering your face but you let some fingers open cause for some reason you don’t know you just have to know what’s going to happen next.

One thing that my friend points out: George Romero’s zombies walk slow… different than the ones in 28 Weeks Later, those zombies in that one look like they could win the marathon in less than 1 hours. The fans will like DIARY OF THE DEAD and those who are not fans won’t miss out on it either.

* Place the cursor on the picture below to check my grade for this film