Grinding out his third zombie film in the space of five years, director George A. Romero has continued his “Dead” series through his last two movies and into his latest, attempting to do for it what he did with the initial trilogy. The results thus far have been decidedly hit or miss: 2005’s underrated “Land of the Dead” was a fun, fetishized vision of man versus undead and 2008’s “Diary of the Dead” was little more than a middle-of-the-road horror flick notable chiefly for its chronic employment of gimmicky. For his latest, “Survival of the Dead,” Romero’s hugely popular series has bypassed a wide theatrical release, scheduled to play to Americans only on limited release or video on demand.
The set-up for “Survival” is simple. On this occasion, the undead have dead eyes set on an island existent off the coast of North America, harassing and eating residents whose fightback on the zombie epidemic is informed and hampered by the hope for a cure. They hope to somehow see their dead relatives return to a more humble state, but in the mean time — as theses four clips suggest — aren’t averse to doing away with their groaning menace.
The clips themselves have their own quirks and entertainment factors, but the sad thing that appears to be evidenced by them is how “Survival of the Dead” looks to be merely a cheap alternative to Romero’s two most recent works. Though there’s a clear, perverse charm to seeing a zombie’s head engulfed by flames (it’s interesting how filmmakers use these faceless monsters as punch bags for human depravity without any measure of significance), “Survival” looks visually drab and has the overall feel of just another video horror movie. Unless the other parts of the film are better — and with Romero they easily could be — the film might as well just be another stinker from the After Dark Horror Festival.
“Survival of the Dead” is available on Video On Demand April 30, and on limited theatrical release May 28.
Source: Trailer Addict
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Follow Tom Elce on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tom_elce.
Yeah, it doesn’t look good.
Not into this movie at all but thanks for the great review. I think Romero’s time has come and gone.
I’ve long given up on Romero ever returning to DAWN-levels of excellence. LAND was mildy entertaining, but DIARY was an utter embarassment. SURVIVAL looks to be only a mite better than the latter.
@Josiane: Remember that this isn’t a review of the actual movie, just the clips linked to. My review for the whole film shall hopefully be appearing in the next few days.
@Cam: I’m definitely a fan of “Land” but like you thought “Diary” was dire. Anything at the level of “Dawn” or my preference “Day” or even “Land” would be nice. But this looks like garbage.