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Category:    Home > Reviews > Horror > Thriller > Zombie > Political > Survival Of The Dead (2009/Magnolia/MagNet DVD)

Survival Of The Dead (2009/Magnolia/MagNet DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Film: C-

 

 

Like George Lucas, George Romero has decided to do a second trilogy (and counting in both cases?) of his most commercially successful films and like Lucas, the second trio is a far cry from the first.  After the disappointing Diary Of The Dead (2007, reviewed elsewhere on this site) comes Survival Of The Dead (2009), which wants to take on the banality of war and conflict, but does not really know where it wants to go with its ideas and becomes very formulaic in the process.

 

With zombie films the most played out in the Horror genre in recent years (decades?), a family feud on an island (Plum Island) that could be a sanctuary from the undead becomes a new field of horror as one family head kills healthy people to have them as slaves while the other aims to end the feud in blood once and for all.  Thrown into the mix are a small group of U.S. Soldiers trying to survive and suddenly joined by a young opportunist civilian who has some survival ideas of his own after meeting with some murderous white separatists.

 

While this is all interesting, it never adds up to anything, goes nowhere and has little to say, much like most of the Romero imitators since the 1980s.  I liked the actors and the two actors playing the Irish family heads (both X-Files veterans) steal their scenes: Richard Fitzpatrick (Boondock Saints II, Flash Of Genius) and Kenneth Walsh (Adoration, Exorcism Of Emily Rose, Absolute Power, Scorsese’ The Aviator).  The other cast members are also well cast and more convincing than in Diary, but even some chemistry cannot save this installment.

 

With a lack of structure that works, all we are left with is humor that is more miss than hit from Romero’s screenplay and of course, the mutilation of the zombies, their victims and the like.  There was potential here of course as there always is in Romero’s work and it is the furthest away from the Greater Pittsburgh area any of the Dead films have strayed (Philadelphia is the other side of the state) and that is a metaphor for the film, which becomes the opposite of what his films used to be all about.  Only the ultra-curious or diehard fans should bother with this one.

 

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is soft with poor Video Black and motion blur from the RED ONE 4K High Definition camera the whole shoot by Romero veteran Adam Swica (Bruiser, Diary Of The Dead) resulting in a weak-looking film that does not have the character of the earlier Dead films (monochrome for Night, heightened color for Dawn, cold color for Day) and that too does not work.  Despite the make-up work by Greg Nicotero and company, there are too many digital enhancements on the effects, making this more like bad Science Fiction than anything else.  Wonder if the Blu-ray looks any better?  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is a little better than the 2.0 Stereo mix, but the recording is not always good with some distorted dialogue and lackluster soundfield.

 

Extras on DVD One include a Romero Introduction, Time With George clip, HDNet program plugging the film and feature length audio commentary by Romero & crew, while DVD Two adds a Storyboard Comparison, How To Create Your Own Zombie Bite, short film Sarge, Walking After Midnight documentary and A Minute Of Your Time with 13 behind the scenes shorts.

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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