Search - George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead on DVD

George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Actor(s): Michele Morgan, Joshua Close, Shawn Roberts, Amy Lalonde, Joe Dinicol
Director(s): George A. Romero
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Movie Details

MPAA Rating: R
Content Advisory: Profanity, Gore
Movie Release: 2007
DVD Release: 05/20/2008
Format: DVD - Color,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: Spanish
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Number of Discs: 1
Run Time: 1 hrs 36 mins
Studio: Weinstein Company
Members Wishing: 21
Genres: Horror, Creature Film
See Also: Diary of the Dead [Best Buy Exclusive], Diary of the Dead [Blu-ray]

DVD Synopsis

Horror icon George A. Romero effectively hits the "reset" button on his hugely influential Dead series with this scaled-back look at the zombie apocalypse as told from the perspective of a student filmmaker who sets out to shoot a low-budget fright film, but instead captures the breakdown of modern society at the decaying hands of flesh-eating ghouls. Jason Creed (Joshua Close) and his crew are shooting a mummy movie in the Pennsylvania woods when media reports begin pouring in about the dead rising from their graves to feast on the flesh of the living. While self-centered star Ridley (Phillip Riccio) beats a hasty retreat to his family's fortified mansion halfway across the state, the remaining cast and crew are forced to fight for their lives despite having no weapons to speak of, and only a wobbly recreational vehicle in which to seek shelter. Immediately recognizing the gravity of the situation and outspokenly skeptical of the media, determined director Creed decides to use his own camera to capture the real story in a documentary entitled "The Death of Death." Now, as the group attempts to fight their way to safety, the skeptics will all watch as their greatest fears become reality, and the realists will attempt to process a nightmare that modern science would pass off as impossible. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Actors

Michele Morgan - Debra
Joshua Close - Jason Creed
Shawn Roberts - Tony
Amy Lalonde - Tracy
Joe Dinicol - Eliot

Member Movie Reviews

Michael G. (mgmirkin) from PORTLAND, OR wrote on 6/16/2009...

Where to start? It's a Romero zombie flick.

Honestly, I'd heard mixed reviews about. Not least of all due to the "camcorder" feel of the movie, not unlike Cloverfield. While I haven't seen Cloverfield, I heard the camerawork made a few people nauseous. But I've a pretty rock-hard constitution. Comes in hand, both when it comes to Blair Witch, Diary of the Dead and Cloverfield-esque camera shake and general zombie flick gore. Honestly, the camerawork was relatively steady (as far as I'm concerned) despite being largely camcorder-esque POV type shots throughout.

I thought the start of the movie was relatively dull, as far as the "introductions" and such went. But it does pick up a bit as the body count rises and the gore hits the fan (not literally). Though, the pacing is a bit slow throughout the movie. If you're expecting s "hyper-zombie" action flick like in 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later and the remake of Dawn of the Dead, you might be disappointed that Romero sticks to his roots with the plodding "stiffs."

There are definitely several "buckets o' blood" spilled and splattered throughout the movie. If you're looking for gore, this movie's got plenty of it. The movie is marketed under the "Dimension Extreme" label for a reason. I'll leave it at that. The squeamish probably wouldn't be watching this though, am I right?

I must admit that there were several scenes where I was quite literally laughing out loud. Either because something was unintentionally funny or rather apparently tongue-in-cheek (vis a vis, the conversation early on in the film about how dumb it is that girls in zombie movies always lose their shoes & shirts, fall over and get caught by the slow plodding zombie, juxtaposed later int he film with the same girl losing her shoes, falling over, getting caught and slightly molested by the zombie). And if you've ever wondered how the Amish might deal with a zombie infestation, that mystery and one or two other ponderables are fair game for this movie.

In all, I actually rather liked this movie, despite the slightly slower-than-expected pacing. The special features on this disc are pretty good too, with several making-of documentaries and a running commentary option for the movie.

Jason C. (JJC) from NEWARK, NJ wrote on 5/6/2008...

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Well, riding the comet tail of "Cloverfield," another 'video cam point-of-view' film has come our way in the form of George A. Romero's fifth entry of his Zombie saga, entitled "Diary of the Dead."

Set in Romero's native Pennsylvania, "Diary" follows a group of college students and their film course professor on the run during the beginnings of a zombie outbreak. The film is told form the point of view of a high-definition video camera photographed by Jason Creed, an aspiring documentary filmmaker, whom just before the outbreak was filming a horror film. As the outbreak ensues, Jason decides to capture the events...the way he experienced it. What happens to him and his friends, is what is recorded.

The film is remarkably edited and directed, especially when another camera is found and at some points in the film that other camera is used. You see, what we witness is Jason Creed's final documentary movie. Lots of Romero-Zombie fun as we know it, but "Diary" is a much different movie than Romero's other four installments...which makes it unique.

I loved it!