Product Description

From legendary frightmaster George A. Romero comes one of the most daring, hypnotic and absolutely vital horror films of the past decade (fangoria.com). Romero continues his influential Dead series, this time focusing on a terrified group of college film students who record the pandemic rise of flesh-eating zombies while struggling for their own survival. Intensely gruesome and relentlessly grisly fueled by the directors signature realistic special effects Diary of the Dead is must-see horror that is Romero at his finest (bloody-disgusting.com).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3176 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-05-20
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Amazon.com
George Romero has always come up with new ways of treating his zombies, and Diary of the Dead is no exception: Romero keeps his dead fresh, with an original approach to the undying subject. This one purports to be the video record of a group of young people who are shooting a low-budget horror movie when the terror strikes: corpses begin re-animating, intent on chewing the living. Our heroes trek across Pennsylvania, encountering the staggering zombies as they go. Other pieces of video are incorporated, which gives Romero a chance at some great set-pieces, including the brilliant opening sequence, a live local-TV feed that goes horribly, horribly wrong, and a home-video tape from a family birthday party, where the party clown turns out to be a dead ringer. All of Romero's Dead films are political, and this one's no exception, with a stark view of the way things are today; it doesn't offer the Hawksian heroics of the survivors in Dawn of the Dead or Land of the Dead for comfort, just a group of bickering, shocked youths. There's too much talk about the detachment of watching things through a lens, but in general this is a bracing, intelligent movie. Plus, there's some excellent splatter. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Dramamine Of The Dead
Ah, hell. I'd might as well put my two cents in about the new Romero zombie film. I see it has succeeded in disappointing many fans for the most part. That's too bad. But for those who thought this movie was a big letdown, I do see why you feel that way. All around I actually did like the movie.
There is one misconception about this movie I have to address. Many folks think this film ripped off Cloverfield. Not true. I don't know about anyone else out there, but I remember reading about this movie a few years ago. This film hit the market after Cloverfield, but it must have been shot right around the same time. I do know that Romero had the idea for this one a few years ago. SO THERE!!
Romero's original Living Dead Trilogy is required viewing for any hardcore horror fan. For most of us horror geeks, these films served as the gateway to the world of gruesome, extreme and other-side-of-the-fence types of horror movies and a lot of us have never looked back since. They're essential movies! They're as essential as Number of the Beast is to the Iron Maiden fan or Hannah Montana to preteen girls and pedophiles, or "Margaritaville" to every damn ocean cruise you go on.
So many years of repeated viewings of the Trilogy(if you're like me you could do a one man Broadway performance of all three films), and the impact it's had on our movie tastes, how is Romero supposed to top that? Or even get close to that? Eight billion zombie films make it into the theater and video shelves every month anymore it seems. Romero's films don't seem terribly unique anymore. I enjoyed Land of the Dead(a lot of people seemed to), but it just didn't feel the same. It was a good movie, but I just couldn't find myself lumping it in with the Trilogy. Too much time has passed and too many bad changes to the film industry have occurred.
I feel pretty much the same for Diary. I like the fact that Romero went back to his low budget, independent style of film making. Like in Land, he approaches the subject matter with a bit more intelligence than most zombie films. After all, it is HIS genre. Romero and John Russo more or less created the world and the rules that most zombie films play by.
I didn't mind the story of Diary, nor did I mind not seeing hordes and hordes of zombies onscreen. I actually enjoyed the "less is more" type of approach. But as a personal preference, I don't like films that are presented as footage through the camera lens of an individual shooting the events. I don't think it's a dumb idea, I unfortunately get ill when I watch it. I always get a headache and/or nauseous feeling when watching it. Most people don't experience this at all, and it may be piddly, but the fact is that it always does it to me, so I don't enjoy this type of format. I am glad that I watched it however. I probably just won't want it many times unless I take the necessary precautions beforehand.

And I thought "Land" was bad!
I'm pretty positive about most movies I see. I at least try to look for elements that satisfy me, even if I know the movie is generally viewed as a stinker.

This movie would just not give me five minutes without thinking something along the lines of "oh my goodness this is SO bad."

I think I even said it out loud a few times.

And it all comes down to the acting, really. I hated the gimmick (a movie within a movie), hated the pacing, hated the same old OMG HUMANS ARE WORSE THAN ZOMBIES schtick.. But the acting! The lead actress in this one, I don't know her name (I will check now that I think about it, so I can avoid her in the future) delivered the WORST performance I have seen in a while. There was one decent actress in this movie, but she only appeared for the first five minutes.

The few fun zombie slaying scenes were NOT worth the price of admission. Avoid this movie like you would a roving gang of zombies.

Lifeless ... but not in a good way.

I love the old Romero zombie films.
I dislike weightless CGI effects.
I despise reality TV.
I hate POV porn.

If your checklist matches any two of the above,
stay away from this tediously uninteresting movie.

Maybe it could've been saved if the DVD included
extra commentary by two robots and a temp named Mike
forced to watch it aboard a stranded spaceship.