Diary of the Dead
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Diary of the Dead |
| Original title | George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2007 |
| length | 90 minutes (unabridged) 87 minutes |
| Age rating |
FSK 18 (unabridged) FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | George A. Romero |
| script | George A. Romero |
| production |
Peter Grunwald Sam Englebardt Artur Spigel Ara Katz |
| music | Norman Orenstein |
| camera | Adam Swica |
| cut | Michael Doherty |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
|
← Predecessor |
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Diary of the Dead is an apocalyptic horror film from 2007 by US director George A. Romero . It is his fifth film to deal with the zombie theme.
action
Jason leaves with a group of film students and a motor home to shoot a horror film for a college project in the dark woods of Pennsylvania. At first everything seems like pure fiction, but suddenly the film crew hears reports of real zombies appearing on the radio and sets off on a turbulent journey home. They document all further experiences as The Diary of the Dead for posterity.
Soon they are forced to stop by an accident blocking the road and attacked by a zombie that Mary simply runs over. Then she runs over three more zombies, but they assumed that they were innocent people. Noticeably shocked by this, she tries to shoot herself, but survives her suicide attempt. The group then goes to a hospital to save their lives. There they discover that the hospital staff has also mutated into zombies and that these are not false reports, as the first reports suspected. Jason briefly insists on charging his camera and stays behind. Shortly after the protagonists find another camera and come back to him, Mary dies and begins to transform into a zombie, forcing Maxwell to kill her. As he leaves the hospital, Gordo is bitten by a zombie, the cameramen just do nothing while Eliot kills the zombie. The next day, the group bury Mary and shoot Gordo, who has also become a zombie.
Then the group tries to disappear further. After their caravan breaks down, they meet the Amish farmer Samuel, whom they initially believe to be an undead due to his deafness and the associated inability to speak normally. He helps them by first killing three zombies with dynamite and then letting them use his barn to repair the motorhome. In the barn, they also watch the video that was on the camera found in the hospital. It shows a children's birthday party, which is abruptly ended by a clown who has mutated into a zombie by biting off the host's ear.
In the barn, the protagonists are besieged by zombies, but at the last moment the mobile home can be repaired and the escape succeeds, whereby Samuel is bitten by a zombie and kills himself with the undead. Shortly before they run out of gas, they meet members of a vigilante group made up of African Americans and are taken to their headquarters. Shortly thereafter, one of the men who died after a heart attack mutates and is killed by acid after a brief battle. The film team is supplied with gasoline, weapons and food and then goes to Debra's house. There they find out that Debra's little brother, like her parents, have also become zombies. You feel compelled to destroy Debra's family.
On the way they are stopped and robbed by members of the National Guard. Your weapons will be left to you, however. Finally they come to Ridley, a friend of Eliot, whose country house is very remote and has therefore been spared from attacks by zombies so far. However, it turns out that the entire workforce and residents are dead and "buried" in the pool. Ridley, who turns out to be the only survivor, has also been bitten and turns into a zombie as well, chasing Tracy and Jason through the woods. Tracy knocks him down and then drives away alone. Jason filmed the entire time and did nothing to help her. Ridley, who is still alive, further decimates the team by killing Eliot in the bathroom. The last thing to be bitten is Jason Creed and consequently shot. His obsession with the camera, or rather with recording the whole thing for the survivors, becomes clear when he tries to film while he is attacked by Ridley.
Maxwell, Tony and Debra hide in the panic room of the house and Debra finishes Jason's film.
background
The film had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2007. The general film release took place on February 15, 2008 in the USA. The film opened in Great Britain on March 7, 2008. After Land of the Dead was a production by a larger studio, this film is again an independently produced film. The film grossed $ 2.9 million in cinemas in the United States, Russia, Argentina and Great Britain on a budget of around two million US dollars. In Germany it was shown at the 22nd Fantasy Film Festival (in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Dortmund, Frankfurt / M., Nuremberg, Stuttgart and Munich).
As for the music, the finale includes Preludes op. 28 No. 15 in D flat major by Frédéric Chopin , in an interpretation by Christine Hye-Su Kim . "Any Other Way" by The Captains Intangible runs over the end credits .
The film was recorded entirely digitally (HDCAM) with Panasonic HDCAM cameras .
In the end credits, the filmmaker thanks such prominent personalities as Wes Craven , Guillermo del Toro , Simon Pegg , Stephen King , Quentin Tarantino or his effects specialist Tom Savini , who “should feel honored”, according to the industry journal Variety . They lent their voice to news anchors. Romero himself can be seen on TV as the police chief for a few seconds.
criticism
“Every generation gets the George A. Romero socio-political zombie opus it deserves. […] Diary of the Dead is not a perfect film, it shouldn't be either. Angular at the corners, dirty in the middle and smeared with a kind of nihilistic humanism that worries more than the shuffling undead. They are dead and everything is wasted, wisely. "
“At 68, Romero discovered this newfangled invention called the Internet and thinks it's just cool . Lo and behold: the film is exactly that. [...] that The Road is ten times more horror than diary, Romero undoubtedly knows himself. [...] For another four decades with Romero's patented mixture of sociology, satire and carnivorous corpses. "
"Antiquated, although it mixes new technologies in a weird, negating way with [... their own] fear of it"
“This is where Romero's subversive genius lies in giving the audience what they long for - and then a lot of stuff about what they never wanted. […] Above all, Romero's dead pentalogy always revolved around what it means to be human, whether alive or dead. […] In most horror films it is assumed that one feverishes with the heroes to survive it - Diary of the Dead is not so sure at all "
“The characters are so thin and the plot structure so incredible that it only turns out to be a shrug. […] We shouldn't talk badly about the dead, unfortunately Romero leaves us no choice. "
“Horror film staged as a pseudo-documentation by old zombie master George A. Romero, which only achieves mediocrity. The wafer-thin framework of the genre he co-created seems to be exhausted. "
Various critics point to The Blair Witch Project (D: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez, USA 1999) or Cloverfield (D: Matt Reeves, USA 2008) because of the pseudo-documentary look .
On the well-known film website Rotten Tomatoes , the film was rated positively by 62% of the critics.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Certificate of Release for Diary of the Dead . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry, June 2009 (PDF; test number: 116 455 DVD).
- ↑ a b Certificate of Release for Diary of the Dead . Voluntary Self-Regulation of the Film Industry , July 2008 (PDF; Test number: 116 455 V).
- ↑ cf. IMDb , "Soundtracks".
- ↑ IMDb , "Technical specifications".
- ^ A b Eddie Cockrell: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead. In: Variety . September 11, 2007, accessed on January 30, 2009 (English): "They should be proud"
- ^ Marc Savlov: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead. In: Austin Chronicle. February 29, 2008, accessed on January 29, 2009 (English): “Every generation gets the George A. Romero socio-political zombie opus they deserve. [...] Diary of the Dead isn't a perfect film; it's not meant to be a perfect film. It's rough around the edges, dirty in the middle, and stained through with a sort of nihilistic humanism that ultimately unsettles more than the lurching and lead themselves. They're dead, and it's all messed up, cunningly so "
- ↑ a b Ethan Alter: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead. In: Film Journal International. Retrieved on January 30, 2009 (English): “That's right, folks - at 68, Romero has finally discovered this newfangled invention called the Internet and he thinks it's pretty darn cool. And you know what? So is the movie. [...] The Road is ten times more horrifying than Diary, a fact that Romero is no doubt entirely aware of. [...] Romero's patented blend of sociology, satire and flesh-eating corpses "
- ↑ a b Michael Koresky: Shooting the Messenger: George A. Romero's "Diary of the Dead". In: indieWIRE. February 12, 2008, accessed on January 30, 2009 (English): "antiquated though it may be in its oddly negating mix of new technologies and its 67-year-old director's fear of them"
- ↑ Scott Foundas: Diary of the Dead: George Romero's Back. In: LA Weekly. February 13, 2008, accessed on January 30, 2009 : “Therein lies Romero's subversive genius - he gives the audience what it craves, and a whole lot more it never bargained for. [...] And above all, Romero's Dead pentalogy has always circled back to the question of what it means to be human, for both the living and the undead. [...] In most horror movies, it's a given that we should root for the heroes to make it out alive, but Diary of the Dead isn't nearly so certain "
- ↑ Colin Covert: Movie review: 'Diary of Dead' is DOA. In: Star Tribune. March 6, 2008, accessed on January 30, 2009 : "the characters are so thin and the framework so unconvincing that they add up to a big shrug. [...] It's a shame to speak ill of the dead, but Romero leaves us no alternative "
- ^ Diary of the Dead. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Rotten Tomatoes: George A. Romero's Diary Of The Dead , June 22, 2008.
Web links
- Diary of the Dead in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Diary of the Dead by Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Diary of the Dead at Metacritic (English)
- Diary of the Dead in the online movie database
- Diary of the Dead in the German dubbing index
- George A. Romero special at Arte
- Cynthia Fuchs: Diary of the Dead at PopMatters.com (English)
- Review of Diary of the Dead at independentfilme.com