George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

[Bacardi151]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Film opened yesterday @ the Toronto Film Festival.... Looks like we have a CLASSIC



http://fangoria.com/ghastly_review.php

[Dukefan22]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

I'm curious about this movie, but apparently it wasn't received too well at the Toronto Film Festival. Here's slashfilm's review:

http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/09/10/george-a-romeros-diary-of-the-dead/

I'll still watch it eventually as I love most of the Dead movies Romero did, but I'll probably choose to rent this one if these kind of reviews keep coming in...

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Another Film Festival Review

we where in line to see GEORGE A. ROMERO'S DIARY OF THE DEAD!

There was pure electricity in the air! This was seriously one of my favourite TIFF experiences. Sitting in the theater before hand you could feel something amazing in the air, I'd say at least 40 people in the audience where members of the cast and crew (as it was shot in Toronto alot of them where there). They hadn't seen the movie yet and you could just feel the excitment off of them. Then George was introduced, I have never seen so many people jump to their feet to give someone a standing ovation like this. The man is very well respected and at that moment it kicked in that we were about to watch a new George A. Romero movie and not one that was over seen by some major studio, but one he financed 100% independently. After a bit of an introduction the movie was under way.

The movie starts with a news crew outside an apartment building where several people have been shot. This is 100% raw uncut footage, we are seeing what they are seeing. As they are filming the dead bodies being put into stretchers one of em starts twitching. Us in the audience knows what’s about to happen, but the people at the scene don't have a god damned idea. This is the first day of the zombie outbreak, no one knows what is going on. Sure enough the bodies come back to life and start causing ****. This opening scene was so brilliantly done that the audience gave it a huge round of applause after it was done.

The rest of the movie is shown through the eyes of several cameras. Mostly by one dude, a documentary film makers who was out in the woods with his classmates filming a mummy movie. We also see footage from security cameras, cell phones, web cames etc. This is NOT Blair Witch with zombies!!! The movie plays out as a narrative film, what we are seeing is all the footage edited together by a surviving member of the crew.

The hand held film work makes this movie down right terrifying at some points. The movie scared me.... movies don't scare me anymore! There are tons of jumps and shocks that make the audience yelp. I was sitting next to a chick who screamed each time something surprising happened, which in turn shocked me and made me remember why I love going to the theater to see movie instead of downloading it (a pox on all you downloaders!) Aside from the shocks there are some really tense sequences where you are on the edge of your seat. Not since when I saw the original "Night of the Living Dead" as a young lad have I ever been scared by a Zombie movie. You really feel as if you are right there, experiencing what is happening first hand.

How can you kill a zombie and make it fresh and interesting? There have been 100 zombie movies, it's all been done right? Hell no! Romero kills of zombies in some really interesting ways in this one. A jar of flesh eating acid smashed over the head of one of the living impaired stands out.

The Amish Dude!!! This guy was great! And he goes out in an awesome way to boot.

Another thing that must be addressed is the social commentary. It wouldn't be a Romero zombie movie without some underlying look at humans and how we live our lives and do our thing. The information age is clearly the target here. In this day and age as soon as something happens it is uploaded online or blogged about within a couple of hours. Everyone has a camera and everyone has access to YouTube, so we the people are the new media. News censorship is also a target here, footage of the initial zombie attack is edited by the news stations but the stuff uploaded by regular citizens is the real deal, we see what the major corporate media empires don't want us too. As with the rest of the Romero zombie movies the underlying message isn't shoved down our throats, it is merely something in the background that makes us go "yeah, that is true!"

The movie ending with a roaring standing ovation, the audience was behind it all the way. George looked like the happiest bastard on earth, his fans loved his movie. The Q+A actually had some decent stuff in it (about time people ask interesting questions instead of "what was filming the movie like?" ala Argento's screening on Thursday). One really interesting question was about the use of race relations in "Night" and also a small segment in "Diary". He basically said it is an issue that is always underlying and that will never change. He mentioned about the Katrina aftermath when news stations reported about black families "looting" when they where looking for supplies to live off of. He talked about the civil rights movment back in the 60's and how although leaps and bounds have happened since then, that it is still an underlying situation. He told a really interesting story about how when "Night" was finished being edited, they loaded it into a car and where on their way to New York City to drop it off when on the radio they heard about Martin Luther King Jr. being assassinated. Not sure if that lil' tid bit of info has been mentioned anywhere before but it was a prety cool story nonetheless.

"George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead" was friggin awesome! Wayyyyyyyy better than "Land of the Dead" and totally comparable to his original trilogy. When this one hits theaters GO SEE IT!!! Don't download it, don't wait for DVD, get yer *** in the theaters and watch it.

Well that's all for now. I still got tickets for a few others so I'll send em in as I see em.

~mrmagoojesse~

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33974

[CaptainZombie]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

When does it release?

Last I heard was April/May 2008

Originally it was to release this Fall, but now we have to wait till next Spring. Being a huge zombie horror fan and love Romero's work, I can't wait to see this one.

[Brandwin]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

So, was it recieved well or not? I thought people loved it...

I have a question, if it's avaiable to be shown at the film festival ( I would love to go to that, can anyone just go?) why does it take so long to get into theaters?

[CaptainZombie]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

So, was it recieved well or not? I thought people loved it...

I have a question, if it's avaiable to be shown at the film festival ( I would love to go to that, can anyone just go?) why does it take so long to get into theaters?

It sounds like some people were happy and other may not have been. I would love to be able to see this early.

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Dairy has a distributor....

Zombie master, George A. Romero, just premiered his latest installment DIARY OF THE DEAD at the Toronto International Film Festival last Saturday and now, it looks like he has a distributor for a theatrical release. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Weinstein Company has bought the North American & Mexico distribution rights to Romero's latest zombie film for a price somewhere between 2.0-2.5 million dollars. No word yet on when its in theaters but there is a theatrical commitment in the deal.

http://www.mania.com/55975.html

[CaptainZombie]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Dairy has a distributor....



http://www.mania.com/55975.html

I read that last night...........I guess rumors are early to spring 2008.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Diary is set to release on 2/15/2007 in theaters. Plus, Romero has been greenlit to start working on the sequel also.

[SLAYER]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Diary is set to release on 2/15/2008 in theaters. Plus, Romero has been greenlit to start working on the sequel also.

Fixed.

Better late than never. I expect it to be decent, but hope it's amazing.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Fixed.

Better late than never. I expect it to be decent, but hope it's amazing.

Ooooops..........thanks

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Date movie, oh yes.

[bigfnjoe96]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Just wanted to give people a heads-up that DOTD will be hitting limited theaters this Thursday around the country. I definitely will be @ the theater this weekend as it's scheduled

[ILLCHILL]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Was Land of the Dead the one with that gas attendant leader zombie? If so, you guys are just whacking it to Romero. I can thoroughly enjoy a good horror movie, but that was one of the lamest most predictable movies I have ever seen. Huuugggee dissapointment.

The Diary of the Dead's trailer looks great and I can't wait to see it.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

Was Land of the Dead the one with that gas attendant leader zombie? If so, you guys are just whacking it to Romero. I can thoroughly enjoy a good horror movie, but that was one of the lamest most predictable movies I have ever seen. Huuugggee dissapointment.

The Diary of the Dead's trailer looks great and I can't wait to see it.

Yes, it was with the gas attendant. Romero is the man and he was showing the evolution of the zombies in Land. Going into a Romero movie you have to understand the political undertones that he is pushing + in Land, he showed how much the Zombies over that 30+ years had evolved learning some of the humans tendencies, etc.