Big Picture Big Sound

The Film

By writer/director George A. Romero's own admission, Diary of the Dead was meant to be a retooling of his Dead series of zombie films. This being the fifth film in the series, it is not a continuation of the others, but, rather, it starts over from the beginning with a new story in what Romero claims is a more experimental filming style.

The problem with Romero's newfound experimentalism is that he's only taking ideas from other sources that, yes, maybe were influenced by Romero, but still precede this film. Diary's handheld shooting style that seeks to imitate an immediate first person documentation of events has been seen in everything from The Blair Witch Project to the more recent box office smash Cloverfield.  Moreover, the film's dialogue feels forced and unnatural.

Diary of the Dead follows four University of Pittsburgh film students and their professor as they are confronted one evening during the filming of their own low-budget film -- a mummy movie -- with the shocking news about the dead reawakening and turning into these flesh-eating zombies. With the entire campus around them either evacuated or having metamorphosed into the creatures, the group decides to try to make their way back to their families so they head off across Pennsylvania in an RV during the dead of the night -- no pun intended.  

One person amongst them, Jason Creed (Joshua Close) decides he must document every moment on camera so he can upload "the truth" of what is happening for the world to see onto the Internet. That is the underlying premise of Diary of the Dead. Jason, whose face we never get a clear picture of as it is constantly obstructed behind the camera or in half shadow, etc. obsessively shoots every moment of what is going on, even sticking his camera in his friends' faces and forcing them to submit to interviews during the most intense circumstances.

The film falters, however, because the technique never reaches the level of realism that other films such as Cloverfield or Blair Witch obtained. The camera handling in the scarier moments feels staged, as opposed to what one might normally do when running for one's life. One particular scene, when Tracey (Amy Lalonde) is being chased by a zombie through the woods outside a friend's mansion where the group stopped over while Jason just chases behind them filming and shouting directions is particularly unbelievable to the point of hilarity.

Of course, Diary does have its genuine moments of terror and ingenious violence, such as when an old farmer, just bitten by a zombie, takes himself and the zombie out by plunging a scythe through both of their heads. As usual with Romero's zombie films, there is an attempt at social commentary as well and that is seen in the students' own questioning of how easily they resort to violently defending themselves and even, at one point early in the film, having to make a decision about shooting one of their own in the head before she turns into a zombie.  

Romero can be commended for trying to breathe some life into his now well-worn series of zombie films and restarting the mythology, but Diary of the Dead falls just short of the mark when it comes to true experimentation and excitement.

The Picture

Diary of the Dead was originally shot in high definition using Panasonic HDCAM cameras and it appears on this Blu-ray Disc release in a VC-1 encoding of its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio that averages 29Mbps. Although the production is in HD and the transfer itself is free from any artifacts caused by the compression, the quality of the original source is lacking in the finest of details. Overall detail is a little soft and blacks are more like a dark charcoal grey. Video noise is mostly subdued, rendering the picture, which takes place almost entirely at night, with a usually clean presentation.

There are some scenes, however, where video noise is more obvious and the picture's clarity breaks down. The picture does have excellent shadow detail, even in long shots, and flesh tones are natural. Other than these latter two points, however, this release has disappointing picture quality for something produced in high definition. It reminds me of the poor quality of another original HD horror film I recently reviewed, the direct-to-video film Otis. Although I must say that Diary of the Dead's picture quality is just a step above Otis.

The Sound

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound mix easily captures the onscreen action and dialogue with a seamless blend of more dialogue-driven scenes and scenes filled with more discrete sounds filling out the surrounds. There is an abundance of ambience and atmospheric sound effects that help give the mix a well-structured, cohesive and engulfing soundstage. Dialogue is full and clear and sound effects such as gunshots sound solid and natural.  The disc also offers French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 dubbed versions as options.

The Extras

Diary of the Dead comes with only a few supplemental materials. The most informative will be the audio commentary by the director himself and others. Nothing else will have much replay value, but the confessionals offer an interesting if unoriginal approach at extending the storyline.

The extras available on this release are:

• Feature Commentary -- This audio commentary by writer/director George A. Romero director of photography Adam Swica and editor Michael Doherty is your typical audio commentary bogged down in the minutia of the filmmaking process with some odd anecdotes thrown in on occasion, but it is also painfully dull. This is the one extra offered on this release, however, that will give more detailed insight into the background of both the film and its creators.
• Character Confessionals (1.78:1/high definition) -- These are Big Brother or Survivor-style "confessionals" by the four main characters from the film.  They sit in front of the camera and offer up their "candid" feelings (in character) on the circumstances and other characters.
• The First Week (1.78:1/standard definition) -- A brief feature that follows the first week of the film's production.
• The Roots (1.78:1/high definition) -- A very short, two-minute interview segment with writer/director George A. Romero wherein he discusses the film and briefly mentions how he came to develop its style.

Final Thoughts

This may be one of the weaker films in Romero's Dead series of Zombie films, which is unfortunate considering this was meant to restart the entire series and give it a shot in the arm.  Fans of the filmmaker and his genre may find some things to appreciate and will most likely ant to see this, but the movie takes too many elements from other films making particularly unoriginal. The picture quality is only average for an original high definition production with a competent but not groundbreaking sound mix. This is nothing more than rental material for everyone but the biggest of Romero fans and fans of this genre.

Where to Buy

• Diary of the Dead on Blu-ray Disc (Amazon.com)

Product Details

• Actors: Michelle Morgan, Joshua Close, Shawn Roberts, Amy Lalonde, Joe Dinicol
• Director: George A. Romero
• Audio/Languages: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English & French Dolby Digital 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R
• Studio: Weinstein Company
• Blu-ray Disc Release Date: October 21, 2008
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• List Price: $29.95
• Extras:
  • Feature Commentary by Writer/Director George A. Romero, Director of Photography Adam Swica, and Editor Michael Doherty
  • The Roots: The Inspiration for the Film
  • The First Week: A Visit to the Set
  • Character Confessionals