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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent serious film in the NOTLD tradition, December 22, 2008
"Zombie Diaries" is about several groups of people separated from each other in rural England outside London. A virus has spread across Europe and the Americas and has now reached England. Most of English society was ill prepared for this, following the news events in other countries while feeling a sense of apathy for being located so safely away from danger. The film documents the movements of these people as they attempt to get supplies or flush out infested areas. The characters are likable, ordinary people. There is hardly any character development, but we do get a feel for the psychological impact the trauma is having on the protagonists.
The film is shot documentary style. In light of Romero's recent "Diary of the Dead", one would think this is just an indie copy; however, this film does stand on its own separately. The Romero social commentary is absent. The videographer protagonists are many, and are driven to record for different reasons. Additionally, it's easier to care about these protagonists than in DIOTD. The videography is not amateurish like in "Blair Witch Project", and doesn't interfere with the ability to watch the film as in BWP. The voyeuristic camera style of the videographer's POV is more effective here than in Romero's Diary of the Dead.
The movie does have a very distinctly English feel to it in terms of pacing. It doesn't follow the now conventional zombie film of style of using twitch camera action, fast-charging zombies, heavy blood and guts, or archetypal horror protagonists; but instead merges the finer elements of Romero's classic "Night of the Living Dead" with Boyle's "28 Days Later". In some respects it carries elements from Ragona's 1964 classic, "The Last Man on Earth" with Vincent Price. The atmospheric music really adds to the sense of horror. The zombies follow the original Romero NOTLD and Fulci Zombi convention of being slow-moving, shambling corpses. What little noise they make is subtle. The makeup work is very effective. Another element which separates "Zombie Diaries" from other conventional horror films in the genre is the lack of intentional or even unintentional humor. The film is bleak from start to finish.
This is not a gorehound's treat however. If you're a fan of the "Dawn/Day of The Dead" remakes and revisions or of "Automation Transfusion", you will likely not like this movie.
As a lifelong fan of the genre, I can easily recommend this film. It's quickly becoming a personal favorite.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Zombie Alternative, July 13, 2009
Zombie Diaries is a zombie film under Dimension Extremes line of work. The movie is set in England, offers up old school slow moving zombies, and trades in heavy CGI for realism.
I just watched this movie twice in one week, alongside with Romero's "Diary of the Dead". Many have pointed out these movies are quite different and are strongly separated by budget and idea. Both films are decent, but one 'diary' comes out ahead.
Without breaking too much details the movie is in course of movements. The film shifts from different view points and locations along England to give you a better idea of what's truly going on in this infestation. Each time it changes the scenario remains the same, though the groups are quite different in actions and emotional quotients. TO be fair the movie begins with a clean understanding of the nations feelings toward other infected regions. So you do get some impending fear for what's going to happen.
What keeps this movie interesting is the realism, though at times it seems a low budget adds to that factor. Cameras rolling with amateur looking gear, but not all too bad filming on the characters behalf. The odd thing to me is the dark ambient music during encounters, Romero's film at least explained why music has been added during 'real recordings'. Oh well, the foggy ambiance definitely helps us adjust to this morbid film.
It retains morbidity throughout without over indulging in gore, in fact I like the stylistic 'less is more' method. Seems many directors lend the gore to its success or fright factors, while this may work in squeamish films like Eli Roth's "Hostile" series, a film trying to achieve realism might benefit from being a little bit reserved. I think it works great for this film, when a moment is meant to puncture your memory it does so.
Overall a variety of locations are shown (though all fairly similar), you get some hope some despair, some close calls, and some shocking revelations. It has everything a movie would need to sell, with it being a stripped down title it still holds up generating many of the right elements most films need but can't provide.
Shaky cam, cam blur, night visions, clipping frame rate, you can tell this is a more realistic environment, one with earthly tones never too saturated. The acting though not superb is better then I expected, a lot of improvisatory went into this film. Watching the documentaries included on this disk really helped me understand the struggle they went through to make it, the effects crew really shined with so little time.
The doc also goes on to explain actors weren't filled in entirely on what's going to happen, so again the improvisation does nice wonders on a zombie movie like this. Keeps the horror real, fresh, and suspenseful.
Here are my opinions on the film overall:
Pros: Documentary= great idea, old school zombies are nice, ambience is also a nice addition, realism embraced by horror. Majority of the characters are likable, but maybe a bit too similar.
Cons: With as many movements/changes between characters, plots become a little watered down, a majority of the film is rationalizing or over estimating a situation. Though the movements are decent, they don't leave for a good mixture. With as much talking that goes on no character is too boldly fleshed out, though realistic in dialect not so much on individuality.
The movie could have been worse, and by that I mean much worse. Zombie movies need room to breathe, we can't always have the same old same old. So while not epic or bold, it slides past the poor mark to the decent mark for its different takes on things (though some have been done before)
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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A better documentary style zombie flick, December 7, 2008
The Zombie Diaries Is not a knock off of Romero's Diary Of The Dead.The Zombie Diaries was filmed first.The same company bought both films,held back TZD and released DOTD first(Gorezone magazine Apr.'08 interview).The only similarity between the two is the documentary style.
The Zombie Diaries(TZD),takes place in England during a zombie viral infection.The plague of the rising dead is captured on video by several groups of survivors as they try to flee the approaching wave of zombie doom.The main group is a news crew interviewing people about the "flu like virus"epidemic.On the street interviews and scenes in the beginning add a realistic feel to the movie.Everyone trusting their government to tell them if it was serious.Most of the movie takes place in the country as the survivors flee the clogged cities.(Clogged with traffic as well as dead folk wanting to eat ya).The acting,characters,fx and basic story are handled very well.Good pacing and story developement.Characters act realistic when confronted with their...situation.Be very careful who you decide to hole up with during a zombie epidemic.With zombies,at least you know what to expect.There are some people who have a weird,sick lets say...fascination with death and dead things.Even cute,blond dead things are still dead.
The zombies are the slow,shuffling kind.They must be shot in the head to kill them.If you get bit,you join the zombie legions.All zombie laws according to Romero are observed.The make-up is awsome and little things like buzzing flies(zombies are dead,rotting meat after all)add to the realism of this movie.
I love Romero movies.But in the battle of documentary style zombie flicks,to me Diary Of The Dead takes a distant second place to this movie, The Zombie Diaries.
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