Survival of the Dead review

George A. Romero. His name is synonymous with zombies. You can not say one without thinking of the other. He created zombies as we know them today and for that I respect him and I am grateful to him.

He has given us, whether you like them or hate them (hate), legendary movies (thanks to nostalgia); Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead as well as legendarily bad films like Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead. Now he has a new “masterpiece” Survival of the Dead.

I just want to start by saying that Survival of the Dead might just be Romero’s best film, but that’s not saying a whole lot with his track record. I know that many will argue that point by saying that Night of the Living Dead is his greatest film and I will, of course, disagree and tell them that nostalgia is warping their view, but you can read that in another blog. Night of the Living Dead, while being a stroke of genius, was a terrible film even for a low budget. But, this isn’t a review for that movie so back to Survival.

Story:
Survival of the Dead follows the National Guard’s men that were briefly in the Diary of the Dead movie, which I have to shoot Romero kudos for that little bit of creativity, but they are more of a side story. The main conflict is between to Irish families that live on a small island named Plum Island. The two families are rivals, but had a long truce that broke when the dead started to walk. The O’Flynns felt that the dead should stay dead while the Muldoons felt the dead should be kept around until a cure can be found. The Muldoons won in the end and sent the head of the family, Patrick, away where he found the National Guards men and returned to settle the score. On the surface it’s not a bad story (not great either), but like all of Romero films he tries to place his social commentary into it. Dawn was anti-commerce, Day was anti-military, Land was anti-rich and Diary was just fucking bad. This film speaks out against two things, revenge and war. Mostly war. I would go into details why but I feel that I would have to reveal way too much of the film and I hate reviewers that tell you the whole story. If you watch it, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I would like to point out is that I believe that Romero has grown up a little when it comes to our men in uniform. The National Guard’s men where shown in a positive light and that is a major step away from the way he saw them in Day. But, this story isn't without faults, there are some huge WTF moments, some down right cartoony moments and some plot holes you could drive a SUV though, just watch out for them.

Characters:
For the most part they were not just likeable, but believable, which again is saying a lot. For example, one of the main characters, Col. Crockett, first comes off as a hard ass but you quickly come to understand that there’s a lot more to him then that and you come to respect him. Each character seems to have this about him/her, a hard surface with a gooey center. You know, “character development” something that was really lacking in all of Romero’s other films. Which makes me ask the question, did Romero finally take a class in screenwriting and story telling? If so, then his teacher needs to give him a gold star.

Special Effect:
Better then some worse then others. There where times when the Special FX were top notch, but then at times you simply ask why (these are the cartoony moments). For the most part they're watchable, but I will always have problems when zombies can easily rip apart people from not only the limbs but also the torso. Sorry, bodies just don’t work that way.

Overall:
After the abomination that was Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead, this movie really surprised me and was a real improvement over the last two films. I liked it, hell I even enjoyed it and I would recommend it for rental, easily. A buy? Probably not, but it's defiantly a movie that you should check out if you have the time.

I gave this movie 3 out of 5 stars

-TuxedoKats George

It has come to my attention, through my partner, that I might have given this movie a higher rating then it deserves, and after much thought I have to agree. The reason I gave this movie a 3 out of 5 was due to the fact that I was comparing it to Romero's other diarrhea inducing films. And, while I feel that, compared to those dung droppings, this movie is indeed a 3, I feel that compare to good films this movie should be at a 2, possibly 1 1/2. I still stand by my review, but I'm sure that TuxedoKats Joe would have much more to say about this film..