Diary of the Dead - Walmart Exclusive SteelBook

Some filmmakers keep at it and diversify their offerings continually churning out solid watchable flicks. Some filmmakers aren’t that lucky. George A. Romero may have had a storied career with an indelible legacy in the horror genre, but he didn’t always have the greatest luck. Fearless to try new things stretching every dollar he had to the smallest penny, he could use old-fashioned creativity and talent to overcome a budget shortfall. Because of that knack for clever, crafty filmmaking, he made some true classics. Unfortunately, his later career wasn’t as fruitful. 

After decades away from the sub-genre he helped define, Romero burst back into the world of zombies with the decent but rather underwhelming Land of the Dead. A small success in the wake of films like 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, and the Zach Snyder remake Dawn of the Dead, gave him some wiggle room to continue developing his world of the walking dead. Teaming with Dimension, Romero unleashed a clever found-footage feature with Diary of the Dead. 

Usually, about this point in a review, I’d work up a quick recap of events, name some characters, and list a few of the key actors. In the case of Diary of the Dead that’s a moot effort as the characters are so thinly drawn names don’t mean all that much. The basic plot is a film school student is out in the woods in rural Pennsylvania shooting an independent horror film when the zombie nightmare breaks loose. With his college professor and cast and crew in tow, they try to find safety while the student shoots the carnage of the living dead in real-time. 

As I said, Romero had a clever concept for a found footage film. It’s not a genre I particularly like, long takes, odd camera work; unless there’s an interesting conceit for the footage like Cannibal Holocaust, most entries fall flat for me. And that’s where this one falls. The idea of a survival road film during the zombie apocalypse is a solid concept. Using it for a found footage film could have worked, but the long takes, plodding story, amateur cast; Diary of the Dead just doesn’t hit the mark. There’s no urgency. No pressure to get from Point A to Point B. And worst, there’s no reason to care whether or not anyone lives or dies or becomes a zombie. Then you have all of the modern tech that makes it a headache to understand the chronology of films that were made in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. Thus this film becomes something of a soft reboot to George’s Dead universe with nods and winks to films past. To that end, this film lives in its era instead of feeling timeless like Night, Dawn, or Day.

Not as bad as Survival of the Dead, but that’s hardly great praise for a filmmaker with a legacy like Romero. After Land of the Dead, I rarely revisit his final two unearthings of zombie horror. I think he had great ideas for those last two films, but whether it was budget restrictions or just the need for stronger more fleshed-out scripts, they just don’t measure up to the man in his prime. 

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray

George Romero’s Diary of the Dead rises from its physical media grave for a new Walmart-exclusive SteelBook from Lionsgate. This BD-50 disc is essentially identical to the disc issued in 2008, just with different artwork on the disc and obviously the very attractive SteelBook. And the SteelBook alone may be reason enough for the purchase. The full front/back artwork is designed to look like the digital camera recorder frame. It evokes the feel of the old American remake REC poster art, but it's a very attractive piece. To be frank, the art is more exciting than the film. 

As a case of “it is what it is,” Diary of the Dead fits that bill with this 1080p 1.85:1 VC-1 transfer. Shot on early-generation digital cameras, the “film” features all of the hallmarks of a SOV feature of that era. Colors go in and out, black levels and shadows can look nice and deep one second and flatten the next. Likewise, details for fine facial features, textures, fine lines and the practical effects gore also come and go. CGI effects for the time and this format are rather obvious and tend to “float.” For theatrical exhibition, this was printed to 35mm filmstock, but I don’t believe that was used for the final master. Overall it’s an okay look for what George was trying to accomplish, I’d be very curious to see what a remaster to MPEG-4 AVC might do for these limited visuals. Maybe for the next release. 

On the audio side, we hear the same Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix that may as well have been a 2.0 track. Dialog is the main sonic priority which is all that’s really necessary. As a POV found-footage feature, what we hear essentially is whatever the camera is looking at. Very rarely is there any drift into the side or surround channels. For some of the bigger moments when the action picks up, there’s more activity in that area, but it’s not sustained or immersive to really register. It’s fine. Like the transfer it gets the job done but that’s about all.

Considering the disc, the same set of extra features return, which isn’t a bad thing. Credit where credit’s due, they stacked this disc with a nice set of extra features. From the great audio commentary to the feature-length making-of documentary, you’ve got a couple of hours of quality material to dig through - if you haven’t already. All of these extras date back to the first DVD/Blu-ray release so nothing new has been added to the stew. 

• Audio Commentary featuring George A. Romero, Adam Swica, Michael Doherty
• Character Confessionals: (SD 19:47 Total)
• Debra
• Eliot
• Tony
• Tracey
• The First Week (SD 4:23)
• The Roots (SD 2:06)
• Familiar Voices (SD 5:14)
• For the Record, The Making of Diary of the Dead:
• Master of the Dead: Writer/Director George A. Romero (SD 13:20)
• Into the Camera: The Cast (SD 17:07)
• You Look Dead!: Make-up Effects (SD 10:58)
• A New “Spin” on Death: Visual Effects (SD 19:03)
• A World Gone Mad: Photography & Design (SD 20:25)
• Myspace Contest Winners:
• Grand Prize Winner - The Final Day by Pail Del Vecchio (SD 3:02)
• First Prize Winner - Feader Living Through Chemistry by Kern Saxton (SD 3:05)
• Opening Night of the Living DEad by Shalena Oxley-Butler (SD 3:16)

Yes, you can actually get too much of a good thing, and we got too much of George Romero making Zombie films. While it was great to see the legend back in action and inspired to make more films, his final efforts into the horror sub-genre he helped popularize were lacking that spark that made his work special. Conceptually they were interesting runs, but too thinly realized to stand alongside the likes of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, or Day of the Dead.

Diary of the Dead is a decent little film, it has some great concepts and ideas, but it’s a weak final product. I admit my biases against the found-footage genre, I’m easily bored by them, and I’ll admit that could have affected my reception. But in the sixteen years since its release, I’ve watched this a few times and it never gets better and remains a tepid excursion into the realm of the walking dead. On Blu-ray Diary of the Dead was only a so-so release and that disc carries over to this Walmart-Exclusive SteelBook. The same transfer, same audio, same bonus features all wrapped up in shiny new attractive packaging. If you’re a SteelBook collector, this is a great-looking piece of metal. But if you already own the movie, that’s all you’re getting with this package. Worth A Look