Hi, new to the boards. Forgive me if I'm a little geeky and/or snobby with this post, but I'm extremely excited about this project.
I am not thrilled about the way that The Hollywood Reporter pitched this story, as a cross between Romero's Dead films and "Blair Witch." It seems that we live in an age of labels, and I can see why such a pitch would make people roll their eyes at this premise. "Halloween: Resurrection" failed with something similar, but I've always felt that any premise can be done well depending on the artist behind it. And who is better in the cinema of horror today than George Romero?
But I actually think this premise has the potential to be a biting and intelligent horror film on par with Romero's previous works. As much as I liked "Land of the Dead," it certainly had a big-studio gloss that lacked the gloomy and atmospheric edge of Romero's previous Dead films. Some directors just work better with less, and it's good to see that Romero is scaling down.
Based on what Romero has said, I see "Diary of the Dead" as basically a spoof of the recent internet crazes with reality TV shows/YouTube, in which people celebrate their own existences in a shot to get their 15 minutes of fame. What's particularly noteworthy here is that the film involves college students making a horror film in the woods, something that Romero himself got his start with and also something that many, many, MANY "indie" film directors have done to throw their hats into the ring, though rarely with as much genuine terror and certainly never on par with Romero's satricial edge. In many ways, Romero seems here to be spoofing the results of the very craze that he himself started, and he is also exploring his zombie world from a very autobiographical point of view.
The "cinema verite" style that the filmmakers within the film are choosing to utilize is also curious, as Romero also might be playfully poking at "truths" verses "facts" that Werner Herzog explored with His Minnesotta Declaration, in which he challenged the nature of verite cinema as the most dishonest cinema at all, as it simply creates "norms" instead of true truth, which sometimes means that great lies must be told to get to the heart of reality.
"Truth" versus "fact," and the motivation to film either, might ultimately be Romero's theme with "Diary;" what, after all, is the point of shooting a documentary if there is literally no one to share it with? In a world overrun by the living dead, are you shooting a doc about zombies for the world or for yourself? Do you embrace your art as the world goes to hell to maintain your humanity? Parallels between this and films like "Operation Dreamland," "Gunner's Palace," or even TV shows like "Over There" are tantalizing, and I look forward to seeing how Romero, one of our very best living American filmmakers, approaches the material.
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