Finally saw it, Loved it!

[Phildogger]

Diary only played in my area for 2 weeks. The first week, my wife was in the hospital giving birth to our first child, Jack. No biggie, I thought. I would go next week.

2nd week, fell and hurt my back! Couldn't drive into Boston at all!

3rd week, gone from theatres!


Well, I finally saw it this past week.

Absolutely awesome movie. I don't quite understand the backlash against this movie. The acting, to me, was fine, the FX were pretty good, and the scare factor was way up! George has done it again, and this blows away Land, and maybe even is better than Day. Slow, Plodding Zombies are the order of the day here, and are done very well. The mix of news footage and handheld cameras worked great. I have always loved the News broadcast footage in Night and Dawn, as it lends the movies a real sense of foreboding.

Can't wait for the DVD!

[clanglee]

Congrats on your new fatherhood!!

Yeah, the scare factor was up, from Land anyways. I'm glad you liked the movie, expecially after such a busy couple of weeks.

[Mike70]

congrats on the child, phil.

glad you got to see the movie and glad you liked it. aside from a few things i also really enjoyed it at first view.

and like you, i can't wait to get my hands on the DVD.

[bd2999]

I agree with you. A good movie.

[Moon Knight]

Grats, dude!

I can't wait for the DVD myself. :hyper:

[Lord_Galvatron]

Just saw it today. It played on Killeen, Texas!!!!

I was simply amazed with this movie. Romero did a classic here. The Amish guy was funny, but I thought it was going to be dumb funny by the way some people talked about him but it was not like that. The movie had a sense of humor, but not silly humor.

I for one, am glad that I saw it on the big screen! :D

[Dommm]

congrats on the child phil....

I also loved the diary I thought it was a definate improvement over land.....

waiting for someone to chop my head off for that.

[Cartma7546]

Like you guys Diary only played in my home town of San Antonio for only a few weeks. And to add to that it was only showing at one theater that just so happened to be on the other side of town. So I filled up the car and decided what the hell and went and watched it.

Damn good movie, the only thing that really bugged me was Jason. I understand that he was shooting a documentry but there were certian times i found myself screaming at the screen telling him to put the ****ing camera down. Anyone else feel this way?

[Mike70]

Damn good movie, the only thing that really bugged me was Jason. I understand that he was shooting a documentry but there were certian times i found myself screaming at the screen telling him to put the ****ing camera down. Anyone else feel this way?

yes, i very much felt like that. i've said in another thread that if i were with someone like that in a crisis, i would most likely end up smashing the camera into a zillion pieces.

[MinionZombie]

yes, i very much felt like that. i've said in another thread that if i were with someone like that in a crisis, i would most likely end up smashing the camera into a zillion pieces.
Mind you, makes a damn sight more sense than the 'witty' idiot with the camera in Cloverfield.

If I was there and there was a gigantic monster running around, I'd be f*cking out of there quick smart, not filming sh*t.

Now, had I been in New York on 9/11 and had a camera, I'd have been documenting that - but then again, 9/11 didn't have any multi-storey-tall gozilla-a-likes yomping about the streets.

I 'get' the filmmaker obsession angle of Jason in Diary, and it makes sense to me...although had I been in that situation, I'd have been less inclined to film so frequently ... but then again, it's also just a movie, so I have to let go some situational realism - but as said, him being a professional makes it all work far better...it also means far less shaky-cam crap, goddamn that annoys me. :D

Although if I'd been in Diary of the Dead, I'd have been wondering why the low battery icon was being recorded onto my footage. :p

[Yojimbo]

Although if I'd been in Diary of the Dead, I'd have been wondering why the low battery icon was being recorded onto my footage. :p

Good point! Suspension of disbelief goes only so far when you are aware of technology.

[Mike70]

Mind you, makes a damn sight more sense than the 'witty' idiot with the camera in Cloverfield.

If I was there and there was a gigantic monster running around, I'd be f*cking out of there quick smart, not filming sh*t.

Now, had I been in New York on 9/11 and had a camera, I'd have been documenting that - but then again, 9/11 didn't have any multi-storey-tall gozilla-a-likes yomping about the streets.

I 'get' the filmmaker obsession angle of Jason in Diary, and it makes sense to me...although had I been in that situation, I'd have been less inclined to film so frequently ... but then again, it's also just a movie, so I have to let go some situational realism - but as said, him being a professional makes it all work far better...it also means far less shaky-cam crap, goddamn that annoys me. :D

Although if I'd been in Diary of the Dead, I'd have been wondering why the low battery icon was being recorded onto my footage. :p


indeed the last thing i would be doing in the cloverfield situation was trying to get video of the beastie, i'd be way to busy running as fast as possible away from the scene.

it isn't so much the actual filming of the events in diary that raises my hackles as the fact that there are people that this guy considers friends who are in danger/need of help and he just stands there with his camera, doing nothing to help.

[DubiousComforts]

Although if I'd been in Diary of the Dead, I'd have been wondering why the low battery icon was being recorded onto my footage. :p
DIARY is edited footage, so how do we know that the icon wasn't added in post for effect? :p

[Cartma7546]

DIARY is edited footage, so how do we know that the icon wasn't added in post for effect? :p

Indeed, I think that chick said something in the start about wanting to scare us so maybe that added to the effect.

[Dommm]

Although if I'd been in Diary of the Dead, I'd have been wondering why the low battery icon was being recorded onto my footage. :p

Never noticed that, now I am gonna see it every time I watch the movie....

Darn it

[MinionZombie]

Dommm, sorry for pointing that out fer ya. :p

As for 'post production' battery logo - LAME. :D She too is a filmmaker, a real filmmaker wouldn't do such a thing. It explains the music, but not the battery symbol - which is equally pointless because Jason himself says about the battery running out, then he plugs it into the mains and he's stuck there wired into the wall - ergo, NO NEED FOR A BATTERY SYMBOL THAT WOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN RECORDED ONTO THE FOOTAGE IN THE FIRST PLACE!

*gah!*

Otherwise I rather like it. :)

[jplb70]

Just got done watching this and I LOVED IT! Totally smokes Land. Loved the hydrochloric acid scene good stuff. Debra's quite the babe as well:elol:

[EvilNed]

Just saw it too. I thought it was quite bad, actually.

It was in noway passable as a hand-held documentary. This was a staged film with extremely smooth camera movement, and both [REC] and The Zombie Diaries captured the "You're really there!" feeling better. There were a few times when I actually forgot I was watching through somebodys camera and just saw it as an average scene in an average movie.

The characters were weak too. Overall, it didn't have that much that appealed to me at all. Definetly the worst so far.

[jplb70]

I was kinda comparing it in my mind to Land. I don't think Romereo was going for the full blown "caught on tape hand-held documentary" feel but using that perspective as opposed to standard film shooting to tell this story. It's no Dawn but I did enjoy a LOT more than Land. I just went and checked out Zombie Diaries 'cause I never heard of it and damn what a gem. Very creepy and I agree a superior film for sure. Juuuust a little twised good stuff.

[DubiousComforts]

As for 'post production' battery logo - LAME. :D She too is a filmmaker, a real filmmaker wouldn't do such a thing.
But a real filmmaker did do it, so there. :p

Ironic that The Zombie Diaries is being cited as "superior" when every living dead seen in the film appears to be your typical 20-something suburban college kid.

[MinionZombie]

But a real filmmaker did do it, so there. :p

Ironic that The Zombie Diaries is being cited as "superior" when every living dead seen in the film appears to be your typical 20-something suburban college kid.
But TZD had a much lower budget than Diary did.

True in that respect that the battery thing is still in GAR's movie, but it's still daft ... whether it was him or it was the editor, or maybe a producer or something insisting on it I don't know, that sort of thing just annoys me...anyway...

[DubiousComforts]

But TZD had a much lower budget than Diary did.
Unfortunately, it looks it. I couldn't stand to watch more than 30 minutes without feeling light-headed, but had no problems with Diary or [REC]. The hand-held camera style is simply pulled off better in the latter films, rather than contributing to the overall product looking crude and unrefined like Blair Witch. I simply don't need to be reminded every two seconds that it's psuedo-docu-footage I'm watching in order to get the premise.


True in that respect that the battery thing is still in GAR's movie, but it's still daft ... whether it was him or it was the editor, or maybe a producer or something insisting on it I don't know, that sort of thing just annoys me...anyway...
But does it really matter who is responsible? You said that "a real filmmaker wouldn't do such a thing," but obviously a real-life filmmaker did.

Is Debra's character even supposed to be a filmmaker or an editor? I can't see why anyone would pay much attention to a blinking icon except in an extremely sort of geek way. There are far greater logic gaps and continuity errors in GAR's films, and most motion pictures in general.

[MinionZombie]

As a filmmaker myself, it just annoys me in such films where there is such an affront to video camera reality going on. Why on earth were there so many blue-screen blips between some shots in Diary, why the silly battery icon? It's just daft, also times when tape glitches and static appear - normal cameras and tapes don't do that, or if they do, they don't do it like it happens in these sorts of films.

As for [Rec], there's a moment where the guy rewinds to check something - WE SEE HIM REWIND THE TAPE, as if that's been recorded - WHAT THE F*CK IS THAT ABOUT?! :mad:

Such things piss me off with this type of filmmaking, plus in [Rec], I've never seen a professional cameraman pay so much attention to zooming in & out like a coke-addled toddler during scary scenes, in which the camera shakes too much, for me anyway.

As for "real filmmaker", I was generally referring to 'within the film' - no doubt it was used in 'our reality' for the dumb-dumbs in the audience who couldn't understand a low battery with dialogue alluding to that fact alone, oh no they need some silly icon. :rolleyes:

While TZD isn't perfect, and at times there are problems with 'camera reality' or 'reality' in general (e.g. conveniently capturing a conversation that's coming through quite clearly on the microphone, but which would probably struggle to be heard on a real microphone - at least at that level and clarity) ... however it was a very low budget film by relatively new entrants into the industry, over the piece I think it was a success - like the other films in this style of late - however they all have their annoyances, affronts to camera reality, leaps in logic and so forth.

I think Cloverfield was the daftest of the lot.

Blair Witch remains the best POV film there's been, however ... at least in my estimation.