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FILMOVI, TV SERIJE, ANIMACIJE => FILMOVI => Topic started by: Kunac on 25-08-2006, 09:31:21

Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 25-08-2006, 09:31:21
Hmmm... Izgleda da su "From a Buick 8" i "Solitary Isle" za sada sam pusti snovi. Uporni Romero sprema novi projekat.

"The Hollywood Reporter" obzanjuje:

NEW YORK -- The dead are rising again. Horror maven George A. Romero has signed on to write and direct "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead," following in the tradition of his 1968 cult classic "Night of the Living Dead." With a story mixing elements of "The Blair Witch Project" and the long-running "Dead" series, the film will follow a group of college students shooting a horror movie in the woods who stumble upon a real zombie uprising. When the onslaught begins, they seize the moment as any good film students would, capturing the undead in a "cinema verite" style that causes more than the usual production headaches. After going more than two decades without making an independently financed zombie film, Romero told his production partner Peter Grunwald he was frustrated working within the system. "I was trying to convince Peter we could just run off and do it ourselves," he said. (Gregg Goldstein)

Zanimljivo.

Btw, ako niste znali, Đorđev sin, G. Cameron Romero (puno ime George Cameron Romero!) je režirao svoj prvi dugometražni film. Pogledao sam trejler - ne izgleda loše, mada je očigledno da je budžet bio mizeran. "The Screening", sudeći po trejleru i kratkom sadržaju, veoma podseća na Carpenterovu epizodu "Gospodara horrora"...

Na http://www.myspace.com/screeningthemovie piše:

A theater holds an underground screening of the "Borgia" films, a murderous family's twisted idea of art. Art that hasn't been shown since the jury convicted the last in the family bloodline. Rumors of that jury's loss of sanity and the films being the cause bring attention to the event. An audience filled with morbidly curious patrons come from all over to see these alleged snuff films. Others come for different reasons. Some come looking for answers. Are the films real? Did the last people to see them go crazy? What will happen once the projector starts?

8)
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 25-08-2006, 11:26:30
braindead idea.

vrrrrlo sam skeptičan.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: taurus-jor on 25-08-2006, 16:22:02
Ako Romero bas mora opet da se hvata zombija, moze li makar da ponudi nesto originalnije - neko odstupanje od samog sebe ako ne moze od drugih?

Vestica iz Blera. Zombiji iz Blera. Milooooost!
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 25-08-2006, 19:16:12
Mislim da je GAR prisiljen na ovoj potez - u suprotnom može mu se desiti da čeka još 5-6 godina na priliku da ponovo režira. Pitanje je da li on ima to vreme na rasplaganju.

Ni ja nisam na prvi pogled oduševljen novim konceptom, ali manji budžet podrazumeva veću kreativnu slobodu. Uostalom, najbolji GAR-ovi DEAD filmovi su nastali u nezavisnoj produkciji...

Nego, na BloodyDisgusting-u "Diary of the Dead" se najavljuje kao The Next 'Dead' Sequel.

A year after a moderate successful release of Universal's "Land of the Dead" here in the States and a very impressive overseas run, George A. Romero is once again on top of the zombie world and ready for another mouthful of flesh. We broke the news way back last summer that Romero wanted to begin a brand new trilogy of the dead, starting with "Land", with the second film being entitled "World of the Dead". No news has surfaced since then and I had thought that maybe it was dead in the water - but alas I was wrong! Welcome to "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead".
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Milosh on 26-08-2006, 01:18:34
Ne znam... Kako god da posmatram stvari, ovo mi zvuči kao dtv materijal, nešto kao The Dead Hate the Living! Nisam optimista...

Gde je Road of the Dead?!

:cry:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 31-08-2006, 00:54:45
BREAKING NEWS!

Hi everyone, Nina here. We've had a lot of zombie news in recent days, and today is no different. Below is an EXCLUSIVE preview piece where Leather Lass and Jenny From Canada double-team George A. Romero's upcoming Diary of the Dead script. Now before you go jumping ahead to feed your insatiable appetite for all things zombie, be forewarned... there be SPOILERS ahead.

Having said that, read on, Big Daddy!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LL: Leather Lass here with my thoughts on George Romero's newest venture in the world of zombies, Diary of the Dead [with comments from Jenny From Canada!]. I just couldn't do this one alone to be honest. I love horror movies, but I have never been one of the Cult of Romero. Other than the first movie, Night of the Living Dead, I have been rather bored with these zombie films. At the risk of alienating our readers, I actually found the remake of Dawn of the Dead to be a much more interesting and exciting film than the original. And don't even get me started on Day of the Dead. That movie made my logic hurt.

Not that Romero isn't trying, though. At heart these zombie movies are trying to convey some relatively complicated social analytics, and that isn't the easiest thing to do when the kids want lots of gore and neck munching. Romero's zombie films have some really bad tendencies though. The chief problem I have found is that while the ideas are grand in their own right, the dialog to support them is almost universally cornball, and matters are not improved by the fact that Romero has a weakness for casting poor actors.

So why am I reviewing his latest entry into the Dead franchise? Well, I actually enjoyed Land of the Dead a lot more than I ever thought I would. Land has some terrible problems. It's a heavy handed movie with a plot that doesn't quite sit well with me, but the big difference between Land and Dawn or Day is that he staffed the film with a group of talented actors who had charisma and took the material seriously enough to keep me engaged. Suddenly, Romero didn't seem like a one trick pony to me, and when I found out about Diary of the Dead and its high concept plot, I couldn't resist getting my hands on the script and sharing my feelings about it with you.

JFC: Jenny here. I'm not going to bore you with details on why Lass sucks and is wrong on all her points. She knows she's wrong, and I'm only saying that because she's on the opposite side of the continent so she can't hurt me.

LL: The premise behind Diary is simple really. The entire movie is told from the point of view of different cameras the characters encounter along their adventure. Most of the footage is obtained through the main character's camera. He's a young filmmaker trying to make a low budget movie when the world begins to change. Since all of the main characters are either college students or one plucky professor, they decide to stick together in order to get home to their families during this terrible crisis.

JFC: It's such an awesome premise.

LL: The movie doesn't initially start off with those we would follow throughout the rest of the story. Instead Romero, who penned the screenplay, offers up a prelude featuring the exact moments when Hell arrives on Earth. A young reporter is with her camera man covering a murder-suicide involving a family in some inner city neighborhood, and the reporter encourages the camera man to obtain footage of the bodies being escorted from their home. Suffice to say, we soon find out that the murder victims are still moving after they were pronounced dead.

The set up is brief, but handled very well. The only glimpses we see are from either the cameraman's viewpoint, and the scene is blocked in such a way as to maximize the horror and surprise of the situation.

From there we are introduced to the main heroes of the story. Jason is basically the eyes and ears of the film. When we first meet him, he is filming a cheesy scene for his Mummy movie. A woman in a skimpy white dress is chased through the woods by a heavily bandaged mummy. Eventually, poor direction and lack of decent make up effects halts the scene, but Jason keeps the camera rolling as we meet the rest of the crew, who all seem to fit into some skimpy level of characterization. Along with the girl in the diaphanous dress, Tracy, we meet Tony, the Brooklyn trash mouth Doubting Thomas of the group. We have Elliot, the presumably geeky sound guy with long hair and glasses. We also meet Jason's college instructor Maxwell. Romero goes overboard to insure we understand Maxwell is a drunk as he quickly takes a swig from a flask he keeps hidden no less than three times in the course of a page. In short order, we also meet Gordo (no defining characteristics), Ridley (rich twat), and Francine (looks good in overalls? Is that a stereotype?).

Romero takes this moment to comment on zombie movies in general with something I would like to address. When the Mummy character in the movie within the movie moves too quickly, Jason chides him saying, "How many times do I have to tell you? Dead things don't move fast! You're a corpse, for chrissake! If you try to run that fast, your ankles are gonna snap off!" This is obviously a backhanded jab at the Dawnremake (or even the stunning 28 Days Later), but I have to bring up something that really irks me about this. If this is Romero's definitive vision of how zombies would behave, then in Land of the Dead, why do we have a zombie operating a damn jackhammer?!? I hope this petty line gets cut.

JFC: OMG, you missed the point entirely. Yes, he's knocking the recent "fast moving zombie" craze, but he's also setting up a key moment later in the film.

LL: All the characters are quickly consumed with news over the radio about the dead returning to life to terrorize the living. Francine and Ridley quickly leave in order to get back to Ridley's parents' sprawling estate where they are guaranteed security and supplies, enough to outlast the coming tumult. Jason on the other hand wants to find his girlfriend, Debra, and get the hell out of Dodge. This leads to the group headed out into the harsh new world in their van to try and get Debra back to her parents.

The set up is a sound one for any movie, but events are heightened by the sense that we are not watching paid actors in their roles, but instead real people dealing with an extraordinary situation. The point of view from Jason's camera does an amazing job of humanizing the characters, and this is only in print! The best part about this script is that, despite the fact that Blair Witch apparently now owns the concept of first person horror, Diary is a totally different type of film.

The movie is basically structured around three set pieces each involving the main characters going into a spooky home and having to deal with the consequences. If it sounds a tad repetitive to you, you'd be right, but I think that might have been the point.

As I mentioned earlier, Romero really tries to hammer away at some secret agenda about social injustice in each of his films. Diary is no different. In this case Romero seems to be tackling the desensitization to violence we are all exposed to because of the preponderance of the media in our lives. And we aren't just talking about the news and reality shows here. The movie almost seems to follow the structure of a video game. The characters quickly have to adapt to their surroundings, and the repetitive set pieces only reinforce their leveling-up. The group starts out as a group of skeptical naïfs, but they are quickly forced to use their wits and resources in order to survive the new world they live in.

What makes the idea of over-saturation of media interesting here is that the main character becomes obsessive about keeping his camera rolling at all cost. You are left to wonder, is he documenting all of this for altruistic reasons? So people who find it might benefit from his mission? Or perhaps he can't grasp what is happening right in front of him, and the only way he can be engaged in this reality is by experiencing it through the monitor on his camera.

JFC: I think it's the latter, personally, and I think it's brilliant.

LL: The first person perspective here should do a lot to enhance the idea, and I am anxious to see if Romero can pull it off. Since Blair Witch managed to remain an effective and creepy ride without the talent of good acting, I am not going to comment on Romero's propensity to cast bad actors. As long as the cast isn't too stiff, things should get interesting. I am especially anxious to see who is cast as the professor, Maxwell. The character gets more interesting and less "one note" as the movie progresses and he actually gets to do some zombie killing in a way we haven't seen before.

What I do worry about is the blocking of the entire movie. The script is pretty clear about viewpoints and action, but it's not all on the page, so to speak. I am hopeful that Romero has taken the time to really storyboard this out so that we get a complete picture of what is happening and not just lazy shots of the camera bouncing all over trees like in the Blair Witch.

JFC: I loved it, and I think that it's going to be a great film... a nice return to low budget horror for Mr. Romero. It's only going to be that much better for shooting in Canada.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 06-09-2006, 16:45:23
Najzanimljiviji ekstrakti iz rivjua DIARY scenarija koji je isplovao na http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=24404

*The film takes place outside of the Night, Dawn, Day and Land chronology.

*It's present day and there's no explanation.

*The students are shooting a Mummy film in the woods and when they pick up news reports on the radio they abandon the film and head home or back to their dorms.

*One student, ambitious film-maker Jason Creed, keeps filming as a documentary much to the others disgust.

*The film then becomes a standard zombie apocalypse story as the group, split and one faction make their way back to Jason's girlfriend's house.

*African American guerilla army pop up in the middle section (!?!?!?!?!) and when Jason posts the footage onto his My Space page he gets a million hits in an hour.

*The handheld camera style is really a stylistic device so it doesn't come over as cheap as it sounds. The action takes place on the road and in many locations and for some of the shocks it adds to their effectiveness. All the traditional ways for a filmmaker to technically build suspense aren't available with this style so the zombies appear almost out of nowhere.

*It's basically a zombie road movie with the sort of imagery Land was missing. We get to see Amish zombies, golfer zombies, burnt zombie cops and a character keeping the rest of his undead family, in the deep end of the swimming pool, underwater, because he doesn't know what to do with them.

Hmmm... Land of the Dead 2 a.k.a. Road of the Dead je trebao da bude zombie road movie... Svi dosadašnji DEAD filmovi su uglavnom prilično statični, tako da bi bilo zanimljivo videti Romerov zombi film koji nije podređen jednoj lokaciji.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 06-10-2006, 18:29:51
NE DAJ SE, DEDA!!!

Shocking news from numerous sources regarding the health of one horror's most beloved directors in George Romero. Romero, who was to appear at this year's Rock & Shock Festival, collapsed last week and was hospitalized. No reason was given for the collapse, which is said to have stemmed from a non life-threatening illness, but because of it, Romero's jump on DIARY OF THE DEAD has been grounded for two months, along with personal appearances.

Romero, who turned 66 this past February, was also getting ready to begin his "Zombisodes" project, as well as writing and directing a film based on a short story by Koji Suzuki (author of RINGU and IN THE DEPTHS OF DARK WATER aka DARK WATER). No other information on Romero's status was available on his official site, so hold tight for any more information that comes of this.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: gargamel on 06-10-2006, 22:30:43
Zašto zombiji ne igraju fudbal?  :?:  Ne mogu da naprave živi zid :evil:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 16-10-2006, 16:09:15
Pokupio sam ovo saopštenje s dreadcentral.com: Contrary to news from other websites, Romero's newest project Diary of the Dead is not starting in a couple months. In fact, it is starting principle photography within 48 HOURS!!! That's right! Either Monday or Tuesday of this week Diary of the Dead is going to start rolling big time.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: taurus-jor on 17-10-2006, 16:54:37
1) :shock:
2) :|
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 01-11-2006, 07:34:43
Snima se,  punom parom... Fangoria je skupovala prvi izveštaj.
http://www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=3058

GAR: "DIARY OF THE DEAD talks a lot about the media and this electronic eye that's everywhere out there, all the time. And the main character—well, you don't ever even see this guy; he's a voyeur. The film argues about the importance of media, and the status of someone in that position; it's an entirely new take on my themes... It's not BLAIR WITCH and my style is not BLAIR WITCH, and its not a purely visceral thing, my style is arch and theatrical, where BLAIR WITCH went for ultra-realism. Even though it is shot first-person, I'm trying to maintain the artifice and make some potent comments about the observer—while still supplying lots of nasty zombie stuff."

Ono što raduje jeste da je bioskopska distribucija planirana - i to za proleće 2007.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 07-11-2006, 13:49:34
(https://www.znaksagite.com/diskusije/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg89.imageshack.us%2Fimg89%2F4015%2Fdiary110506vt1.jpg&hash=bf4c2f3d292fa31de00de3420f35648bc51f216e)
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 18-11-2006, 10:15:13
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=91388580

4 i po minuta sa snimanja DotD - bez spojlera!
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 19-02-2007, 16:12:33
Ljudi s DREAD CENTRAL-a su uradili šestominutni intervju s GAR-om koji možete pronaći ovde:
http://www.dreadcentral.com/index.php?name=Broadband&bcpid=464121041&bclid=463868352&bctid=507831569
GAR otkriva detalje u vezi sa novim DEAD filmom (na primer, da li će biti distribuiran u bioskopima ili ne), pa čak nagoveštava i buduće planove...
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Milosh on 12-08-2007, 19:39:30
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=91388580&blogID=297990086
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 23-08-2007, 16:10:17
George Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD on Fangoria TV
(Part One + Two)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQD4SQzNTiA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r-CnJfnU00
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 10-09-2007, 09:55:50
Zavidim ljudima koji žive u Torontu (i novinarima kojima redakcije plaćaju putne troškove za putivanja na festivale). Prvo su mogli da overe novog Argenta, a sada i Romera... Na TWITCH-u se pojavio ovaj simpa text/rivju. Baš obećava.

xjump

Diary of the Dead is George A. Romero's reboot of his own series of '...the Dead' films after the less-than-classic Land of the Dead.  Studio budget and expectations are replaced with a back-to-basics philosophy – in Romero's own words, this is "one from the heart." Unlike the earlier aging vet, Midnite Madness entry, Dario Argento's Mother of Tears, Romero's new one shows that the man is very much in fine form.  Rather than the teeming hordes of undead encountered in Night, Day, Dawn and Land, the zombies in Diary are lone wanderers not dissimilar to the millions of folks browsing or writing on the internet (you know who you are).  In going back to his roots he finds a different direction to take altogether.  It is great to see Romero's batteries recharged after the apparently difficult time had during the shooting of Land of the Dead.  Smaller, more personal films, chock-a-block with enthusiasm and sociological riffing are what he does best.
At one point on the road, the group of students at the centre of Diary of the Dead, encounter an Amish man. Samuel, who is likely to become a fan favorite alongside of Bub, is deaf and mute - a not so subtle comment on the necessity of technology.  He communicates with the filmmakers by scribbling on a chalk slate, and gets the films most sublime visual moment echoing Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues video snippet amid raining zombie parts.  It may be 2007, but Romero is very much still the Flower Child.

The year is 2007 and judging by everyone ignorance, zombie movies do not exist.  Several paramedics, cops and more than a few newscasters are the first to witness the dead rising from the grave as bodies are carted out of a building from a double murder.  As they struggle with the undead, out of nowhere, one of the paramedics gives a zombie a standing high-kick to the head.  The scene is a funny tidbit of physical comedy amongst the horror of the situation which underscores Romero's particular style.  These folks are not necessarily the first witnesses to an unprecedented rise of the dead, but in Diary, the newscasters are the first to capture it on video, and by the philosophy of the film, that makes it the first 'real' instance.  That's right, the sociological target here is the media.  Not so much the traditional media, but new technology media:  the bloggers, You-Tubers and millions of amateur image gatherers and commenters that is the modern media landscape.

Cut to the voice-over of Debra, girlfriend to student director Jason outlining that what you are watching is her 'final cut' of footage gathered over the course of the beginning days of the zombie uprising.  The pair and a collection of friends, along with their very alcohol sodden University of Pittsburgh film professor are out shooting a horror film in the woods for a school project.  In a bit of Romero clearly taking to the audience (something this film has a propensity to do a bit too often for its own good), director Jason is quite adamant that the mummy should shamble and not run.  When they get the news that the dead is rising from the grave, there is a pretty healthy skepticism, but it scares the bunch enough to stop making their movie and head their separate ways.  Two head for the rich-boy family's mansion (a location which will come into the picture later on) and the rest of them hit the road in a Winnebago to find their way home.  

Jason is a wannabe documentary filmmaker who decides to keep the camera running over the course of their road trip.  This is done against vocal complaints from his fellow students who are both trying to process the apparent large-scale disaster and that it is becoming increasingly apparent that Jason has cast him self as a non-participant in many of the zombie encounters along the way.  Despite crumbing infrastructure, cellular phones and television stations (curiously the internet in the film never experiences outage), he argues that someone has to make a record of things.  The lengths Jason is willing to go for the sake of documenting things are best exemplified in a scene involving dead camera batteries where the action happens out of his reach, resulting in only hints of audio from down a corridor, as he is tethered by the power cord.

As the body count rises, the remaining survivors are more inclined to pick up cameras and start shooting too.  The flawed logic at work here is that when are behind the camera you are outside participation, somehow immune.  The on-paper pitch of the film invites inevitable comparisons to The Blair Witch Project which could not be more misleading.  While that film was ostensibly 'found' footage with the intent of myth-making, here the construction is very self-aware and edited with the intent (expressed by Debra in the film) of making myth breaking.  

The film is shot entirely as point of view, spliced images of the groups various camera footage, but also security tapes, cellular phone video capture. At times there are montages of video images reminiscent of Zack Snyder's opening credit sequence in his Dawn of the Dead remake (the best part of that film).  Despite many (irksome) expositional bits designed explain how the group got this piece of footage or that, Diary is still grounded in a traditional filmmaking, the handheld camera is not too shaky, the audio is clear and scenes for the most part are well lit.  Most tellingly, the black and white security camera footage has audio.  Romero wants to tell the story through all forms of video capture, but he is not obsessed with the realism of doing so, or caught up too far with style or visual flourishes.  The exceptions to this are some wickedly inventive zombie kills courtesy of maestro Greg Nicotero.  Perhaps Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's influence has rubbed off on Romero a bit, as the film is more 'fun' than scary.  There are certainly no scenes equivalent a child devouring her father.

The only flaw in Diary of the Dead is that the allegory gets a little ham-fisted with Sarah's voice-over, drawing too much attention to things.  I think I preferred things in Night of the Living Dead, when the allegory was largely subconscious (Romero freely admits the much touted racial elements in the film were not pre-conceived).  The humour is bled out of a good joke when someone has to rigorously explain it, and the allegory here suffers occasionally due to this.  Also, Romero is clearly operating here with a safety net after the Land of the Dead debacle.  All 'amateurish' elements in this film, particularly underwritten characterizations (everyone is a cipher here) and middle-of-the-road acting can be written off as being the product of the amateur filmmakers who construct the film within the film.  All that aside, it's a fun little adventure (will it become a zombie classic in the veint of the original trilogy, I think not, but time will tell) that aims to entertain as much as anything else.

In a instance of life repeating art, when the film was finished unspooling and Romero appeared for a Q&A, video-cameras, cellphones and every other image capture device was whipped out from enthusiastic audience members determined to get their own fractured slice of history.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Meho Krljic on 10-09-2007, 16:10:01
Nisam citao objasnjenja scena da ne spojlujem, ali ovo pre toga zvuci prilicno obecavajuce. LOTD me je prilicno razocarao, ali dajmo coveku sansu...
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 11-09-2007, 14:47:41
BD REVIEW 3.5/5.0

It's crazy to me to think that George A. Romero is now on his fifth zombie film after creating the sub-genre back in 1968 with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. What's even more insane is that with each film - and nearly each decade - he finds something new to comment on. After LAND OF THE DEAD in 2005, who would have though that he'd find something significant once again so quick? Returning to his roots, DIARY OF THE DEAD is by far Romero's best film in nearly 20 years capturing a unique flavor that's been missing for years.

The film will follow a group of college students shooting a horror movie in the woods who stumble upon a real zombie uprising. When the onslaught begins, they seize the moment as any good film students would, capturing the undead in a "cinema verite" style that causes more than the usual production headaches.

After a miserable experience with Universal, Romero took the independent route once again. What's unique about DIARY is that it's a unique blend of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. The film is a quasi-prequel that picks up with the first zombies coming to life. Footage on the internet and news display victims of a family murder returning from the dead and attacking paramedics and police. The epidemic is born. In a time where video blogging makes an average Joe more popular than CNN, Romero has one of his main characters pick up a camera and swear to document the events until the very end. His girlfriend intros the film as if she took her boyfriends footage and edited it together to tell "the truth", but who's truth are we watching? Who's vision are we watching? This is just one of the underlining contexts Romero brings to the plate.

Shot on various camera - including cell phones - DIARY feels very much like BLAIR WITCH as we are watching the found footage of our documenter. One major difference between the two is that DIARY looked phenomenal and was extremely well directed. -there was not a moment of motion sickness through the entire film. Another difference is that Romero had the lead narrate over the entire film, which to me one the single biggest flaw in the film. It was so incredibly annoying hearing her talk over the sequences and used as an anchor between scenes. No joke I thought I was watching TERMINATOR 2 at times, "Hi, I'm Sarah Conner... this is the apocalypse." Blah blah blah, just show the me the goddamn movie. I honestly think that Romero can re-edit the entire film without the narrator and it would be far superior. Another small problem with the film was the all-Canadian cast who struggled to keep their Pittsburgh accents and keep in character. They weren't "the acting killed the movie" bad, but enough to be annoyed at moments. I also think that there were a few very unrealistic moments written in the screenplay, specifically when the group of students stumble on a warehouse where the people inside so graciously gave them anything they needed.

Sans the small problems here and there, DIARY OF THE DEAD is a fantastically entertaining film. I loved a lot of the set ups (especially how the film opens), and the gore... oh the gore!!! The practical effects were mixed with some CG, but barely noticeable. The gun shots to the heads were mind-blowing (pun intended), and some of the zombie kills were off-the-wall amazing; we get zombies split in half by swords, heads melted by acid and some shot with arrows... and just wait until you see the zombie fish bowl (a pool filled with zombies!) The locations were also wonderful, especially the mansion and the hospital... this movie screams video game adaptation!

DIARY OF THE DEAD might be flawed but the fact that it's an independent film gives many of the problems a free ride. In the end this is Romero at his finest, a special little film that all fans will be pleasantly surprised with. The only thing better than a new Romero zombie film is seeing it with 1,200 screaming fans... hopefully we'll see this in a theater sometime in 2008.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 11-09-2007, 22:26:09
FANGORIA REVIEW 3.5 od 4


When George A. Romero first announced plans to scale himself back, returning to his low-budget, independent roots after the high-gloss horror of 2005's controversially studio-controlled LAND OF THE DEAD, true fans of the man rejoiced. When further details were revealed about the picture in question, however—promising first-person, pseudodocumentary camera antics—many of those very same fans promptly recoiled. On paper, the film read like a postmodern BLAIR WITCH PROJECT-esque stunt with Romero's flesheating ghouls thrown in simply to give the film commercial heft. Some even argued that the whole thing reeked of an aging genre filmmaker vainly attempting to prove that he still had something relevant to say.

How utterly, cosmically wrong those nervy naysayers were.

DIARY OF THE DEAD, which had its world premiere September 8 at the Toronto International Film Festival, is quite simply one of the most daring, hypnotic and absolutely vital horror films of the past decade. It is without a doubt the signature work of a man who, at the seasoned age of 67, has miraculously kept his long fingers squished squarely on the fevered pulse of the collective North American political and cultural psyche. It's also Romero's most profoundly personal, eccentric and accomplished work since 1979's landmark satirical zombie masterpiece DAWN OF THE DEAD, and in many ways feels like a stylistic kissing (biting?) cousin to his even more avant-garde 1977 vampire film MARTIN.
Ostensibly another reboot of the undead mythos the filmmaker established in 1968's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, DIARY casts a troupe of new-to-semi-pro young actors as film students who, after witnessing the zombie dawn while on a remote movie shoot, travel cross-country in their rickety Winnebago, hi-def camera in tow, documenting the entire apocalyptic mess while trying to avoid becoming undead hors d'oeuvres. The key visual gimmick is that lead voyeur and self-appointed director Jason (THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE's Joshua Close) is rarely on screen, as his gawking lens is the one Romero chooses to follow. It's a bold experiment for the director, introducing such stylistic guerrilla tactics to his standard turf—but he makes it work, thanks to technically innovative storytelling (our heroes are supposedly the ones editing the movie we see, and thus splice in footage of themselves captured on existing security cameras) and liberal—perhaps sometimes too liberal—doses of the writer/director's trademark social criticism (this time, Romero's target is our desensitized, "live or Memorex" media-obsessed culture).

There's also a series of gleefully revolting, prosthetically created (by Gaslight Studios), CGI-goosed, blood-spattered money shots and some surprisingly broad laugh-out-loud humor. Watch out for the deaf-mute Amish farmer who scribbles on slates and gets very creative with a scythe. The performances by Shawn Roberts (who also appeared in LAND OF THE DEAD), Amy Lalonde and Michelle Morgan are effectively organic, and the film possesses a general low-tech eeriness, coupled with an aching sense of loss that sucks you in and keeps you glued to the screen.

Outlandish, expressionistic and absolutely, disorientingly alive, DIARY OF THE DEAD is the movie that Romero's legion of cultists—this critic included—have been screaming for: a fascinating, almost art-house railing against a mad, mad world. It's not the work of an old man, but of a cinematic enfant terrible with plenty of welled-up bile ready to spit on his would-be successors. Bon appetit.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 12-09-2007, 00:01:53
pa dobro be bate, Z'ŠTO mu onda dade 3,5???!!! što ne 4?
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Shozo Hirono on 12-09-2007, 01:07:51
Quote from: "Ghoul"pa dobro be bate, Z'ŠTO mu onda dade 3,5???!!! što ne 4?
Pa to otprilike ko sto ti radis......cepidlacenje !!! :)
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 12-09-2007, 02:11:53
Quote from: "Shozo Hirono"
Quote from: "Ghoul"pa dobro be bate, Z'ŠTO mu onda dade 3,5???!!! što ne 4?
Pa to otprilike ko sto ti radis......cepidlacenje !!! :)

što jes - jes! ZORU ne mož da dobaci pa da jebe oca.
dakle, treba ostaviti bar neki luft do tog nedostižnog remek dela!

PS: inače, kao i obično, promakla ti je poenta: ja i kad 'cepidlačim' - dam neki RAZLOG što je moja ocena takva kakva je; a ovaj majmun gore, hvalio hvalio i samo hvalio, a na kraju, brojka i slova se ne poklapaju!
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 12-09-2007, 04:19:00
VARIETY mi je ogrejao dušu!

Scaling back the broad sweep of previous horror opus "Land of the Dead" and largely jettisoning the increasingly comedic possibilities of the concept in favor of pointed, impassioned social criticism and close-in genre thrills, gore's godfather audaciously and successfully reboots his incalculably influential zombie franchise as a lean, mean teen-survival machine in "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead." Gripping, intimate genre triumph reps a not-insurmountable marketing challenge in the wake of "Land"'s larger canvas, with emphasis on college-age protags and their tech wizardry sure to inject the fan base with copious new blood.

(...)

If the actual body count is relatively low, Romero's inspiration level is sky-high; at 67, he's got his finger squarely on the pulse of the younger generation's facile relationship with media and technology. He's also brought his always healthy skepticism of broadcasting and government to the fore; it's giving nothing away to point to pic's sad, brutal coda as one of the most powerful antiwar statements since America invaded Iraq.

Pic also reps a watershed in Romero's direction of actors. As Debra, Morgan is easily the most swaggeringly self-confident heroine of any "Dead" adventure, while Lalonde does a terrific job balancing the humor inherent in her story arc with genuine fear.

Production values are precisely what they need to be. Other than some perfectly miked characters deep in the frame, illusion of pic being stitched together from vidcam footage, Internet video and surveillance cameras is entirely logical. Decision to massage good, old-fashioned latex with CGI splatter pays off in imaginative and startling gags, produced with Greg Nicotero, Gaslight Effects and Spin. Ontario locations stand in nicely once again for rural Pennsylvania.

How influential is Romero's work? Closing credit crawl gives special thanks to Romero pals, disciples and supporters Wes Craven, Guillermo del Toro, Simon Pegg, Stephen King, Quentin Tarantino and Tom Savini. They should be proud.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 12-09-2007, 08:09:26
Lepo je biti horor fan ovih dana. Dve legende žanra - Romero i Argento su - sudeći po prikazima - isporučili svoje najbolje filmove u poslednjih 20 godina! Ova činjenica je definitivno razlog za slavlje - još da im se pridružio o Carpenter s novim kvalitentnim naslovom, sreći ne bi bilo kraja.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Shozo Hirono on 12-09-2007, 09:41:23
Pa redno je bilo da se oprave i stari lisci,i tako otprate masovnu histeriju uspeha svakojakih horora na box-officeu. :!:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 12-09-2007, 15:55:04
Kompanija Weinstein je otkupila prava za DIARY of the DEAD.

QuoteThe Hollywood Reporter mentioned that several offers were on the table for Diary, but Romero and crew went with the one that guaranteed a theatrical run which is awesome for him and the movie, but could be very iffy when it comes to Dimension. We'll keep positive and hope the Brothers Weinstein treat it with the respect it deserves.

Ovo je istovremeno i odlična i zabrinjavajuća vest. Weinsteinovi su u prošlosti - u okviru DIMENSION-a - znali da na najbolji način izdistrubiraju horor filmove (serijal Vrisak), ali su u poslednje vreme zaribali (poznato je da vole da otkupljene filmove mesecima, pa i godinama, drže na policama). Doduše, hrabri činjenica da su nedavno uspeli da proguraju onaj drek od HALLOWEEN rimejka...
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: pilot babo on 12-09-2007, 18:19:21
Quote from: "Dr Kunac"još da im se pridružio o Carpenter s novim kvalitentnim naslovom, sreći ne bi bilo kraja.

Da. Još samo Karpenter... Dobro, i Kronenberg. Bar još njih dvojica...

Mi, horor fanovi smo uvek bili skromni.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 12-09-2007, 18:23:42
Quote from: "pilot babo"Dobro, i Kronenberg.
Cronenberg ima novi film. Samo što nije horror.  :?:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: pilot babo on 13-09-2007, 10:12:02
Quote from: "Dr Kunac"Samo što nije horror.  :?:

Ja, ja, na to sam i mislio!
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 13-09-2007, 11:00:52
Dok sam odrastao, moja velika petorka su bili Carpenter, Cronenberg, Craven, Argento, Romero.  

CCCARevi!

Tokom godina, ova petorka je preko glave preturila sve i svašta, ali ja još uvek, bez obzira na razočarenja, s nestrpljenjem čekam sve njihove nove projekte.

Drago mi je da vidim da je George ponovo u sedlu i da ga "stara magija" nije napustila. Projekcije u Torontu su protekle toliko spektakularno da GAR najvljuje i mogućnost direktnog nastavka:

QuoteHe tells us that IF the film is a success the Weinsteins will want him to write another one, which will begin directly after the conclusion to DIARY.

Ali, pre toga, GAR namerava da rimejkuje samog sebe:

QuoteOtherwise Romero explained that he doesn't really have any direct plans to go forth with the franchise right now and has other projects he'd rather be doing, like SEASON OF THE WITCH.

Izgleda da je starom liscu krenulo u životu... Bogme, zaslužio je!
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 13-09-2007, 12:35:30
Quote from: "Dr Kunac"Lepo je biti horor fan ovih dana. Dve legende žanra - Romero i Argento su - sudeći po prikazima - isporučili svoje najbolje filmove u poslednjih 20 godina! Ova činjenica je definitivno razlog za slavlje - još da im se pridružio o Carpenter s novim kvalitentnim naslovom, sreći ne bi bilo kraja.

pa da, to je JEDAN mogući način da se poluprazna čaša posmatra.

s druge, pak, strane, koji su oni zaista ODLIČAN film potpisali u poslednjih 20 godina s kojim bi se ovo sad poredilo? STENDAL? MAJMUNSKO LUDILO? 2 ZLA OKA? solidni filmi, ali ništa za preteranu radost. a i oni su stari 20-10 godina.
radost što nisu usrali motku, PONOVO, kao po pravilu u poslednjih 20 godina?
pa dobro, ok, super što se, kako izgleda, nisu usrali.

ali nijedan od njih – A NAROČITO NE ARĐENTO – nije niti dosegao staru slavu, a kamo li isporučio nešto što bi nadmašilo nekadašnja remek dela.
obojica uradili nastavke svojih davno začetih franšiza.
deal with it: to je ceđenje suve drenovine, manje (arđento) ili više (romero) uspešno, ali ipak samo to.
arđento simplifikovao, zaglupio i na uber-trash-splatter-crowdpleaser sveo ono što su mu bila 2 najbolja i najkomplexnija filma, a romero se po koznakoji put vratio zombijima, s tim što je ovog puta, izgleda, isporučio barem solidan (videćemo!) film.

ok, good for them, naročito u svetlu činjenice da neki ljudi u njihovim godinama više nemaju ni potpunu kontrolu nad svojim crevima, ali kao što već rekoh, sama činjenica što se A+R *nisu* usrali meni nije razlog za ushićenje, već sam više u stilu uzdaha olakšanja, ono kao, 'uh, dobro je, dekica se nije usrao, još uvek ne moram da mu kupujem pelene za odrasle!'
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 13-09-2007, 20:36:13
Kada sam 90-tih otkrio Romera i Argenta njihove karijere su bile u stagnaciji. Doduše, neogledan film je za gledaoca nov film, tako da sam imao prilike da "preturam" po njihovoj filmskoj zaostavštini i pronalazim ono što mi se  dopada - a toga je, hvala Bogu, bilo dosta - nagomilalo tokom 60-tih, 70-tih i 80-tih . U nizu sam, za relativno kratko vreme, odgledao sve njihove najbolje naslove - i naravno bio oduševljen, oboren s nogu.

Ovako nešto više nije moguće.  :cry:

Da bih pogledao neodgledan Argentov/Romerov film moram dobro da čekam - čak i godinama. Kada se konačno pojavi novi film i ne bude remek, razočarenje je odmah iza ugla.

Ipak, ne treba gubiti iz vida a su A+R i ranije pravili (čak skandalozno) loše filmove - da je pre TAMNO CRVENOG Argento snimio PET DANA MILANA, da je Romero pre MARTINA svetu "podario" LUDAKE, itd.

Znači, uspona i padova je bilo i ranije, smo što se ranije više snimalo pa je mogućnost "pogotka" bila veća. Od 1990, Romero je, uključujući i najnoviji, režirao samo 4 naslova! To je baš malo, i smatram da se na tom uzorku ne može zaključiti da je čovek "prsao". S Argentom je već malo drugačije - on definitvno od 1987. godine i završetka rada na OPERI ima neke ozbiljne kreativne probleme, ali nikada nije - ni približno - skliznuo u staračku demenciju fulcijevskog tipa - da se pod stare dane bruka snimajući drek za drekom. Šest filmova koje je snimio od OPERE (a u ovu rečunicu se mogu uključiti i 1 TV film + 2 epizode MOH-a) su problematičnog kvaliteta - među njima svakako nema naslova koji može da parira INFERNU ili SUSPIRIjI - ali može se i tu iščeprkati nešto dobro - pa čak, na momente odlično.
Title: Hm...
Post by: Tex Murphy on 13-09-2007, 20:58:46
Heh, ignorance is bliss, ponekad! Ja još nisam gledao nijedan Arđentov film (osim The Card Player i nije mi jasno zašto se to ne spominje među njegovim najgorim filmovima. Mislim, ako su ostali slabiji od tog, onda...) tako da me to tek čeka  :!:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: ginger toxiqo 2 gafotas on 17-09-2007, 23:57:25
...tokom minule sedmice overio sam i jedinu nedostajuću mi kariku iz Romerovog opusa- HUNGRY WITCH a.k.a. SEASON OF THE WITCH i nakon uzimanja svih dijahronijsko-produkcionih olakšica u obzir, usuđujem se da ustvrdim da se u ovom slučaju radi o ne baš potrebnoj i nadahnjujućoj psihodeliji bez punog/pravog pokrića...
Title: Hm...
Post by: Tex Murphy on 18-09-2007, 00:10:24
Brat mi je donio iz Švedske komplet od četiri DVD-a pod nazivom TRILOGY OF DEAD (Noć, Zora, Dan + disk sa nekim dodacima). Otišao sam na Amazon.com i vidim da tamo ljudi većinom kukaju, kažu umjesto originalne verzije Noći tu je neka remasterovana koja ne valja klincu. Objasnite mi koja je razlika između stare i nove verzije i da li je ta nova stvarno negledljiva.
Title: Re: Hm...
Post by: Kunac on 18-09-2007, 00:50:30
Quote from: "Harvester"Objasnite mi koja je razlika između stare i nove verzije i da li je ta nova stvarno negledljiva.
Sve to možeš bez  problema da nađeš na netu, ali ti si lenj. ccccc. 'ajde, nek' ti bude...  xanix
razlika je u tome što remasterovana verzija sadrži naknadno dosnimljene scene s kojima romero nema ništa i koje su usnimljene decenijama kasnije. kao dodatna uvreda, neke od scena koje je romero snimio su izbačene.

detaljnije:

The 30th Anniversary Edition from Anchor Bay Entertainment removes 15 minutes of footage from the original film and inserts 15 minutes of new footage shot especially for this edition. George A. Romero was not involved with this version. The newly-shot scenes include the following:
A new opening sequence in which two graveyard workers bring the body of an executed child murderer to the cemetery. The parents of the murdered child are waiting at the cemetery, along with a priest, to view the murderer's body before it is buried. Before the body can be buried, it returns to life and begins attacking the group. This is the same zombie who is later seen wandering the cemetery and attacking Barbra and Johnny.
A scene where the victims of a recent car accident return to life as zombies. Three of the car's occupants, a mother and two daughters, return to life and begin wandering down the street, while the fourth victim, the father, is eaten by another group of zombies who come across the accident. One of the prominent zombies during this scene is a one-armed waitress zombie, who appears again later.
A few brief new shots of zombies wandering around outside the farm house, including the waitress zombie and the mother and daughters from the car accident scene.
A new scene where the priest from the beginning of this version of the film is interviewed by a TV reporter while local townspeople are hunting zombies in the background. During the interview, the priest is attacked by a zombie and bitten on the cheek.
A new ending sequence in which the TV reporter goes to a medical center to visit the priest, who has survived his zombie attack. The priest claims that the reason he did not become one of the undead is because he was been chosen by God. He continues by saying that the zombies are actually demons from hell, occupying human bodies, and that all dead bodies should be crucified. The TV reporter becomes frightened by the priest's ramblings and leaves the room. This release of the film is controversial among fans, and should not be considered the definitive version of the film.


pomenuuta verzija je abominacija i treba uništiti sve kopije iste.
Title: Hm...
Post by: Tex Murphy on 18-09-2007, 01:09:30
Quotepomenuuta verzija je abominacija i treba uništiti sve kopije iste

Svoju kopiju ću da branim vlastitim životom.
Title: Re: Hm...
Post by: Kunac on 18-09-2007, 08:41:37
Quote from: "Harvester"
Quotepomenuuta verzija je abominacija i treba uništiti sve kopije iste

Svoju kopiju ću da branim vlastitim životom.

SADA! NE RAZMISLJAJ! JUST DO IT! UNIŠTI!
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: taurus-jor on 19-09-2007, 17:36:48
Polij benzinom i spali. Na sigurnoj udaljenosti od kuche. Ne zelish da zbog tog sranja nastrada i tvoja okolina.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: crippled_avenger on 22-09-2007, 12:14:58
Quint puts a bullet in the head of George Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. When I first heard the concept of George A. Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD I wasn't exactly taken with it. The pitch line was BLAIR WITCH meets NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and that didn't sound at all interesting to me.

However it was George Romero and he's earned a lot of trust when it comes to Zombie movies. I wasn't sold, but I kept my faith in Romero's vision.

The film opens with some raw news footage, what is widely regarded as the first footage capturing the zombie outbreak. It's one camera with a newscaster preparing her report. You hear the cameraman as they go over what the report is going to look like. They're covering an apparent murder in a rather poor apartment complex.

How we're introduced to the plague set my mind at ease. This was not only creepy, but really smartly executed. The opening made me sigh with relief. It captured exactly what they were going for with this updated introduction into a somewhat parallel Romero world. The way we see the outbreak in the film is just the way we'd see it now, either on TV or through the web.

Thank God, I thought. But then the rest of the movie started.

We're introduced to our main characters shooting a mummy movie on video in the woods near their campus. It was about the first couple of times they winked at the camera going, "Man... we're sure in a Romero zombie movie, aren't we?" that the fear came creeping back.

Yes, it's cute to hear them joke about how the mummy is moving too fast and that dead things move slow. I get it. I can even forgive it because it sets up a good situation later, however they even bungle that.

What I was most disappointed with was the lack of any sort of subtlty or layering. Romero's movies have always had a great subtext, be it satirizing consumerism in DAWN or racism in NIGHT. Here there is no subtext. Just text.

It's not a cryptic line, "They're us." It's multiple people staring into the camera blatantly talking about our need for pure information, untainted by the commercial network news spin.

I saw a movie a couple years ago at the American Film Market that I was really excited to see. It was the new Dario Argento movie and it was called THE CARD DEALER. I walked out of that movie extremely worked up. It was horrible and even worse, it didn't feel like an Argento movie. It maybe felt a little bit like someone trying to ape an Argento movie or mimic an Argento movie, but that only made it more upsetting.

I feel very much the same feeling about DIARY OF THE DEAD. It feels like someone trying to make a George Romero movie. "Hey, I got a message! Let's slap it on there! Hey, let's homage Romero's early work and talk about how slow the dead would be!"

I think one of Romero's strongest traits as a filmmaker is who he picks to be the focus of his films. I love every one of the characters in the house in NIGHT. Such great, layered work there. Same with DAWN. The group is perfectly fitted with each other. Flyboy is plain as hell, but he has a nice arc and he's off-set by Roger. Even in DAY OF THE DEAD you have a bug-fuck crazy bad guy and tons of interesting and colorful characters, not the least of which is Bub, the zombie.

The college kids that are the focus of this movie are completely uninteresting. They're as clichéd as can be, the choices they make defy all logic and, worse of all, they're just dull. It's a bunch of Flyboys without a Roger.

What's even sadder is we are introduced to a few characters that are actually really interesting as our RV full of retarded, self-important college douchebags drives the backroads.

My favorite character in the film was Samuel, a deaf Amish man who is particularly old school in taking out zombies. But he's only in the movie for 4 minutes. If I was King of All Movies, I'd grant Romero a budget to just make a movie about Samuel surviving the zombie plague. How great is that? A mute dude who refuses to use any of the benefits of technology to survive a zombie uprising? How badass is that?

But, no... we have to get a few more tearful "I have to record this instead of helping because it becomes real when I put the camera down and I can't let that happen!" to the camera.

Then we meet the leader of a Black militia that goes against any sort of stereotype you'd expect. Again, a nice Romero twist on things and the other interesting character in the movie. And again, he doesn't get much screentime.

The whole idea of seeing this only through footage is an interesting one, but at the same time it still just boils down to a gimmick, which is fine, but a gimmick needs strong character work and good actors to make it more than that.

The acting is bad throughout, particularly in the leads. There's even one girl who is playing a Texan... yee-haws and all... Her accent drops throughout the movie and that wouldn't have really been a big deal if her character was at all interesting.

Listen, I'm happy Romero sold the movie to the Weinsteins and I'm also happy that my disappointment in the movie doesn't seem to be the common opinion if the reviews out of Toronto are any indication. I don't like feeling this disappointed by a Romero film and I wish I could give myself over to this one like many others have, but it just didn't work for me.

Maybe with the success of this film Romero will keep getting to make movies the way he wants to make them and he'll pop out some great indie work in the coming years. I certainly don't think he's lost his touch, I just think he made a misstep with this one.

-Quint
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 22-09-2007, 15:57:52
George Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD is a Fantastic start to FANTASTIC FEST - so says Harry!

I've known Quint since he was literally a child. I'm very proud of the man he's become, but after reading his review of George Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD... I am left absolutely flabbergasted. Rather than dissect his review and point out several catty remarks I can make about his piece... I'm just going to give you my take.

I've seen DIARY OF THE DEAD six times now. I love the film completely. Here's why...

George does something so incredibly daring, something so far fetched in the minds of his fans - that it causes some to freak the fuck out. He has made a Zombie film that dares to act as though George Romero never existed. Imagine that.

Can you?

I mean, if that meteor that knocked hell out of Peru last week, making all those people sick in that village. Imagine that we began hearing reports that the villagers dying were coming back to life and attacking the living - and that an undead plague was spreading throughout South America and threatening our borders. The first thing that every Zombie-fearing geek in the world would say is, "Shoot em in the Head!"

In George's DIARY OF THE DEAD... the characters discover the rules, the completely unfair rules, as though not only none of George's films were made, but all the zombie films that came in his wake. So - these kids that apparently were reared without Romero's influence. That, in and of itself is a horrific existence. But to then find yourself dealing with his world... fresh and happening for the first time, not just in reality - but with no fictional precedent... these kids react. And they do each react differently.

There was one line in Quint's review that actually irked me. "our RV full of retarded, self-important college douche bags." Well, as someone with over 112 hours of college credit - and knowing quite a lot of college types... I actually take offense at the statement. I've dealt for the past 11 years with young film school types... budding directors, producers, actors and actresses that were attending the many colleges here in the Austin area - and they are often frankly "the cliché" - It isn't that they're self-important - it is that the entire experience of college is about figuring out what that path of life will mean, what your days and nights will be spent doing. As a result, a lot of college students are very self-reflective. Hit a college coffee house and you'll see that.

The characters that Romero populates in his RV are not college douche bags. These are not kids that see the zombie Armageddon as a new excuse of elevated hazings. These kids are not obsessing about their bodily functions. They're also not hammering on about how this got out of hand because Bush is a fucking 'tard. No. These are all kids from the film department. The one shooting this... sees this as a significant opportunity to document the world turned upside down. He wanted to be a documentarian, but through film school had decided the only way to get noticed was to shoot a horror movie, but then the reality around him becomes... horrific.
The other characters... well they're annoyed by him.

His girlfriend goes into crisis mode. It's about being with her family.. her mom, dad and kid brother. She strikes me as someone that just wasn't hacking film school and when this came down... she was ready and willing to run home to mom and dad.

The driver of the RV is a lost soul. She's a loving girl that simply isn't meant for the return of the dead.

The geek aboard is an information junkie, figuring to get a ride home as well, but ultimately he's just freaking out because he's seeing everything he became dependant upon fall apart. The networks, the main stream... over the course of the few days they're on the road... it's all gone bad. He's hoping to find the right place to hole up, with some comforts and wait it out.

Then there's the couple in love. They're just regular good people caught in something they don't really have a handle on. Anything they had in mind seems to be gone and they're faced with very tough times ahead.

Then there's the guy that seems to be the most involved with butting heads with the filmmaker. He's the other director in the group - who is working on this project to probably steal crew for something of his own later on. It isn't really developed, but I get the impression he's sweet on the lead's girl and is waiting for him to just drop that ball.

Lastly you have the professor on board. He's the most theatrical of all the characters in the film. A tired depressed older character that can't, so he teaches - and he hates it. He accepts the horrors that the world throws at him as if they're the most natural thing in the world. Of course his hell imprisoning him to teach snotty would be filmmakers would only further manifest itself with hell walking the earth as he is literally DAMNED to spend his remaining days here.

THAT's how I interpret the "RV of college douche bags"

Meanwhile - I love the subtexts of the film and in many ways, it's probably the most personally reflective of myself.

I don't plan on having to deal with a zombie Armageddon. I think it's mostly unlikely. However, I do know a little bit about dealing with doom through projecting to a faceless audience.

I created AICN whilst facing paralysis and praying for reanimation. I watched my dead legs in my bed praying to see them come back to life, and with zero intention to shoot the big toe. I wrote about film, because film is what made me happy. It took my mind off the big toe. It gave me a place in the world of my mind. It allowed me to feel like I was in a place larger than the oversized closet space I was spending my existence.

Sharing the information I was gathering with all of you shook me out of the depression that my world was at that point. The internet was everything, the letters from readers, filmmakers... all of you, it saved my life. And I love it more today than I ever have. If I woke up one day without the bitching and the moaning, it'd be a sad day indeed.

Being noticed, debated, discussed. It is a powerful drug. It's why the famous do their thing, more than the money, it's the feeling of counting... of doing something worthy of notice.

And in DIARY OF THE DEAD - as the world gets more and more insane. As they face impossibly fucked up situations - they all begin to buy into the significance of that camera. The camera is the illusion of normality that the world dives into when it's gone insane.

OJ makes sense to talk about because killing 700,000 civilians really doesn't. And while the mainstream masturbates about meaningless opinions and bullshit analysts - the soldiers and the students are posting the history of the times we live in... that some day will be gathered and tabulated as being the reality that we're living in. Not Britney or Paris or Mandy or whatever other bullshit meaningless celebrity drivel the news media shoves down our throats.

The underlying message of the film is a conflict. Should we film Rome burn, should we watch Rome burn, do we grab a water bucket... or is it too late to do anything at all. The film is a treatise on how George as an old tired man... is left watching the tragedies of his youth repeating, just as artistically he began with the zombies, here... 40 years later... the zombies are left reflecting the world he sees around him.

Add to that - some amazingly cool zombie gags, great bit characters - and perhaps a dozen additional themes that you could swill down pitchers of coffee chatting about, like a self-important college douche bag.

I love DIARY OF THE DEAD - it is everything that I hoped for from Romero... a new theme, a new horror - but with my beloved zombies. BRAVO!
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 24-10-2007, 21:45:33
BD javlja da je Čiči krenulo u životu:

After Universal released George A. Romero's Land of the Dead in theaters in 2005 Romero scooped B-D that he would we working on a sequel entitled "World of the Dead", which never came to fruition. Now with Dimension Films planning a theatrical release for Diary of the Dead (review) - Romero's independent zombie film - we've were informed that the legendary director is already hard at work on a sequel here and that he would begin work on it if "Diary" was a success - and it was. SO guess what we have? The SYNOPSIS for George A. Romero's Untitled Diary of the Dead Sequel! Read on for details.

UNTITLED GEORGE A. ROMERO DIARY OF THE DEAD SEQUEL
Principal photography begins March 2008.

To be written directed by George A. Romero.
Cast to be announced.

The "diary" saga continues. Our heroes, trapped in the mansion where we left them, battle waves of ravenous zombies, barely escaping alive. In search of a safe place to settle, they commandeer an abandoned ferry and sail to a deserted island, only to find that it is already populated by a civilization of the dead. Told in the same first-person style that distinguished "George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead", the next episode of the saga is a violent siege set in the middle of nowhere, a desperate struggle for survival, and peace, between two tribes: the living and the living dead.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Plissken on 25-10-2007, 00:23:00
Dosta vise zaboga...

Treba zabraniti zombi filmove.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: PTY on 25-10-2007, 18:58:44
jokbremore!

samo Romera treba zabranit, **bo i' Romero da i' *ebo!!

:evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:  :evil:

((okej, ko bi sad da me bije, nek mi se obrati pi-emom...))
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Plissken on 25-10-2007, 19:02:55
jasta vala...
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 25-10-2007, 19:05:14
Quote from: "libeat"(okej, ko bi sad da me bije, nek mi se obrati pi-emom...))

reci mesto i vreme!  :evil:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: PTY on 25-10-2007, 19:15:41
Nema problema: ako mi sad i ovde garantuješ da si preboleo nekog tamo Romera od pre dvajes'&tries'&ohoho godina i ako mi dokažeš da si skontao kako je čovek prevaziđen i prestignut - a svejedno oćeš da se zbogporadinjega biješ – detalji - glede gde & kako – ti slede.  8)
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 25-10-2007, 19:23:06
ma meni je samo važno da se negde nađemo i pobijemo, nije bitno oko čega.
romero je samo alibi.
ionako ne ludim za njegovim levičarskim idejama i 'kritikama' društva itd.
mada, za DAWN sam još uvek u stanju da se pobijem, ako nema druge.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: PTY on 25-10-2007, 19:33:18
Ma sad bi nešto rekla ali ne smem, Jor bi mi verovatno lupio čvrgu ili dve...  :cry:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 25-10-2007, 19:35:13
nadam se da nema veze sa jorovim fetišom prema valjanju u blatu? i kačenju o lustere?  :P
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: taurus-jor on 26-10-2007, 17:40:22
Quid? :shock:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: PTY on 26-10-2007, 17:57:01
Jore, ja se tu kao nešto osvrćem na tvoje ondašnje iz podruma osvrte na rimejke Romera i tako to... enivej, ništa važno a ni koherentno...  az južual...  :cry:

Nego, ako već treba da se bijemo, da bar imamo rašta – evo malko neosnovanog i krajnje uvredljivog poređivanja:
Meni se čini da je Romero za hororiste ono što je Asimov za esefovce; neka vrst svete krave. Što nije samo po sebi uvredljivo, da se razumemo; to mu dođe u prevodu na kulturni jezik nešto kao velikan rane faze žanra ili tu i tako nešto...

Ali problem nastaje kad se na njih čovek osvrne iz nešto kasnije perspektive, ili kad – ko u slučaju Romera – se oni sami trude da u toj istoj poznoj perspektivi i dalje funkcionišu. Što baš i ne ide. Mislim, uzmimo za primer samo Starwars prikvele pa imamo point pruven i adijolipaMare. Pa još kada te svete krave izbace fiksnu ideju koja se ne može ni laterarno šaflovati a kamoli evoluirati – jer, šta ćeš ti sad sa tim robotima pored ona tri famozna zakona i šta ćeš sa zombijima van famoznog teturanja i griženja živih ljudi – onda ti od njih nikakve vajde nema nego unutar perspektivne u kojoj su originalna dela originalno nastala. Sve drugo je inci-minci nerelevantna nostalgija na tebe i na vreme kad si bio mlad i lep i novak u žanru. I to ti je to.  


e da, skoro zaboravih: peace, brothers...     :arrow:  :lol:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: taurus-jor on 26-10-2007, 18:24:20
Romeru se desilo isto sto i Lukasu - postao je rob univerzuma koji je stvorio. I jedan i drugi su pokushali da rade neshto drugo van zombi/Star Wars miljea (Lukas je producirao, Romero  snimao Knightriders, Monkey Shines, The Dark Half, Bruiser) a onda su zakljucili da che najbolje zaraditi ako ono prvo prepakuju/nastave/prikveluju. U svojim miljeima (velicina produkcije, obim distribucije) obojica su tada dozivela komercijalnu renesansu. Umetnicki dok medjutim jok.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Plissken on 26-10-2007, 18:52:36
Romero nema prepoznatljiv stil, rezira industrijski, pravi filmove montazno, lisen je vizuelnog stila, ne kazem da ga nema u potpunosti, ali ga nema dovoljno da vizeulno filmove uzdigne na visi nivo od samih scenarija, a to su recimo i Karpenter i Huper radili cesto. Tako da je Romero blizi Krejvenu, koji je imao daleko vise srece sa odlicnim scenarijima. Dzord je ostao zarobljen u stupidnom zombi podzanru koji se tokom  godina isprofanisao...

Romero je u stvari najbitniji kao figura koja je inspirisala prave horor velikane da prave remek-dela sa izuzetno malim budzetima.

Nemojte me pogresno razumeti, NOTLD i DOFD...pa i Day izuzetno volim!

P.s. Najbolji zombi filmovi svih vremena:

Dead and Buried i Return Of The Living Dead
Title: Hm...
Post by: Tex Murphy on 26-10-2007, 19:58:43
QuoteDead and Buried

:!:

Inače, ne bih baš rekao da je Krejvn imao "sreće" sa dobrim scenarijima. Uglavnom ih je sam pisao. Mislim dobro, napisao je i onu katastrofu Last House on the Left, a Scream je tuđi scenario, ali izuzimajući te izuzetke može se reći da su njegovi vlastiti scenariji bili bolji od tuđih.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Plissken on 26-10-2007, 20:19:57
Imao je srece sto je napisao dobra scenaria.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 26-10-2007, 20:36:26
Quote from: "Plissken"Imao je srece sto je napisao dobra scenaria.

IA IA IA SHUB NIGGURATH!!! IA IA IA KATULU FATAGN!

nego ne lupajte, bre, krejven je VRLO dobar reditelj, kad se vremenom naučio, dakle, počev od STRAVE, pa onda ZMIJA I DUGA, pa SCREAM sve su to ODLIČNO napravljeni, a ne samo napisani, filmovi!

avaj, to što kaže plissken za romera umnogome STOJI. :cry:  on je vrlo dosadan reditelj, i zanimljiv je samo onoliko koliko mu je scenario dobar. a najčešće su slabi... ili nedokuvani...
Title: Hm...
Post by: Tex Murphy on 26-10-2007, 20:58:25
Ništa ja nisam rekao, Pliskin je napao Krejvena, a ja sam samo primijetio da je on uglavnom pisao scenarije za svoje filmove.

QuoteRomero nema prepoznatljiv stil, rezira industrijski, pravi filmove montazno, lisen je vizuelnog stila, ne kazem da ga nema u potpunosti, ali ga nema dovoljno da vizeulno filmove uzdigne na visi nivo od samih scenarija, a to su recimo i Karpenter i Huper radili cesto. Tako da je Romero blizi Krejvenu,

Ovo je već pretjerano stručna rasprava koja zalazi mnooooogo dublje nego moje površno poznavanje filma, te se stoga o tome nisam izjašnjavao.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: PTY on 26-10-2007, 20:59:40
Cthulhu fhtagn, Cthulhu fhtagn! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!!!!!!!!!

(mislim, stvaaarno...!! ni lazanju da sažvačem od smeja!! )
:D
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Plissken on 26-10-2007, 21:46:08
Quote from: "Plissken"ali ga nema dovoljno da vizeulno filmove uzdigne na visi nivo od samih scenarija

ps. Krejvena neuporedivo vise cenim od Romera. Pre jedno mesec dana sam sanjao da se upoznajem sa Krejvenom i to u nekom skucenom podrumu, koji je bio osvetljen samo ljubicastim, fluoroscentnim neonkama?!
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: ginger toxiqo 2 gafotas on 27-10-2007, 14:46:12
Brus Ferguson, policijski poručnik, nabavio je veću količinu motornih testera, u slučaju da zombiji napadnu njegov grad Lensing, u Mičigenu. ,,Već nekoliko godina se pripremamo za razne katastrofe i vežbamo", kaže Ferguson. ,,Građani se mogu osećati bezbedno. Ako nas napadnu zombiji, znamo kako ćemo zatvoriti ulice. A imamo i motorne testere. Ako se čopor zombija približi našem gradu, zatvorićemo ulaze u grad, tako da će ga promašiti."
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: angel011 on 27-10-2007, 14:52:20
A da li možda i podučavaju ljude kako da se odbrane od napada bananom?
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: crippled_avenger on 31-10-2007, 11:36:21
Voltage to start pre-sales on Romero's Diary sequel
Jeremy Kay in Los Angeles
31 Oct 2007 05:00

 

Artfire Films and Romero-Grunwald Productions have greenlit a sequel to George A Romero's Dairy Of The Dead hot on the heels of the film's successful premiere in Toronto.

Voltage Pictures will commence international pre-sales at AFM. Cinetic Media will handle domestic rights, as it did on Diary.

The Weinstein Company snapped up Diary in Toronto and the independent production virtually sold out overseas through Voltage Pictures.

Romero will direct the sequel from his own screenplay, which picks up from where Diary left off as survivors of a mysterious zombie outbreak unknowingly flee to a remote island populated by the undead.

Filming is set to begin in spring 2008 with Peter Grunwald producing alongside Artfire Films' Artur Spigel and Ara Katz. Executive producers are Dan Fireman of Artfire and Sam Englebardt.

"The reception for Diary has been really gratifying," Romero said. "We had a great team on that film and it's exciting to have the opportunity to keep everyone together and hit the ground running again."

"We're extremely pleased to work again with George Romero, Peter Grunwald, Art Spigel and Ara Katz," Chartier said. "Making zombie movies with them is a no-brainer!
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 03-11-2007, 06:49:14
DIARY OF THE DEAD, George A. Romero's (by all accounts) triumphant return to zombie territory, will open February 15 from the Weinstein Company; as of now, that puts it up against the debut of Warner Independent's FUNNY GAMES. :!:  :P  :(
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 11-01-2008, 21:58:20
Konačno! Trailer!

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/10879

EDIT: Plus, Romero raspisuje konkurs sa kratki horror film!

(https://www.znaksagite.com/diskusije/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fa936.ac-images.myspacecdn.com%2Fimages01%2F22%2Fl_11b8eae454a3c147d39c628f3f4a9877.jpg&hash=b660ff79fd97bb3e0eaa8ad69f2a78db520167c0)
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 18-01-2008, 00:51:31
(https://www.znaksagite.com/diskusije/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg132.imageshack.us%2Fimg132%2F6395%2Fb17435bl5.jpg&hash=4d4a7b6d9a204d856d6c32c8c23aa8b481d29d62)
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Meho Krljic on 18-01-2008, 10:12:24
:lol:

Ne izgleda rđavo, ali da li je to dovoljno?
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 19-01-2008, 13:25:36
Quote from: "Meho Krljic":lol:

Ne izgleda rđavo, ali da li je to dovoljno?

otkad si pa ti postao tako probirljiv? :shock:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Meho Krljic on 19-01-2008, 14:27:28
Od pre nekoliko decenija.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 21-01-2008, 16:50:15
Kako su nekada pevali Cardigansi, RiSe and SHiNE My SiSTER!

(https://www.znaksagite.com/diskusije/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg101.imageshack.us%2Fimg101%2F2955%2Fb17437og5.jpg&hash=08d2056d6cd42da1b31374656f6e75f8a1926eae)
(https://www.znaksagite.com/diskusije/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg101.imageshack.us%2Fimg101%2F4816%2Fb17433ar1.jpg&hash=ce999dd8d24217fa59495bf604833b56280e38f0)
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Alexdelarge on 21-02-2008, 21:58:20
Dear diary,

I saw George Romero's new movie DIARY OF THE DEAD. It's basically "NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD meets BLAIR WITCH PROJECT" or "CLOVERFIELD with zombies" or "CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST - cannibal + zombies but not ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST." It's not a sequel to the living dead movies but kind of a do-over with the zombie plague beginning in the present day and depicted in documentary form. Some film students are working on a crappy mummy movie (come on George, this is 2008, only Rob Cohen makes mummy movies) when they start hearing news about the dead coming back to life, and their director is compelled to keep filming. We're told at the beginning of the movie that his footage was edited by another character along with clips they downloaded from youtube, some news and security cam footage. Also she admits that she added music. And, I'm afraid, she narrates it.

I feel bad saying this but since nobody is reading this and it's only a diary I will come out and say it: this movie isn't very good. I enjoyed watching it and will list many of the good things about it right here on these pages, in the interest of balance. And in case Harry reads this because he got real mad at Quint for not liking it and I pretty much agree with everything in Quint's review. But in my deepest, most personal secret opinion this is a failed experiment for old George.

This is Romero back doing low budget independent movies, but it looks real nice. Especially in the parts that show the larger world outside of the documentary, the clips from the news and youtube where there is total chaos going on, cars crashing into each other, zombies hanging on nooses from freeway overpasses, and various madness. In NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD the characters were constantly trying to listen to news reports to get some kind of information about what's going on. In DIARY we see news reports (sometimes edited to hide the truth), we hear talk radio, CBs, all kinds of communication. All those different fuzzy broadcasts add a realistic texture to the movie and I think Romero is right that if something like this were to happen now (God forbid, because I bet it would be a huge pain the ass) the young people would in fact be the ones spreading information about what's going on. Because they have all their god damn cell phones and little handheld video games and all that stupid shit they always play with, and they spell worse than me because they write in some kind of moronic gibberish from writing on phones and they also wear their pants too tight now and wear those white belts and they look almost as stupid as their older brothers did wearing those giant clown pants.

In CLOVERFIELD you had to kind of accept that they would keep filming for some reason, in this one it's actually a major theme and a point of contention for the characters. The other characters kind of think this guy is crazy, even an asshole, for having to tape everything. They get mad and sarcastically offer to re-enact things that happened off camera because "it didn't really happen if it was off camera, did it?" In one scene they're exploring a dangerous zombified hospital and he stays behind because his battery is dead and he needs to plug into the wall. Dude, that's when you know you have a problem.

So for Romero the documentary format is not just a gimmick, he's trying to say something. And I like that. The problem is that there is no subtlety involved. This movie is corny and preachy even for Romero. In his best movies he's willing to let the points come across in the story, in this one he has somebody narrating them, and that's just hard to take. The last shot of the movie is a really disturbing and powerful image, and if it was left to speak for itself I think people would be able to find a good interpretation of it. Instead we hear this character narrating about her disappointment in humanity, making a point that is earned in the other Dead movies, but not in this one. And even if he wasn't hammering it too hard, any movie that has somebody repeatedly narrating about "bloggers" and "uploading" and even "hackers" is gonna make me squirm.

(You know, even in real documentaries I prefer no narration. More than anything this movie proves that film schools should teach about the Maysles Brothers in the first semester in case zombie holocaust breaks out before they get to that shit.)

Here's an example of the kind of thing that bothered me. There's a scene late in the movie where, by weird coincidence, the scene we saw them filming for their mummy movie is sort of re-enacted. Only this time the mummy is a real zombie chasing the same girl for real. You think a ha, clever, until the girl actually says something like "This is just like in your stupid mummy movie!" Come on George. I guess you're making this for the brain damaged cell phone generation, but what about me? Can you make a version where I don't have to be talked down to like that?

Also, these characters don't look like real people, they look like movie characters. One is a blonde model type with cleavage, which is intentional because she's the star of their movie. (wow, bout time somebody stuck it to the blond bimbos who starred in horror movies 25 years ago. Way to hit 'em where it hurts, George.) But the others don't look like regular people either and the documentary format just emphasizes their phoniness. They're mostly college students but for variety they happen to have their professor with them, and he's a ridiculously cliched prick whose character is mostly just that he has an accent (to show he's a snob) and that he swigs from a flask all the time (because he feels guilty for not teaching them about the Maysles Brothers). Fortunately later he gets a bow and arrow so he mostly shuts up and shoots arrows, then all the sudden he seems more worthwhile. Bows and arrows have made a comeback between THE HOST, RAMBO and this. Way to go bows and arrows, it's been a long time coming.

The sad thing is that there are some much more interesting characters in the movie, they just don't appear for very long. I don't want to go into too much specifics because somebody might steal my diary and read it and the movie would be spoiled and they would deserve it for reading my private review of this movie however I believe the Lord would ask that I still not give it away. Leviticus, page 3, lower right corner. So I will just say that there is an Amish character who is great, but only appears in the movie briefly. And one of the best parts of the movie is when they come across some "looters" who have a great set-up in a warehouse, a much more organized operation than we've seen in previous Dead movies. Their leader has a strong presence and you kind of wish you could just follow them and find out what happens to them instead of the college kids.

I'm not sure how other people will react to this movie. I have been called a moron more than once for liking LAND OF THE DEAD. So if my standards are low for liking that one, and this new one didn't cut it, it must be pretty bad, right? On the other hand I've seen so many rave reviews and many of them mentioned that thank God it was way better than LAND OF THE DEAD. So your mileage may vary. Some restrictions apply.

To try to figure out the score here I went back and watched LAND again. I guess now that I've seen it a few times and now that it's not a fresh bite of Romero zombies after a decades long drought it's easier to see the flaws. On DVD the digital stuff is way more noticeable than it was on that first viewing, and with the stylized landscapes they show sometimes it just has a less raw, more artificial look than the others in the series. And as funny as Dennis Hopper is in parts of it, he is clearly Dennis Hopper. It feels more like a Hollywood movie than the other ones do. And one thing that really stuck out more than it used to for me was how many of the themes have to be underlined by the characters in the dialogue.

I think the problem there stems back to DAWN OF THE DEAD. Romero thought the line about why the zombies came to the mall was too obvious. (I think it's fine.) He recently told the Fangoria horror magazine that he thought "I may have hammered the point home too obviously" so in trying to make up for that in DAY OF THE DEAD "I went the other way and was too subtle with my themes of paranoia and mistrust." So I guess now he's swinging the other way and making these movies less subtle than ever. Just to be safe.

To me it was a much bigger problem in DIARY. It's bad enough when the dialogue is too obvious but when the person is actually narrating, directly talking to the audience, it goes into corniness overdrive.

And LAND added so many new details to the world. The organized crews of soldiers going out scavenging. The use of fireworks to distract the zombies (something that works literally and as symbolism). The rich people who've been able to be so sheltered they just scream when zombies show up. And I know alot of people hate it, but I like that Romero actually moved forward with the story of the zombies. He didn't just repeat himself, he added this element of the zombies beginning to learn even more than they did in DAY OF THE DEAD. Learning not to be distracted by the pretty lights in the air, instead following the pretty lights on the Fiddler's Green tower. Some of them are real characters with their own subplot. Okay, I could do without Tom Savini doing fight moves in his zombie cameo, but most of it works for me.

Since DIARY is skipping back to the beginning, there's not as much progress. It's mostly just variations on what Romero's done before, and not shown in much detail. I loved seeing how organized the guys in the warehouse were, but whenever something like that comes up the story just gives you a glimpse and then moves on.

Maybe part of the problem is that I don't really want to see the beginning again. How many fucking beginnings do we need? He began it perfectly in 1968. One of the reasons DAWN and DAY are so great is because they begin and end in that world of chaos. There's no status quo at the beginning or the end.

But also when you just look at the basic elements of the movie I don't think it delivers the way the best Romero movies do. For example, I don't like the main characters very much. I don't even hate them like I do Rhodes in DAY OF THE DEAD. They're pretty forgettable. Except for the Amish dude. And every flaw in their characters or every fake thing they do is amplified by the "diary" gimmick. For example, the scene where the computer expert (you will recognize him, because he has glasses) types a few keys in a lap top to tap into the security cameras so they can get some alternate angles for their documentary - that shit would be laughable in LAND OF THE DEAD, but it's double-laughable when it's shot like a documentary and your brain is trying to play along with the idea of it being reality. I'm not even sure what Romero is trying to pull here exactly because he even said in that Fangoria article that he wasn't trying for realism. "My style is arch and theatrical, where BLAIR WITCH went for ultra-realism. I'm trying to maintain the artifice and make potent comments about the observer--while still supplying lots of nasty zombie stuff." Okay, sounds good. I don't get it though.

You know what? Here's what it is. If you watch NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, DAWN OF THE DEAD or DAY OF THE DEAD, you don't even have to get any meaning out of them. They are still some of the most kickass horror movies you've ever seen. And then behind all the mechanics of surviving disaster, of creative ghoul mayhem and spectacular special effects, there are all these interesting things being communicated about human nature and about the world and what not. If you're interested.

In this movie you get a fun horror movie, but not as kickass as those other three by any stretch of the imagination. And covering some pretty similar territory. And then you get the commentary too, but it's poking through the horror movie surface in about ten or fifteen different spots, reaching out trying to nudge you. So the balance is completely off. And some of it's material that has been covered in alot of other movies and that I kind of would rather not hear about anymore, especially in the form of a fake student film. Even if there are zombies.

In fact, I must admit, I'm even kind of sick of hearing about zombies. Yes, they are great. Shut the fuck up about them, nerds. Let's keep it a silent thing, never said out loud. Don't ever talk to me about zombie this and zombie that. Just look at me, nod, I will nod back. Everything is understood. Also, Romero should be the only one allowed to make zombie movies for the next ten years. Otherwise we're on a moratorium here fellas. Thank you for your cooperation.

So those are some pretty fundamental problems that some people won't be able to get past. I mean, if you had a problem with LAND OF THE DEAD I can't see being more forgiving of this. But if you did like LAND OF THE DEAD like I did I think this is at least worth checking out, if you can lower your expectations. There is plenty of good zombie fun, lots of clever zombie mutilations and some cool new twists on how people deal with them. There are a few too many digital head shots for my tastes (I want real fake blood) but for the most part the effects are good, the zombies look cool and really do seem inhuman. That's is one thing Romero will never forget how to do. The guy works well with ghouls.

I hate to say it diary. Romero is one of my favorite directors. I'm so glad that he's making independent movies again, and zombie movies. But the truth is, I enjoyed it, but I don't think it's very good. And I really wanted it to be good. I think people are yearning to be blown away by a new Romero masterpiece. BUT DO WE REALLY DESERVE ONE?

well, gotta go record myself reading this on my cell cam so I can upload it on youtube for all the bloggers and hackers to download for their blogs

--Vern
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kler_Vojant on 06-03-2008, 00:48:13
Aaaaaa, kol'ko mi se gleda ovo sranje  :cry:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kler_Vojant on 01-04-2008, 23:35:53
Procureo je polugledljiv cam.
Umereno ugodno,ukoliko ste sposobni da se u mislima ne vrecate na notld.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: ginger toxiqo 2 gafotas on 24-04-2008, 11:47:29
...rano jutros se na RS ponudi pojavio, a ja upravo skinuo i raspakovao, DIARY OF THE DEAD, dvd rip...proverio sam - odličan kvalitet i slike i zvuka...
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Shozo Hirono on 24-04-2008, 14:25:50
I ja sam,pa ko ga prvi overi !!! :evil:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: ginger toxiqo 2 gafotas on 24-04-2008, 14:40:12
...ja sam već dogovorio screening u odličnom društvu za ponedeljak, tako da, pretpostavljam, willingly gubim u nadmetanju koje nisam ni želeo...
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 24-04-2008, 21:16:07
Quote from: "ginger toxiqo 2 gafotas"...ja sam već dogovorio screening u odličnom društvu za ponedeljak, tako da, pretpostavljam, willingly gubim u nadmetanju koje nisam ni želeo...
Računaj na mene! :!:
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: pejcina on 24-04-2008, 21:58:31
Budi drugar, daj linkove :)
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: cutter on 24-04-2008, 22:58:00
screenshot:
(https://www.znaksagite.com/diskusije/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg261.imageshack.us%2Fimg261%2F7513%2Fromerobf3.jpg&hash=c81f9bda3b487d02a61a844a24aa10c8414b522e)
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: ginger toxiqo 2 gafotas on 25-04-2008, 00:33:28
http://rapidshare.com/files/110048969/Diary_of_the_Dead_up_by_Poldek.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/110049652/Diary_of_the_Dead_up_by_Poldek.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/110050373/Diary_of_the_Dead_up_by_Poldek.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/110051001/Diary_of_the_Dead_up_by_Poldek.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/110051708/Diary_of_the_Dead_up_by_Poldek.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/110052423/Diary_of_the_Dead_up_by_Poldek.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/110053195/Diary_of_the_Dead_up_by_Poldek.part7.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/110053427/Diary_of_the_Dead_up_by_Poldek.part8.rar
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Shozo Hirono on 28-04-2008, 10:40:15
Diary of the Dead (2007) George A.Romero ***

Prilicno razocaravajuce od velikog maga horora,i pad u odnosu i na prethodnika Land of....Gubljenje podkontexta i prikazivanje istine o ljudima i svetu u kome zivimo,prikazano transparentno sa odredjenom dozom simbolike,a kroz oko kamere u ruci jednog od glavnih likova,je daleko od cuvenih Romerovih Noci i Zora,kada je on bio verovatno mnogo manje ogorcen,a mnogo vise otvoren.
Romero ne uspeva da ubedi posmatraca zasto je dokumentovanje dogadjaja vaznije od pukog i golog prezivljavanja,a ono sto je posebno razocaravajuce jeste ispod prosecna gluma i nerazradjenost likova.Poredjenje i slicnost sa Cloverfieldom je neminovno.
Diary of the Dead je zabavan film,ali s obzirom da ga potpisuje Romero,on je i ispodprosecan.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 30-04-2008, 20:25:25
DIARY OF THE DEAD
**(*)
3-
ovo je ipak mnogo bolje kad je satira prigušena, u drugom ili trećem planu, umesto što mi se poruke –kao ovde- nabijaju na nos. naročito kad su poruke tako... predvidive. uključujući reditelja koji gine pokušavajući da ispravi svoju kameru kako bi bolje usnimila njegovu pogibiju. eh, ti reditelji kojima je film preči od života – takav kliše! viđam ga u svakom 20om hororu koji pogledam. gde ono beše nedavno? wrong turn 2?
ok, ovde je barem ta opsesija snimanjem svega što se dešava deo TEME (i 'poruke'!) pa je malčice svarljivija no u CLOVERFIELDU, ali to neke od situacija ne čini manje nategnutim i nenamerno komičnim – naročito pred kraj, kad imamo dirljivu scenu razgovora između direktora (lica zaklonjenog kamerom), njegove ljube (bez kamere) i njihovog drugara koji to sve snima iz suprotnog ugla. I mean – come on! :(

za razliku od LAND OF THE DEAD ovo je ipak bliže 'povratku formi' –utoliko što barem nije previše trash, nego je po tonu i ambicijama bliže originalnoj trilogiji.
avaj, videli smo već previše zombi filmova, odličnih, dobrih, osrednjih i loših a da bi se ovaj posebno istakao među njima sem po izolovanim detaljima (novi metodi za ubijanje zombija, sveži set-pisovi) – s tim što su rečeni set-pisvoi budžetom (i maštom?) ograničeni na vrlo kratke i jednostavne epizodice a epizodična struktura pored ostalog znači da se film svodi na seriju gimmicka bez pravog pravca i cilja i sa poentom jasnom već u prvih 10 minuta.

DIARY OF THE DEAD je dovoljno dinamičan i zabavan da se može fino pogledati pod uslovom da smanjite očekivanja. meni je prijao malkice više od LANDA ali je još uvek mnooogo daleko od najslabijeg dela trilogije, tj DAY OF THE DEAD. likovi su, u poređenju s onima iz HADERSFILDA, nešto podnošljiviji, ali u suštini – znajte da su ti što studiraju režiju, scenario, glumu itsl. notorno dosadni i nezanimljivi likovi za film, a i za život.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Milosh on 01-05-2008, 01:02:38
Hm, Land of the Dead je od tebe dobio 3+ (evo, piše i u ZS16), a Diary 3-, a opet kažeš da ti je Diary više prijao...

Ja sam pogledao Diary pre par dana i još uvek ne znam šta da mislim. Idejno mi je više legao nego Land, ali je konačni utisak nepovoljniji utoliko što bih Land radije ponovo pogledao (pa čak i pogledao nastavak koji bi se direktno nadovezao na njega) nego Diary. Recimo da mi je na momente delovalo skoro genijalno, a na momente (mnogo češće, doduše) kao najgori dilentatizam. Mislim da je glavni problem u groznim likovima koji su još gore odglumljeni, u Landu je to moglo da se proguta zbog stripovske stilizacije (a i gluma je tamo bila bolja) ali ovde bode oči i para uši. Sporadični podzapleti i epizodisti koji se u njima pojavljuju su zanimljiviji od putešestvija glavnih junaka. Pred kraj stvari kao da malo živnu kad stignu u onu kuću ali (lažna uzbuna, ipak) onda se sve prebrzo okonča. Poslednji kadar je divan, a legla mi je i replika koja ide uz njega ma koliko da je in your face. Sve u svemu, veoma zanimljivo ali i gotovo isto toliko razočaravajuće. Mada, voleo bih da vidim još jedan Dead film od Romera, pod uslovom da uvede neki novi momenat; možda da snimi World of the Dead i konačno stavi tačku.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 01-05-2008, 02:51:37
ne ne ne.
ocene u ZS16 su prilagođene uobičajenim, svakodnevnim kriterijumima bližim repertoarskom ocenjivanju, kako bi bile bliže ostaloj dvojici rivjuera (milosh + cripple) – dakle, PREVEO sam moje uobičajene ocene na ekvivalente ocena koje NISU, kao moje, sub speciae aeternitatis.
drugim rečima, onda kad ocenjujem sam za sebe, onda koristim uobičajeni rejting u kome 5 znači 'remek delo' u najužem i najozbiljnijem smislu reči, a 4 = 'izvanredan, odličan film' u nekom uobičajenom smislu reči, itd.
drugim rečima, skoro sve moje ocene u tom konkretnom trijumviratskom ocenjivanju uvećane su barem za pola ocene, tako da omoguće da i neki normalan film dobije 4 ili čak 5.

ako pogledaš u 'svi horori koje sam ikada gledao, sa ocenama' videćeš sledeće:
LAND OF THE DEAD
G.A. Romero
***
3-
B
/DVD
04.08.
što će reći, mlaka trojka koja teži ka tri minus, što je vremenom i dobila kad sam se dodatno ohladio nakon novog gledanja.

u suštini, NUMERIČKI GLEDANO, oba filma imaju iste ocene, iako su u pitanju prilično različite vrste filmova, svaki sa svojim nezanemarljivim kvalitetima ali i sa specifičnim, nezanemarljivim problemima.
LAND je više bio posvećen spektaklu i dodvoravanju fangorijancima (valjda u nadi da se postigne komerc. uspeh i tako opravdaju uložene pare i dobiju nove), i tome shodna stilizacija, stripizacija, dumb-downizacija ga u mojim očima znatno obaraju.
DIARY je ozbiljniji po namerama, pa i (relativnim) postignućima, i time je kao što već rekoh bliži duhu night-dawn-daya, ali ga s druge strane jebe to što ipak značajno pada u poređenju s njima. delom zbog odabrane forme video-dnevnika, koja stilski više ograničava nego što oslobađa i pruža, delom zbog slabe glume koja u ovakvoj formi više dolazi do izražaja, delom zbog samog scenarija koji previše vrluda kroz te proizvoljne, problematične epizodice (uvodni TV izveštaj sa vaskrslima koji napadaju paramedike podseća na početak DAWNA; melodramatično samoubistvo vozačice blisko je patetici poginulih mladunaca na benz. pumpi iz NIGHT; najzabavnija deonica, u bolnici, po pristupu je bliska DAYU –kome odaje počast pozajmljujući situaciju sličnu kultnom zombiju s otvorenim stomakom koji, kad se pridigne, prospe svoja creva po podu: avaj, jebeš omaž koji ne uspe bar da dostigne ako ne i prestigne original, kako ovde biva; epizoda sa nigra-pljačkašima koji prave zalihe najbliža je DAWN situaciji ali se razrešava neubedljivo ružičasto, suviše lagano za gl. junake koji suviše glatko odatle odu; dok je deda-amiš tipično 'igranje za publiku' a la LAND OF THE DEAD, totalni wink-wink, nudge-nudge zezanje i stipizacija kako bi tinejdž-fangorijanci imali na šta da viču 'wow, cool!' kad dekica počne da baca štapine dinamita i barata kosom (pri čemu je njegov odlazak sa scene kao pozajmljen iz CREEPSHOWA po svojoj preteranosti i fiziološkoj neizvodljivosti koja najdrastičnije podriva 'dokumentarnost' pristupa ostatka).
čak i kraj, čija te je skoro-nihilistička upitanost toliko kupila, u suštini je reciklaža za mene mnogo elaboriranijeg (i vizuelno i idejno) kraja NIGHT rimejka koji je savini režirao ali dekica romero pisao 1990, u kome takođe imaš zombie target practice, zombije vezane za ili obešene sa drveća itsl. i prikaz obezljuđenja (zombifikacije!) preživelih.
sve u svemu, kako se iz gore rečenog može videti, DIARY u blender stavlja svih 5 dosadašnjih romerovih zombi inkarnacija (računajući i savini-romerovu), i ponešto iz njih uspeva da asocira na ranije filmove, ali retko i da ih dosegne-nadmaši, istovremeno vrludajući u tonu od propovedništva preko omaža do dodvoravajućih set-pisova.
da zaključim, mislim da bi ovaj isti scenario i isti likovi bili značajno svarljiviji da se dekica nije ograničio ich-FORMOM, i da je veći deo filma uradio iz  konvencionalne 'sveznajuće' vizure – a da je zadržao čak i reditelja koji sve to snima kao lik, i povremeno prikazao i snimke iz njegovog ugla, ali bez preteranog potenciranja toga.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 01-05-2008, 11:48:36
Većina vas zna koliko mi je Romero drag - uostalom, ja sam i pokrenuo ovaj topik očekujući najbolje - ali ovoga puta ne mogu da pronađem mnogo pohvalnih reči. U okviru Romerovog DEAD opusa, Dnevnik zauzima najniže mesto, i nikako se ne može uvrstiti u red horor klasika. Novi film nije ni prineti trilingu NOĆ-ZORA-DAN, a meni je lično bio inferioran i u odnosu na ZEMLJU. Naravno, ukusi su različiti, o njima ne vredi raspravljati, ali Diary of the Dead je film ispod proseka - i u odnosu na ostale Romerove filmove, i u odnosu na trenutnu zombi produkciju. Uostalom, gledali ste REC (film koji je po konceptu sličan Dnevniku), videli ste kako se to danas radi.

Bez obzira na mikro budžet, Diary of the Dead je iznenađujuće nekompetentan film koji predstavlja tamnu mrlju u Romerovom opusu. Miloš je pomenuo reč diletantizam - i zaista, na momente mi se činilo da je Dnevnik zaista snima neki amater ili početnik, neki Jason Creed, a ne majstor zombi zanata. Ne kažem da "stranice" Dnevnika ne kriju par dobrih rešenja, ali kvaliteta ima manje u odnosu na mane.

Drag mi starac se vratio na poznatu teritoriju, ali ne uspeva da održi pažnju i ubedi nas da je zombi apokalipsa zaista počela. Oldtajmer pokušava da bude moderan - koristi novu tehnologiju, okuplja ekipu zgodnih mladih glumaca (Dnevnik definitivno ima najlepši cast od svih DEAD filmova), ali ti pokušaji deluju usiljeno.

Novca je bilo veoma, veoma malo - u produkcionom smislu, Dnevnik se može porediti sa Noći, ali je mnogo manje efektan pošto Romero ovoga puta insistira na brojnim lokacijama (poput Zemlje mrvih i Dnevnik je road-movie) pa se nedostatak novca vidi.

Dnevnik mrtvih je Romerova Treća majka, film koji samo podseća na nekadašnje dane slave, ali ne uspeva - ni blizu - da isporuči onaj nekadašnji adrenalin.

Pogledaću ga još jednom ovih dana - ali prvo moram da se oporavim od šoka - za mene je Dnevnik mrtvih veliko ratočarenje.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 18-07-2008, 12:17:56
Izgleda da se nastavak zaistinski snima...

A couple of phone calls later, Dread Central learned that George has to attend several meetings about Diary 2 which have the project significantly hitting the fast track. So significantly that we got the word it's 99.9% a go for the film to start production this September.

I to uskoro...
Title: Hm...
Post by: Tex Murphy on 18-07-2008, 13:03:48
Hm. Meni se Zemlja mrtvih prilično svidjela. In fact, da nije posljednje (debilne) scene, bio bih sklon da ga proglasim odličnim filmom. Ovaj Diary je budalaština spram koje je Lady in the Water remek djelo.
Title: Re: Hm...
Post by: Kunac on 19-07-2008, 12:13:03
Meni je ZEMLJA sasvim legitimna, legla mi je samo tako (3x sam ovaj film gledao u bioskopu, pa ti vidi), ali mi se po tonu ne uklapa sa drugim ROmerovim DEAD filmovima.

Popcorn pristup je nastavljen i u DNEVNIKu, samo sa mnogo, mnogo manje uspeha... Slično će biti i u DRUGOM DNEVNIKU, gotovo je izvesno. Samo-parodiranje je opasna stvar.

A što se Š(L)JAMALANA tiče: poslednji film mu je pretekao i DAMU iz VODE.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Ghoul on 19-07-2008, 12:51:37
ja bih da organi reda ipak ispitaju LEGITIMNOST Land-a, nisam siguran da je tu baš sve po zakonu.

a DNEVNIK 2 će biti more of the same kao u DNEVNIKU 1.

jedino ako na DVDu bude i DNEVNIKOV DODATAK...
Title: Hm...
Post by: Tex Murphy on 19-07-2008, 18:20:43
Ma taj Dnevnik je imbecilna tinejdžerska budalaština zamaskirana u zombi film, sa toliko kretenskim dijalozima da je to strašno. Ništa to ne valja.
S druge strane, Day of the Dead je sjajan film.
Title: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead +
Post by: Kunac on 26-09-2008, 21:21:56
Navodno, snimanje novog GARovog zombi filma je počelo... Još nije sigurno da li je u pitanju nastavak Dnevnika, a pominje se i termin kvazi-nastavak. Info o filmu je za sada skroman, ali se zna da će se radnja ovoga puta odvijati na ostrvu, i da će biti podvodnih zombija... GAR does Fulci? Izgleda tako...

Romero nastavlja da snima zombi filmove... Zašto? Na BD-u sam našao komenar koji me je nasmejao - ali je u biti bolno istinit:

"What is he doing? Why does he keep returning to this genre?" ... "Some kind of instinct. Memory, of what he used to do. Making movies was an important thing in his life."