Film Review: Survival Of The Dead

Survival Of The Dead follows 2007's Diary Of The Dead as George A. Romero's latest story from his '...Of The Dead' universe started back in 1968 with 'Night Of The Living Dead'.

If I am correct this is the first Romero Zombie film to go straight to DVD and to be honest its no better or worse than its handheld shot predecessor.

Survival picks up where Diary left of (which should make it about the same time that events in Dawn Of The Dead are happening, but obviously in a different period of time) and includes a character briefly featured in Diary - the soldier gone AWOL Sarge.

It follows Sarge (or 'Nictotine' Crocket if you read IMDB) and his men (and woman) as they try and find a safe place, and end up heading towards the isolated Plum Island where they encounter the warring Irish families the O' Flynn's and the Muldoons. No, really.

If the plot sounds a bit ropey...well that's because it is. The O' Flynns and Muldoons have different ideas about what to do with the 'Deadheads' - the former want to kill them, and the latter want to keep them alive in hope for a cure or maybe they may want to stop eating humans and have a nice pig or horse instead.

Luckily the fact remains that no-one can top George A. Romero for sheer, unadulterated zombie carnage. You'd think after over 40 years there would be a lack of innovative ways to off the undead, but Romero continues to lead with the way with some brilliantly creative ways. Best of which is probably with a flare gun.

But sadly that instance and sadly a few others in the film are hampered by some really shoddy CGI. When you have a makeup genius like Greg Nicotero on board you wouldn't think CGI is needed, but it is used and it almost looks cartoonish in places. But luckily its only really noticeable 3 or 4 times throughout the film.

I would probably be pushing this towards 3 and a half stars because I can kind of overlook the shoddy plot, but there's a little plot twist just before the start of the last act that really stinks so drags it back down a bit. And where has Romero's patented social satire gone?

Overall its another worthy entry but not a patch on the older ones and in no way a contender to the title of best 'Of The Dead' film, a prize that still goes to 'Day Of The Dead' (Oh yeah, I said it).

***

A bit of a mish mash with a poor plot meeting some brilliant zombie mayhem. Its nice and cheap though, so check it out if you're a fan of the series.