Survival of the Dead – TIFF Review

Hundreds of zombies and TIFF movie goers drew their white flags out and united at the Midnight Madness screening of George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead with the legend in person amongst several cast and crew members. After being severely disenchanted by Romero’s last experimental and media-infused Dead installment, this reviewer went in with extremely low expectations. Rounding up Romero’s mediocre second Dead trilogy, Survival of the Dead unfortunately left an unpleasant taste of expired undead flesh in my mouth that even zombies would have spit out.

I’m sorry, but this is not going to be a formal review. Enough is enough. It is time for Romero to retire the Dead franchise already. We forgave him for the overly glossy Land of the Dead. (Asia Argento and Dennis Hopper made it easy to) We even lied through our teeth by saying Diary of the Dead was better than Rec. We must however draw the line with Survival of the Dead. We as horror fans must not be afraid to admit a film from a renowned and respected director is “just not that good.”

A slight spin-off of Diary of the Dead, a leader of National Guard soldiers named Sarge, (Alan Van Sprang) a minor character from both Land and Diary takes his crew to Plum Island in hopes of seeking refuge from the flesh eating zombies.  Unfortunately they have stumbled smack middle into a long standing family feud between the O’flynns and the Muldoons. The O’flynn’s leader (played byTwin Peaks Kenneth Walsh) is convinced that zombies must be killed on the spot, while the Muldoon leader (Richard Fitzpatrick) wants to hold the zombies captive and wait for a “cure.”  From then on the soldiers are stuck in the middle of a war while also trying to avoid bite wounds from the zombies running rampant on the island. Yawns, CG gore and cheesy dialogue ensue.

Survival of the Dead lacks any of the quality or ingenuity displayed in any Dead film.  A female character is introduced in the film by playing with herself and then throughout the entire film points out her lesbianism in every line of her dialogue. This should tell you how “deep” the social commentary in this film is.

In fact, the only originality still left in the series is when it comes to the outrageous zombie kills, but what once seemed like genuinely scary moments, now come as overly-saturated CG gags that tailor strictly to the crowd of people who will be lining up to see Saw 6.

Hardcore fans of Romero will find themselves enjoying (or pretending to enjoy) this latest installment. Unfortunately, the rest of the general viewers will find it hard to stay awake. (I know my row did.)  Now if you excuse me, I must end this review before I start to feel guilty….or get maimed. (I’m sorry, George!)

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