a SIFF 2010 review
Romero’s Survival of the Dead Familiar Carnage
Tired of traveling the back roads robbing random travelers and killing of hordes of seemingly never-ending zombies, Sarge (Alan Van Sprang) and his ragtag group of National Guardsmen decide to make their way to Delaware’s Plum Island, a supposed safe haven free of undead mayhem. But not all is as advertised, the soldiers finding themselves smack dab in the middle of a turf war between the kill’em all Patrick O’Flynn (Kenneth Welsh) and the keep’em alive in case there’s a cure Seamus Muldoon (Richard Fitzpatrick). It’s the kind of skirmish that could get a person dead, and with plenty of zombies still wandering around aimlessly if the residents don’t get Sarge and his men the undead certainly will.
The dead walk again in George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead © Magnet Releasing
Survival of the Dead is probably the most simplistic of all his apocalyptic zombie epics. The sixth film in George A. Romero’s legendary series and the first to immediately follow its predecessor Diary of the Dead, the movie is a definite improvement over that disappointing 2008 effort. Even so, there’s not much here of merit to talk about, and as much fun as all the hillbilly in-fighting and gruesome zombie killing can be the feeling that we’ve been down this road before is one that’s frustratingly difficult to shake.
In many ways this is the legendary horror director’s most threadbare effort to date. The plot is razor thin, and while Romero is as always trying to make some sort of social statement hidden within the carnage I can’t help but wish he’d be going for a bit more than asking why can’t we all just get along and that war between neighbors (i.e. nations) is bad.
Not that I can say I had a bad time watching this one. In fact, the Seattle International Film Festival midnight crowd I saw it with literally, if you’ll excuse the pun, ate the majority of it up with somewhat delirious glee. The film is at times boldly silly including hysterical lunacies as identical twin sisters (one undead, the other not), a soldier turning the zombie tables literally biting back (underwater, no less) and a farmer intent on teaching his non-living relatives to eat something other than people (like horses). The kills are as inventive as ever, Romero reminding everyone who the king is where it comes to showcasing people getting eaten alive.
Be all that as it may I think it’s high time the director gave up on this genre and moved onto something else. I know it’s not like he has an easy time getting funding but there just as to be some other ideas percolating on the horror maestro’s head some eager independent studio would be willing to front some cash in order to see it get made. Survival of the Dead, for all its moments of fun, is nothing more than another collection of Romero greatest hits, returning to them getting less and less worthwhile the more he keeps doing it.
Film Rating: êê (out of 4)
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