World War Z (the novel) is still in my opinion the best example of exploring a zombie scenario from a documentary-like format, as the narrator collects raw, unadulterated accounts in interviews with different survivors from varying backgrounds. Max Brooks' writing (especially in characters' accounts outside the U.S.) made the gravity of a global outbreak feel more real than in any zombie-related movie or series I've seen to date (except perhaps the Dawn of the Dead remake's opening). What makes the book so effective for me is first and foremost that it doesn't read like a traditional novel. Brooks put such detail into constructing it as if it was truly a collection of interviews from around the world published as a paperback. It's chilling. Moreover, it speaks on a range of issues (politics, media, economics, the military, etc.) via the interviewees in what I found a natural, organic commentary rather than a pretentious, tacked on one. And each character's POV fits with who they are. Building that sense of the apocalypse's scale and painting such a grounded picture for the reader takes exceptional storytelling skill. If I had to pick a film that does the found footage approach better than Diary of the Dead, I'd go with The Zombie Diaries.
If you loved World War Z. Read "Day by Day Armageddon" it is an incredible read that feels realistic and down to earth. And they are not excessively long either.
I am going to say that I laughed at the scene when they encounter a guy looting a TV from the girlfriend’s dorm. “What are you doing here?” “I’m just stealing! What are _you_ doing in the women’s dorm with a camera?”
Talking about found footage zombie films, would you ever consider making a video on the movie One Cut of the Dead? A found footage zombie flick - Hoyever, there is a twist!
Yeah, I was thinking about that movie when watching his review of Diary. There are similar themes, but I get the feeling One Cut does it much better. (To be fair, I have not seen Diary, but it was never really of interest to me.)
+1 for this, I'm glad I was able to watch it without knowing anything beforehand. Such an odd movie where everything just comes together perfectly at the end.
The only memory I have of this movie is finding it on UA-cam for free when I was 14 and watching it falling asleep and waking up at the end of it and just thinking "I'm not going to rewatch this I bet it will make even less scenic than it does now"
I am always fascinated by the little Romero-isms in movies Like the Amish man or Dead Reckoning in Land. I appreciate the weird kinda ridiculous things he puts in his movies to make them feel more interesting compared to a lot of zombie media that is just boring survivors being dirty and sad.
George Romero’s best things he’s done/been in during the new millennium is probably call of the dead, the bo1 zombies map. One of the best in the series.
They remade it and had the audacity to remove Romero. Although it would have been very tasteless seeing as Romero had since passed long before they remade it.
@@SpeedwagonZaidan in the specific case of George Romero, I wouldn't call it distasteful. Seems like an appropriate way of remembering the grandfather of the zombie genre
@@SpeedwagonZaidan in leu of having him in the map (since he passed like you said) they included his glasses which, when interacted with, gives differing dialogue that all alludes to the man himself being a legend that's still loved
From seeing too many bad mock-umentaries, I've come to the conclusion that is it bad to switch between the characters' camera and the movie-director's camera showing the characters.
The DVD has a bunch of in-universe spin-off films as well, which you can probably find on UA-cam now. One of them was made by and stars Teller of Penn and Teller fame; it feels like a bleaker version of the Bill Murray sequence in Zombieland.
I dig it too. I fantasize about what it would be like to be in Romero zombie apocalypse and this tries to replicate that. Its crappy but i love just watching it as if it is a real video, weed helps with that.
@@1984isnotamanual he had a number of B movies so if you take it as that and not one of his masterpieces, it's really neat. The old man really understood human nature, thats for sure!
This whole concept would probably work better as a modern streaming miniseries. The meandering structure works better episodically, we're alot more social media focused, and we've seen the effects in a far more negative light. There's alot more to work with. You could straight up have people who literally don't believe the zombies exist despite them being right outside. Which would be out of place in the original.
The only thing I remember liking in this movie is Samuel(the deaf Amish man)‘s entrance. I take slight issue with saying this is his worst one though. I recall the side-quel movie Island of the Dead (the movie that dares to ask “but what if we could train the zombie to just eat horses?”) being roughly equally, if differently bad.
The problem for Romero is he believed when everyone started saying what was great about his zombie films was the 'social commentary'. The more he lent into that the weaker his films got.
Yeah, a bit too much social commentary and not enough of other stuff. I think his original trilogy has the perfect balance of social commentary and actual fun/engaging movie.
Such a disappointing film from the prolific director of the dead series. When his cameo appearance in a call of duty mode is much better than this movie, you know you’re in for a bad time.
I think the whole film is just a critique of media across the board, all forms, official and social and how hollow people become because they become empty cut outs presenting themselves for the camera as the person behind the camera just becomes a voyeur; like the audience watching. It's scatter-shot thematics is a reflection of the media in general, how constant shifting of the narrative reinforcing/reflecting the media cycle as well as the short attention span of the audience; it's a media satire through and through. I honestly thought, for this reason, that it was a great Ramiro film.
Unpopular opinion: I actually liked "Diary of the Dead." Is it as good as either "Night of the Living Dead" or "Dawn of the Dead?" Hell no! But I didn't think it was terrible, either. I mean, I've seen far worse movies. Plus, I love the alcoholic British professor!
I wasn't a HUGE fan of it, but I did enjoy some of the dread in the scenes where they're in the hospital, the mansion, and while they're on the road. It was pleasantly bleak and "realistic" to use an overused word. Not awful and worth a watch in my opinion.
No, you are right, I'm with you on this. It wasn't bad at all. Quite entertaining enough to get thru. (yes, Mr Gray, better than land of the dead for sure.)
I really legitimately liked this movie when it was first released and watched it multiple times before I noticed how stupid it was and how bad the acting was now I can't stand it
I know I'm in the minority, but I respectfully disagree with you. For me, it's all about the context of when the film was released, and social media was not as prevalent as it is today. It's easy to forget that there really was a time in which we didn't spend most of our day glued to it, and I think Romero hit the nail on the head by showing how it would transform people in the years that followed. We're all pretty much self centered and want to show ourselves in a particular way in social media, even when that may not be anywhere near what our personal reality actually is. Also, I often think that we give people too much credit and believe that everyone would "do the right thing" and "act logically" in a stressful situation, but we all saw how lots of people hoarded toilet paper a couple of years ago, sometimes even fighting over it. I think that's another thing that Romero wanted to show about us in this film, as much as we might hate to admit it. Having said that, I don't think it's a masterpiece either, but I do feel it gets way more hate than it deserves. It's definitely one of my personal favorites :)
I know it's 2 years late, but I agree with you. I do think it's funny how Ryan admits it's about sensationalism and desensitization, but then gripes about toned down reactions to gruesome things happening. Like, buddy, did you not just say yourself that this is one of the themes? These film students are products of the desensitization. I also saw it as a critique on the war at the time, how easily people look passed stories of children being killed, people being beheaded, and all of the horrors going on, so long as you put a camera or a screen between them and the atrocities.
I don’t know that something can really be an insult to his legacy when the end result is exactly what Romero wanted. Nearly all of the bad decisions were expressly made by him, with essentially no outside meddling.
@@davidriley8316 Maybe if he had a better budget he could have done something more interesting but after Land of the Dead, he didn't want to work with any big film studios anymore
I remember marathoning all the Romero Dead movies for the first time 2 years ago and when I got to this one I was so close to making a video essay to vent all my frustrations, glad you beat me to it
I'm in a very small minority of 1 here, but I love this movie! I actually think the entire series (although admittedly some of the movies have issues) is brilliant. I won't go into the reasons why because it would require writing a thesis, but Diary of the Dead is my third favourite in the series after Day and Dawn at numbers 1 and 2 respectively. I'm being serious....and I'm alone. All alone.
You're definitely not alone in appreciating it. I think it's the best movie he made after Day, though I'd place it fourth overall as far as his zombie films go, behind the original trilogy. In a lot of ways it's even prophetic seeing how we now have an absolute plague of online disinformation and paid disinfo campaigns. Few people were really talking about what a huge issue this was going to be back in 2007 and now everyone talks about it.
Aaahh...thanks for that Justin. I totally agree. I think this was really George just being himself and doing it his way on a small budget. He was more comfortable working under those conditions, and it always showed in the finished product.
Cheers! I agree with you that 'Land' is one of the lesser entries in the series, but I still like it nonetheless. But, it's more like a cliched Hollywood production than a Romero movie. Even 'Survival' with all it's problems is obviously an independent production. But like I said, I love them all...I just love some more than others! Day is my favourite though. I not only think it's George's best film, but also one of my favourite movies of all time.
I got thinking about one thing Ryan said. Are there any movies with found footage mixed with reenactments? That sounds like a neat concept and I would like to see some if there are any.
Feeling second hand embarrassment from my younger self who watched this endlessly being one of his first zombie movies and used to think it was the greatest thing ever. Think my love of zombie movies and found footage really overshadowed any kind of taste.
I am just starting this. Unlike nearly everyone, I like this movie just fine. Nowhere near peak Romero, but better than most movies in this budget range. *I'm back. He makes some good points. I don't think it is fair to hold Romero's pessimism against him. That's who he was, and that is the art he made. I agree in broad strokes with what Ryan is saying about the intent of the movie. I think this is a movie about how raw footage is supposed to be real, but it is media plus artistry that conveys an actual experience. Raw media is inherently less real than art that conveys the subjective view we all have. I think that the movie's penchant for touching on a new subject with every setting change is very intentional. It reflects how the firehose of information we live in exposes us to every awful thing without examination. Lastly, I think the characters stilted dialogue is the most blatant give away to the intent of the movie. They are not artists. They go from making a shitty narrative horror movie in the beginning to making a shitty documentary. The enjoyment of the movie is realizing that the characters are fully realized human beings, but they are unable to get that across in a work of art. You see this in occasional poignant moments that tend happen on what would be the documentary's B roll. Their authenticity is inverse to their awareness of the camera. This creates the movie's tonal shifts and makes it feel like this is a terrible movie with some occasional pathos. Which is what it is. My overall criticism is that Diary of the Dead is it aggressively decides not to entertain the viewer. It is a bitter screed against 'content' as opposed to art. It does a zombie movie poorly, in order to contrast it with a good one. Romero detests the human characters for mixing up mere artlessness with authenticity. This is a pretentious premise, that points its finger at the characters and says "Fuck you, your supposed 'realness' is pretentious". Romero's movies were never about zombies, but the zombies are what draws people to watch them. Diary of the Dead sells people a bill of goods, and then gives them what the director thinks the audience needs to hear. And that feels very juvenile. I think Diary of the Dead is more unique and ballsy than it gets credit for, but Romero's intentionally ham fisted intentions come off as condescending.
Speaking of dodgy Romero films, one day I’d love to hear your thoughts about Bruiser. It’s…not exactly a good movie, but Jason Flemyng gives it his all, and I have an inexplicable soft spot for it.
I remember my mother asking to see zombie movie a few years back and we found this one. She so, so disappointed and didn't believe me it was a Romero movie.
Me and my friends were watching this in the dorms and we talked so much shit about it because of how bad it was. When your audience is marveling and hoping the minor character outlives the rest of the cast, you need to keep that person alive OR rewrite the characters.
Idk what imma think about this review as I do love this movie dispite how bad I know it is 😆 Edit I loved the review and you are correct about basically everything I still love the movie 😆
I literally watched Land of the Dead a couple weeks ago just out of the blue. And watched Roanoke Gaming’s video on it the other day. Looking forward to your take on it. It’s definitely a movie I go back to watch for some reason
If it doesn't exist already there should be an Easter egg in a zombie game or movie where the bookcase panic room is opened or slightly ajar giving a peek to what happened to the survivors of diary of the dead. That'd be epic.
I honestly enjoy Diary unironically; it's the only Romero film where all his normal and numerous failures as a writer (namely his incredibly one note characters who always at once both incredibly stupid and up their own asses) actually works, because it fits tonally with his cast: a bunch of film students are absolutely going to fall apart like this and only survive based on the assistance of the actually competent people. It also helps that here at least it feels like Romero knows what he's writing about; they generally feel like real people not just here to advance the plot because for once Romero's writing about a group he doesn't immensely dislike. I think it's also a bit harsh to say this is the worst of Romero's last three films, especially when one remembers that both Land of the Dead and Survival of the Dead both exist and evidently take place within the same continuity. (Survival is perhaps the worst non-mockbuster zombie movie I've ever seen and Land has so little respect for its audience's intelligence that it can't help explaining its childishly simplistic messages in the most ham-fisted way imaginable). To be fair, I'm not a fain of Romero's work. He's *okay* at concepts but his unapologetically best movie, Night of the Living Dead, he shamelessly stole from Richard Mathison and then somehow still managed to completely miss the entire point of Mathison's novella by cramming what's supposed to be the story of one man coming to terms with being the last of his kind over several years with powerfully stupid and unlikable characters, none of whom survive a single night against the least threatening zombies in cinema history. Dawn of the Dead is the worst of the six films and the less I think about it the better, and Day ruins what could've been a complex and interesting story with Romero's once again childishly simplistic views on society and inability to create characters with more than one dimension, which should I guess be expected since they only exist to further Romero's own political views. It's definitely possible to create a film with a political Aesop but doing it effectively requires actual talent as a writer and commitment to telling the story first, and unfortunately Romero just never managed to reach that level.
Oh thank God. I thought this movie was absolutely terrible when I watched it years ago but everyone around me acted like it was blasphemous to say that a Romero film was bad. Now I feel validated. Thanks Ryan! This movie fucking sucks.
Best zombie movie is the original night of the living dead. “Return of the Living Dead” was actually really depressing, if you step back (I don’t like issues with no solutions, hence my dislike of Resident Evil). But my REAL fav is Warm Bodies. It is super extra and weird, but I like how they can bring the zombies back. It gives hope. Humanity needs hope
I've said it to you a hundred times RYAN , you , are , without a doubt , the very best horror reviewer I have EVER , in MY 40yrs of watching , reading and digesting every horror film, magazine article and book points I came across.. NONE have ever been as intelligent, observant or of wit like yourself. Not just words , not just bs but my genuine feeling. Superb. Thankyou for your service to horror and fans like myself.
So this video is pretty funny to me because for the life of me I don't remember actually watching this movie, but some of the shots shown look familiar. I probably did see it and then completely forgot. That doesnt usually happen to me and movies, but... i guess this one is special.
Recommendation/Request for a future video: The Void, The Cellar, or In The Mouth of Madness. All touch a bit on a Lovecraftian type of unknowable horror, some clearly more influenced than others, but all end with a very bleak and pessimistic outlook on the world that these films inhabit. I think getting your spin on one or all of these films would be very interesting!
I remember watching this with a horror fanatic friend back in high school. He didn't seemed too impressed other than by the kills, and we found the ending super anticlimactic.
While *Land Of The Dead* is more fluent in it's place and story. *Diary Of The Dead* is more like a computer nerd trying to explain HP Lovecraft's *Call of Cthulhu* but does so in a inaccurate jumbled way.
2 роки тому+2
I like Romero’s films a lot. Even with his more irregular works you can find interesting things, but there’s just two films of his that I can’t stand: “Monkey Shines” and this one. I understand what he was trying to do, but I totally agree with your thoughts on “Diary”.
Honestly, if you ask me, the "Of the Dead" series should've ended at just "Land of the Dead". Maybe that's an unpopular opinion, but that's just my opinion. Feel free to say otherwise in the replies.
It hurts when a brilliant artist makes a big miss or you realize he is past his prime. I guess it is normal. Enjoyable as always. It warms my heart how how you can devote a serious video on a bad movie - even criticism have to be respectful to a degree, me thinks. I would be glad in the future if we could see your take on the mockumentary/found foootage hybrid Butterfly Kisses.
I remember watching this movie at least 3 times, almost back-to-back, because I was so desperate to find SOME way it could be a good movie… “I just must not get it, what did I miss?” Nothing. Actually nothing.
I actually think the film's pretty good, even if it's no masterpiece. It's not like the acting and execution on Romero's other films is flawless, it's just hidden from our view by nostalgia! This movie marked a return to independent film-making for a Romero zombie flick - and, just like the original Night of the Living Dead, that largely accounts for its flaws but also its charms. The narration and a lot of the social commentary can feel pretentious, inconsistent, and tacked on. But the film did strike me as fairly self-aware about it - "yeah, that's how film students are." I also think a lot of the social commentary is pretty prescient. At the time, everyone was going on about how blogging and social media was a liberatory democratization of the media while Romero was saying "this is seductive but we're also in danger of losing any sense of a shared, fact-based reality." I don't even like that argument, but have to admit Romero has a point! Also there's this warning in the film that seeing life through a camera and as potential raw material for broadcast can stop us from participating in real life and connecting with those right in front of us. That cuts pretty deep.
I think the final zombie movie Survival of the Dead was him coming back to as you said a smaller place for his story. I love LOTD but it and Dairy of the Dead the subtext became in your face. He was better when his subtexat was subtle( oir maybe it was more accidental than on purpose) Survival is a better last addition than Diary and I am glad he made it.
My biggest issue was that the Dawn of the Dead remake had shown fat moving, trap laying zombies. Yes, I know, different directors, but kind of hard to take slow moving shufflers seriously after you've seen zombies who followed the cardio rule.
I don't think it's a terrible movie, it's way better than survival of the dead but it's not perfect either. Critics love this movie and so do I. It's not Romero's best film, but it's a good found footage film.
This movie lacks self awareness because Romero lacks the self awareness to realize he's been doing the same "are we worse than the zombies" hack woke message since Dawn of the Dead. The Snyder remake is objectively a much better film.
In Survival i felt empty. Diary was just a aged director trying to go different, i dont mess with that. I liked It cause It was simple. A good topic, zombies and asshole characters. In Survival the bad acting just fucked my existence.
Have you seen Romero’s early found footage work, called Jacaranda Joe? I’d recommend that as some of his best. Also if you’d like next level bad zombie found footage, Id suggest Zombie Doomsday. It makes Diary of the Dead look like Titanic.
For what it’s worth I attended an interview with George Romero just before Diary was released and shortly after Land of the Dead. Romero was very pissed off that studios gave him barely any budget to create the films they demanded he make but then have a massive budget for other directors to do remakes of his film or sometimes just to replicate one of his movies. Diary of the dead was his way of going back to making films the way he enjoyed making them… without interference from investors, producers or studios. I don’t feel it’s a good movie but I feel it was more a desire for George to rediscover why he went into filmmaking.
I'm actually a huge fan of the nihilism in horror films, sometimes you're just in a mood to see bad things happen to people for no reason. I double this for zombie things, all the negatives you listed about the walking dead are actually the POSITIVES for me. No sanctuary being safe and secure forever, no cure, no light at the end of the tunnel, no huge victories that change anything. It resonated with me as a show because that's EXACTLY HOW I PICTURE THE APOCALYPSE. It's the end of the world and if you're a small band of people just trying to survive after being traumatized, you're not going to change anything in this world, the best you can hope for is waking up and everyone who went to sleep last night is still there and didn't snack on someone while everyone was asleep. I love the "tired apocslypse" format
I like the idea as well that this isn't a rag-tag group of people who just met; it being folks who know each other and have already existing grievances is a lot more compelling to me than Romero's usual ensemble of "designated hero and four or five other people who will never work together and are nothing but one-dimensional character flaws, all of whom are narratively stupid as the plot requires."
Once again Ryan's out here pulling at my nostalgic heart strings. When blockbuster was still a thing I rented this movie because it said "of the dead" and it was the first Romero movie I saw; so it holds a weird pace in my heart. I was young enough to find it "deep" at the time.
I absolutely hated this movie when it came out. But over the years I've wondered if I was being too hard on it. So thank you for confirming that I wasn't.
I love this movie and it's my second favorite Dead movie after Night of the Living Dead. There's also the irony that Land is arguably my least favorite film in the series, only in contention with the very last film. To anyone who hasn't seen it, and is a fan of the genre, I'd still suggest to give it a try for yourself.
Glad to see this comment. Land is also my least favorite Romero zombie film (even then it's not terrible or anything) and I also think Diary is massively underrated. Seems critics appreciated it more than the general audience.
this is why I love your content, it's easy to pick at low hanging fruit like this but you review movies across the whole quality spectrum and even then you're still giving this a fair review and not making 100 cuts where you're making jokes and laughing at it and that's extrememly professional and rad of you
*WHAT'S THE BEST ZOMBIE MOVIE? ... Let me know!*
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Shaun of the dead is my personal favourite!
Return of the Living Dead is my favorite zombie movie.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. It could have been better, but I'd still love to see a sequel
#Alive and Train to Busan IMO
REC, without a doubt. Also one of my fav found footage
Ryan Hollinger has no fear of the Romero zombies. All he has to do his say "HOYEVER" and they walk away.
This is like, the meanest yet funniest comment I’ve seen In ages 😂 I’m glad he didn’t take it to heart and laughed also
His accent is one of the best things about his channel.
Not when you have Zack Snyder in charge of as director and James Gunn as writer of Dawn Of The Dead
That and ‘IMPLICATION’
He places emphasis on parts of words that stand out to my American ears, but his accent is immaculate 😂. The “Y” at the end of “how” is just icing
World War Z (the novel) is still in my opinion the best example of exploring a zombie scenario from a documentary-like format, as the narrator collects raw, unadulterated accounts in interviews with different survivors from varying backgrounds.
Max Brooks' writing (especially in characters' accounts outside the U.S.) made the gravity of a global outbreak feel more real than in any zombie-related movie or series I've seen to date (except perhaps the Dawn of the Dead remake's opening).
What makes the book so effective for me is first and foremost that it doesn't read like a traditional novel. Brooks put such detail into constructing it as if it was truly a collection of interviews from around the world published as a paperback. It's chilling.
Moreover, it speaks on a range of issues (politics, media, economics, the military, etc.) via the interviewees in what I found a natural, organic commentary rather than a pretentious, tacked on one. And each character's POV fits with who they are.
Building that sense of the apocalypse's scale and painting such a grounded picture for the reader takes exceptional storytelling skill. If I had to pick a film that does the found footage approach better than Diary of the Dead, I'd go with The Zombie Diaries.
The audio book is also aces with the massive voice cast
@@at0micl0bster I haven't listened to it yet, any idea who the voice cast are?
@@Justmyhandle iirc theres 2 audio books one without a cast and one with en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_Z#Cast heres the list tho
@@Justmyhandle The full cast version includes Mark Hamill and Alan Alba, so... top tier.
If you loved World War Z. Read "Day by Day Armageddon" it is an incredible read that feels realistic and down to earth. And they are not excessively long either.
I am going to say that I laughed at the scene when they encounter a guy looting a TV from the girlfriend’s dorm.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’m just stealing! What are _you_ doing in the women’s dorm with a camera?”
Talking about found footage zombie films, would you ever consider making a video on the movie One Cut of the Dead? A found footage zombie flick - Hoyever, there is a twist!
Yeah, I was thinking about that movie when watching his review of Diary. There are similar themes, but I get the feeling One Cut does it much better. (To be fair, I have not seen Diary, but it was never really of interest to me.)
This would be an amazing film to cover
+1 for this, I'm glad I was able to watch it without knowing anything beforehand. Such an odd movie where everything just comes together perfectly at the end.
That twist pissed me off so much but somehow made me love the film even more.
@@blakeharris58 now I wanna know the twist
The only memory I have of this movie is finding it on UA-cam for free when I was 14 and watching it falling asleep and waking up at the end of it and just thinking "I'm not going to rewatch this I bet it will make even less scenic than it does now"
Alpha rookie made a great point that it’s a found footage movie that wants to be shot as a normal movie so it’s jarring.
Oh it really does!!
Yeah, even when I watched the first time on its release I thought that it was breaking the immersion by trying to be a regular movie
I am always fascinated by the little Romero-isms in movies Like the Amish man or Dead Reckoning in Land. I appreciate the weird kinda ridiculous things he puts in his movies to make them feel more interesting compared to a lot of zombie media that is just boring survivors being dirty and sad.
George Romero’s best things he’s done/been in during the new millennium is probably call of the dead, the bo1 zombies map. One of the best in the series.
One of the best maps in cod zombies
They remade it and had the audacity to remove Romero.
Although it would have been very tasteless seeing as Romero had since passed long before they remade it.
@@SpeedwagonZaidan that's horse shit, why would they do that??
@@SpeedwagonZaidan in the specific case of George Romero, I wouldn't call it distasteful. Seems like an appropriate way of remembering the grandfather of the zombie genre
@@SpeedwagonZaidan in leu of having him in the map (since he passed like you said) they included his glasses which, when interacted with, gives differing dialogue that all alludes to the man himself being a legend that's still loved
From seeing too many bad mock-umentaries, I've come to the conclusion that is it bad to switch between the characters' camera and the movie-director's camera showing the characters.
Its like shifting from 1st to third person in a novel
I have such a huge soft spot for this movie. In high school, my best friend and I watched it and made a spinoff for a class project. Got top marks.
The DVD has a bunch of in-universe spin-off films as well, which you can probably find on UA-cam now. One of them was made by and stars Teller of Penn and Teller fame; it feels like a bleaker version of the Bill Murray sequence in Zombieland.
That’s actually really cool!
I dig it too. I fantasize about what it would be like to be in Romero zombie apocalypse and this tries to replicate that. Its crappy but i love just watching it as if it is a real video, weed helps with that.
@@1984isnotamanual he had a number of B movies so if you take it as that and not one of his masterpieces, it's really neat. The old man really understood human nature, thats for sure!
Post it
I love Romero with all my heart but this…this movie was painful. Great video, Ryan!
This whole concept would probably work better as a modern streaming miniseries. The meandering structure works better episodically, we're alot more social media focused, and we've seen the effects in a far more negative light. There's alot more to work with.
You could straight up have people who literally don't believe the zombies exist despite them being right outside. Which would be out of place in the original.
*When Ryan releases another Found Footage review*
"Finally, some good found food." 🎥
The only thing I remember liking in this movie is Samuel(the deaf Amish man)‘s entrance.
I take slight issue with saying this is his worst one though. I recall the side-quel movie Island of the Dead (the movie that dares to ask “but what if we could train the zombie to just eat horses?”) being roughly equally, if differently bad.
The Amish dude is legit the only good thing about the movie.
That was worse, much worse. They just got progressively more horrible as they went on.
I always thought survival of the dead was his worst film
now i get what u meant lol Survival of the Dead, a 2009 film directed by George A. Romero, originally titled Island of the Dead
The problem for Romero is he believed when everyone started saying what was great about his zombie films was the 'social commentary'. The more he lent into that the weaker his films got.
Yeah, a bit too much social commentary and not enough of other stuff. I think his original trilogy has the perfect balance of social commentary and actual fun/engaging movie.
Such a disappointing film from the prolific director of the dead series. When his cameo appearance in a call of duty mode is much better than this movie, you know you’re in for a bad time.
I think the whole film is just a critique of media across the board, all forms, official and social and how hollow people become because they become empty cut outs presenting themselves for the camera as the person behind the camera just becomes a voyeur; like the audience watching. It's scatter-shot thematics is a reflection of the media in general, how constant shifting of the narrative reinforcing/reflecting the media cycle as well as the short attention span of the audience; it's a media satire through and through. I honestly thought, for this reason, that it was a great Ramiro film.
Unpopular opinion: I actually liked "Diary of the Dead." Is it as good as either "Night of the Living Dead" or "Dawn of the Dead?" Hell no! But I didn't think it was terrible, either. I mean, I've seen far worse movies. Plus, I love the alcoholic British professor!
I wasn't a HUGE fan of it, but I did enjoy some of the dread in the scenes where they're in the hospital, the mansion, and while they're on the road. It was pleasantly bleak and "realistic" to use an overused word. Not awful and worth a watch in my opinion.
It was definitely better than land of the dead.
Ditto I fully concur lol
This wasn't by any means a masterpiece, but I enjoyed the ride for what it's worth. Good to know someone agrees with me.
No, you are right, I'm with you on this. It wasn't bad at all. Quite entertaining enough to get thru. (yes, Mr Gray, better than land of the dead for sure.)
I really liked it. The only thing is I hated Deb! She was so damn annoying, man I absolutely hated her!
I really legitimately liked this movie when it was first released and watched it multiple times before I noticed how stupid it was and how bad the acting was now I can't stand it
I know I'm in the minority, but I respectfully disagree with you. For me, it's all about the context of when the film was released, and social media was not as prevalent as it is today. It's easy to forget that there really was a time in which we didn't spend most of our day glued to it, and I think Romero hit the nail on the head by showing how it would transform people in the years that followed. We're all pretty much self centered and want to show ourselves in a particular way in social media, even when that may not be anywhere near what our personal reality actually is.
Also, I often think that we give people too much credit and believe that everyone would "do the right thing" and "act logically" in a stressful situation, but we all saw how lots of people hoarded toilet paper a couple of years ago, sometimes even fighting over it. I think that's another thing that Romero wanted to show about us in this film, as much as we might hate to admit it.
Having said that, I don't think it's a masterpiece either, but I do feel it gets way more hate than it deserves. It's definitely one of my personal favorites :)
still doesent make really make it a goi flim in my opnion
I know it's 2 years late, but I agree with you.
I do think it's funny how Ryan admits it's about sensationalism and desensitization, but then gripes about toned down reactions to gruesome things happening. Like, buddy, did you not just say yourself that this is one of the themes? These film students are products of the desensitization.
I also saw it as a critique on the war at the time, how easily people look passed stories of children being killed, people being beheaded, and all of the horrors going on, so long as you put a camera or a screen between them and the atrocities.
Ryan usually has something postive to say. I'm glad he saw this crap for what it is: a shameless cash grab and an insult to Romero's legacy.
Yeah.
I don’t know that something can really be an insult to his legacy when the end result is exactly what Romero wanted. Nearly all of the bad decisions were expressly made by him, with essentially no outside meddling.
Actually, George was very proud of this and truly believed in it's message.
@@davidriley8316 Maybe if he had a better budget he could have done something more interesting but after Land of the Dead, he didn't want to work with any big film studios anymore
you can call this 'film' a lot of things but there was no grabbing of cash lol
I remember marathoning all the Romero Dead movies for the first time 2 years ago and when I got to this one I was so close to making a video essay to vent all my frustrations, glad you beat me to it
I am glad that this was recognized as "not great" as my child mind didn't know what to make of it other than "boring with a few cool"
I'm in a very small minority of 1 here, but I love this movie! I actually think the entire series (although admittedly some of the movies have issues) is brilliant. I won't go into the reasons why because it would require writing a thesis, but Diary of the Dead is my third favourite in the series after Day and Dawn at numbers 1 and 2 respectively. I'm being serious....and I'm alone. All alone.
You're definitely not alone in appreciating it. I think it's the best movie he made after Day, though I'd place it fourth overall as far as his zombie films go, behind the original trilogy. In a lot of ways it's even prophetic seeing how we now have an absolute plague of online disinformation and paid disinfo campaigns. Few people were really talking about what a huge issue this was going to be back in 2007 and now everyone talks about it.
Aaahh...thanks for that Justin. I totally agree. I think this was really George just being himself and doing it his way on a small budget. He was more comfortable working under those conditions, and it always showed in the finished product.
I like this movie too, 1 Day 2 Dawn 3 Night 4 Diary. I hate Land of the dead.
Cheers! I agree with you that 'Land' is one of the lesser entries in the series, but I still like it nonetheless. But, it's more like a cliched Hollywood production than a Romero movie. Even 'Survival' with all it's problems is obviously an independent production. But like I said, I love them all...I just love some more than others! Day is my favourite though. I not only think it's George's best film, but also one of my favourite movies of all time.
I love watching you tear apart bad movie's. Normally you're the nice one, but seeing you get the claws out is so fun too
I Have a soft spot for this one. Nostalgia being the reason mostly.
Well. I was here quick.
That's what she said....
Bloody quick!
I think "Stay away from film students" is the best advice I've ever gotten on UA-cam
Yes! Always love getting your notifications. Great channel brother! Looking forward to watching the video.
While we're on the topic of zombies, how about covering the two Dead Snow/Død snø films? I'd love to hear your take on Norwegian nazi zombies!
Dead snow was siiiick
I got thinking about one thing Ryan said. Are there any movies with found footage mixed with reenactments? That sounds like a neat concept and I would like to see some if there are any.
There is actually... It was a movie called The Fourth Kind
@@NatasDaMad and it's terrible
@@SkDysmo that's why I said it was done... Don't disagree with you but I figured it let them watch and see for themselves and let them decide
Think Alien Autopsy is a bit like that with a comedy angle but to be fair I've never seen it, got decent reviews though.
American Horror Story had a season sort of along those line. I think it was Roanoake.
Feeling second hand embarrassment from my younger self who watched this endlessly being one of his first zombie movies and used to think it was the greatest thing ever. Think my love of zombie movies and found footage really overshadowed any kind of taste.
Lol kids are stupid. I know because I was one
It was such a disappointment I couldn't believe this was a Romero movie
I am just starting this. Unlike nearly everyone, I like this movie just fine. Nowhere near peak Romero, but better than most movies in this budget range.
*I'm back. He makes some good points.
I don't think it is fair to hold Romero's pessimism against him. That's who he was, and that is the art he made.
I agree in broad strokes with what Ryan is saying about the intent of the movie. I think this is a movie about how raw footage is supposed to be real, but it is media plus artistry that conveys an actual experience. Raw media is inherently less real than art that conveys the subjective view we all have. I think that the movie's penchant for touching on a new subject with every setting change is very intentional. It reflects how the firehose of information we live in exposes us to every awful thing without examination. Lastly, I think the characters stilted dialogue is the most blatant give away to the intent of the movie. They are not artists. They go from making a shitty narrative horror movie in the beginning to making a shitty documentary. The enjoyment of the movie is realizing that the characters are fully realized human beings, but they are unable to get that across in a work of art. You see this in occasional poignant moments that tend happen on what would be the documentary's B roll. Their authenticity is inverse to their awareness of the camera. This creates the movie's tonal shifts and makes it feel like this is a terrible movie with some occasional pathos. Which is what it is.
My overall criticism is that Diary of the Dead is it aggressively decides not to entertain the viewer. It is a bitter screed against 'content' as opposed to art. It does a zombie movie poorly, in order to contrast it with a good one. Romero detests the human characters for mixing up mere artlessness with authenticity. This is a pretentious premise, that points its finger at the characters and says "Fuck you, your supposed 'realness' is pretentious". Romero's movies were never about zombies, but the zombies are what draws people to watch them. Diary of the Dead sells people a bill of goods, and then gives them what the director thinks the audience needs to hear. And that feels very juvenile. I think Diary of the Dead is more unique and ballsy than it gets credit for, but Romero's intentionally ham fisted intentions come off as condescending.
Speaking of dodgy Romero films, one day I’d love to hear your thoughts about Bruiser. It’s…not exactly a good movie, but Jason Flemyng gives it his all, and I have an inexplicable soft spot for it.
As bad as this movie was, I literally quote “What am I doing? I’m just stealing shit.” Allllllll the time while playing zombie games.
I remember my mother asking to see zombie movie a few years back and we found this one. She so, so disappointed and didn't believe me it was a Romero movie.
Me and my friends were watching this in the dorms and we talked so much shit about it because of how bad it was. When your audience is marveling and hoping the minor character outlives the rest of the cast, you need to keep that person alive OR rewrite the characters.
I actually enjoyed this movie but I can understand why u wouldn't enjoy it.
The Amish guy was the MVP of the movie. He deserved better.
Idk what imma think about this review as I do love this movie dispite how bad I know it is 😆
Edit I loved the review and you are correct about basically everything
I still love the movie 😆
with all the chaos that's going on in my country rn, this is a nice distraction and break from everything, thanks for posting!
Where are u from?
@@giftundgalle399 Philippines.
@@maedhyne Damn bro, sorry to hear
I literally watched Land of the Dead a couple weeks ago just out of the blue. And watched Roanoke Gaming’s video on it the other day. Looking forward to your take on it. It’s definitely a movie I go back to watch for some reason
If it doesn't exist already there should be an Easter egg in a zombie game or movie where the bookcase panic room is opened or slightly ajar giving a peek to what happened to the survivors of diary of the dead. That'd be epic.
I honestly enjoy Diary unironically; it's the only Romero film where all his normal and numerous failures as a writer (namely his incredibly one note characters who always at once both incredibly stupid and up their own asses) actually works, because it fits tonally with his cast: a bunch of film students are absolutely going to fall apart like this and only survive based on the assistance of the actually competent people. It also helps that here at least it feels like Romero knows what he's writing about; they generally feel like real people not just here to advance the plot because for once Romero's writing about a group he doesn't immensely dislike.
I think it's also a bit harsh to say this is the worst of Romero's last three films, especially when one remembers that both Land of the Dead and Survival of the Dead both exist and evidently take place within the same continuity. (Survival is perhaps the worst non-mockbuster zombie movie I've ever seen and Land has so little respect for its audience's intelligence that it can't help explaining its childishly simplistic messages in the most ham-fisted way imaginable).
To be fair, I'm not a fain of Romero's work. He's *okay* at concepts but his unapologetically best movie, Night of the Living Dead, he shamelessly stole from Richard Mathison and then somehow still managed to completely miss the entire point of Mathison's novella by cramming what's supposed to be the story of one man coming to terms with being the last of his kind over several years with powerfully stupid and unlikable characters, none of whom survive a single night against the least threatening zombies in cinema history. Dawn of the Dead is the worst of the six films and the less I think about it the better, and Day ruins what could've been a complex and interesting story with Romero's once again childishly simplistic views on society and inability to create characters with more than one dimension, which should I guess be expected since they only exist to further Romero's own political views. It's definitely possible to create a film with a political Aesop but doing it effectively requires actual talent as a writer and commitment to telling the story first, and unfortunately Romero just never managed to reach that level.
Oh thank God. I thought this movie was absolutely terrible when I watched it years ago but everyone around me acted like it was blasphemous to say that a Romero film was bad.
Now I feel validated. Thanks Ryan! This movie fucking sucks.
Best zombie movie is the original night of the living dead. “Return of the Living Dead” was actually really depressing, if you step back (I don’t like issues with no solutions, hence my dislike of Resident Evil). But my REAL fav is Warm Bodies. It is super extra and weird, but I like how they can bring the zombies back. It gives hope. Humanity needs hope
RYAN HOLLINGER - The fking VERY BEST reviewer EVER to come to the horror genre.
'THIS MAN IS LEGEND'.
I've said it to you a hundred times RYAN , you , are , without a doubt , the very best horror reviewer I have EVER , in MY 40yrs of watching , reading and digesting every horror film, magazine article and book points I came across..
NONE have ever been as intelligent, observant or of wit like yourself.
Not just words , not just bs but my genuine feeling.
Superb.
Thankyou for your service to horror and fans like myself.
So glad I found this UA-cam channel! I even found some horror movies I will be on the look for!
So this video is pretty funny to me because for the life of me I don't remember actually watching this movie, but some of the shots shown look familiar. I probably did see it and then completely forgot. That doesnt usually happen to me and movies, but... i guess this one is special.
Hate me if you want, I like this movie.. One of my favorite of the dead movies
All of the actors in this look like AI generated versions of better known actors and it's tripping me out.
Recommendation/Request for a future video: The Void, The Cellar, or In The Mouth of Madness. All touch a bit on a Lovecraftian type of unknowable horror, some clearly more influenced than others, but all end with a very bleak and pessimistic outlook on the world that these films inhabit. I think getting your spin on one or all of these films would be very interesting!
The Pyramid(2014): "Are you challenging me?"
I remember watching this with a horror fanatic friend back in high school. He didn't seemed too impressed other than by the kills, and we found the ending super anticlimactic.
Thank you! Almost everyone seemed to be raving about this when it came out and just didn't get it at all. Never liked this film.
Man, I completely forgot that the late great George Romero made this. Such a shame.
While *Land Of The Dead* is more fluent in it's place and story.
*Diary Of The Dead* is more like a computer nerd trying to explain HP Lovecraft's *Call of Cthulhu* but does so in a inaccurate jumbled way.
I like Romero’s films a lot. Even with his more irregular works you can find interesting things, but there’s just two films of his that I can’t stand: “Monkey Shines” and this one. I understand what he was trying to do, but I totally agree with your thoughts on “Diary”.
Honestly, if you ask me, the "Of the Dead" series should've ended at just "Land of the Dead".
Maybe that's an unpopular opinion, but that's just my opinion. Feel free to say otherwise in the replies.
i can't focus because omg isn't that's sky the blue ranger from SPD??? it's so odd seeing power ranger actors in serious movies
You shouldn’t sound so apologetic about LAND OF THE DEAD, it’s a legit good and fun movie.
It hurts when a brilliant artist makes a big miss or you realize he is past his prime. I guess it is normal. Enjoyable as always. It warms my heart how how you can devote a serious video on a bad movie - even criticism have to be respectful to a degree, me thinks. I would be glad in the future if we could see your take on the mockumentary/found foootage hybrid Butterfly Kisses.
I remember watching this movie at least 3 times, almost back-to-back, because I was so desperate to find SOME way it could be a good movie… “I just must not get it, what did I miss?” Nothing. Actually nothing.
I will say this movie would have been 10 times better if it focused on the mute Amish man with the Dynamite.
Worst? Nah. Diary was a masterpiece compared to Survival. Everyone knows that... you are definitely in the minority. 🤦♂
The fact that you cannot show zombie make-up on youtube in a fictional movie now just shows how far this platform has slipped.
I actually think the film's pretty good, even if it's no masterpiece. It's not like the acting and execution on Romero's other films is flawless, it's just hidden from our view by nostalgia! This movie marked a return to independent film-making for a Romero zombie flick - and, just like the original Night of the Living Dead, that largely accounts for its flaws but also its charms.
The narration and a lot of the social commentary can feel pretentious, inconsistent, and tacked on. But the film did strike me as fairly self-aware about it - "yeah, that's how film students are."
I also think a lot of the social commentary is pretty prescient. At the time, everyone was going on about how blogging and social media was a liberatory democratization of the media while Romero was saying "this is seductive but we're also in danger of losing any sense of a shared, fact-based reality." I don't even like that argument, but have to admit Romero has a point! Also there's this warning in the film that seeing life through a camera and as potential raw material for broadcast can stop us from participating in real life and connecting with those right in front of us. That cuts pretty deep.
I think the final zombie movie Survival of the Dead was him coming back to as you said a smaller place for his story. I love LOTD but it and Dairy of the Dead the subtext became in your face. He was better when his subtexat was subtle( oir maybe it was more accidental than on purpose) Survival is a better last addition than Diary and I am glad he made it.
My biggest issue was that the Dawn of the Dead remake had shown fat moving, trap laying zombies.
Yes, I know, different directors, but kind of hard to take slow moving shufflers seriously after you've seen zombies who followed the cardio rule.
Honestly, wtf would want to live through a zombie apocalypse to rebuild society, good riddens I say
Oh my god I remember this movie! My parents got it for me as a birthday present and the cover made it seem like it was gonna be super action packed
I don't think it's a terrible movie, it's way better than survival of the dead but it's not perfect either. Critics love this movie and so do I. It's not Romero's best film, but it's a good found footage film.
This movie lacks self awareness because Romero lacks the self awareness to realize he's been doing the same "are we worse than the zombies" hack woke message since Dawn of the Dead. The Snyder remake is objectively a much better film.
Use big words to try and appear smarter than the viewers you're talking down to. Great channel.
Nah this movie aint the worst zombie found flix or am i just saying that because it holds a special place for me 😂
In Survival i felt empty. Diary was just a aged director trying to go different, i dont mess with that. I liked It cause It was simple. A good topic, zombies and asshole characters. In Survival the bad acting just fucked my existence.
@bodd boward yeaaaaah exactly hahaha Survival was too much but i still respect George for trying to stay in formula thats all.
Have you seen Romero’s early found footage work, called Jacaranda Joe? I’d recommend that as some of his best. Also if you’d like next level bad zombie found footage, Id suggest Zombie Doomsday. It makes Diary of the Dead look like Titanic.
👋 ❤
Not going to lie, I unironically love this movie, especially Samuel. I am a trash connoisseur.
For what it’s worth I attended an interview with George Romero just before Diary was released and shortly after Land of the Dead. Romero was very pissed off that studios gave him barely any budget to create the films they demanded he make but then have a massive budget for other directors to do remakes of his film or sometimes just to replicate one of his movies. Diary of the dead was his way of going back to making films the way he enjoyed making them… without interference from investors, producers or studios. I don’t feel it’s a good movie but I feel it was more a desire for George to rediscover why he went into filmmaking.
This is the Citizen Kane of zombie movies compared to Survival of the Dead.
Romero's worst zombie movie? Dude, did you not SEE Survival?
Do you remember the movie with frankie Muniez called stay alive?
I'm actually a huge fan of the nihilism in horror films, sometimes you're just in a mood to see bad things happen to people for no reason. I double this for zombie things, all the negatives you listed about the walking dead are actually the POSITIVES for me. No sanctuary being safe and secure forever, no cure, no light at the end of the tunnel, no huge victories that change anything. It resonated with me as a show because that's EXACTLY HOW I PICTURE THE APOCALYPSE. It's the end of the world and if you're a small band of people just trying to survive after being traumatized, you're not going to change anything in this world, the best you can hope for is waking up and everyone who went to sleep last night is still there and didn't snack on someone while everyone was asleep. I love the "tired apocslypse" format
I like the idea as well that this isn't a rag-tag group of people who just met; it being folks who know each other and have already existing grievances is a lot more compelling to me than Romero's usual ensemble of "designated hero and four or five other people who will never work together and are nothing but one-dimensional character flaws, all of whom are narratively stupid as the plot requires."
Holy shit, I remember watching this movie years ago at like 2 am when I was 13 or so
Once again Ryan's out here pulling at my nostalgic heart strings. When blockbuster was still a thing I rented this movie because it said "of the dead" and it was the first Romero movie I saw; so it holds a weird pace in my heart. I was young enough to find it "deep" at the time.
The Blond guy is the Blue Power Ranger from SPD !!!
I think this movie (and a few others) is the reason I hate found footage films 😂
Love this video though.
I absolutely hated this movie when it came out. But over the years I've wondered if I was being too hard on it. So thank you for confirming that I wasn't.
I always thought diary of the dead was a student film. Shit it was Romero the whole time 😂
Definitely looking forward to the next episode.
You're too generous - this is one of the worst films I've ever seen. It almost put me off the originals it hurt me so much.
I liked this movie, but it was obvious the writers did not understand the internet or modern media
I love this movie and it's my second favorite Dead movie after Night of the Living Dead. There's also the irony that Land is arguably my least favorite film in the series, only in contention with the very last film. To anyone who hasn't seen it, and is a fan of the genre, I'd still suggest to give it a try for yourself.
Glad to see this comment. Land is also my least favorite Romero zombie film (even then it's not terrible or anything) and I also think Diary is massively underrated. Seems critics appreciated it more than the general audience.
this is why I love your content, it's easy to pick at low hanging fruit like this but you review movies across the whole quality spectrum and even then you're still giving this a fair review and not making 100 cuts where you're making jokes and laughing at it and that's extrememly professional and rad of you
The only thing good about this film was the Amish guy.
Ah my favourite guilty pleasure zombie film
I remember trying to watch this years ago but never finished it cause it was bad. Until today I forgot why it was bad.
just recently bought this on youtube. need to re watch it
It’s more like “Diahrrea of the Dead”.