Diary of the Dead

                                                           

 

         The problem doesn't seem to be that people are waking up dead, but that dead

                       people are waking up.

 

This film begins with news reporters filming a story about the death of an immigrant couple and their child. As they are wheeled out of their apartment building on a gurney, the mother and the child suddenly wake up and attack the emergency services crew on site. Both are shot in the head, but not before biting others.

After an introduction to the zombie documentary (The Death of Death) mostly filmed by Jason Creed, a film student, the film cuts to the group of students filming a mummy horror movie in the woods, with Jason directing. The actor playing the mummy, Ridley, is lectured on the way a corpse moves and the make-up artist, Tony Ravello, on not doing a good enough job on the make-up of the mummy. While the group argues, another student named Elliot declares that something strange is on the news. All the students, and their supervising professor hear the reports of the dead waking, and Tony scoffs at the news. After hearing the report, Ridley decides to head to his home in Philadelphia, along with Francine, another student.

The group gets into their Winnebago and drive to the university dorms to pick up Debra, Jason's girlfriend. Entering the abandoned dormitory, he finds Debra in her room, attempting to get through to her parents, but to no avail. On the laptop next to her is the news report from the beginning of the movie. They get on the road once more, and Jason requests that each of the people introduce themselves to the camera, because he believes what is going on will be a part of history, and wants to document everything. Each of the group members introduce themselves hesitantly, starting with Mary, the driver, and moving to Debra and Tony, then to Elliot, Gordo and his girlfriend Tracy, and finally their professor Andrew Maxwell. While they drive, they encounter a car accident on the side of the road, where a State Trooper slowly stumbles towards the caravan. He begins to pound on the door, and the group quickly drive off, running over three other zombies as they escape.

Mary, believing that she has murdered three people, shoots herself with a pistol, prompting the group to panic. Discovering that Mary still has a pulse, they rush to an abandoned hospital. The group splits up, and Gordo hears a chaotic radio transmission. The group eventually find a doctor hidden behind a curtain, only to discover that he is a zombie. After firing shots into his torso, they realize the only way to put an end to him is to shoot him in the head. After killing him, an undead nurse attacks. Debra zaps the zombie in the head with a defibrillator, before Gordo puts an end to her.

Running out of power for the camera, Jason decides to stay with a comatose Mary while it charges. He hears Debra screaming, but remains where he is, not wanting to leave his camera. Debra comes back, with another video camera in hand, and lectures Jason about his documentation being more important than their lives. Mary suddenly groans as she begins to turn into a zombie. The professor confiscates the pistol from Gordo and kills Mary. On their way out of the hospital, a zombie patient bites Gordo in the arm before Elliot stabs it in the head with an IV pole.

A few hours later, the group bury Mary, and Gordo is dead. Tony prepares to shoot him, but Tracy stops him, pleading for him to wait and see whether he will turn. Gordo then wakes up, and Tracy kills her boyfriend herself. They get on the road again, only to have the RV break down due to a broken fuel line. They find a barn and its deaf owner, Samuel, an Amish man. After repairing the fuel line, the group prepare to leave, but Samuel, being the last and about to get on, is attacked by a zombie from behind who bites into his neck. Samuel, in order to spare himself the fate of becoming a zombie and to kill his attacker, stabs the scythe through his forehead, impaling himself and the zombie behind him.

The group encounters a band of survivors who have stocked their warehouse with supplies. Jason uploads the footage he has shot so far on the net, and gets 72,000 hits within 8 minutes. Debra receives a text message from her little brother, claiming they are safe and heading home. Just before leaving, Ridley calls Jason via webcam and invites him over to his mansion in Philadelphia. The group gather some supplies from the warehouse after Tony kills a zombie, and drive to Debra's home. They find Debra's parent's car in the garage with the passenger window smashed and bloody. As they search the house, Debra is ambushed by her undead brother, who is quickly killed by Professor Maxwell with a bow and arrow. Debra also finds her mother who had been chewing on her father. She is also killed by the professor, who says they need to leave.

Deciding to head over to Ridley's home, the group encounters the National Guard, who stop them. After ordering Jason to turn the camera off, they take all their supplies, save for their weapons, and drive away, leaving the students with no food. They arrive at Ridley's home, only to find the front door open. Searching the home, Ridley surprises them as he comes out of a panic room. Tracy and Jason go and unload the caravan while Tony films Ridley going through the kitchen, looking for some food. His strange behavior alarms both Tony and Debra, who ask where Francine and his family are. He claims that they are all dead, and that he has buried them. He shows the two their bodies, who have been carelessly dumped into the swimming pool, but not before Tony notices a bite wound on Ridley's hand. Ridley quickly turns, and goes outside where Jason is filming Tracy unloading the caravan. Ridley reaches out and tries to grab her, but she manages to run. Jason follows them with his camera, and distracts Ridley as Tracy smacks a stick into Ridley's back, knocking him out.

Angry that Jason simply filmed her while she was in jeopardy, she takes the RV and drives off on her own. Elliot dries his hair with a blow dryer after a quick bath and is ambushed by Ridley, causing him to fall into the tub and killing him by electrocution. Professor Maxwell suggests they head into the panic room after seeing Elliot's death on the monitors, but Jason refuses, claiming he doesn't want to be shut off from the rest of the world. He lies that he'll go into the panic room, and while the rest of the group are busy stocking up, he sneaks away, only to run into Ridley. The group hears the commotion and find Jason being bitten by Ridley. Ridley's head is sliced in half by the professor, leaving Jason lying on the floor. He begs Debra to shoot him, which she does, first with a camera and then with a gun.

Vowing to continue his movie, Debra takes Jason's camera and begins to record their actions. Inside the panic room, they spot a lot of zombies breaking into the mansion and a dead Elliot walking around the house on the monitors. The professor quickly locks the panic room door as the zombies move inside the house. The movie ends with Debra explaining how inhumane some humans were, and questions whether they were worth saving.

 

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                              Copyright(C) 2007 - 2020. All rights reserved.

 

                    

                           

 

Directed by George A. Romero
Produced by George A. Romero
Peter Grunwald
Sam Englebardt
Artur Spigel
Dan Fireman
John Harrison
Ara Katz
Written by George A. Romero
Starring Shawn Roberts
Joshua Close
Michelle Morgan
Joe Dinicol
Phillip Riccio
Scott Wentworth
Tatiana Maslany
Music by Norman Orenstein
Cinematography Adam Swica
Editing by  
Distributed by Voltage Pictures
Release date(s) September 8, 2007
Running time 95 min.
Language English
Budget  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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