SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD – George A. Romero

The ‘Living Dead’ films started in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead, it’s 1970′s sequel; Dawn of the Dead was not a bad sequel & a very cool storyline (hell, I’d go to a mall too if all hell broke loose with zombie’s taking over). The third film; Day of the Dead, was not as successful box office wise & critic wise. Romero has said this is his favorite out of the series & the critics slammed it.

The man is doin what he loves, can they do better? The forth installment; Land of the Dead, took the ‘Dead’ films in a different direction & some fans didn’t care for that. ‘Dead” film # 5; Diary of the Dead, a video documentary-style take on the series. And the latest installment; Survival of the Dead and here is my thought’s on it.

George A. Romero‘s latest ‘Dead’ film takes place right where the last film left off. He has one character from that film & extend’s his story into this one. One of the military officers to be exact. It starts out typical, group of survial’s trying to get supplies & get to Canada (why everybody thinks that in films like these that goin to our neighbors of the north is gonna save us from being eatin?) Along the way, they decide that going to an island would be the best place to live, but there is no island except the one off of Delaware. So, they head to the island thinking they’ll be safe. However, there is more then zombie’s waiting for them. On this particular island, there are two families (the island isn’t that big). On one side there’s The O’Flynn’s who believe that all zombie’s should die & there’s no reason of keeping them around. On the other, there’s The Muldoons who feel that the zombie’s can be “cured” & that if they wait a little longer there will be a cure. So, this band of survivors get caught inbetween this battle of who’s right & who should die. Due to my no spoilers rule, you’ll have to just see who lives, die’s, and if this zombie world will ever get back to normal.

I truly love the zombie films & I love to give most films a chance, but I also hate to see a real good franchise go down the tubes. I really wanted this sequel to be just as good as the others or at least stand on it’s own, but in the end I felt like something was missing. I mean, it was watchable, entertaining, bloody, gory, gross, & a nice story, but not what I expected from the Zombie House that Romero built. It is very gory & the effects get better with every sequel. I think this was more like something you’d see on Syfy channell or a Twilight Zone episode (story wise). I can’t help but hope that Romero will wrap this series up with one hell of a major final sequel to the series & end it the right way, but I can always hope. I give Romero total credit on 3 counts: (1) He goes out there, not caring what the critics say & makes these films just for pure enjoyment of it. (2) He has scared the crap out of us with the best zombie franchise in history. And (3) He took one little idea over 40 years ago & has made millions of dollars off of it. I mean, one little idea & a low budget film as well to still be able to entertain & scare us forty years later! You gotta give him credit for that! And with that said, I for one thank you Mr. Romero. I also say, if you love the ‘Living Dead’ series, it’s worth watch, but I would’ve liked a little stronger sequel to the series. He has said he plans on maybe 2 more sequels, we can only hope they get better.

RANK: 6/10

Directed by: George A. Romero
Cast: Kathleen Munroe, Kenneth Welsh, Athena Karkanis, Alan Van Sprang
USA, 2009