Editorials > I'm Afraid 'Diary of the Dead' Will Suck

Excuse me for being out of the loop, but I had no idea until I received the e-mail that Romero was making another zombie flick.

I’m not sure I wanted to know.

Romero, of course, made “Night of the Living Dead” and the even better sequel, “Dawn of the Dead.”

Then his own press went to his head, I suppose, and things have been down hill since “Day of the Dead,” a movie, with its 1 billion pages of dialogue, is the “My Dinner with Andre” of horror films – except for a bunch of disemboweled bodies at the conclusion (then again, I never made it to the end of “My Dinner with Andre.” Maybe the little bald dude from “The Princess Bride” eats Frenchie?)

Romero is the indie version of his 70s-era contemporaries Peter Bogdonavich, William Friedkin and Michael Cimino. They never managed to live up to their early classics, either.

Romero, however, has always remained accessible.

He had a blog in the late 90s or early 00’s, where he would rant about how the studios and money men screwed up all his movies. I remember the blog being up for a short time and his honest rants were exhilarating. His next project would return him to his former glory, he promised.

Instead, he churned out “Bruiser.”

Then, in 2005, Romero released “Land of the Dead,” a long-anticipated fourth chapter in his “Dead” films. When I say long-anticipated, I mean horror fans waited for this the way sci-fi geeks waited for the second set of “Star Wars” flicks.

I went and saw the movie with two horror buddies at a matinee showing. It was an event, and my first Romero movie in a theater.

The movie? Like the “Star Wars” prequels, it stank big time.

“Land of the Dead” was passable, but it was, essentially, a B-movie action film, complete with wooden performances (Dario Argento’s kid) a Jar-Jar Binks-like character (Disfigured Dumb Guy Who Is Good With A Rifle) a plot that I couldn’t follow (OK, why do they want the RV so bad?) and – John Leguizamo.

“Land of the Dead” looked even worse because was released after the 2004 “Dawn of the Dead” remake, which lacked the soul of the original – but was a top shelf action flick, nonetheless.

I don’t know what happened on “Land of the Dead” and whether Romero blamed his money people again. But he’s singing the same old tune with “Diary of the Dead,” which is about of young filmmakers who encounter zombies in the woods.

From his MySpace blog:

“Lemme tell ya about Diary of the Dead. I love it. It’s the first film since my original Night of the Living Dead that I can say is completely my own.

I’ve been trying to work under-the-radar, with no hype or press, but lately I’ve started hearing all kinds of shit about “What’s goin’ on with Romero?” “What’s with his new film?”

Gimme a break over here! I’m up in Toronto workin’ my ass off, making Diary the best it can be. Truth is, I’m having a blast. I’ve gone home to the kind of filmmaking that I used to do, back in the day.

Diary is a hundred percent independent, made with my partner, Peter Grunwald, and our new friends at Artfire. I haven’t had this much freedom since 1968. The cast, of what film critics will probably call “unknowns” (they won’t be for long) is, in my opinion, fuckin’ great.

This one comes from my heart. It’s not a sequel or a remake. It’s a whole new beginning for the dead.”

Make it good George, before they get Rob Zombie to remake it with a Uriah Heep soundtrack.

-30-

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