Diary a zombie-lover’s dream

George A….George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead Starring: Joshua Close and Michelle Morgan Directed by George A. Romero Artfire Films

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In film studies, scholars and theorists use the term “cinema verite” – French for “cinema as truth” – to describe the documentary-style filmmaking that uses natural, roughly shot footage to provoke its subjects. Many TV shows using this style of filmmaking, including “Cops” and “The Real World,” have been very successful.

Interestingly, cinema verite has never translated into a film well, mainly because of the constructed and prefabricated nature of the medium. That is, until now. With the release of “Cloverfield” and other films shot from the perspective of fictional cameramen, cinema verite is slowly evolving as a valid film genre. “Diary of the Dead,” legendary Pittsburgh filmmaker George A. Romero’s newest entry in his ongoing “Dead” series, is also the newest film to use this style of filmmaking.

“Diary of the Dead” tells the story of Jason (Joshua Close), his girlfriend Debra (Michelle Morgan) and a group of Pitt students trying to survive the initial zombie outbreak that took place during “Night of the Living Dead.” Jason, a student filmmaker, believes that with the incredible amount of information available on the Internet today, it is very hard to filter through what is real and what is not: “If it’s not on film, it’s like it never happened.” Jason documents as much of the zombie apocalypse as he can, much to the dismay of his friends.

The entire film is shown through the lens of Jason’s camera. The viewer never sees Jason unless he is shown in a reflection or being filmed on another camera. This allows the audience to literally become Jason, as if we are the ones trying to survive. As the film progresses, Jason is forced to decide if he should save his friends or allow them to be in danger long enough to get the right shot. Without enough footage, people could think that the zombie outbreak was one elaborate hoax.

Romero, using Jason’s camera as his own lens, effectively critiques the current YouTube-MySpace generation on their misuses of the Internet. Instead of using it for knowledge, we use it for looking at pictures of drunken people we meet at a party or watching the latest video on Collegehumor.com. This juxtaposition of truth and Internet comes full-circle in the film when cell phone towers are destroyed, the Internet goes down and almost all digital technology fails. When this happens, Jason’s camera and the footage he shot become even more important than it was before.

In order to shoot “Diary of the Dead,” Romero returned to his independent filmmaking roots, trading in the Hollywood production of 2005’s “Land of the Dead” for a shoestring budget not unlike the one that catapulted him into horror film fame. “Night of the Living Dead” is one of the most famous, if not the most famous, horror films ever shot. The fear in the film comes not from expensive make-up and gratuitous blood, but rather from the knowledge that somewhere outside lurks an unstoppable threat. Romero’s films know this, moving at a slow but never boring, pace, reminding the viewers that no matter how safe the characters think they are, the zombies will eventually find them. Also, unlike Romero’s previous films, “Diary of the Dead” does not end on a happy note, with an ending epilogue and final shot of the film that sees the characters questioning their moral choices, as well as those of humanity.

“Diary of the Dead” reaffirms the notion that horror films are America’s favorite genre. More like “Night of the Living Dead” than any other film in the series, “Diary of the Dead” is the freshest and boldest horror film to come out in a very long time. Romero has crafted an instant classic without the incredible production values most horror films enjoy. After a long hiatus, the master of zombie horror is finally back, his return more than welcome among hardcore horror fans.