George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead

I endured this redundant zombie movie and all I got was this lousy headache

By Matt Pais

Critic's Rating:

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A group of University of Pittsburgh film students stop making a horror movie and run for their lives after seeing news footage of zombies on the attack. Since a born filmmaker can never leave his camera, one of the students (Joshua Close) chronicles all of the events for a documentary that he uploads to the web in pieces to show "the truth" the news media won't.

Big question: Does writer-director George A. Romero ("Land of the Dead," "Dawn of the Dead," etc.) really have more insight about human nature to explore through stories of the living dead?

Skip it: Much more shaky and nauseating than "Cloverfield," "Diary of the Dead" will make you sick even if you're totally desensitized to devoured flesh and exploding eyeballs. Romero knows how to make things creepy-gooey, but the tag-along British film professor (Scott Wentworth) is excruciating and the rest of the terrified youth register not as relatable and normal but just devoid of the zombies' personality and focus.

Catch it: For the deaf Amish farmer that turns out to be one of the movie's biggest baddasses. It certainly teaches the kids not to judge a book by its cover!

Bottom line: Upcoming indie "The Signal" has more, better things to say about human cruelty, generosity and perspective, and, unlike "Diary of the Dead," it doesn't spend the whole movie explaining its main ideas. These film students won't amount to much if they spell out all their themes--How quickly does society descend into chaos? Are all people worth saving?--and lamenting that they "can't change the script" of real life.

Bonus: The kids see a Japanese woman overseas advising, "Don't bury dead. First shoot in head." Could this be the hot catchphrase of 2008?

What do you think of "Diary of the Dead"? Email me: mpais@tribune.com