DVD Reviews

George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Aug 25, 2010, 14:07 GMT

The newest film from horror master George A. Romero (legendary creator of the Night of the Living Dead franchise) picks up where Diary of the Dead leaves off. On a small island off the coast of Delaware, live two families locked in a struggle for power and control over the fate of the undead. The O\'Flynns approach the zombie plague with a shoot-to-kill attitude. The Muldoons feel that the zombies ...more

George A. Romero returns to the dead with his latest zombie epic.  When the granddaddy of the zombie genre returns to it, the hopes are high.  The last two efforts had a tinge of disappointment, especially the last one, but Survival does feature some of the social commentary that Romero is known for and outdoes that last effort.  

It’s not 2012 yet, but the world has entered apocalyptic territory.  The dead have been rising from the grave and spreading the plague so that now the hungry dead outnumber the living.  This nightmarish landscape is roamed by rogue soldiers Sgt. Crockett (Alan van Sprang), Kenny (Eric Woolfe), Francisco (Stefano Colacitti), and “Tomboy” (Athena Karkanis). 

Tired of the madness and confusion of their superiors, this band has set off on their own and for their own enrichment (they even robbed the kids from Diary of the Dead).  On one of their rounds they come across an armored car, a group of rednecks, and eventually Boy (Devon Bostick) who the rednecks had robbed. 

After dealing with the hillbillies Boy reveals that the armored card has one million dollars inside and that he’s heading for the coast due to an internet posting from Captain Patrick O’Flynn (Kenneth Welsh) who promises a zombie free domain on Plum Island. 

Unfortunately, O’Flynn doesn’t have the best interests of those responding to his post in mind, but our ragtag group and O’Flynn end up on a ferry and heading for Plum.  O’Flynn was forced off the island by Seamus Muldoon (Richard Fitzpatrick) who had been feuding with the O’Flynn’s as well as having differing ideas of how to deal with the undead.  

George A. Romero is pretty much held up as the one who popularized of the zombie movement with Night of the Living Dead.  I’d argue that Romero only uses the walking dead as a metaphor and really has his sights set on more social filmmaking.  However, it’s the undead that has shown his greatest popularity so he’s stuck hiding those issues in his zombie films. 

It was with much fanfare that he returned to the fold with Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead.  Land was a big budget return and Diary a more independent bent in the mold of the original Night of the Living Dead.  Both films marked a return for Romero, Land scored decently at the box office, but Diary, though successful, didn’t make a ton of cash. 

Maybe it was the conceit of a group of teens shooting their “diary” via a video camera or that the teens weren’t exactly the most endearing of characters, especially the main one recording their travails.  Survival of the Dead, with its ironic title, seems a better return to form for Romero and I tended to like it a bit more than Diary. 

The film’s theme appears to be how society deals with the dead returning to life.  One side of the coin believes that the best dead is one with a bullet in the head, the other side wants to try and rehabilitate the dead in hopes that one day their friends and relations could be cured.  It also shows that even in the possible end times that petty grievances and family feuds might be more dangerous than the dead beating on the door. 

There is a tendency for some bits of comedy that may seem a bit out of place in a world spiraling out of control, but it may also defuse that palpable sense of doom (the humorless Day of the Dead, the original not crappy remake, can be a slog, the remake is a slog for crappiness). 

All in all, I thought Romero seemed much more at home with Survival and I found it a much better film than Diary.  

Survival of the Dead is presented in widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features start off with the ability to choose your “side,” living or dead, and the menu changes accordingly.

Disc one has a commentary from writer/director George A. Romero, executive producer Peter Grunwald, executive producer/editor Michael Doherty, Kenneth Welsh, and actor/2nd unit director/stunt coordinator Matt Birman. 

Next is the 9 minute “Time with George” as he sits down for an interview, the 4 minute “A Look at Survival of the Dead” from HDNet, a 90 second “Introduction from George A. Romero” that you can also watch in front of the movie, and previews of other products from Magnet. 

Disc two has the 75 minute making of “Walking after Midnight,” the 4 minute short film “Sarge” with Alan van Sprang, 13 behind-the-scenes “Minute of your Time” shorts totaling 20 minutes, a 2 minute storyboard comparison, and the 10 minute “How to Create your own Zombie Bite.”  

George A. Romero has a better return to form with Survival and therefore I tended to like it better than his earlier attempt.  There’s a bit of Hatfield vs. McCoy, although with an Irish brogue, but it goes to show that humans should let go of their grievances and band together. 

The dead have a singular mission, to eat us, and there’s not arguing with that.  If you’re arguing and fighting then maybe the dead can make a lunch out of you faster.  

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