hoop-tober 2.0: film 25 *********************************************************************** having just watched the first four dead films by george a. romero i wasn't expecting much from this one. i knew it was a found footage film, i knew it was about students making a zombie film in the woods when a real zombie apocalypse happens and i knew romero directed it. i also knew that it was barely released and that's never a good sign. also, having just watched land of the dead, which very slightly disappointed me, i thought this would be the same or worse. i was wrong. romero is back with a vengeance and has made his best film since day of the dead way back in '85. how to describe this film? it's almost a modern day remake of the ideas and stories from all three early dead films. we meet our characters and like that, the zombies arrive. i have to give romero credit here. he has been making movies for almost forty years at this point and this time around he has taken a sub-genre of films (found footage) and infused it with more style, substance and quality than virtually anyone else. he has taken what is a young man's game and said: you don't know how to play. let me show you. i mean unlike other found footage films (blair witch, chronicle and paranormal activity excepted) there is a reason why they are filming, there is a method and answer for the editing and the alternate camera angles, there is a moral message behind the idea of the found footage, there is batteries dying, there are people referring to the camera, there is a reason for everything. and it's filmed nicely too, and edited together well and tells a great story. and it's super gory and super fun and has some very original kills in it. and it's got a pair of boobies too which comes as a shock and a laugh based on earlier events. there is humour and chills and scares to be had. the whole amish scene was amazing, and what a death for samuel. top notch i tell you. sure the acting could be better and at times is not very good but i do give it credit for these characters staying in character for such long takes. it's not great acting (well some performances are better than others and one or two do almost reach 'great) but you get used to it and it soon ceases to bother you. this movie was pretty damn good and as it progressed towards it's conclusion it just got better and better. i loved it and i'm upset it took me eight years to see it. this might be the first (older) movie unseen by me in a very long time that i'm dying to see again. diary of the dead has cemented, for me, the fact that romero is a legend and master of horror. wes craven has been called a master of horror too but most of his movies aren't very good and frankly none (or very little) of them reach the heights of romero's dead films. diary of the dead proves romero belongs at the top along with carpenter, cronenberg and hitch. production design: 9 out of 10 cinematography: 8 out of 10 re-playability: 9 out of 10 originality: 8 out of 10 costumes: 9 out of 10 directing: 9 out of 10 editing: 8 out of 10 acting: 7 out of 10 music: 8 out of 10 script: 9 out of 10 84/100