Sundance. Diary of the Dead.

"In a stark departure from the storytelling in his legendary films Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and the more recent Land of the Dead, [George A] Romero takes a page from Cannibal Holocaust and The Blair Witch Project in that what we see on screen is 'footage' filmed by a character in the film," writes Charlie Prince, reviewing Diary of the Dead for Cinema Strikes Back. "The allegory is most evident in the main character, Jason. Jason begins by insisting on filming his friends throughout their fears and trauma, which of course prompts us in the audience to side with Jason’s friends in thinking 'now is not the time to make a movie.' But Romero quickly makes clear that he is moving beyond the standard use of this as a plot device... and is instead inserting a surreal element to the story to make a point - in fact, the insistence on filming is the point."

Updated.

"In traditional Romero fashion, guts are spilled, necks are bitten, brains are splattered, and a mirror is held up to America," writes Jim Rohner at Zoom In Online. "Before I go on, let me just elaborate on how much it pains me to talk ill of Romero: he is my filmmaking idol, my inspiration, the reason I became interested in cinema. Criticizing his work is like Bogdanovich criticizing Welles, Oasis bringing down the Beatles, Stephen King bad-mouthing Lovecraft. But there comes a point in every director's life where his craft begins to slip, even if it's a craft he practically created."

"The film is filled with some of the most inventive zombie deaths this side of the UK and has a friendly sense of humor to go along with its deeply cynical view," writes Jesse Hawthorne Ficks at Pixel Vision.

Online viewing tip. Joe Swanberg and Ronnie Bronstein meet Romero.

Earlier: Reviews from Toronto.

Update: Online listening tip. Kevin Buist at the SpoutBlog: "In this interview stars Michelle Morgan and Shawn Roberts talk about the mood on set, not knowing if their characters will undergo zombification, and their favorite zombie flicks."

Posted by dwhudson at January 22, 2008 12:54 PM