It's shocking to think that George A Romero has now completed SIX zombie movies now, although to call them two trilogies would be misleading. Night through to Land form a quadrilogy, while Diary of the Dead, and now Survival of the Dead, are linked via the rogue military unit that were seen briefly in Diary. Survival follows the army guys through an ever desolate, American mainland as they seek refuge from the zombie hordes. They intercept an invitation, on the still functioning Internet, to live on a small island where they discover two warring communities of Irish immigrants; the O'Flynns who believe that killing the undead is the only way forward...and the Muldoons who feel that they should be restrained and spared, in case a cure can be found...or they can be taught to eat animal flesh, rather than that of humans.
As you'd expect it's solidly directed by Romero, with some pleasingly gory effects (flare gun to the head is particularly memorable) and a cool, western vibe this time out. The cast are nothing special but anti-hero Alan Van Sprang stands out in the lead role while Kenneth Welch impresses as the manipulative leader of the O'Flynns. Since half the cast are Irish accented paddys, the movie often has a broader, more farcical tone than the previous instalments, which is also supported by some daft humour (eg, the zombie's comical recation when being handed a stick of dynamite).
At least it being a Romero zombie movie it's not short on subtext or political allegory. Here is presented a situation that could be Northern Ireland, Israel, Iraq or even the USA itself as the inhabitants battle over long forgotten ideologies.
It's this aspect which is the film's strongest as Survival is on a par with Diary...rather than the ground-breaking epics that were Dawn and Day. But George can still trump 95% of the zombie movies out there today and even though I've just seen Survival, here's hoping there's room for one more in his career.
3 comments:
lol - Great title. Watched this myself yesterday. Couldn't help but laugh at the irony.
It's a Romero zombie film so you have to love it. It's the law.
But it did come across as tad too silly to me. The over-Irishness of it all. "To be sure, to be sure." The allegory is not very subtle either. Still, some cool zombie attacks and deaths and some decent gore and Romero's solid and old school direction makes up for the odd tone. Good fun but no Romero classic.
Yeah, a solid and enjoyable movie, but you expect more from Romero coz hes Romero! Nevertheless, a Romero zombie movie is better than just about any other zombie movie, my he keep on rotting in the free world!
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