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**Kalyx triaD** · 12-13-2009, 12:12 PM

Diary of the Dead - 2/5

Great production, but so-so acting, bad writing, and vague direction turn an interesting premise into a bad execution. There's some hilariously bad, out of place lines said by the characters during pivotal moments. It just shows how the writing is a big screw up overall. For instance, a big hurdle with the first-person 'found footage' sub-genre is that somewhere along the line the writer needs to address why Character A is continually 'shooting' during the usually horrific events. The most common explanation is some belief that people need to know what happened. Diary takes it a step further by alluding to the current 'YouTube' trend of media transparency. While admirable, there's situations where the character's obsessive compulsion to shoot is wildly out of place and shatters suspension of belief - and a main character in particular just comes off as an ass who doesn't understand the weight of the situation. "Why is he still filming?" is asked at all of these found footage movies, but it's too much of a credible question with this movie.

More on the writing, I noticed an interesting facet of the dialogue. All the characters seem to speak in lyric, expressing themselves through poetic mini-monologues. This overly dramatic style is reminiscent of anime, JRPGs, stage plays, soap operas, and WWE. As such, the spoken lines are way out of place for something meant to capture 'reality', even if it's 'fake reality'. The best way to film found footage movies is for the cast to improvise scenes, this movie very obviously intends for characters to say certain things a certain way. And again, the style is random and out of place.

This leads me to believe that the movie probably would have been better served with a traditional presentation, where the dialogue would have fit better (although still bad writing). Romero's knack for social commentary is spoon fed to you, in case you're too dense to understand. I didn't mind that, though - it was the least of the movie's issues. In any case, I couldn't stop watching, and I liked seeing classic zombies stumbling around again.

12-13-2009, 12:12 PM	#3059
Kalyx triaD Raw Video Footage Posts: 45,950	Diary of the Dead - 2/5 Great production, but so-so acting, bad writing, and vague direction turn an interesting premise into a bad execution. There's some hilariously bad, out of place lines said by the characters during pivotal moments. It just shows how the writing is a big screw up overall. For instance, a big hurdle with the first-person 'found footage' sub-genre is that somewhere along the line the writer needs to address why Character A is continually 'shooting' during the usually horrific events. The most common explanation is some belief that people need to know what happened. Diary takes it a step further by alluding to the current 'YouTube' trend of media transparency. While admirable, there's situations where the character's obsessive compulsion to shoot is wildly out of place and shatters suspension of belief - and a main character in particular just comes off as an ass who doesn't understand the weight of the situation. "Why is he still filming?" is asked at all of these found footage movies, but it's too much of a credible question with this movie. More on the writing, I noticed an interesting facet of the dialogue. All the characters seem to speak in lyric, expressing themselves through poetic mini-monologues. This overly dramatic style is reminiscent of anime, JRPGs, stage plays, soap operas, and WWE. As such, the spoken lines are way out of place for something meant to capture 'reality', even if it's 'fake reality'. The best way to film found footage movies is for the cast to improvise scenes, this movie very obviously intends for characters to say certain things a certain way. And again, the style is random and out of place. This leads me to believe that the movie probably would have been better served with a traditional presentation, where the dialogue would have fit better (although still bad writing). Romero's knack for social commentary is spoon fed to you, in case you're too dense to understand. I didn't mind that, though - it was the least of the movie's issues. In any case, I couldn't stop watching, and I liked seeing classic zombies stumbling around again. Last edited by Kalyx triaD; 12-13-2009 at 12:14 PM.