Impantanato chissà perché in una distribuzione da terzo mondo, tocca rivolgersi al solito generoso mercato inglese anche per
Diary of the Dead.
Le recensioni non erano entusiastiche ed anche il pubblico reagì con freddezza; inevitabile quindi un minimo di sospetto verso l'ennesimo zombie-movie di zio
Romero.
Ebbene, per quanto mi riguarda tutte le voci critiche si sono rivelate
dead wrong.
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Un vero e proprio
reboot (concetto che di norma non amo), per aggiornare gli zombie ai giorni nostri: d'improvviso, senza alcuna motivazione, i morti si animano ed iniziano ad attaccare i viventi. Il panico è immediato e devastante: in brevissimo tempo l'intera società si sfalda; niente più sicurezza, né legge, né comunicazioni.
Un piccolo gruppo di studenti di cinema - che ovviamente stavano girando un horror
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- s'imbarcherà in un viaggio verso casa nella speranza di trovarvi ancora qualcuno vivo.
Concetto non dissimile da quello già esplorato in tutti gli altri della serie, la differenza qui la fa la modalità narrativa: il film è infatti presentato come se fosse il montaggio definitivo di una serie di spezzoni di riprese girate dagli studenti stessi - in particolare uno di loro, ossessivo nella sua mania di documentare quanto sta accadendo.
Come facilmente prevedibile il viaggio sarà tutt'altro che agevole, ed occasione tanto di sgraditi incontri quanto delle immancabili riflessioni romeriane (il già visto "siamo degni d'essere salvati/siamo poi così diversi da loro?" ma anche e soprattutto uno sguardo molto critico ai nuovi
media ed ai nuovi modi di diffondere e fruire la comunicazione).
Romero dovrebbe stanare e uccidere tutti coloro che solo per questo hanno paragonato il suo lavoro a
Cloverfield e
The Blair Witch Project; sono sempre stato un detrattore dell'abuso della telecamera a mano, ma quel che davvero conta è cosa racconti, e Diary of the Dead nei suoi 95 densi minuti racconta molto e soprattutto lo racconta dannatamente bene.
Senza tralasciare il piccolo dettagli che - a differenza dei due titoli citati - questo film fa davvero paura, quando decide di farla.
Aveva tutti gli ingredienti per risultarmi alquanto sgradito (reboot, telecamera a mano, nuovo capitolo di una serie che sembrava aver detto tutto o quasi, l'addentrarsi in un campo non suo come l'utilizzo dei nuovi media, ...), ed invece ho finito con l'adorarlo, anche se la mia pare essere una opinione non così diffusa.
Voto: 9.5. Lo zombie che non ti aspetti!
Tags: horror, fantasy, thriller, zombie, Romero, George A. Romero, viaggio, studenti, reboot, telecamera a mano, metafilm, film nel film, montaggio, Internet, comunicazione, media, nuovi media, blog, filmato, youtube, chat, video, download, fucile, pistola, arco, frecce, parente, madre, padre, fratello, morte, cannibalismo, ospedale, università, facoltà, cinema, fuga, villa, camera di sicurezza, panic room, piscina, professore, suicidio, morti viventi, incidente, ambulanza, telecronista, amish, tomba, guardia nazionale, esercito, milizia, intestino, mummia, critica, mockumentary, bomba, falce.
Romero, George A. (I)
Nome di battesimo: Romero, George Andrew
Data di nascita: 4 February 1940
Altezza: 6' 5" (1.96 m)
Coniuge: Christine Forrest::(1981 - present), Nancy Romero::(1971 - 1978) (divorced)
Ultimi lavori: Biografia:George A. Romero never set out to become a Hollywood figure; however, by all indications, he was very successful. The director of the groundbreaking "Dead" pentalogy was born February 4, 1940, in New York City. He grew up there until attending the renowned Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After graduation, he began shooting mostly short films and commercials. He and his friends formed "Image Ten Productions" in the late 1960s and they all chipped in roughly US$10,000 a piece to produce what became one of the most celebrated American horror films of all time: Night of the Living Dead (1968). Shot in black-and-white on a budget of just over US$100,000, Romero's vision, combined with a solid script written by him and his "Image" co-founder John A. Russo (along with what was then considered an excess of gore) enabled the film to earn back far more than what it cost, became a cult classic by the early 1970s and was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress of the United States in 1999. Romero's next films were a little more low-key and less seen including There's Always Vanilla (1971), The Crazies (1973), Hungry Wives (1972) (where he met his future wife Christine Forrest) and Martin (1977). Though not as acclaimed as Night of the Living Dead (1968), or some of his later work, these films had his signature social commentary while dealing with issues, usually horror-related, at the microscopic level. Like almost all of his films, they were shot in, or around, Romero's favorite city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1978, Romero returned to the zombie genre with the one film of his that would top the success of Night of the Living Dead (1968): Dawn of the Dead (1978). He managed to divorce the franchise from Image Ten, which screwed up the copyright on the original and allowed the film to enter into public domain, with the result that Romero and his original investors were not entitled to any profits from the film's video releases. Shooting in the Monroeville, Pennsylvania, Mall during late-night hours, Romero told the tale of four people who escape a zombie outbreak and lock themselves up inside what they think is paradise before the solitude makes them victims of their own, and a biker gang's, greed. Shot on a budget of just $1.5 million, the film earned over US$40 million worldwide and was named one of the top cult films by Entertainment Weekly magazine in 2003. The film also marked Romero's first work with brilliant make-up and effects artist Tom Savini. After 1978, Romero and Savini teamed up many times. Dawn of the Dead (1978)'s success led to bigger budgets and better casts for the filmmaker. First was Knightriders (1981), where he first worked with an up-and-coming Ed Harris. Then came perhaps his most Hollywood-like film, Creepshow (1982), which marked the first, but not the last, time Romero adapted a work by famed horror novelist Stephen King. With many major stars and big-studio distribution, Creepshow (1982) was a moderate success and spawned a sequel, which was also written by Romero. The decline of Romero's career came in the late 1980s. His last widely-released film was the next "Dead" film, Day of the Dead (1985). Derided by critics, it did not take in much at the box office, either. His latest two efforts were The Dark Half (1993), (another Stephen King adaptation) and Bruiser (2000). Even the Romero-penned, Tom Savini-directed remake of Romero's first film, Night of the Living Dead (1990), was a box-office failure. Pigeon-holed solely as a horror director and his recent films no longer achieving the success of his earlier "Dead" films, Romero has not worked much since, much to the chagrin of his following. In 2005, 19 years after Day of the Dead (1985), with major-studio distribution, he returned to his most famous series and horror sub-genre he created with Land of the Dead (2005), a further exploration of the destruction of modern society by the undead, that received both excellent and indifferent reviews and even topped the United States box-office in its first week of release. He still resides in Pittsburgh.
Trivia random: Was originally attached to write and direct Resident Evil (2002), but left the project in 1999 due to creative differences over the script.
Citazione random: If you have 60 people dress like zombies and you show them something that you like, you get 60 people doing the exact same thing. My opinion of a good zombie walk is to loll your head as if it's a little too heavy and the muscles have begun to atrophy.
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Diary of the Dead (2007)
Le cronache dei morti viventi
Regista: George A. Romero Scrittore: George A. Romero Genere: Fantasy, Horror, Thriller, Fantasy
Valutazione: 6.1/10 (16234 voti)
Durata: 95 min
Paese: USA
Lingua: English
Cast:Trama:While filming a horror movie of mummy in a forest, the students and their professor of the University of Pittsburgh hear on the TV the news that the dead are awaking and walking. Ridley and Francine decide to leave the group, while Jason heads to the dormitory of his girlfriend Debra Monahan. She does not succeed in contacting her family and they travel in Mary's van to the house of Debra's parents in Scranton, Pennsylvania. While driving her van, Mary sees a car accident and runs over a highway patrolman and three other zombies trying to escape from them. Later the religious Mary is depressed, questioning whether the victims where really dead, and tries to commit suicide, shooting herself with a pistol. Her friends takeg her to a hospital where they realize that the dead are indeed awaking and walking and they need to fight to survive while traveling to Debra's parents house.
Trivia random: Begins on the same day as Night of the Living Dead (1968), although the setting has been updated to the present day. The concept for the film evolved from an idea that director George A. Romero had earlier for a "Living Dead" TV series, which also would have begun on the same day as "Night of the Living Dead."
Citazione random: Debra: Everyone who dies, unless they get a bullet in the head, is gonna come back and try to kill someone else.
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb.
Blair Witch Project, The (1999)
The Blair Witch project - Il mistero della strega di Blair
Regista: Daniel Myrick,
Eduardo Sánchez Scrittore: Daniel Myrick,
Eduardo Sánchez Genere: Horror, Mystery, Thriller, Horror
Valutazione: 6.2/10 (77240 voti)
Durata: 86 min
Paese: USA
Lingua: English
Cast:Trama:Three film students travel to Maryland to make a student film about a local urban legend... The Blair Witch. The three went into the woods on a two day hike to find the Blair Witch, and never came back. One year later, the students film and video was found in the woods. The footage was compiled and made into a movie. The Blair Witch Project.
Trivia random: The working title was "The Black Hills Project."
Citazione random: Michael Williams: [sees dozens of stick-men hanging from trees] No redneck is this creative.
Filmography links and data courtesy of IMDb. 
