Saturday, September 13, 2008

Dear Diary

Okay so it's time to get off my ass. I have a few reviews I've been sitting on for a little too long now. I didn't post them because, well... I'm lazy. It's all I can really say. But I will be posting them tonight, and as an added bonus I have a stack...STACK of movies on my desk, four of which are pre-streets. I am going to try my hardest to get through them all, but seeing as they all need to go back before Tuesday (IE Monday) it may be hard. Though lets movie right on to...

Diary of the Dead
The movie, diary of the dead, actually did come out in theaters. This actually surprised me as I had previously thought that it was a direct to DVD. The movie opened in 42 theaters and brought in $232,576 it's opening weekend. It topped at 48 theaters and brought in $958,961 national and $4,566,999 world wide. This may seem like small potatoes, and it is... But it did manage to double production costs, labeling it a success financially.

The movie takes place in the same world of the other Dead movies... This one specifically takes place during the events of Night, assuming Night took place in modern day. It follows the story of a handful of college students simply trying to escape the horrors that have befallen and find some sort of shelter to keep safe, all the while filming all the events.

This is yet another Handycam film, though this time with the slight twist of post editing and a second camera... This is done by explaining that one of the survivors decided that these things needed to be seen and edited together to 'show us the truth. I found this very well done. The second camera gives us larger scope of whats happening as we can now split off to see whats happening off screen of the first camera. Just as well the post editing factor gives a better flow to the movie as the film isn't obligated to show 'realism' and have the audience question why the camera man turned the camera on or off at a given scene.

I say it again, I think handycam films are great. Well no, I think what a handycam film can do for a genre... There are cam videos I do not like, example include Monster and the Blair Witch Project (Note: The Blair Witch Project was marketed PERFECTLY with it's viral advertisments, and keeping everything under wraps to keep the 'reality'...But the movie itself had a very bland plot, and no actual script. The actors were told to improv, and thats why you hear 'Fuck' every third word.)

But what Handycam films do is allow you to go to a genre that has been tried, tread, and trampled... A genre in which every plot device, every turn, every single thought to make it live again is gone, like the Zombie film, and give it new perspective. You can see these old ideas in a new light. It can give these movies one last hurrah and chance to grace our screens.

Diary of the dead was, to put it simply, great. While looking through the camera man's eyes you could feel the weight on these characters as the world disolves to nothing. There are some truley brilliant shots of decolate cities, and creepy building interiors. The addition of the Media News coverage vs. the power of the Internet also made me smile and was an idea I'm suprised nobody had thought of before. Where the News tries to cover the incidents up, the internet allows the truth to flourish.

If you're a Zombie fan I highly recomend Diary of the Dead, it's everything you love with new eyes.

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