NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Diary of the Dead

Diary of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead) is a horror film by George A. Romero. Although independently produced, it is distributed by Dimension Films and was released on February 15, 2008.^[2] George Andrew Romero (born February 4, 1940) is an American director, writer, editor and actor. ... Joshua Close (born on 31 August 1981 in Oakville, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian actor. ... Tatiana Maslany (born September 22, 1985) is a Canadian actress, born in Regina, Saskatchewan. ... The Weinstein Company is an independent American film studio founded by Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 2005 after the pair left the Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979. ... is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... Poster for the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival Box office at the Manulife Centre The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), held in Toronto, Canada, is widely considered to be one of the top film festivals in the world. ... is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 66th day of the year (67th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Horror Movie redirects here. ... George Andrew Romero (born February 4, 1940) is an American director, writer, editor and actor. ... Dimension Films is a motion picture unit currently a part of The Weinstein Company. ... is the 46th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. ...

Plot

The movie begins with some news reporters filming a story about the death of an immigrant couple and their child. As they are wheeled out of their apartment building on a gurney, the mother and the child suddenly wake up and attack the emergency services crew on site. Both are shot in the head, but not before biting quite a few of the people.

After an introduction to the zombie documentary ('The Death of Death') mostly filmed by Jason Creed, a film student at the University of Pittsburgh, the film cuts to the group of students filming a mummy horror movie in the woods, with Jason directing. The actor playing the mummy, Ridley, is lectured on the way a corpse moves and the make-up artist, Tony Ravelo, on not doing a good enough job on the make-up of the zombie. While the group argues, another student named Elliot declares that something strange is on the news. All the students, and their supervising professor hear the reports of the dead waking, and Tony scoffs at the news. After hearing the report, Ridley decides to head to his home in Philadelphia, along with Francine, another student. The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related, doctoral/research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. ...

The group gets into their Winnebago and head over towards the university dorms to pick up Debra, Jason's girlfriend. Entering the abandoned dormitory, he finds Debra in her room, attempting to get through to her parents, but to no avail. On the laptop next to her is the news report that was shown at the beginning of the movie. They get on the road once more, and Jason requests that each of the people introduce themselves to the camera, because he believes what is going on will be a part of history, and wants to document everything. Each of the group members introduce themselves hesitantly, starting with Mary, the driver, and moving to Debra and Tony, then to Elliot, Gordo and his girlfriend Tracy, and finally their professor Andrew Maxwell. While they drive, they encounter a car accident on the side of the road, where a State Trooper slowly stumbles towards the caravan. The students are frightened as he looks as though he has been fried from the fire of the accident. He begins to pound on the door, and the group quickly drive off, running over three other zombies as they escape. This article is about the living dead. ...

Mary falls quickly into depression as she realizes that she has murdered three people. Stopping for a break outside, Mary shoots herself with a pistol she was carrying, prompting the group to panic. Discovering that she still has a pulse, they rush to an abandoned hospital, looking for help. The group splits up, and Gordo hears a chaotic radio transmission. The group eventually find a doctor hidden behind a curtain. They call for his help, only to discover that he is a zombie. After firing shots into his torso, they realize the only way to put an end to him is to shoot him in the head. After killing him, an undead nurse starts to stumble towards them. After losing its eyes due to Debra zapping her head with a defibrillator, Gordo puts an end to her. A Browning 9 millimeter Hi-Power Ordnance pistol of the French Navy, 19th century, using a Percussion cap mechanism Derringers were small and easily hidden. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Running out of battery for the camera, Jason opts to stay with a comatose Mary while it charges. He hears Debra screaming, but remains where he is, not wanting to leave his camera. Debra comes back, with another video camera in hand, and lectures Jason about his documentation being more important than their lives. Mary suddenly groans as she begins to turn into a zombie. The professor confiscates the pistol from Gordo's hands and kills Mary. On their way out of the hospital, a zombie patient bites Gordo in the arm before Elliot stabs the patient in the head with an IV pole.

A few hours later, the group bury Mary, and Gordo is dead. Tony prepares to shoot him, but Tracy stops him, pleading for him to wait and see whether he will turn. Gordo then wakes up, and Tracy kills her boyfriend herself. They get on the road again, only to have the caravan break down due to a broken fuel line. They find a barn and its deaf owner, Samuel, an Amish man. After repairing the fuel line, the group prepare to leave, but Samuel is bitten and stabs himself in the face with a scythe, thus killing the zombie behind him in the process. A traditional wooden scythe A scythe (IPA: , most likely from Old English siÃ°e, sigÃ°i) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing and reaping grass or crops. ...

The group encounter a band of survivors who have stocked their warehouse with supplies. Jason uploads the footage he has shot so far on the net, and gets 72,000 hits within 8 minutes. Debra receives a text message from her little brother, claiming they are safe and heading home. Just before leaving, Ridley calls Jason via webcam and invites him over to his mansion in Philadelphia. The group gather some supplies from the warehouse after Tony kills a zombie and begin to drive to Debra's home. When they arrive, they find Debra's parent's car in the garage with the passenger window smashed and bloody. As they search the house, Debra is ambushed by her undead brother, who is quickly killed by Professor Maxwell with a bow and arrow. Debra also finds her mother who had been chewing on her father. She is also killed by the professor, who claims that they need to leave. A typical webcam Webcams are small cameras, (usually, though not always, video cameras) whose images can be accessed using the World Wide Web, instant messaging, or a PC video conferencing application. ...

Deciding to head over to Ridley's home, the group encounters the National Guard, who stop them. After ordering Jason to turn the camera off, they quickly take all their supplies, save for their weapons, and drive away, leaving the students with no food. They arrive at Ridley's home, only to find the front door open. Searching the home, Ridley surprises them as he comes out of a panic room. Tracy and Jason go and unload the caravan while Tony films Ridley going through the kitchen, looking for some food. His strange behavior alarms both Tony and Debra, who ask where Francine and his family are. He claims that they are all dead, and that he has buried them. He shows the two their bodies, who have been carelessly dumped into the swimming pool, but not before Tony noticing a bite wound on Ridley's hand. Ridley quickly turns, and goes outside where Jason is filming Tracy unloading the caravan. Ridley suddenly attacks her, but she manages to run. Jason follows them with his camera, and distracts Ridley as Tracy smacks a stick into Ridley's back, knocking him out. National Guard may refer to: A military force: Cypriot National Guard United States National Guard National Guard (France), active during the French Revolution Saudi Arabian National Guard A part of the Military of Kuwait Iraqi National Guard A part of the Military of Venezuela Portuguese Republican National Guard National Guard...

Angry that Jason simply filmed her as her life was in jeopardy, she takes the caravan and drives off on her own. Elliot dries his hair with a blow dryer as he is ambushed by Ridley, causing him to fall into the tub and killing him from electrocution. Professor Maxwell suggests they head into the panic room after seeing Elliot's death on the monitors, but Jason refuses, claiming he doesn't want to be shut off from the rest of the world. He lies that he'll go into the panic room, and while the rest of the group are busy stocking up, he sneaks away, only to run into Ridley. The group hears the commotion and find Jason being bitten by Ridley on the ground. Ridley's head is sliced in half by the professor, leaving Jason lying on the floor. He begs Debra to shoot him, which she does.

Vowing to continue his movie, Debra uses the camera and takes Jason's place and begins to record their actions. They spot a lot of zombies breaking into the mansion and a dead Elliot walking around the house. The professor quickly locks the panic room door as the zombies move inside the house. The movie ends with Debra explaining how inhumane some humans were, and questions whether they were worth saving.

Cast

Quentin Tarantino, Wes Craven, Guillermo del Toro, Simon Pegg and Stephen King cameo as voice overs as newscasters on the radio.^[5] Joshua Close (born on 31 August 1981 in Oakville, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian actor. ... George Buza is an American actor who is best known for voicing Beast on X-Men: The Animated Series. ... Amy Ciupak Lalonde is a Canadian born television personality for Scream TV. She has also made guest appearances in Mutant X, Queer as Folk, Kevin Hill, Beautiful People and the T.V. Movie of the Week, [[Murder in the Hamptons]]. Amy Ciupak Lalonde has appeared in numerous commercials including Molson... Tatiana Maslany (born September 22, 1985) is a Canadian actress, born in Regina, Saskatchewan. ... Chris Violette (born in Missisauga, Ontario) is a Canadian actor. ... George Andrew Romero (born February 4, 1940) is an American director, writer, editor and actor. ... Boyd Banks is a Canadian stand-up comedian and actor. ... Quentin Jerome Tarantino (born March 27, 1963) is an Academy Award- and Palme dOr-winning American film director, screenwriter and actor. ... Wesley Earl Craven (born August 2, 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American film director and writer best known as the creator of many horror films, including the famed Nightmare on Elm Street series featuring the redoubtable Freddy Krueger character. ... Guillermo del Toro GÃ³mez (born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco) is an Academy Award-nominated Mexican film director. ... Simon John Pegg (born 14 February 1970) is an English comedian, writer and film and television actor. ... For other persons named Stephen King, see Stephen King (disambiguation). ...

Re-establishing the Dead franchise

The film is the fifth film in Romero's Dead series.^[6] However, in "an attempt to re-establish a profitable franchise," the film is "a rejigging of the myth" says Romero.^[2] Even though the fourth film, Land of the Dead, was studio-produced through Universal Studios, Diary of the Dead was produced by Romero-Grunwald Productions, formed by Romero and his producer friend Peter Grunwald, with Artfire Films.^[7] Living Dead is a blanket term for various films and series that all originated with the seminal 1968 zombie movie Night of the Living Dead created by George A. Romero and John A. Russo. ... Land of the Dead (also known as George A. Romeros Land of the Dead) is the fourth in George A. Romeros Dead Series started by Night of the Living Dead, which continued with the sequels Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. ... This article is about the American media conglomerate. ...

History

Romero announced the film in August 2006 after signing a deal to write and direct it.^[7] Filming began its four-week shoot in Toronto on October 19, 2006.^[3] is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Despite the low production budget, somewhere around 2 million dollars,^[8] director George Romero made extensive use of computer-generated imagery, because it allowed him to shoot the film quickly and add the effects later. Also, the film's style, as if shot with hand-held cameras, necessitated a shift from his usual method of working, which involves filming multiple camera angles and assembling scenes in the editing room. Instead, Romero filmed much of the action in long, continuous takes: "The camera was 360, so everybody was an acrobat, ducking under the lens when the camera came past you," said Romero. "The cast was great. They had a lot of theatre experience. I think they could have gone from scene one all the way to the end of the movie, all in a single shot."^[9]

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Midnight Madness on September 8, 2007.^[10] According to a poll taken by the Toronto Star, it was one of the most anticipated films at the Festival.^[11] Just four days later, The Weinstein Company announced that it had purchased the rights to distribute Diary of the Dead in the United States and Mexico for $2.5 million. There, Dimension Films are distributing the film. Poster for the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival Box office at the Manulife Centre The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), held in Toronto, Canada, is widely considered to be one of the top film festivals in the world. ... is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... The Toronto Star is Canadas highest-circulation newspaper, though its print edition is distributed almost entirely within Ontario. ... The Weinstein Company is an independent American film studio founded by Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 2005 after the pair left the Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979. ... Dimension Films is a motion picture unit currently a part of The Weinstein Company. ...

Reception

The film had a very mixed reaction from critics. On the film review website Rottentomatoes.com it sports a 60% approval rating^[12], certifying it as "fresh". It is currently the lowest-rated entry in Romero's series. On Metacritic, the film has a positive overall score of 66 (out of 100). Roger Ebert however awarded the film three out of four stars saying "Diary” presents a world of post-9/11, post-Iraq-invasion paranoia and distrust of the “official story.”

DVD release

The DVD was released by The Weinstein Company and Genius Entertainment on May 20, 2008. Special features include a feature-length documentary, an audio commentary, deleted scenes, Behind the Scenes featurette, and five short films that came about via a MySpace contest. It was released the same day as a new edition of Night of the Living Dead. ^[13] On a DVD (or laserdisc), an audio commentary is a bonus track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, who talk about the movie as it progresses. ... Deleted scene is a commonly-used term in the entertainment industry, especially the film and television industry, which usually refers specifically to scenes removed from or replaced by another scene in the final cut, or version, of a film (including television serials). ... Behind the scenes is a popular term that refers to the actual workings of an endeavor, as opposed to what is normally perceived in the public view. ... MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. ... This article is about the 1968 film directed by George A. Romero. ...

References

^ CHUD.com - A film site for the brilliant
^ ^a ^b Diary of the Dead, Teeth and Quarantine Get Dates!. Bloody-Disgusting.com (2007-11-01). Retrieved on 2007-11-02.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Diary of the Dead shooting and more Cast!. MoviesOnline. Retrieved on 2006-10-29.
^ DeDekker, Jeff. "Regina actress makes her mark in 'Booky' role", Regina Leader-Post, 2006-10-21. Retrieved on 2006-10-02.
^ Capone With George A. Romero!!.
^ Kincaid, Nina (2006-08-30). Script Review: Romero's "Diary of the Dead". Flixens. Retrieved on 2006-09-14.
^ ^a ^b . The film was produced by Romero's company and many might say it fulfils Romero's modern Dead film better than the mixed reviewed Land of the Dead. That being said, many stylistic conventions of previous Romero Dead films are absent. The film has virtually no musical soundtrack which has been a Romero staple (Specifically Dawn of the Dead with the Goblins). Since the film is captured by internal sources (within the film and narrative) Romero's long still shots and crafty moving cranes are virtually absent. Since the film is taking on a different concept, and "re-establishing" a legendary horror tale, this all makes sense. McClintock, Pamela. "Romero will raise 'Dead'", Variety.com, 2006-08-24. Retrieved on 2006-09-14.
^ The zombie king returns to the 'Dead' - CNN.com
^ Hollywood Gothique: "Talking about 'Diary of the Dead'"
^ TIFF '07 - Films & Schedules George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
^ Romero's 'Diary' breathes new life into the dead - USATODAY.com
^ Diary of the Dead at Rotten Tomatoes
^ FANGORIA® - America's Horror Magazine

id="External_links"> Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 305th day of the year (306th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 306th day of the year (307th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The Regina Leader-Post is a local newspaper of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, and a member of the CanWest News Service. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 294th day of the year (295th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 275th day of the year (276th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 242nd day of the year (243rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 257th day of the year (258th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Land of the Dead (also known as George A. Romeros Land of the Dead) is the fourth in George A. Romeros Dead Series started by Night of the Living Dead, which continued with the sequels Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. ... For the remake, see Dawn of the Dead (2004 film) For the song by Schoolyard Heroes, see The Funeral Sciences Dawn of the Dead (also known as George A. Romeros Dawn of the Dead, and Zombi internationally) is a 1978 American independent horror film, written and directed by George... Variety is a weekly magazine for the entertainment industry. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 236th day of the year (237th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 257th day of the year (258th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

External links

For the in-memory database management system, see In-memory database. ... Apple Inc. ... Metacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs and books. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Living Dead is a blanket term for various films and series that all originated with the seminal 1968 zombie movie Night of the Living Dead created by George A. Romero and John A. Russo. ... George Andrew Romero (born February 4, 1940) is an American director, writer, editor and actor. ... John A. Russo (sometimes credited as Jack Russo or John Russo) is an American screenwriter and film director most commonly associated with the 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead. ... This article is about the 1968 film directed by George A. Romero. ... Living Dead is a blanket term for various films and series that all originated with the seminal 1968 zombie movie Night of the Living Dead created by George A. Romero and John A. Russo. ... For the remake, see Dawn of the Dead (2004 film) For the song by Schoolyard Heroes, see The Funeral Sciences Dawn of the Dead (also known as George A. Romeros Dawn of the Dead, and Zombi internationally) is a 1978 American independent horror film, written and directed by George... Day of the Dead (also known as George A. Romeros Day of the Dead) is a horror film by director George A. Romero, and the third of five movies. ... Land of the Dead (also known as George A. Romeros Land of the Dead) is the fourth in George A. Romeros Dead Series started by Night of the Living Dead, which continued with the sequels Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. ... Return of the Living Dead is a series of films that was produced between 1985-2005. ... This article is about the film. ... Return of the Living Dead Part II is a horror film that was released in 1988. ... Return of the Living Dead 3 is an American horror film released in 1993. ... Living Dead is a blanket term for various films and series that all originated with the seminal 1968 zombie movie Night of the Living Dead created by George A. Romero and John A. Russo. ... Night of the Living Dead is the 1990 remake of George A. Romeros 1968 classic, Night of the Living Dead, and was directed by Tom Savini. ... Dawn of the Dead is a 2004 horror film reimagining of George A. Romeros 1978 film of the same name. ... Day of the Dead is a horror film remake of George A. Romeros classic zombie film of the same name, the third in Romeros Dead series. ... Night of the Living Bread (1990) is a short film parody of Night of the Living Dead, directed by Kevin S. OBrien. ... Shaun of the Dead is a zombie-themed romantic comedy (or rom zom com as it dubs itself) or zombie comedy released in 2004. ... Children of the Living Dead is a 2001 film, a sequel to Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition, which was a special edition of Night of the Living Dead with added scenes and a new score. ... Night of the Living Dead 3-D is a 2006 horror film made in 3-D. It is a remake of the 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Zombi series is a series of Italian zombie horror movies. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... George Andrew Romero (born February 4, 1940) is an American director, writer, editor and actor. ... This article is about the 1968 film directed by George A. Romero. ... Theres Always Vanilla (1971) was George A. Romeros second motion picture and, as of 2005, his only romantic comedy. ... This article or section contains a plot summary that is overly long. ... Not to be confused by The Halloween series called Halloween 3 Season of the Witch, also known as Hungry Wives, and Jacks Wife, is George A. Romeros third film. ... Martin is a 1977 horror film written and directed by George A. Romero. ... For the remake, see Dawn of the Dead (2004 film) For the song by Schoolyard Heroes, see The Funeral Sciences Dawn of the Dead (also known as George A. Romeros Dawn of the Dead, and Zombi internationally) is a 1978 American independent horror film, written and directed by George... This article is actively undergoing a major edit. ... Creepshow is a classic 1982 anthology horror movie directed by George A. Romero (of Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead fame), and written by Stephen King (The Shining, Misery, The Stand). ... Day of the Dead (also known as George A. Romeros Day of the Dead) is a horror film by director George A. Romero, and the third of five movies. ... Monkey Shines (sometimes called Monkey Shines: An Experiment in Fear) is an American thriller film originally released in 1988. ... Two Evil Eyes (Italian title Due occhi diabolici) is a 1991 portmanteau horror film written and directed by the Italian Dario Argento and American George A. Romero. ... The Dark Half is a 1993 horror film adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. ... Bruiser is a 2000 horror film starring Jason Flemyng as Henry Creedlow, a man who wakes up one morning to discover he is missing his face only to find that it has been replaced by a white featureless mask. ... Land of the Dead (also known as George A. Romeros Land of the Dead) is the fourth in George A. Romeros Dead Series started by Night of the Living Dead, which continued with the sequels Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. ... George A. Romero has signed on to both write and direct the thriller Solitary Isle. ...

Contents

Plot

Cast

Re-establishing the Dead franchise

History

Reception

DVD release

References

External links

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Contents

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Cast

Re-establishing the Dead franchise

History

Reception

DVD release

References

External links

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Plot