It's Cloverfield for zombies. Obviously George Romero conceived and shot Diary of the Dead long before the recent his videotape movie, but now that Cloverfield made the style cool, it can only benefit Diary. It is a slightly more sophisticated version of it too.
Review: George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
First of all, the camera crew is more professional. Whether news crews or film students, these are people who know how to use a camera, so they frame things correctly and even edit their footage. Sometimes, they even use tripods! They justify the use of music and the very reason why they are shooting, because it is part of their character.
We get different camera sources as other footage is found, and they address necessities like recharging the batteries. Some events are cut but you know exactly what happened in between. And the HD looks good. It's not crappy video tape.
This is the modern take on the zombie movie. Crime scene attacks and other real world situations make the zombie phenomenon practical. The sharing of information is vital to the situation too, and the film addresses how we would do so in the modern age.
It is George Romero's most daring Dead yet. The social themes are harder core and he takes shots at other interpretations of the zombie myth, like the fast zombies and the electricity vulnerability created by one of the knockoff series. Since these characters are experiencing the outbreak for the first time, they have to face the guilt, a real result of their disbelief that the dead are actually walking. He even addresses other cultures dealing with the dead. It is sickly profound.
It's almost like a greatest hits of all the aspects of zombie survival movies. You get some barricade scenes, some supply gathering and plenty of in fighting. It is the broadest view of the situation yet, going from nature to homes to cities.
Romero still comes up with brutally genius kills too. Characters improvise with what's around and the graphic kills are all backed with creativity. There are twistedly clever situations like the most innocent situation for a zombie attack. It is the deadliest Dead yet. Of course it is nailing the human drama that makes Diary of the Dead on par with Dawn of the Dead.
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