DVD Review – Survival of the Dead

Today Monday 15th March 2010 sees the release of George A. Romero’s newest zombie instalment, “Survival of the Dead” on DVD and Blu-ray by Optimum Releasing.

In Survival of the Dead, zombies are still roaming the earth, and as it’s a Romero movie, they are slow-moving and dumb.  As in the previous Romero outputs, there’s no more room in hell so the dead are walking the earth, there’s no mysterious infection plaguing the planet so if you die, in whatever manner, you will return as a zombie.

Shortly after the dead start getting back up again with a hunger for human flesh, a group of soldiers go AWOL and embark on their own personal quest to find a place where no zombies exist.  Lead by their Sarge, played by Alan Van Sprang, who has been in the last three Romero zombie films, the group’s desire for somewhere free of zombies takes them to Plum Island, Delaware, where there is more than a conflict between the living and the dead taking place.

Plum Island is inhabited primarily by two large families, the O’Flynns and the Muldoons.  Patrick O’Flynn and his family members have taken it upon themselves to remove all zombies from Plum Island regardless of whose loved ones they are, while the Muldoons wish to give zombies a chance to live within the populace in chains until a cure is found. Both families are willing to kill for their beliefs and the Sarge and his troops find themselves caught right in the middle of it all.

Weirdly, the zombies in this movie play second fiddle to the western-style battle over territory between the O’Flynns and the Muldoons.  Naturally the zombie inhabited world in which “Survival” takes place is key to the story but it is the family feud that drives the plot forward, making the movie essentially an Undead Western.

It doesn’t take itself too seriously and makes light of the the various ways in which a zombie can be dispatched.  Though while there are a couple of laugh out loud moments, I wouldn’t say the movie is a comedy.  It makes fun of itself, which is great, just not in a respectable way like Shaun of the Dead or Zombieland.  It’s not a “Zom Com” but there is humour there.

Survival of the Dead certainly raises new issues with dealing with the undead.  Previously the biggest question should a zombie invasion occur was “Where would you go?”, but watching this I found myself asking whether I would kill them at all!.  It raises a new social dilemma and In that respect “Survival” is quite a fresh take on the typical zombie movie, but it only elaborates on an idea already set out at the end of Shaun of the Dead.  There isn’t much at all that is new here.  The “Undead Western” is an original approach to my knowledge but everything else has been seen before, or is done better elsewhere. 

If all you fancy is an easy 86 minutes of zombieness or another movie to add to your Romero collection then this is perfect for you.  If you need just that little bit more you might be disappointed.  I  give it 2 bespectacled zombie kings (George A. Romero) out of 5.