Diary of the Dead 2007

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The way Diary of the Dead chooses to deliver its gore, you know you're in the hands of a grown-up uninterested in the excesses of the Saw or Hostel pictures. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: This time out, [Romero's] heavy-handed intellectual concerns get in the way of a perfectly good fright flick. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Diary of the Dead works much better as a horror film than as social commentary. Which is no shortcoming - a good scare is a good scare, no matter what the medium in which it's delivered. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: The movie suffers from the same malaise Romero diagnoses in society. It's just too mediated to be scary, despite its zeal for gore. You can't feel the characters' fear, and they don't seem to feel it either. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Though the premise requires a fair amount of indulgence, it also allows Romero to recapture the indie spirit of his landmark debut. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Full zombie satisfaction. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: As horror, Diary of the Dead delivers the gross-out goods, but only the gullible will confuse these ritualized shock-videogame tactics with something relevant. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Ultimately, the unanswered --- and possibly unconsidered --- question is if Romero is lambasting the exploitation of death, how does that reconcile with his entire career? Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: Although the matters on Romero's mind weigh heavy, the movie he's made is anything but heavy-handed. Clocking in at a svelte 95 minutes, Diary of the Dead zips along. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: There's enough social commentary (and innovative splatter) to acidulate the brew -- to remind you that Romero, even behind the curve, makes other genre filmmakers look like fraidy-cats. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: It seems sacrilegious to dismiss a zombie movie by Romero, who's been blending horror and satire since 1968's Night of the Living Dead. But his latest approach feels uncomfortably behind the curve. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: A movie in which victims wander as aimlessly as their undead stalkers. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Even a legend's got to make a living, sure. But Diary, for all its core audience appeal, feels like a filmmaker lurching slowly down a path he's already worn out. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Moderately scary, moderately amusing, intermittently dull and obvious, Diary of the Dead is not groundbreaking, nor even ground-quaking. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Not only the most satisfying motion picture Romero has made in a long while, but one of the best of his career. Read more

Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times: You may not believe in zombies, but the unnamed dread in the air of Diary of the Dead is recognizably believable, because we live with it now. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: It's one of the least scary films that [Romero's] made -- but still entertaining, and very, very gory. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Hardly top-drawer Romero. In fact, it may be his worst zombie film yet. But even bad Romero is a far sight more interesting than the coolly sadistic guts-porn that currently passes for mainstream horror. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It's a shame to speak ill of the dead, but Romero leaves us no alternative. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: There are zombie movies and then there are George Romero films. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Romero turns his no-frills production into an asset. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Read more

Time Out: Like the recent 'Cloverfield', Romero uses the kinetic immediacy of digital video shot on-the-run, but in a more sophisticated and disturbing way. Read more

Eddie Cockrell, Variety: Gore's godfather audaciously and successfully reboots his incalculably influential zombie franchise as a lean, mean teen-survival machine. Read more

Nathan Lee, Village Voice: The devil's in the details, and Diary is diabolically resourceful within its circumscribed framework. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: We want to high-five Romero for finding new ways to off his lifeless marauders. Read more