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The Zombie Diaries is an independent zombie flick that combines the low-budget approach of The Blair Witch Project with the frenetic energy of 28 Days Later and the mock-documentary aesthetic of Man Bites Dog. The film is broken into three different “diaries” that cover the outbreak of a virus that animates the dead, the survival of a husband, wife and a hitchhiker, and a group of survivors holed up at a farm. Looks-wise, The Zombie Diaries combines the jittery handheld camera imagery of The Blair Witch Project with the grainy digital video look of 28 Days Later.

The film is helmed by two up and coming auteurs who worked on every aspect of the film including writing, directing, and editing. Michael Bartlett and Kevin Gates have crafted a very impressive film that eschews many conventional zombie clichés in favor of innovation and creativity. The film’s story is told in a non-linear manner that is confusing at times due to the grainy picture and frequent jumping around of characters and plot lines. For the first thirty minutes, I wasn’t even sure there was a plot, as most of the action unfolds in a series of brutal vignettes that end abruptly only to have the characters’ story threads picked up later in the film. The director’s do a good job of conveying the bleakness of a situation such as a zombie apocalypse, and there are almost never any moments of levity in the film, which causes the film to grate on the nerves and ratchets up the tension a considerable degree. Still, some of the excessive camera shaking and out of focus visuals did get old after a while and the sound design of the film isn’t that spectacular either. The editing is pretty choppy and out of line with the rest of the film, as it is supposed to take place from a survivor’s point of view… and I’m still not sure if the end of the world happened that I would be lugging around a camera and editing the footage so it jumps from one scene to the next.

The acting in the film is pretty low-budget and there is virtually no character development at all. All of the characters are stock characters that have little or no personality or opportunity to display anything akin to real differentiation. The majority of the cast seems to be little more than a collection of lambs for the slaughter.

The special effects in the movie are awesome and there is a shitload of fun to be had by anyone that loves zombies. The zombies are slow-moving, well designed and ever present. The film is full of bullet hits, even if it is a little light on the carnage done to humans. The zombie makeups are effective and the special effects are definitely a bright spot of the film.

Despite the interesting camera angles, visuals, and violence, the film never really feels like it has anything to say. Rather, it seems like an audition tape showing that the directors have some skill at directing, because clearly their writing is rather ineffectual as the film stumbles along trying to give its characters some sort of purpose for existing other than dying at the hands of each other or by a mob of hungry zombies. I question the heart and the integrity of the directors behind the film. Is this a case of zombie fans putting together a low-budget love letter to zombie flicks? Or is this just a case of a bunch of cheap bastards trying to get their stuff out in the real world by exploiting the most often abused sub-genre of horror films… which just happens to be one of the cheapest to make?

Putting all the doubts about sincerity aside, The Zombie Diaries is an awesome diversion for low-budget horror fans as there is some measure of creativity in the execution and visuals of the film. It’s not going to set the world on fire, but at least you get to watch zombies get shot in the head.

Final Synopsis: This film is solely for zombie fans and low-budget aficionados. If you love zombie movies, The Zombie Diaries might be worth your dollar… just make sure you bring something to cure the motion sickness induced by the film’s jittery cinematography.

Points Lost: -1 for bland characters, -1 for lack of a real plot, -1 for distracting editing, -1 for some poor audio

Lesson Learned: Put down the fucking camera when a zombie is after you.

Burning Question: If it’s the end of the world, would you bother recording it?

The Zombie Diaries
6/10

Tags: 2006, british, british horror, dimension extreme, european, european horror, horror, horror movie, kevin gates, latest movie reviews, michael bartlett, recent2, zombie, zombie movie, zombies