THE DEAD DON’T DIE (2019)
Tagline: The Greatest Zombie Cast Ever Disassembled!
(Comedy, Sci-Fi, Horror) [R]
…Ghouls. This is undead, reanimated, full-on flesh-eating zombie s--t, no question.
This movie basically happens in a really beautiful little town in New York. It’s so small they literally only have one diner, so once that place closes you are relegated to a small shop named Bobby’s Gas And Stuff or the vending machines at the Moonlight Motel if you want anything to eat (unless you are a hunter). It doesn’t take long before we find out that fracking at the North Pole causes the earth to slip off its access and the whole world starts getting weird when it comes to daylight and other things like that. Oh yeah, and it takes a couple nights, but there are zombies…lots of freakin zombies. The towns police department is basically 3 people who are led by Chief Cliff Robertson (played by Bill Murray from GHOSTBUSTERS), Officer Ronnie Peterson (played by Adam Driver from STAR WARS), and Officer Mindy Morrison (played by Chloë Sevigny probably most famous for being on the TV show Portlandia). So far so good.
On the great side, this movie is pretty funny through the first 75 minutes or so. I guess you have to kind of grab some of the millions of nods to other movies ranging from STAR WARS to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD to really grip a lot of the dialog, but this script really does a solid job of letting us get to know the characters. For some that will be a negative, because this isn’t really a crazy high octane zombie romp. I also really liked that Danny Glover and Steve Buscemi were part of this thing.
If you wanted to compare it to other zombie movies it’s probably closest to SHAUN OF THE DEAD which also starts out pretty funny, but gets more and more serious as the film moves along. This is a horror flick so doom is expected to an extent, but unfortunately, it is not handled in this movie with much grace. Instead, the ending comes across as some bizarre anti-capitalist downer. I mean if you are anti-capitalist I guess that’s your choice, but in this movie, it feels overly preachy along with the bizarre political overtones that seemed as out of place as Tilda Swinton’s entire character.
Having said that, I did find Tilda Swinton’s character to be quite interesting and quirky. Even more interesting is that the whole idea for this movie was pitched to director Jim Jarmusch by Swinton. I also really liked the fact that she was a no-nonsense bada-s. Bill Murray’s comedic timing was great and he worked really well with Adam Driver. I don’t always like Murray, so this was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t like Mindy really at all and found her character more annoying than comical. I honestly have no idea why the two dudes she was hanging out with or Selena Gomez’s character Zoe were even introduced. I won’t go into it too much but it seems like there were some incredibly wasted opportunities with pretty much every character under 30 that shows up on screen, that has more than one line.
Pacing wise THE DEAD DON’T DIE is a slow-moving train, but the dialog and intriguing storyline help this thing along as well as the deadpan but perfectly timed performances. I do think some better script choices could have put this over the top. Maybe also getting rid of Hermit Bob’s lame diatribe at the end, but it's still one of the better and more interesting zombie comedies out there. If you read this blog you know I have seen a lot of them so that’s a huge compliment.
At first watch, this is a 4 out of 7 for me, but I am going to give it a 5 out of 7 because I think that’s more realistic (especially if you just skip the last 24 to 30 minutes). I also appreciate that while we do have some blood and guts, it’s not way over the top. So for fans of ZOMBIELAND this probably in your wheelhouse only more of a leisurely self-aware cinematic stroll.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF ANIMAL KINGDOM AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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