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Three groups of
survivors have documented the spread
of a viral plague that has taken over Britain by
video camera. The virus causes people to turn into
flesh-eating zombies and anyone who gets bitten gets
infected. Will any of the survivors manage to stay
alive, or will they all get infected?
The Zombie Diaries is best described as "28 Days
Later" meets "The Blair Witch Project" and I couldn't
help but to feel like this was meant to be an
unofficial spin-off of 28 Days Later as it feels
like the same event, only filmed by three other groups
of survivors. Oh and don't worry, the people behind
the cameras are actually rather competent rather than
the ones in The Blair Witch Project so the movie isn't
filled with shaky scenes, bad camera angles etc.
Although there are a few to be found, but they work.
Another thing that sets this apart from The Blair
Witch Project is that things actually happen, and
I quite enjoyed the documentary aspect of the zombie
concept. It's actually one of the better serious
zombie movies that I've seen in some time. It doesn't
resort to cheap gags, instead it builds up a great
and haunting atmosphere. The only problem is that it
has a lot of issues. We don't get any explanation as
to how the infection managed to spread so fast, there
are too many characters for you to be able to root
for any of them, or even recognize any of them, the
ending is anything but satisfying, and the movie isn't
all that entertaining to be honest with you.
While the main concept works at first, as soon as the
second and the third group of survivors turn up it
gets a little repetitive. I'd rather have them focus
on just one or two groups rather than three which
would let them build a little more on the story, but
the fact is, Zombie Diaries is meant to feel like a
documentary and therefore it's obvious that it'd be
hard to throw in a thicker plot in there. I'll give
them some credit for doing something new and somewhat
innovative though, but I think that it could have been
much better had they only done a few things differently.
I do think that I'm being a little bit too harsh on it
though as I overall did somewhat enjoy it. I admire
them for being able to come up with a new spin on the
zombie concept and as I said before, the movie does
have a lot of potential. The actors seem very dedicated
and the filming feels realistic in the way that they
don't have the camera on for all of the time, they
actually shut it off during the more intense scenes.
Whether that's a good or a bad thing, I'm not sure,
but I'll tell you this, you're going to have to search
for a long time before you find a more original zombie
movie. That's for sure.
Some guts, a couple of fingers cut off and some blood.
To my surprise this movie actually had a soundtrack,
and it was so subtle that it worked.
A clever and original spin to the zombie concept which
unfortunately doesn't work all the time. There are
too many characters, too many questions left unanswered
and not enough gore for a zombie movie. I appreciate
what they tried to do here, but overall it's pretty
forgettable. Sorry to say that. Worth checking out
for its originality though.
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