Survival of the Dead (2010)

Of George A. Romero's original Dead trilogy, Day of the Dead is often given short shrift. Reportedly Romero's favorite, Day is appropriately third in most fans' estimations; The Return of the Jedi of his first 3 zombie films. This is probably because Romero had to scale back the script when he couldn't get the appropriate budget, but ever since, Romero has returned to the well of Day of the Dead, and it's evident in Survival of the Dead.

Back in 2004, on the heels of the success of Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake, DC published Toe Tags, Romero's comic book series that envisioned a future where zombies had fostered a rudimentary intelligence and had banded together in tribes to rule the new apocalyptic world. Poised to end their reign was Damien Cross, a zombiefied slayer of zombies who's having a tough time dealing with the whole, aforementioned "zombiefied" thing.

After showing that zombies could retain some intelligence with Day of the Dead's Bub, Toe Tags seemed like a natural progression, albeit a lofty one, of those ideas. Then, in Land of the Dead, Romero again explored the idea that zombies could start to have some kind of thinking, and, as it turns out, organizing. To me, Land of the Dead's gas attendant zombie leader (Big Daddy) was pretty close to the zombie tribes of Toe Tags, just without the zombies doing talking. Finally, in Survival of the Dead, Romero once again explores the progression of zombies and humanity's reaction to it.

Much has been made of the Survival's exploration of the "western" qenre, but the movie is really just Day of the Dead with rifles and horseback riding. At the heart of Survival are two Irish families living on a remote island with two opposing views on how to solve the zombie crisis. One family thinks they should all be killed, while the other thinks they can be cured and made to eat "something other than us." You might remember almost the exact same plot being explored in Day of the Dead? Some rogue military guys show up, led by Diary of the Dead's Alan Van Sprang, and find themselves in the middle of the debate.

In a way, Survival is the crossroads of all of Romero's movies. First, the dead coming back to life a la Romero's groundbreaking Night of the Living Dead. Second, there's the idea that "life will be better on any island" from Dawn of the Dead ("What island? "Any island...") Third, the entire plot of Day of the Dead. Fourth, the zombie-intelligence idea from Land of the Dead and, well, Day of the Dead too. Lastly, Alan Van Sprang's character from Diary of the Dead. All of Romero's Dead movies converge into one with Survival, and the results aren't too bad either. In fact, Survival is easily better than Romero's woeful Diary, which should be relief to everyone except the couple of people that liked it.

Not to say that it isn't flawed.  Character development is tossed out in place of archetypes, a habit that Romero has been leaning on too hard of late. Van Sprang's team is a perfect example. There's the tough-talking female bad-ass, the Latin lover, the goofball, and Van Sprang. Who do you think will make it through this alive? (Note: They're not as bad as the "Bad Nickname Team" from Land of the Dead. "Call me Motown" is the one of the silliest lines ever delivered in a Romero movie, though the line is eclipsed by the professor in Diary proclaiming "It just feels... friendlier somehow" when he picks the bow and arrow as his weapon.)

Yes, Romero's dialogue is often flat, but given the right actor, such as Kenneth Welsh as the "Phil Collins in Genesis circa 1975"-looking patriarch Patrick O'Flynn, and suddenly you have a character that keeps you involved in the story. The most eccentric of Romero's characters, Welsh could have easily capsized the movie if he didn't play O'Flynn with just the right amount of restraint. Van Sprang is good as well, keeping his character's sudden and violent outbursts from being laughable.

The gore effects run from awful-looking (a CGI headburst in the beginning), to silly (a zombie's eyes pop out in an effect eerily reminiscent of Who Framed Roger Rabbit), to some decent blood and guts. But killing zombies isn't the goal of the movie. Instead, Romero is wondering where to take the zombie legend next.

So is Survival worth seeing? The answer is yes. Whenever Romero makes a zombie movie there is clearly a lot of reverence amongst fans and with good reason. Romero's the reason we love zombies. He's the catalyst for countless zombie films, zombie walks, and the current incarnation of what pop culture considers a zombie. What we're waiting for is for Romero to take the zombie legend to a new place. Day was Romero's first step in furthering the zombie story out of his own lumbering, stumbling shadow, but ever since, particularly in the zombie movies he's made since Day, Romero has taken baby steps. Someone just needs to hand Romero the money so he can fulfill whatever idea he feels he didn't get to make in 1985.

For instance, I thought Land of the Dead was going to get the first straight sequel Romero has ever made. Why? The ending. Why would they let the zombies walk away? "They're just looking for a place to go," says Denbo. Exactly. A place to go eat people. The zombies just destroyed the city and killed countless rich and poor people. There's no reason to let them go, except to see those zombies organize themselves in a sequel. That's the logical next step, right? No. Instead, Romero made Diary, where he essentially reboots himself and starts at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse all over again. A sequel would have been the perfect opportunity for Romero to finish what he started in Day and continued in Toe Tags. By the way, I'm not suggesting he make the film version of Toe Tags, just that the comic is the closet Romero has come to exploring the evolution of zombies beyond what he introduced in Day.

Survival brings Romero back to his exploration of the zombie legend. Yet, the ending revelation in Survival (I won't spoil it) only manages to take another baby step. It left me wondering: what if the ending had been Survival's beginning? Now, that's the Romero movie I want to see. Survival is a fine, credible zombie movie, but that isn't anything new. What audiences keep wondering is if Romero can make another groundbreaking zombie movie.  Considering his past work, Romero has some tough competition. Perhaps he ought to stop looking at his past and look to the future.