Review: Survival of the Dead

Welcome to Plum Island, population: dwindling. In a world overrun by a zombie apocalypse Plum remains a safe haven off the coast of Delaware from the flesh eating ghouls that await on America’s, now, not so friendly shores. Inhabiting Plum are two families, the O’Flynn’s and the Muldoon’s, both of which have severely differing ideas on how the undead should be dealt with. The O’Flynn’s believe that the newly deceased, freshly risen should be eliminated immediately and without though. The Muldoon’s, on the other hand, want those who have turned to be kept restrained, but alive, until some manner of cure is found. After exerting his thoughts on some zombie townspeople the O’Flynn patriarch, Patrick (Kenneth Welsh), and some of his compatriots are banished from the Island by the Muldoon clan. Thrown in the mix are a ragtag group of soldiers turned bandits who steal a boat to get to Plum. Unbeknownst to them Patrick O’Flynn sneaks aboard the ship with hopes to return to Plum and reunite with his daughter. The political and literal battle waits as the families decide what to do with the undead.

Romero’s film’s have always been filled with social and political commentary, and this flick is no different. While the zombie action takes a bit of a back seat in this one there’s a very good question posed about the sanctity of human life and where to draw the line between what we consider life and what not. Take your pick you can apply that to abortion, coma and life support patients, wars, whatever. I think that’s the coolest thing is that Romero puts these issues out there and allows you to draw your conclusions as to what they mean, you’re not hit over the head with any agendas. As I said before the zombie action is less than what you’d find in most of his movies and for the most part those that do feature in the movie are far tamer, but that doesn’t mean they’re non existent. When they do attack it is just as gruesome and terrifying as ever, ripping apart their meals with raw force and chowing down before the flesh has a chance to cool. I also really dug the way Romero handled Plum Island, the whole place has a kind of Wild West feel both in look and the local speak of the characters. This really gives you a feeling that this place is completely isolated and has pretty much been forgotten about by the mainland, not to mention time itself. Also on the plus side is the empathy that Romero is able to invoke for the zombies. While they are dangerous and terrifying you get a kind of sad feeling knowing that they can’t help it, that they are being chained up and killed simply for being who they naturally are. This tactic makes the real source of the film’s terror focus change from the zombies, who will kill you but are easily avoided, to the humans, who will do anything to survive. Man is a downright frightening creature when backed into a corner. We hide behind a mask of civility but if the chips were down and you thought the guy next to you was threatening your future, what would you be willing to do?

This is a low budget horror movie, with not a whole lot of actual horror. While I do believe time was not wasted in the flick, with a good story being told throughout, I do think Romero failed to find a proper balance between horror and commentary. The zombies and even the human fear factor only make up a little more than a quarter of the movie. If you are looking for a straight up action packed zombie flick, check out Land of the Dead, or Dawn of the Dead, both action infused and full of flesh eating ghouls. The acting in the film is also sub-par; I’m struggling to find a single good performance in the lot. While the script helps to get the point across the line delivery is almost universally bad from Patrick O’Flynn’s think Irish brogue to the guardsman’s fake sounding bravado. Lastly the film does the one thing that I can’t stand on any level and that’s CGI blood effects. I was stunned by Romero’s use of bad CGI in this, he’s a man who’s movies have broke ground in practical gore effects through the years and now he’s jumped on the CG train, the results of which are almost enough to ruin the movie, thankfully it doesn’t kill it completely.

So does Survival of the Dead warrant a watch? Sure, especially for the dedicated zombieholic’s out there amongst you. The movie does have some serious problems but for a fun hour and a half this flick will do the trick. Really the type of movie that you have to turn your brain off but not completely as Romero’s signature social commentary is still intact. Not the best of the series but hardly the worst. Survival of the Dead is a movie worth surviving.

2 Out of 5 Guttenbergs