Survival of the Dead

Survival of the Dead

Theatrical release poster
Directed by George A. Romero
Produced by Paula Devonshire
Peter Grunwald
Written by George A. Romero
Starring Alan van Sprang
Kenneth Welsh
Kathleen Munroe
Richard Fitzpatrick
Athena Karkanis
Stefano Di Matteo
Joris Jarsky
Eric Woolfe
Julian Richings
Wayne Robson
Music by Robert Carli
Cinematography Adam Swica
Edited by Michael Doherty
Production
company
Artfire Films
Romero-Grunwald Productions
Devonshire Productions
Distributed by E1 Entertainment
Magnet Releasing
Release dates
  • September 9, 2009 (2009-09-09) (VFF)
Running time
 90 minutes
Country United States
Canada
Language English
Budget $4 million[1]
Box office $386,078[1]

Survival of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead) is a 2009 American horror film written and directed by George A. Romero and starring Alan van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh and Kathleen Munroe. It is the sixth entry in Romero's Night of the Living Dead series. The story follows a group of AWOL National Guardsmen who briefly appeared in Diary of the Dead.

Plot

The prologue follows the actions of National Guard Sergeant "Nicotine" Crockett, who along with Kenny, Francisco and Tomboy, desert their posts and rob the protagonists of the previous film. Meanwhile, off the coast of Delaware lies Plum Island, home to two feuding Irish families: the O'Flynns and the Muldoons. The former family, led by Patrick O'Flynn, round up a posse to kill the undead on the island. O'Flynn learns that the Muldoons are keeping their undead loved ones safe until a cure is found. Tensions come to a head when O'Flynn and his posse arrive at a Muldoon house to dispatch their undead children, only to engage in a brief gunfight that leaves a woman dead as well. Unable to put the children down himself, Patrick surrenders his weapons when the Muldoon posse arrives. Seamus Muldoon contemplates killing Patrick until Patrick's daughter Janet suggests he be exiled from the island instead.

Boy joins the National Guardsmen and through him they learn of Plum Island. They watch a video made by Patrick O'Flynn and follow the instructions in it that leads them to a nearby dock. At the dock, O'Flynn and his men attempt to rob the Guardsmen, which results in a shootout. Francisco steals a ferry boat and bites off the finger of an attacking zombie in the process. All of the O'Flynns but Patrick are killed by zombies, and he boards the ferry. During the trip to the island, Patrick says that he sent other people to Plum Island to anger the Muldoons.

When the group reach the island they discover that the Muldoons have chained up their zombies in imitations of their previous lives. They also see that the people sent to the island by Patrick have been killed. Patrick sees his daughter Janet ride by on a horse, apparently dead and turned into a zombie. Patrick attempts to gather allies when two Muldoons attack them, shooting Crockett and Kenny. The latter dies from his wounds, and is shot in the head by Patrick to prevent reanimation. Francisco realizes that he infected himself when bit off the zombie's finger and asks Tomboy to shoot him to keep him from turning. Tomboy shoots him and is then captured by Muldoon.

Patrick finds out that the daughter he saw earlier was actually Janet's twin sister Jane. Janet, still alive, joins Patrick and the Guardsmen in their attack on the Muldoons. A standoff occurs at the bridge that separates the two families' land, and the O'Flynn group is captured; Boy and Janet escape. Muldoon reveals his attempts to persuade the zombies to eat something other than human flesh and uses Jane as a test case. He tries to persuade the dead woman to bite her horse, but instead she attacks and bites her sister Janet. A melee ensues and captured zombies are released, consuming people from both sides. Muldoon and O'Flynn call a truce that is almost immediately broken when Muldoon shoots O'Flynn, who pulls a hidden gun and kills Muldoon.

Crockett and his group attempt to leave the island. Janet witnesses her sister bite the horse and rushes to tell Crockett's group the news. Patrick shoots his daughter to prevent her turning before he succumbs to his own wounds. Crockett, Boy, and Tomboy board the ferry and escape the island while the zombies are eating the horse. Crockett muses about the purpose of war as the reanimated O'Flynn and Muldoon stagger toward each other and attempt to shoot and kill the other again.

Cast

Actors Shawn Roberts, Scott Wentworth, Amy Lalonde, Michelle Morgan, and Joshua Close from Diary of the Dead appear in archival footage early in the film.

Production

This is Romero's sixth Living Dead film. The film was independently produced, and distributed by Artfire Pictures. It had a budget of four million USD.[2] Romero shot the film in Port Dover, Ontario and in Toronto, Ontario with an entirely Canadian cast and crew. Romero cited the tax incentives as a reason to shoot in Toronto.[3] The film was inspired by the 1958 Western film The Big Country.[4]

Release

In September 2009 George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, Venice Film Festival (where it screened for the festival's top prize, the Golden Lion), Trinity of Terrors,[5] Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in Montreal, introduced by George A. Romero.[6] The film was released on DVD on March 15, 2010 in the United Kingdom.[7] In the United States, it was released on April 30, 2010, for video on demand and was aired for one night only on HDNET Movies on May 26, 2010.[8] Survival of the Dead opened in twenty theaters on May 28, 2010 to an opening weekend gross of $43,757, averaging $2,188 per theater. As of August 1, 2010 the film has taken $101,740 and $41,451 internationally, bringing the total gross to $143,191.[1] The film headlined the Texas Frightmare Weekend, which took place from April 28 through May 1, 2010.[9] There was also a screening of Survival of the Dead at Madison Square Park, at a Zombie walk on May 16, 2010.[10] George A. Romero attended the event, as well as a screening held for the first 300 participants.[11] The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on August 24, 2010.[12]

Reception

Survival of the Dead received mixed to negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 30% of 84 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review, and the average rating is 4.9/10; the website's consensus is: "Survival of the Dead offers glimmers of Romero's savage wit, but not nearly enough to make up for his unusually uninspired directing and a lack of new ideas."[13] Metacritic rated it 43/100 based on 22 reviews.[14] Lesli Felperin of Variety called it "steeped in fan-pleasing gore but woefully thin on ideas, originality (beyond new zombie-offing methods) or directorial flair."[15] Ray Bennett of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a polished, fast-moving, entertaining picture".[16] Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote, "Placidly photographed and lacking in urgency, Survival shows us the living flailing at fate and the dead just flailing."[17] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times rated it 2/4 stars and wrote that very little in the film is new except for the deaths.[18] Brad Miska of Bloody Disgusting rated it 1.5/5 stars and wrote that the film lacks a clear protagonist, antagonist, and theme.[19] Matt Blazi rated it 4/5 stars and wrote, "Romero has given us a nice balance of zombies, action, black comedy, and scares."[20]

Possible sequels

Director George A. Romero has plans to direct two more sequels to Survival of the Dead.[21] He has expressed his desire to film them back-to-back if his schedule will allow it.[22]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
  2. ↑ "Full Cast and Plot Details For Romero's Next Zombie Adventure!". Bloody-Disgusting.com. 2008-10-03. Retrieved 2008-10-03.
  3. ↑ Barton, Steve (2010-05-10). "Survival of the Dead: Uncle Creepy's Pictorial Diary of the Dead". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  4. ↑ Collins, Brian (2010-05-14). "BD Sits Down With Zombie Maestro George A. Romero!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  5. ↑ "George A. Romero's SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD to screen at the TRINITY OF TERRORS!". Fangoria.
  6. ↑ Kasch, Andrew (2009-11-12). "AFM Wrap-Up! The Sights! The Sounds! The Scares!". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  7. ↑ Miska, Brad (2009-12-09). "UK Readers Get 'Survival of the Dead' in March?". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  8. ↑ Miska, Brad (2010-01-26). "'Survival of the Dead' Release Plans Locked, Loaded and Firing!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  9. ↑ Serafini, Matt (2010-02-17). "Details on the Texas Frightmare Weekend Emerge!". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  10. ↑ Barton, Steve (2010-05-18). "Make a Date With George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead DVD and Blu-ray". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  11. ↑ Wixson, Heather (2010-05-17). "George A. Romero Talks Survival of the Dead and More!". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  12. ↑ Barton, Steve (2010-06-01). "DVD Art for George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead?". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  13. ↑ "Survival of the Dead (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2013-04-13.
  14. ↑ "Survival of the Dead". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
  15. ↑ Felperin, Leslie (2009-09-08). "Review: 'George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead'". Variety. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  16. ↑ Bennett, Ray (2009-09-09). "Survival of the Dead – Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  17. ↑ Catsoulis, Jeanneatte (2010-05-27). "George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead (2009)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  18. ↑ Ebert, Roger (2010-05-26). "Survival of the Dead". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  19. ↑ Miska, Brad (2009-09-19). "Survival of the Dead (George A. Romero's) (limited)". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  20. ↑ Blazi, Matt (2009-09-14). "Survival of the Dead (2009)". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  21. ↑ Turek, Ryan (2010-05-11). "Romero Has Two More Dead Films Planned". Shock Till You Drop. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
  22. ↑ Snyder, Steven James (2010-05-12). "Romero Dreams of Back-To-Back Survival of the Dead Sequels". Time. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
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