I think Zombie Diaries proves how both the genre and cam-corder "shot live" format are running out of steam. Three stories shot on a video camera by three different operators. The real threat of the film is a sadistic bastard named Goke, and, in an odd decision, the zombies are actually an afterthought compared to him. Goke seems like a reasonable chap until he opens fire on those who accept him in their group. The way directors Michael Bartlett and Kevin Gates arrange the stories rather bugged me, truth be told, because they had opened the film with a young news crew heading outside London into the country to film an interview piece, and then completely abandon them. We are introduced to two other groups, a trio entering a desolate, wind-swept village in search of food and supplies, and this unstable collection of bickering people attempting to fend off an endless number of zombies, trying to hold their area outside a forest which keeps producing them. Goke is a member of the latter group and his unpredictable behavior becomes more and more a questionable liability, until an outburst reveals the monster that he truly is. The trio leaving the village have put together a make-shift radio but as we soon realize there are few places to go where you can sit still very long. The lingering question is what happened to the news crew..we get a glimpse into the kind of psychotic Goke is when the camera man(..of the third story)discovers her bound and nude. Their story remains absent so long that when we finally learn about what happened to them, it's impact is lost.
Regarding the camera operators who shoot EVERYTHING..I question how someone could put shooting footage ahead of saving their own skin. Particularly in regards to the trio, where the directors wish to throttle the viewer with a startling development and the use of the camera(..just to capture a murder to someone shooting his supposed trip to freedom from a group of zombies chasing him through the forest)becomes so obvious in forwarding the plot, that the realism they're going for is lost. In other words, the camera is used to show the operator's jovial face as he heads towards who he believes to be survivors who can assist him..it's so orchestrated, you see it coming and therefore it becomes nothing more than a trick. I think the directors were very ambitious in trying to tackle three stories at once, when one would've sufficed. I think back to George Romero's Diary of the Dead, where we follow one group's journey and what confronts them along the way. In having three stories, you never get to know any of the characters that well. They become little more than people shooting zombies with camera operators concerned with getting every minute detail in the shot. There are attempts to provide a human side to them(..one character is bitten, dies, and the camera operator lifts a family photo from his pocket, placing it up to the screen for us to feel pity), little tidbits here and there. Bartlett and Gates insist on showcasing Goke as a menacing thug not to be trusted. There are some gory moments, but I think most zombie fanatics will find this flick to be quite disappointing..besides a scene where a stomach is open with guts sprawled out, and the occasional decomposing body, much of the action has humans shooting the heads of the zombies with minor blood spray. I wasn't impressed at all with many scenes where a gun shoots a zombie(..or innocent victim due to "unfriendly fire")in the head..it was never quite convincing, certainly not when compared to Savini's work. As you'd expect, the camera(..from all three operators)shakes and jiggles, with zombies never quite in focus(..one sequence, within a dark house, shot using a night-light, as the news crew attempt to escape, you can barely make out anything).
I think if the filmmakers had stuck with the crew as they come in contact with their hostile forces, both human and undead, then this could've been quite a success. Alas, so many characters come and go with the initial people we started out with utilized poorly. The finale with the soldiers seems forced and unnecessary.
Regarding the camera operators who shoot EVERYTHING..I question how someone could put shooting footage ahead of saving their own skin. Particularly in regards to the trio, where the directors wish to throttle the viewer with a startling development and the use of the camera(..just to capture a murder to someone shooting his supposed trip to freedom from a group of zombies chasing him through the forest)becomes so obvious in forwarding the plot, that the realism they're going for is lost. In other words, the camera is used to show the operator's jovial face as he heads towards who he believes to be survivors who can assist him..it's so orchestrated, you see it coming and therefore it becomes nothing more than a trick. I think the directors were very ambitious in trying to tackle three stories at once, when one would've sufficed. I think back to George Romero's Diary of the Dead, where we follow one group's journey and what confronts them along the way. In having three stories, you never get to know any of the characters that well. They become little more than people shooting zombies with camera operators concerned with getting every minute detail in the shot. There are attempts to provide a human side to them(..one character is bitten, dies, and the camera operator lifts a family photo from his pocket, placing it up to the screen for us to feel pity), little tidbits here and there. Bartlett and Gates insist on showcasing Goke as a menacing thug not to be trusted. There are some gory moments, but I think most zombie fanatics will find this flick to be quite disappointing..besides a scene where a stomach is open with guts sprawled out, and the occasional decomposing body, much of the action has humans shooting the heads of the zombies with minor blood spray. I wasn't impressed at all with many scenes where a gun shoots a zombie(..or innocent victim due to "unfriendly fire")in the head..it was never quite convincing, certainly not when compared to Savini's work. As you'd expect, the camera(..from all three operators)shakes and jiggles, with zombies never quite in focus(..one sequence, within a dark house, shot using a night-light, as the news crew attempt to escape, you can barely make out anything).
I think if the filmmakers had stuck with the crew as they come in contact with their hostile forces, both human and undead, then this could've been quite a success. Alas, so many characters come and go with the initial people we started out with utilized poorly. The finale with the soldiers seems forced and unnecessary.