Film

HORROR DIARY OF THE DEAD (18) 94min m-

Havrng expanded his ‘livrng dead' trilogy to a tetra-logy wrth the relatively high budget, studio- produced Land of the Dead. modern horror movre master George A Romero goes back-to-basics and his own beginnings wrth his fifth zombie film, of which he says: “It’s not a sequel or a remake. It's a whole new beginning for the dead.’

Set in present-day Pennsylvania, and disregarding the post- apocalyptic narrative of the previous films. Diary opens wrth an outbreak of reanimated corpses caught on camera by a local TV news crew. The r report turns out to be part of a video diary and blog made by a bunch of college students and uploaded to the internet as a warning to those souls still living.

Given that Romero himself was a

student in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and shot his debut Night of the Living Dead there 40 years ago. the set up of the new film is a sly. self-referential joke. And that's pretty much the tone of Diary. which is more humorous than horrific. Thus. in the video- l within-the-frlm (rather moronically entitled The Death of Death) one of the students notes that if zombies walked fast (as we've seen in contemporary living dead films such as 28 Days Later), they'd break their ankles.

Unfortunately, all this is neither as much fun. nor as smart, nor as gory as one would have wished. Working with a low budget on a short shoot with a no name cast. Romero's re- imagining of the horror genre he made his own is largely rambling and monotonous. Nevertheless. he‘s got the support of fellow horrorrsts. Wes Craven. Stephen King. Quentin Tarantino. Guillermo del Toro among them, who contribute commentaries I. to the proceedings via newsreaders' voices. (Miles Fielder) I General release from Fri 7 Mar.

48 THE LIST 28 Feb—13 Mar 2008

FESTIVAL REPORI BERLINALE OR BUST

Selina Robertson reports on the mixed bag of films from the 2008 Berlin Film Festival that are heading this way

Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones documentary Light My Fire kicked off the BH. and, while rt wasn't terirtrle. rt Tricked the emotional pull of the director's 19/8 live concert trim ihe Last Wait/. At least the Panorama section boasted more music documentaries than ever: highlights; included Patti Smith: Dream of Life and the much anticipated (‘torilla/ documentary Bananaz. directed by Damon Alharn's long time friend Ceri Levy. Madonna's directing dehut Filth & Wisdom, starring Gogol Bordello front man i ugene l lut/ was like a mix between Cynthia Payn 2's saucy home movres; and dire romcom Love Actua/ly. Personal highlights included Marion Qurnn's (sister of Ardan) charming girl's coming of age feature. 32A. and Isabel Corxet's Elegy. a melodramatic adaptation of Philip Roth's novel The Dying Air/riiai.

The Brits had a presence in and out of competition. tvtrke Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky was applauded hy the press, Shane Meadows' mellow, black and white feature Somers Town. starring This is England wunderkrnd lhornas Turgoose. and Olly Blackburn's Donkey Punch. an entertaining sea-heund sex and Violence film. showed the

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