The Zombie Diaries (2006)

With the world ravaged by a deadly virus, a group of filmmakers out in the British countryside doing a story on the events finds a small group of survivors and join up in order to stay alive but soon find a far more dangerous threat than the zombies may be among them.Overall this one wasn't that great of an effort but does have some positives. One of the film's main issues is the fact that there's just so few zombie attacks throughout here that it really drags and lets itself go into spells of extremely bland and dull moments for way too much of the running time. The fact that this one takes a while to get to the village for the first attack is a real shame, and with the seemingly endless wandering around in the car or getting instructions for their trip that it really tends to go from extremes bouncing around in the plot. Likewise, that gets enhanced later on with the constant jumping around in terms of the timeline that this supposedly covers with it never really making any kind of sense what's going on with the film going on through weeks or months at a time before there's anything of note involving them encountering the creatures as the preference on defense and avoidance gives this one the feeling of pure aimlessness as it doesn't really follow through any kind of set patterns in what's going on as it just goes from one piece to another without really doing much of any kind of connection around these events. That also goes hand-in-in-hand with the film's biggest flaw which is the utterly deplorable and inexcusably bad found-footage angle here which just looks completely amateurish and just dreadful here with this one filling in just about every single negative factor hurled at the genre in one place. The jerkiness of the camera is non-stop making this one such a struggle to even make out what's happening in the regular scenes but the action scenes are truly a lost cause in here not only being so haphazardly jerking around in the way they're shot as to be headache-inducing but are oftentimes out-of-focus so nothing is effectively captured or shown, the tracking on the camera makes the picture blurry or not even comprehensible at times and there's nothing more infuriating about this one than being in the middle of a zombie attack that's been edited into indecipherability by the inabilities placed into the finished film by its chosen method of production. As well, the concepts' other underlying flaw in this one being filled with scenes that shouldn't be filmed as trying to preserve a camera at that time instead of themselves really undermines a lot of what's happening here, and these here are what really hold this one down considerably. The fact that the zombies are considered threats and have plenty of continuous action scenes here requiring lots of action to put them down is a big deal of compensation, as there's a lot to like that way with the lumbering creatures closing in on them in some decent action scenes. The quantity is enough to raise it, but not enough to overcome the flaws.Rated R: Extreme Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

Why people are saying that this is a bad film, I have no idea. Yes, it is a low budget British film. Yes, none of the actors are Brad Pitt. But that doesn't make this movie a bad one, because it is not!! I will now take this opportunity to explain why.A lot of films nowadays, mainstream or otherwise, have a specific fantasy to fall back on whenever we watch them. The reason why these films are like this is because it is based on pure FICTION. None of it is real, it is just what the critics and the mainstream suckers want to see (by which, I mean anyone who watches a film purely because it is mainstream and nothing else). The Zombie Diaries, however, even though it is a work of fiction, is based on real life and what real people would've done if a situation like the events of the film ever occurred. You do not need a plot for this, each group of survivors have their own little story to tell, and real life is not a plot that is already written.The quality of the cameras is mediocre, mainly because of the fact that they are using affordable cameras that anybody can use to document their lives or make films. Again, I am moving back to the real life spectacle. The characters are using this chance to show the surviving world what is happening, if anyone else manages to find their camera whilst on scavenging duties; and if the camera still works, they can continue the legacy from there. Not everyone in the entire world has a tripod, or SteadyCam, or a giant crane to capture an overhead shot or establishing shot of their surroundings. The camera would be shaking if the person holding it was running or focusing on something else entirely. Personally, I wouldn't be holding the camera perfectly still if I was scared to death and running for my life from a group of zombies. It's just not natural, and it's just not realistic! Anyone with half a brain can see my point. Realism is the center of 'The Zombie Diaries', not fantasy.Now I move towards the acting. Yes, all the actors are professional, just not well-known. Believe me, I checked. I personally found the acting to be really good, considering what type of film 'The Zombie Diaries' is. There are no over-the-top emotions that I thought needed to be toned down, everything I saw from an acting perspective was believed to be real, and how people reacted to different situations was accurate. Top notch acting for a realistic drama.How people can even think about comparing this movie to 'Diary of the Dead' makes me sick, because they are both completely different films! Yes, 'Diary of the Dead' is a good movie, and it is also shot in a video diary perspective, 'Blair Witch Project' style. It doesn't make it the same movie, just shot in America! 'Diary of the Dead' only focuses on one group of survivors, which are University students and their professor. 'The Zombie Diaries' focuses on three completely different groups that have their own way of surviving. If you still think 'Diary of the Dead' is better, then you should watch the sequel 'Survival of the Dead'. I dare you to say one good word about that film! But, I digress.In conclusion, 'The Zombie Diaries' is the closest thing to reality in a zombie apocalypse that an audience can experience, and it proves that professionalism can appear in the smallest of packages. That is why my final vote on this movie is a very enthusiastic 9.I do welcome any comments that anyone might want to express, but nothing that anybody says can change my opinions on this movie. Please keep this in mind.

Since Romero first gave us zombies, they have been a big part of pop culture and have become bigger every year. In 2006, two men decided to take zombies and add them to a subgenre of film that has, thanks to the "Paranormal Activity" series, became all the rage in the movie world.I honestly thought "The Zombie Diaries" could have been a good movie…if some time and care was placed behind it. Even though I hate "found footage" films, I love zombie movies but can also admit that even though "ff" films are cheap and easy and have a reputation of being made just to maximize returns at the Box Office and DVD sales, there is still a major breeding ground of creativity that can come from them. It's rare but it happens. However, "The Zombie Diaries" isn't one of those rare cases.Thanks to a production that boasted barely passable acting, truly awful make-up effects that make you wonder if the person put in charge of it found out ahead of time they were about to be fired and an overall production value that screamed of laziness (I'm not even entirely convinced a script was actually written), the film just ends up a weak film that was clearly made in order to just get some zombie fans to pay blindly for their movie.Hi! My name is Rev. Ron and I love movies! So much so that I write a blog where I review whatever film I am currently watching (Old or new!). You can read a more in-depth review of this film (and others) at revronmovies.blogspot.com.

This did the one thing I never forgive a movie for doing: it bored me. Slow, bad acting and a complete waste of time. I don't know why this was even released and what the writer, director and producers were thinking. Did they watch it before they released it? And if they did, what about this crap-fest made them think it was ready to be released? Heck, I love bad movies but not this one. I can't even say it's so bad it's good - it's just bad.The only good reviews on here must be cast and crew members and perhaps their friends and family. Oh... And I see they made a sequel. Well, cased on this crappy movie, I know I won't watch it.