Jason watches George Romero's SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD

I'm enough of a fanboy that I don't think it's possible for me to really not like a George Romero movie. I even (kinda) joke that I understand cultural zeitgeist through Romero's DEAD films. The 60's (NIGHT were about race relations. The 70's (DAWN) were about consumerism. The 80's (DAY) were about military buildup. The 00's were about class warfare (LAND) and new media (DIARY). And I don't understand the 90's because Romero didn't make a DEAD movie. And unlike other fanboys who were disappointed in pretty much everything since DAWN, I still liked LAND and DIARY.

And although I liked a lot about SURVIVAL--mostly Romero's sense of humor--this is the first time that I didn't immediately feel he had captured something in the current zeitgeist. Some survivors escape to an island off the eastern seaboard, where two families live and feud. The patriarch of the O'Flynn's leads a "kill 'em all" group to cleanse the island of zombies. The patriarch of the Muldoons can't kill his kin, and searches for a cure--first step, get them to eat something that isn't human. So of course, the O'Flynn's and Muldoons fight. O'Flynn is kicked off the island, but posts a video on Youtube inviting people to join him. And although it's a trap, a crew of ex-military and other randoms makes it to the island, with O'Flynn, and mayhem ensues. But the feel is very much Hatfield/McCoy, and seems like such a throwback to earlier times that it doesn't feel like a movie about the 00's or 10's (it actually premiered last year). And there are many moments where it seemed like the outsiders were looking at the feud and thinking "what's this all about?" Much like I was.

However, I loved the ending, and as I said I like Romero's sense of humor and I can never not like a ____ OF THE DEAD film. It's just that this one is the least consequential.

Running Time: 90 minutes
My Total Minutes: 186,950