Overview
THE GREATEST ZOMBIE CAST EVER DISASSEMBLED.
In a small peaceful town, zombies suddenly rise to terrorize the town. Now three bespectacled police officers and a strange Scottish morgue expert must band together to defeat the undead.
Review
The most amazing thing about this movie is that it turns out to be just an average film. If you would pitch me a zombie movie with Bill Murray, Tom Waits, Steve Buscemi and a whole lot more, I’d be chomping like the undead at a bite to view it. But somehow The Dead Don’t Die is totally forgettable except for Adam Driver’s smart car entrance and a few funny remarks.
This movie aims to deliver comedy through a very apathetic, deadpan approach and ends up failing miserably. When Officer Ronnie Petersen (Driver) keeps stating that it’s going to end badly, he’s also giving you a clue about the film’s popularity. What could have been one of the greatest horror comedies just wallows in the ground, an undead-interruptus.
Which brings me to the meta part. A meta movie is when it references its own cast or theme songs, or script, which The Dead Don’t Die does in multiple scenes. Nothing pulls me out of a movie setting more than this. I wonder if director Jim Jarmusch intended this to pull viewers into the deadpan comedy itself, but I felt it just left me in no-man’s land.
Which is where I leave this review. I didn’t love or hate The Dead Don’t Die, but it pains me think about what could’ve been an easy horror comedy classic instead sputters and stalls into a mediocre project.
Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)
