During its limited run in Toronto last
week, my buddy Schwartz & I took in the recent zombie documentary
Doc of the Dead.
Directed by Alex O. Philippe (The People
vs. George Lucas), Doc of the Dead delves into the worldwide
phenomenon of the zombie.
This doc was a pretty good time. Whereas the other zombie doc I watched recently Birth of the Living Dead focused more on George A. Romero and his contributions to the genre, this one was a much more broad and all-encompassing look at the undead. It may not be as aesthetically pleasing as Birth, but its interviewees are many, including Bruce Campbell, Simon Pegg, Tom
Savini and Greg Nicotero. The biggest insights, however, came from arguably the three most important figures in modern zombie culture, Romero, Robert Kirkman & Max Brooks.
Zombie godfather, George A. Romero. |
There are an impressive number of
things covered over the course of this doc's eighty-one minute
running time, including the genre's ravenous and ever-growing fan base,
the scientific, social and philosophical underpinning of the zombie
as well as its origins in folklore – contrary to the literary
beginnings shared by the rest of horror iconic figures. Even the
heated debate between fast vs. slow zombies is discussed!
Being a fan myself, I'm obviously aware
of just how pervasive zombies have become in pop culture over the
last decade. The Walking Dead is the most popular show on
television (save for maybe GoT), almost every city has a zombie walk event
that draws hundreds or even thousands, and advertisers are now using
the undead to schlep everything from phones to candy to courier services.
One of the many zombie faithful. |
However, due to so many topics being
offered up, Doc of the Dead did tend to meander a bit. I also thought
the “comedy” skits added in for filler were pretty painful. It
was only when talking about them with Schwartz afterward that I
realized it was the same guy who did those elongated reviews of the Star Wars prequels a while back. Yeah, his material isn't as amusing
when it doesn't involve hookers trapped in his basement. But, I
digress.
Despite perhaps lacking direction,
there was a lot of good stuff in there. It featured a lot of familiar genre faces and offered up some good observations about everyone's
favourite flesh eaters.
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