Zo's Reviews: The Dead Don't Die



Holy crap just look at that cast....

The Dead Don't Die was directed by Jim Jarmusch and stars...well look at the photo above...that is one huge cast! It features the amazing talents of Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Sara Driver, Rza, Carol Kane, Selena Gomez, Tom Waits...like, just look at that list...an incredible cast. So what's this movie about? Well...the town of Centerville finds itself battling a zombie horde as the dead just won't die...all to the tune of Sturgill Simpson's single "The Dead Don't Die" which is this movie's theme song...and has been all over this movie from beginning to end. So the question a lot of people have been asking is...is this a horror movie? A comedy? This is less a horror film, and more a dark, dry, comedy with a social narrative. So let's dive into The Dead Don't Die.

 A lot of people will be going into this movie expecting the usual blood and gore that you'd see in a typical zombie film, and while there is a bit of that in this movie, it definitely doesn't focus on that as much as it does it's commentary on how our society has become a bunch of zombies, slaves to our devices and our addictions (coffee, toys, candy, cell phones, etc.) That's more or less what I got out of the commentary part of the movie. As for everything else? Well...the movie moves along at a zombie's pace, which isn't entirely a bad thing. This gives the film quite a bit of time to set up some damn good jokes and awkward moments for our cast of colorful characters. There's tons of fourth wall breaks in the movie, nods to other strange films (seriously, what's with the alien stuff!?), there are sequences of just...odd interactions between characters where I questioned the director and script at times. But then I gave it a second viewing...

The film really resonated with me. I found myself dying of laughter at each subtle joke, each line being delivered by the cast at the exact right moment to get a reaction out of the audience. Both times in the cinema, the audiences were pretty small, but each time a joke or funny moment would occur on screen, the audience erupted in laughter. That, to me, means that Jim Jarmusch has put together an incredibly entertaining dry comedy, with zombies, and a song that is infectious and has been stuck in my head since I first heard it. Hell, I can't even find any flaws in this movie...it was so out there strange and entertaining from beginning to end that I can't hate on it. I guess the camera work could've been better? Man, whatever.

Go see The Dead Don't Die it's in theaters now!

FINAL SCORE: 10/10

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