An impressive array of talking heads (including George Romero, Simon Pegg, and the ever quippy Max Brooks) look at everything from the historical zombie, the corruption of the Haiti legend for 30s gothic horror purposes, and finally the reinventions that have occurred since Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead in 1968. There’s a lot of material covered, some wrily amusing observations, and a lot of irreverence. Some of the latter works very well, some of it doesn’t. When you’re making a documentary you can be excused if your subjects don’t provide consistent moments of humour, but less so if you as the presenter/writer/director keep trying to insert sketches with patchy results. It’s a shame, as there are sections that merit longer consideration than familiar discourse over zombie film history. Zombie fandom – with communities who hold walks, fashion shows and festivals – is discussed with bemusement by storytellers. Tom Savini, when asked for his zombie plan, is unequivocal over how pointless such an endeavour is (Den of Geek’s zombie plan is, incidentally, simply to win). Doc Of The Dead devotes significant time to fandom relative to its running time (explaining why geeks hold them so dear), as it does with the various products zombie fans can buy to simulate a real life zombie experience, but in trying to encompass everything it ultimately has to skim over the basics rather than going into detail. Meanwhile, while these sections last, we see realistic gory heads for target practice, shelters, and zombie survival experiences. When there’s something more interesting and meaty – no pun intended – in these subjects, it makes the more frivolous sections feel more lightweight. There’s plenty of comedy to be had with the interviewers, but it’s clear that Philippe is more up for a romp through the facets rather than a deeper exploration of them. The approach of presenting rather than narrating lends the documentary the vibe of an aspiring stand-up comedian being let loose on the Deadliest Warrior format. Doc Of The Dead screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
