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SURVIVAL OF THE DEADMovie Reviews
Horror tale (and sequel to five prior movies) about a group of rogue soldiers who seek refuge from the zombie apocalypse on an island off the coast of Delaware only to get caught up in a feud between two families. Cast:Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe, Devon Bostick, Richard FitzpatrickDirector:George A. RomeroRelease Date:May 28, 2010DVD Release:August 24, 2010From:Magnet ReleasingRating:RLength:1 hr. 30 min.
Survival of the Dead played in key cities to weak reviews. • Joe Williams wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "It feels constrained by a low budget, short running time and the outdated conceit of slow zombies trudging toward fresh victims." • And Colin Covert wrote in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Shuffle, shuffle, limp, limp. That's not the shambling gait of the zombie hordes... but the draggy pace of the movie itself." More Reviews Below...
Survival of the Dead Positive Reviews (30 Reviews, reviews below)
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: WEAK(cg) "While Romero's sixth zombie movie shows flashes of his signature cheeky sense of humor, it's never frightening or suspenseful.... mostly, the movie is just a drag."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 590 words, 05/27/10
Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...concentrates on the feud between two island-dwelling, Irish-accented families.... Van Sprang's zombie fatigue seems to be an echo of Romero's own."(See all of Clark Collis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 95 words, 05/28/10
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: MODERATE(cg) "...finally all that kept my attention were the ingenious ways Romero killed the zombies.... Scarcely a zombie dies in a boring way. So there's that."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 669 words, 05/27/10
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: MODERATE(cg) "There's little here that's new or interesting; the movie is for hard-core Romero devotees only, and even they should approach this picture with expectations kept in check."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 787 words, 05/20/10
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (11 Reviews)
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: WEAK "...uninspired gore overwhelm the random bursts of familiar wit.... lacking in urgency... shows us the living flailing at fate and the dead just flailing."(See all of Jeannette Catsoulis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 345 words, 05/28/10
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: WEAK(cg) "...the wit and allegory of the series' long-ago best -- 'Dawn of the Dead' -- have succumbed to made-for-cable production values."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 135 words, 05/28/10
Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "...a sometimes nonsensical script with logical lapses even genre fans will find hard to swallow. Most of all, who cares about these spiteful folks?..."(See all of Michael Ordoña's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 294 words, 05/28/10
Kyle Smith, New York Post: POOR(cg) "What Romero still seems really, really interested in is the splattery meeting of bullet and brain, or torsos being feasted upon like pizza at a keg party."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 378 words, 05/28/10
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: FAIR "...a well-acted, relatively classical piece of storytelling... It's the handsomest of Romero's films... [but] it almost never snaps into focus.... It feels marginal..."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 901 words, 05/28/10
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: MODERATE(cg) "...finally all that kept my attention were the ingenious ways Romero killed the zombies.... Scarcely a zombie dies in a boring way. So there's that."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 669 words, 05/27/10
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice/LA Weekly: POOR "...piles on the plotlines... how atrophied Romero's cutting and tactical framing have become is depressing to anyone who has valued his films for more than just splatter."(See all of Nick Pinkerton's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 300 words, 05/26/10
Jason Anderson, Toronto Star: MODERATE(cg) "...just a B-movie western with buckets of gore, which might be fine coming from a Romero wannabe but not from the genuine article."(See all of Jason Anderson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 398 words, 08/20/10
Stephen Cole, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "...even Romero's staunchest fans might conclude their hero is going through the motions here. Yes, almost like a zombie."(See all of Stephen Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 558 words, 08/20/10
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: POOR(cg) "...the latest entry in George A. Romero's long-running series hasn't exactly evolved with the times.... it's probably time to shoot this franchise in the head: it's dead..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 253 words, 08/19/10
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: VERY GOOD(cg) "...mixes genres and milieus with absurdist glee.... Everyone's behaving badly - shooting and looting, chomping limbs, slurping entrails. It's a mess out there."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 448 words, 05/28/10
Peter Hartlaub, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE(cg) "Romero's least memorable film, likely to disappoint many hard-core fans and newcomers alike. But that doesn't mean it's bad."(See all of Peter Hartlaub's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 486 words, 05/28/10
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: POOR(cg) "...lousy, exhausted subjects make for lousy movies. Romero has flat-out run out of ways to kill the lurching, lumbering zombies..."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 453 words, 05/28/10
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: WEAK(cg) "Shuffle, shuffle, limp, limp. That's not the shambling gait of the zombie hordes... but the draggy pace of the movie itself."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 557 words, 05/28/10
Tom Russo, Boston Globe: POOR(cg) "Part of what's always been intriguing about the series is the discussion it inspires... But if Romero is in fact after anything topical here, it's unclear."(See all of Tom Russo's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 517 words, 05/28/10
Jeff Shannon, Seattle Times: MODERATE(cg) "...a lot of this seems stale, as if Romero were growing bored with his own redundancies.... Romero needs to get out of his comfort zone."(See all of Jeff Shannon's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 393 words, 05/28/10
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: WEAK(cg) "It feels constrained by a low budget, short running time and the outdated conceit of slow zombies trudging toward fresh victims.... it's not scary, funny or provocative."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 317 words, 05/28/10
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (7 Reviews)
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice/LA Weekly: POOR "...piles on the plotlines... how atrophied Romero's cutting and tactical framing have become is depressing to anyone who has valued his films for more than just splatter."(See all of Nick Pinkerton's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 300 words, 05/26/10
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: WEAK(cg) "Maybe Romero is pursuing a Marxist project by analyzing feudal modes of production, but his real problem is coming up with new ways of shooting people in the head."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 151 words, 05/27/10
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: POOR(cg) "...the latest entry in George A. Romero's long-running series hasn't exactly evolved with the times.... it's probably time to shoot this franchise in the head: it's dead..."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 253 words, 08/19/10
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: POOR(cg) "...preachy, hackish... It's as if Romero treats the zombie concept as a hoop he has to jump through to bankroll his numskull explorations of social issues..."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 479 words, 05/26/10
Tricia Olszewski, Washington City Paper: POOR "...the movie feels like a slavish final from a Romero 101 class. The dialogue's bad; the acting from its no-name cast worse.... That's a fail..."(See all of Tricia Olszewski's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 440 words, 05/27/10
HIGHBROW PRESS (2 Reviews)
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: WEAK "...uninspired gore overwhelm the random bursts of familiar wit.... lacking in urgency... shows us the living flailing at fate and the dead just flailing."(See all of Jeannette Catsoulis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 345 words, 05/28/10
Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "...a sometimes nonsensical script with logical lapses even genre fans will find hard to swallow. Most of all, who cares about these spiteful folks?..."(See all of Michael Ordoña's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 294 words, 05/28/10
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Leslie Felperin, Daily Variety: WEAK "The script's shallowness would be more forgivable if the direction weren't so inert, the mayhem so off-the-rack, and the whole thing so lacking in, well, scares."(See all of Leslie Felperin's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 785 words, 09/09/09
Ray Bennett, Hollywood Reporter: GOOD "...fast-moving, entertaining... True to the form with savvy cultural points, clever wit and a nice twist on what might happen to the newly deceased... surprisingly good fun."(See all of Ray Bennett's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 453 words, 09/09/09
Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "...a sometimes nonsensical script with logical lapses even genre fans will find hard to swallow. Most of all, who cares about these spiteful folks?..."(See all of Michael Ordoña's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 294 words, 05/28/10
Michael T. Dennis, Cinema 24/7: GOOD(cg) "...has all the gore and humor to fit nicely into Romero's oeuvre, along with an intelligent theme that, somewhat ironically, condemns senseless violence."(See all of Michael T. Dennis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 884 words, 06/03/10
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: WEAK "...uninspired gore overwhelm the random bursts of familiar wit.... lacking in urgency... shows us the living flailing at fate and the dead just flailing."(See all of Jeannette Catsoulis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 345 words, 05/28/10
18.3 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Survival of the Dead's reviews are separated by an average 18.3 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Survival of the Dead (30 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Survival of the Dead's reviews cover 36.7% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 13,557 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 452 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Survival of the Dead Coverage, Volume & Length (30 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 68.1 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Survival of the Dead's reviews on average broke 68.1 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Survival of the Dead's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Survival of the Dead (30 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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