The Dead Don’t Die (2019)
a review by Evan Landon
If you told me the premise of The Dead Don’t Die before I even saw it, I would tell you that sounds like my kind of movie. If you went on to tell me who all was in it and what the filmmakers had done before it, I would tell you the same again. If you showed me a trailer of The Dead Don’t Die and a few scenes here or there, again I would say “that sounds like my kind of movie!” Unfortunately, for me, it was not.
Even in my own head, I tallied everything up and it stayed consistent that this would totally be the movie of the year for me. It checked every single box: self-aware, tongue-in-cheek, zombie movie parody starring an A-List of talent headed by the great and magnificent Bill Murray. It even had a modest, indie budget, written and directed by a highly acclaimed, up and coming filmmaker. For some reason, however, all of this fell very flat to me.
The film opens with our heroes, Officers Robertson & Peterson (played by Bill Murray and Adam Driver, respectfully) taking care of the mundane occurrences in the small town of Centerville, USA. The usual rigamarole of getting to know the townsfolk going through their daily routines is cliché enough to overlook somewhat, but a few strange characters enter the fray. Tilda Swinton plays a very eccentric mortician from Scotland who wields a katana and has a very interesting character twist at the end. Tom Waits portrays the homeless drifter on the edge of town that Robertson & Peterson let shoot at them from the forest, for some reason, and serves as a narrator of sorts. Steve Buscemi and Danny Glover also make appearances as clueless townsfolk who don’t add much to the story except fodder for the zombies. It certainly is a waste of two such fine actors, but not much else to be expected in a movie like this. In fact, Officer Morrison (played by an uninspired Chloe Sevigny) is more quizzical than afraid which downplays most of what happens, or should I say what doesn't happen.
All in all, this slow moving zombie flick falls just short of hitting the mark in every way for me which sucks because I really wanted to like this movie. Oh well. Maybe I'll change my mind after another viewing.
2 out of 5