The Zombie Diaries

The Zombie Diaries

Infobox Film
name = The Zombie Diaries


caption = original film poster
rated = 18
director = Kevin Gates Michael Bartlett
producer = Kevin Gates Michael Bartlett
writer = Kevin Gates Michael Bartlett
starring = Russell Jones Craig Stovin Jonnie Hum James Fisher Anna Blades Imogen Church
music = Stephen Hoper
cinematography = George Carpenter
editing = Kevin Gates Michael Bartlett
distributor = Revolver Entertainment
released = August 27, 2007
runtime = 81 min.
country = UK
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0876294
amg_id =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Zombie Diaries" is a 2006 British independent horror film written, produced and directed by Kevin Gates and first-time feature film maker Michael Bartlett.

The film was shot in a hand-held documentary format on DV and split into three separate parts. Its plot has been described cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848557/faq#.2.1.8|title=IMDb FAQ for The Zombie Diaries|publisher=Internet Movie Database|accessdate=2007-09-17] as a cross between "The Blair Witch Project" and "Night of the Living Dead".

Plot synopsis

The introduction to the film shows a platoon of the British army clearing a small collection of farmhouses, with them are two scientists who take a tissue sample from a deceased civilian who appears to have reanimated, then shot. Then the titles roll.

The film's first chapter, "The Outbreak," begins in the city of London, emphasizing both the dismissive and paranoid reactions of the population to an unspecified disease outbreak that is gradually making its way to Britain. The film then moves to footage of a documentary crew's travel to the countryside, where, in the process of filming material related to the virus, the characters encounter the zombie outbreak firsthand. The story of these four individuals is revisited in the second half of the movie.

The second chapter, "The Scavengers," takes place one month later. Two men (one of whom is American) and one woman travel around in small car armed only with a rifle, in search of food and radio parts.

The final chapter, "The Survivors," tells the story of a larger group of uninfected people who have set up camp on a farm. They divide their time doing reconnaissance of surrounding areas, holding off the endless stream of incoming zombies, and bickering amongst themselves. In the opening scene of the chapter, the audience watches as "the survivors" calmly execute the approaching infected. By the conclusion, however (by which time viewers have been jolted back in time to the first nights of the documentary crew at the beginning of the film), the word "survivors" becomes a distinctly ironic title, as everyone thought to be so enduring ultimately very much isn't.

Production

The idea for the film was proposed by Michael Bartlett to Kevin Gates in Autumn 2004. Bartlett originally envisaged it as a short film, but Gates felt it was better suited to feature film length. cite web|url=http://www.zombiediaries.com/PressKitZombieDiaries.pdf|title=The Zombie Diaries press kit|publisher=ZombieDiaries.com|accessdate=2007-09-17]

Casting involved asking actors to improvise entire sequences from the film. Gates and Bartlett picked the largely unknown cast as a result of this process. Shooting took place at weekends between July and November 2005 and post-production was completed during 2006. cite web|url=http://www.zombiediaries.com/PressKitZombieDiaries.pdf|title=The Zombie Diaries press kit|publisher=ZombieDiaries.com|accessdate=2007-09-17]

The film was completed prior to the announcement of the upcoming George A. Romero film "Diary of the Dead", which shares a similar plot device. cite web|url=http://www.zombiediaries.com/PressKitZombieDiaries.pdf|title=The Zombie Diaries press kit|publisher=ZombieDiaries.com|accessdate=2007-09-17]

Principal cast

Whilst the cast was made up of professional actors, few were well-known other than a brief appearance from Leonard Fenton, best-known for playing Dr. Harold Legg in "EastEnders".

The principal cast consisted of:
* Russell Jones - Goke
* Craig Stovin - Andy
* Jonnie Hurn - John
* James Fisher - Geoff
* Anna Blades - Vanessa
* Imogen Church - Sue

Actor Ian McCulloch, noted star of the BBC's post-apocalyptic drama "Survivors" was interested in a role in the film at one stage, but declined as the writers were unable to expand his role. cite web|url=http://www.zombiediaries.com/PressKitZombieDiaries.pdf|title=The Zombie Diaries press kit|publisher=ZombieDiaries.com|accessdate=2007-09-17]

Release

The film made a small-scale cinema debut on October 29 2006 at Letchworth Garden City's Broadway Cinema, where on the opening night it became the first film in the cinema's 75 year history to sell out in advance. Followed by a debut in Leicester Square on August 27 2007 as part of the UK's biggest horror film festival London FrightFest Film Festival (this showing was preceded by an attempt to break the world record for competitors in a zombie walk). The film was also released on DVD on the same day.

The US DVD release has been scheduled for November 18th, 2008 by Dimension Extreme.

References

External links

* [http://www.zombiediaries.com Official site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/thezombiediaries Official MySpace page]
* [http://www.zombiediaries.com/PressKitZombieDiaries.pdf Press kit]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2006/10/26/michael_barlett_zombie_diaries_feature.shtml BBC News article]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/news/arts/articulate/200611/s1795742.htm ABC News article]
* [http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=interviews&Id=1137 FilmThreat.com interview]
* [http://www.dreadcentral.com/index.php?name=Interviews&req=showcontent&id=4773 DreadCentral.com interview]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/realmedia/2006/10/zombie_diaries.ram BBC Radio interview]
* [http://mattstaggs.blogspot.com/2006/10/interview-with-kevin-gates-director-of.html SkullRing.org interview]
* [http://d3rang3d.com/issue2/michaelbartlett.html d3rang3d.com interview]
*imdb title|id=0876294


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Zombie Diaries — est un film britannique réalisé par Michael Bartlett et Kevin Gates, sorti en 2006. Sommaire 1 Synopsis 2 Fiche technique 3 Distribution 4 Autour du film …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Zombie apocalypse — This article is about the genre in general. For other uses, see Zombie apocalypse (disambiguation). Zombies Overview Zombie (fictional) Zombie apocalypse …   Wikipedia

  • Journal d'un zombie — The Zombie Diaries est un film britannique réalisé par Michael Bartlett et Kevin Gates, sorti en 2006. Sommaire 1 Synopsis 2 Fiche technique 3 Distribution 4 Autour du film …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Le Journal d'un zombie — Journal d un zombie (The Zombie Diaries) est un film d horreur indépendant britannique écrit, produit et réalisé par Michael Bartlett et Kevin Gates, sorti en 2006. Sommaire 1 Synopsis 2 Fiche technique 3 Distri …   Wikipédia en Français

  • The Real World — Infobox Television show name = The Real World caption = The Real World Logo deletable image caption genre = Reality creators =Mary Ellis Bunim Jonathan Murray developer = starring = country = USA language = English num seasons = 20 num episodes …   Wikipedia

  • List of comedy films of the 2000s — Comedy film List of comedy films Pre 1920 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s …   Wikipedia

  • Cultural depictions of the Salem witch trials — Fanciful representation of the Salem witch trials, lithograph from 1892. Cultural depictions of the Salem witch trials abound in art, literature and popular media in the United States, from the early 19th century to the present day. Contents …   Wikipedia

  • List of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien sketches — For a list of sketches that debuted on Late Night with Conan O Brien, see List of Late Night with Conan O Brien sketches. The following is a list of sketches which debuted on The Tonight Show with Conan O Brien on NBC. Contents 1 Carried over… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Degrassi: The Next Generation episodes — Contents 1 Series overview 1.1 Season 1: 2001–2002 …   Wikipedia

  • Liste de films de zombies — Ceci est une liste non exhaustive des films de zombies. Les zombis ou zombies sont des créatures imaginaires qui sont, la plupart du temps, des personnes qui meurent puis qui sont ramenées à la vie, c est à dire des morts vivants. La majorité des …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”