The Dead Don't Die Review

June 16, 2019 at 3:46am
By Jason Stettner

This is definitely going to be a divisive film, in regards to its style and what it aims to provide. The Dead Don’t Die is a hardcore satire that directly takes every aspect of a zombie movie, and points slow joking spotlights upon the imperfections. Some will look at this as barely a movie, others will appreciate the laughs and the direct commentary on the tropes of the well known genre.

I personally found it rather hilarious, while at the same time thought the pacing could have been better. They really nail in some of the jokes here, with the slow pacing and the repetitive style. I didn’t mind that however as there was a pay-off in how deliberate things were in this. It worked out well, at least for hitting the right spots for me. Now, this slow build won’t be for everyone and I can see that perspective.

It’s a funny situation, and they really don’t seem to care too much about what goes on in this which is great. You really need to look at the smaller details to get certain things, and understand that this is going to end really badly.

The real heart of this picture are the people within this. It’s an ensemble event, with one incredible cast. They don’t all necessarily serve any purpose, and that in itself sets the stage for driving home points. Not everyone matters, and you shouldn’t get attached as this isn’t going to end well. Moving past how great this selection of actors are, the two leads stand out the most.

Bill Murray’s Chief Cliff Robertson and Adam Driver’s Officer Ronnie Peterson were glorious. The latter was possibly the true stand out, the delivery of his lines were just perfect. Relaxed, steady and just timed directly to give the best output. The little references and breaking those walls were glorious. This is generally just a fun venture, that does take things a bit slow. I can see this being hard for people to sit through, even I got restless at times. It might have also been the awful chairs in the older theater I had to view this in.

That aside, I laughed and laughed hard at many of the jokes in this. Just hit the right comedy spot for me, and that’s special. There’s a certain level of thinking to things, but not necessarily the entire time as it does go very far to point out things in great detail. This nails home those jokes, did you hear the theme song eh?

The Conclusion

The Dead Don't Die was just hilarious, it’s slow in nailing home the jokes yet I enjoyed it the whole way through. It was weird, some things don’t necessarily make sense and that’s part of the joke.

Things don’t really make sense in these types of movies, some tropes in films are used too often and that gets made fun of here. It’s a straight satire, which means it may not connect with everyone. It’s a different type of comedy, and just a lot of fun if you can handle the slow builds. Yes, the jokes are repetitive and that works here, at least for me. I laughed basically every time we got the theme, or even those crazy wild animals. How absurd to point things out that often, truly.

Fun times, a great cast and some excellent line delivery. The end does certainly trail off, and be prepared to see the unexpected as nothing goes how you think it will. At the same time, watch the details and listen to it straight, as things are not going to end well.

The Dead Don't Die Review at Theater with Standard Viewing

Rating Overall: 7.0